Wikipedia:WikiProject Visual arts/Public art/SOS to Wikipedia process

WSPA participants are working to raise awareness about public art on a community level by locating art, researching it, and publishing information and images about it in Wikipedia. This work is similar to the Save Outdoor Sculpture! program, but is more open and collaborative since the final published information will be available in Wikipedia, one of the most visited websites in the world.

You can participate in the project by working with the SOS! Database and searching for public art in your community.

Step 1: Consult the Save Outdoor Sculpture! Database

• Go to the SOS! Database to find what public artworks were documented in your state.
• Click on your state, then city. (Cities may have only one artwork, hundreds, or none.)
• Once a list of sculptures is up, click on the title of the artwork for the detailed report on a specific sculpture, and possibly photos.

Step 2: Verify the Save Outdoor Sculpture! Data

• Go out and visit the artworks, verifying their current locations, artist, title and date.
• Photograph and Geolocate each sculpture while you are on-site. Upload your photos to a Flickr account.
• Organize your information in a spreadsheet which lists the SOS! sculptures found in the database. Update it with the verified information found while at the sculptures.

Step 3: Find What’s Missing

• Identify public artworks that were not surveyed by SOS!, or that are new to your community.
• Visit the artworks, documenting their locations, artist, title and date.
• Photograph and Geolocate each sculpture while you are on-site. Upload your photos to a Flickr account.
• Create another spreadsheet about sculptures found in your community that were not in the SOS! database. Update it with the new information found while at the sculptures.

Step 4: Consult Wikipedia and Prioritize Articles

• Using your two spreadsheets, search Wikipedia for each sculpture. Search a lot. Consider the various titles the sculpture might have.
  • Is there already a good article on the work?
  • Is there already a “stub” article that needs to be expanded?
  • Is there no article at all?
• Prioritize which articles you to which you want to contribute or create.

Step 5: Research and Edit/Create an Article

• Consult available printed and online resources to research the history of the artwork. Consider your local library, historical society, tourism department, and newspaper databases. Also consider other local and state institutions.
• Research the artist who made the artwork. If they are available to contact, they are often a great source of information.
• Keep in mind that all information on Wikipedia has to have a source. Original research cannot be included in the article.
• Create or Edit the Wikipedia article for your sculpture.

• • • Needs to be a difference between creating a stub & full article***
  • Use the WSPA Article Template to keep all articles similar in layout.
  • Use the WSPA Style Guide for all aspects of article editing.
  • Use the WSPA Image Upload Guide for help with photos.