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== What is Wikimedia Commons? ==

Wikimedia Commons is a '''media file repository''' making available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips) to everyone, [[Commons:Language policy|in their own language]]. It acts as a common repository for the various projects of the [[wmf:|Wikimedia Foundation]], but you do not need to belong to one of those projects to use media hosted here. The repository is created and maintained not by paid archivists, but by volunteers. The scope of Commons is set out on the [[Commons:Project scope|project scope]] pages.

Wikimedia Commons uses the same [[w:wiki|wiki-technology]] as [[w:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] and everyone can edit it. Unlike media files uploaded to other projects, files uploaded to Wikimedia Commons [[Commons:First steps/Reuse|can be embedded]] on pages of all Wikimedia projects without the need to separately upload them there.

Launched on 7 September 2004, Wikimedia Commons hit the [[Commons:Press releases/1M|1,000,000 uploaded media file milestone]] on 30 November 2006 and currently contains '''[[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFFILES}}]]''' files and '''{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}''' media collections. More background information about the Wikimedia Commons project itself can be found in the [[Commons:General disclaimer|General disclaimer]], at the [[w:Wikimedia Commons|Wikipedia page about Wikimedia Commons]] and [[m:Wikimedia Commons|its page in Meta-wiki]].

Unlike traditional media repositories, Wikimedia Commons is ''free''. Everyone is allowed to copy, use and modify any files here freely as long as they follow the terms specified by the author; this often means crediting the source and author(s) appropriately and releasing copies/improvements under the same freedom to others. The license conditions of each individual media file can be found on their description page. The Wikimedia Commons database itself and the texts in it are licensed under the [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License]. More information on re-use can be found at [[Commons:Reusing content outside Wikimedia]] and [[Commons:First steps/Reuse]].


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<div style="border-bottom:1px solid #fad67d; background-color:#faecc8; padding:0.2em 0.5em; font-size:110%;">'''Participate'''</div>
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You can improve Wikimedia Commons most if you contribute what you can do best:

=== Contribute your work ===
If you're a good photographer, don't hesitate to contribute your valuable images. If you're a good designer, look which diagrams and animations are [[Commons:Picture requests|badly needed]]. If you're a good musician or film/theater artist, do not hesitate to publish your own records of your performances of [[Commons:Licensing|free pieces]] here.

=== Contribute your skills ===
However you do not need to upload your own files. There is plenty of other very important work to do:
* [[Commons:Help page maintenance|Translate help texts]] into a language other than English.
* [[:Category:Images for cleanup|Improve images]].
* [[:Category:Unidentified subjects|Identify unknown objects]].
* Contribute your legal knowledge on [[Commons talk:Licensing|copyright questions]] and [[Commons:Deletion requests|deletion requests]].

=== Contribute your time ===
You even do not need to be an artist or good at writing help texts. If you feel at home with creating order from chaos, then we could use your helping hand!
* Anytime you see a file with incomplete licensing or source information, tag it <code><nowiki>{{subst:nsd}}</nowiki></code>.
<!--not working
* Fix an [http://toolserver.org/~daniel/WikiSense/CommonSense.php?u=en&p=_20&cl=&uncategorized=Random+Orphan&w=en&v=0 orphan file] (Give an image a category or gallery).
-->
* Give [[:Category:Media needing categories|Media needing categories]] a category.
* [[:Category:Categories requiring diffusion|Move files into relevant subcategories]]
* [[Commons:Free media resources|Free media resources]] are waiting for an inclusion into this project.
* [[COM:FPC|Nominate or vote for]] Featured Pictures (registration required).
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<div style="border-bottom:1px solid #abd5f5; background-color:#d0e5f5; padding:0.2em 0.5em; font-size:110%;">'''Register'''</div>
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In order to be able to upload files on Wikimedia Commons, you need to be logged in. You can register at the "[[Special:Userlogin|Log in / create account]]" link in the upper right corner and enter a user name that will be used at all of your uploads/edits on images and texts. However if you just want to edit pages you don't need to be logged in (although it is encouraged). If you have taken advantage of [[m:Help:Unified login|unified login]], then you are already signed up at Commons.
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<div style="border-bottom:1px solid #abd5f5; background-color:#d0e5f5; padding:0.2em 0.5em; font-size:110%;">'''First steps tutorial'''</div>
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Our '''[[Commons:First steps|first steps help file]]''' and our '''[[Commons:FAQ|FAQ]]''' will help you a lot after registration. They explain how to customize the interface (for example the language), how to [[Commons:Upload|upload files]] and our basic [[Commons:Licensing|licensing policy]]. You don't need technical skills in order to contribute here. ''Be bold'' contributing here and ''assume good faith'' for the intentions of others. This is a ''[[w:wiki|wiki]]'' - it is really easy.

More information is available at the [[Commons:Community portal|Community Portal]]. You may ask questions at the [[Commons:Village pump|Village Pump]] or on [[w:IRC|IRC]] channel [irc://irc.freenode.net/wikimedia-commons #wikimedia-commons].

Files on Wikimedia Commons are organized in categories and galleries. An overview of the categories we use is available on the [[Main Page]].
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<div style="border-bottom:1px solid #abd5f5; background-color:#d0e5f5; padding:0.2em 0.5em; font-size:110%;">'''Additional services and software'''</div>
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If you want to upload large numbers of images, the program [[Commons:Tools/Commonist|Commonist]] will be helpful. If you need specific information on tools for viewing or editing our content please see the [[Commons:Software|software page]].

We hope that you will enjoy it here and that you will have fun.
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[[Category:Commons help|Welcome]]

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