This fall, students in Professor Robin Michals’ Photography I class have been contributing images to Wikimedia Commons with support from CUNY’s Wikimedia in Residence, Richard Knipel. We are so excited to see their work online!
All their photo uploads can be explored on the Contributions from Communication Design students, CUNY City Tech category page. In addition to being available on the Commons under Creative Commons licenses, it’s exciting to see these already being incorporated into wikidata items and wikipedia articles in various languages.
I visited one of their classes to chat with them about the impact of their contributions to Wikimedia Commons and to hear their thoughts on the images they added. Check out some student reflections on their images below:
Of Fort Greene Park in Autumn, Kylan Whittaker explained, “My mom used to take me there a lot when I was a kid, so I made a lot of good memories in that park.”
Wikipedia user Photonatomist explained that Crotona Park Pond is “vast” and feels like “a calm place to be.”
Nurcan Akca says of I.S.125 Thomas J. McCann Intermediate School: It was my middle school!
Rodrigue says of Canarsie Skate Park: “That place is special because it’s close to home and it’s a large place where friends and family can come together to have fun. “
When I asked students what it means to them that their work is now on Wikimedia Commons, they had a few more thoughts to share:
To me it feels nice that I can share a part of my life to others and basically create an invitation to others to have similar experiences as me.
It makes me proud knowing that my work is being used in Wikipedia commons. It scales out my work and makes me really grasp how impactful my photography can be.
I’m famous!