Archive:Media Assets Workgroup

This is a proposal for a workgroup and should not be relied upon in any way.

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Overview

The Media Assets Workgroup is Citizendium's "Media and Permissions Department". Staffed by both expert editors and author specialists, its mission is

To improve and safeguard Citizendium by serving its editors, authors, readers, media content-providers, and re-users.

While deferring to other content editors in nearly all cases, the Media Assets Workgroup has its own editorial purvey over media within certain narrow limits. The Media Assets Workgroup is governed and organized as other workgroups, but with several "tweaks" to streamline its functioning and to better facilitate its interactions with outside content-providers.

For the purposes of The Media Assets Workgroup, "media" is defined as all visual, audio, video, and template materials on all Citizendium pages.

Activities

Content and permissions assistance

While not in any way replacing the function of other contributors in obtaining their own media content, The Media Assets Workgroup shall function as Citizendium's "go to" place for contributors who seek assistance with such. In cases where open content images are available, the Media Assets Workgroup can be enlisted to to obtain the images released anew under open content licenses, or by permission when open content substitutes are unavailable, not substantially equivalent, or impractical to obtain or request.

To carry out the above, The Media Assets Workgroup shall maintain help pages of sources that contributors may access to obtain appropriate images for themselves. For when this proves inadequate, The Media Assets Workgroup shall maintain an image request system, and a permission request system for obtaining and documenting releases. It shall maintain an IMAP account or tagging account, media-assets@citizendium.org or permissions@citizendium.org to do this.

As well, the workgroup shall negotiate with content providers to obtain block permission for Citizendium to use such content in approved articles.

Media policy and help pages

Members of the workgroup shall, in a non-exclusionary manner, be responsible for authoring media policy and help pages, and for seeking approval through due process for policy pages.

General Communication

The workgroup shall maintain a mailing list for general announcements.

Roles and responsibilities

Lead Editor

The Editor-in-Chief, through a due process of his or her choosing, shall appoint a Lead Editor to coordinate the efforts of the workgroup. The person shall serve for a minimum six-month and maximum three-year term, during which he or she shall serve on the Executive Committee to advise the project over matters within his or her purveyance.

Editors

Editors and editorship shall be governed in accordance with current policies contained in the relevant sections of CZ:Policy Outline. It is anticipated that most editors shall be drawn in under the category specialty editorship.

Media Assets Editors acting on their own recognizance shall have power, equal with other content editors, to request deletion of media content on Citizendium when

1. There is a replacement of higher quality.
2. The media would reasonably be considered offensive to a living subject depicted therein (e.g., the lead image for an article depicts the subject with a non-ingratiating facial expression or in another way that may breach their personality rights).
3. Others?

Media Assets Editors acting on their own recognizance shall have power to request deletion of templates in the case that

1. It is of such low quality that it would be more efficient to start over than to try to clean up the current one.
2. There is a replacement of higher quality.

Media Assets Editors acting in a panel shall

1. Be the final decision-makers in difficult cases regarding "fair use", that can result in requests for deletion.

Project Leads

Project leads may be appointed by the Lead Editor and may be either editors or specialists ("authors"&mdashsee below). Project Leads shall be tasked with developing Citizendium media assets and the Media Assets Workgroup along specific lines, such as negotiating block permission for use of archives, creating templates and categories, etc.

Specialists (authors)

For purposes of The Media Assets Workgroup's relations with outside content-providers, and because of the specialized activities of the workgroup, authors shall be dubbed "specialists" and may only become members of the workgroup by two-thirds vote of other members.