Press releases/Wikimedia Commons 10 million files

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Wikipedia sister site tops 10,000,000 media files

United Kingdom, 16th April 2011: Wikipedia’s sister site, Wikimedia Commons (Commons), the library of images, sound files, and videos that constitutes an integral component of Wikipedia’s user experience, has hit the 10 million media files milestone. The ten millionth file uploaded to Commons is a photograph of a waterfowl observation platform near Lipno Lake in the Wdzydze Landscape Park in Poland. It was uploaded by Commons user Leinad, who has been uploading to Commons since 2006. Leinad is active on the Polish Wikipedia, and attended the 2010 Wikimania conference in Gdansk.

Today’s entry marks less than a two year period during which more than five million new files have been uploaded. This is in part thanks to Wikimedia’s global volunteer building more and more relationships with cultural institutions and collection holders around the world, receiving and uploading large treasures of photographs, video and other content. In the United Kingdom, the Geograph Britain and Ireland" project that called for geographically representative photographs for every square kilometre of Great Britain and Ireland donated 1.7 million images making it one of the largest organisational contributors to Commons over the past twelve months.

Michael Peel, secretary of Wikimedia UK comments: “the content available on Wikimedia Commons is a great resource for individuals, bloggers, news outlets and any other organisation wanting to illustrate their story with quality media. All files on Wikimedia Commons can be used for any purpose, including commercial use, under terms consistent with the Definition of Free Cultural Works. We would like to encourage galleries, libraries, museums and all those working in the arts or in public archives to consider sharing images with Wikimedia Commons. With around 411m visitors per month in up to 250 languages worldwide, it is a great way for these organisations to reach out to a wider audience."

Wikimedia Foundation and its affiliate UK chapter would like to thank the tens of thousands of individuals who have contributed to Wikimedia Commons and who have helped bring the project to this milestone.

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EDITORS' NOTES About Wikimedia Commons: Wikimedia Commons is a free image and media file repository, and is a sister project to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It was started on 7 September 2004, and is operated by the Wikimedia Foundation.

About Wikimedia UK: Wikimedia UK is the local Wikimedia chapter covering the United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is an independent organisation that supports free and open knowledge throughout the United Kingdom, including promoting and supporting the projects of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation.

About the Wikimedia Foundation: The Wikimedia Foundation Inc. is the US-based non-profit organisation that operates some of the largest collaboratively-edited reference projects in the world. These include Wikipedia, one of the world's 10 most-visited websites, and Wikimedia Commons.

Further information: • Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/ • Featured pictures on Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Featured_pictures.

For further information, please contact: Stevie Benton, Communications Organiser, Wikimedia UK Tel: +44 (0)7803 505 173 Email: michael.peel@wikimedia.org.uk