Commons:Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States/Upload from other sources
The Wikimedia Commons doesn't only accept photos that you yourself create; we also accept media files from other sources as long as they are appropriately licensed! A freely-licensed work on the Commons must allow anyone to use the work for almost any purpose, including commercial. See Commons:Licensing for more details, and this table of common acceptable licenses.
A common source of images for the Commons are historic photos. Most works published before 1923 in the United States, as well as works published before 1978 without a copyright notice, fall into the public domain. If you find photos that fall into this category, they may be uploaded with the following templates:
- For public artwork installed before 1923, use {{PD-US}} or {{PD-1923}}.
- For public artwork installed between 1923 and 1977 inclusive, use {{PD-US-no notice}} or {{PD-US-not renewed}}.
Likewise, you may find images that have been released under an acceptable free license. One commons source is Flickr.
Nearly all works created by the federal government are in the public domain - and that includes National Park Service photos! Another great example of free image resources is the Internet Archive Book Images collection, which contains over 14 million images from over 2 million public domain Internet Archive books from over 1,000 libraries stretching back 500 years. Many of these photos include monuments and other historically and culturally significant sites. Editors are encouraged to search through these photos for public domain works. Check out the Internet Archive Book Images collection on Flickr.
- Instructions
- Find a photo that is licensed under a compatible license (or in the public domain).
- Upload the photo to the Commons by following the standard upload wizard.
- Choose the correct license, and provide the author and source of the image.
- Categorize your photo, and include it in Category:Images from Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 from other sources