Wikipedia Photography

How to find subjects in need of photography for Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata.

• Scan the National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts table for empty cells in the Image column.

• Use the Wikipedia mobile app Places tab to find W icons, which represent articles lacking a designated lead image in the infobox.

• Use WikiShootMe to filter for Wikipedia (yellow) and Wikidata no image (red).

  • Note that modern sculptures might show as red on WikiShootMe but have fair use images on Wikipedia because Wikimedia Commons cannot host non-free images.

• Use PetScan to filter specific categories by setting Lead image to No, though this often includes historic biographies and broken infoboxes.

• Use the Wikidata Query Service with SPARQL to bypass Wikipedia infobox errors and find physical locations lacking a global free image.

  #defaultView:Map
  SELECT ?item ?itemLabel ?coord WHERE {
    # Located in the administrative territory of Cambridge, MA
    ?item wdt:P131* wd:Q49111.
  
    # Must have geographic coordinates
    ?item wdt:P625 ?coord.
  
    # Must have an English Wikipedia article
    ?article schema:about ?item;
             schema:isPartOf <https://en.wikipedia.org/>.
  
    # Must NOT have an image file attached
    MINUS { ?item wdt:P18 ?image. }
  
    # Fetch the English labels for the map pins
    SERVICE wikibase:label { bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en". }
  }