Scotland has just been voted the most beautiful country in the world in a Rough Guide readers’ poll.
Perhaps I’m a tad biased but I’d tend to agree. There’s nowhere quite like it.
Yet, we who live and work here can take it for granted that our beautiful locations, listed buildings and monuments will always be there… something that can never be fully guaranteed. Political and economic tides change and forces of nature can have devastating effects as we have seen in recent days.
That’s why it’s so important that we take the opportunity to document our cultural heritage now for future generations before it is too late.
The world’s largest photo competition, Wiki Loves Monuments, takes place for the whole of September. Share your high quality pics of listed buildings and monuments to Wikimedia Commons and help preserve our cultural heritage online. After days out, weekend breaks and holidays at home & abroad, there will be gigabytes of pics taken in recent months and years. These could remain on your memory card or be shared to Commons and help illustrate Wikipedia for the benefit of all. Entry is free and the best pics will win a prize.
Aside from being great fun, Wiki Loves Monuments is a way of capturing a snapshot of our nation’s cultural heritage for future generations and documenting our country’s most important historic sites. See the rules and how to enter.
Ryries near Haymarket Station, Edinburgh. Own work by me via Wikimedia Commons for Wiki Loves Monuments 2017, CC-BY-SA
I used the handy Wiki Loves Monuments UK tool which shows you places near you, indicated with a red dot, that require a pic.
Wiki Loves Monuments – dynamic map of Edinburgh showing listed buildings requiring an image (in red).
You just take a quick look at the map, take a pic and upload. It takes seconds and is the easiest way to take part in this year’s competition. (There is also another WLM map tool if you want to search for addresses, either in UK or further afield).
I was surprised to see Ryries, a public house near Haymarket Station was a listed building on the Wiki Loves Monuments map; a building I pass every day so it was an easy one to snap and upload.
If each one of us took just 1 pic, we’d have this sewn up in a couple of weeks. Which is when Wiki Loves Monuments closes – end of September 2017.But if you can do more then great.
Don’t wait till it’s too late, do your bit today! Click here to view a map of your local area to get started.
#1picture1person #ScottishHeritage #WLMUK17
ps. Once the new pictures are uploaded then comes the additional fun part of adding those images to relevant Wikipedia pages so that millions around the world can enjoy a picture you have taken. If you fancy helping out with that then we are having a Wiki meetup 2pm to 5pm on Friday 29th September and you can drop-in at any point to add a pic to a Wiki page. Signup here.
If nothing else, let’s give our counterparts in Ireland and Wales a run for their money in terms of how many images we can upload. A little friendly rivalry never hurts, right?
You can check out the images uploaded so far for Wiki Loves Monuments in Scotland here.