VIM Media: Where will we host photos and audiovisual files used in VIM?

[dchiller]

I'm posting here some initial thoughts on where and how we should host VIM-related media files, especially still images, audio clips and audio-visual clips of instruments and the sounds they make. I'm reviewing a few options, with a initial preference that we don't have to set up our own media hosting for this. I don't think that will be a problem.

Options

Wikimedia Commons

Overview: The Wikimedia Commons is a collection of free media files that anyone can contribute to. Also, the host of all media resources used in Wikimedia Foundation products; for example, if it's a picture on Wikipedia, it's hosted on the Wikimedia Commons.

Potential Pros

• Files on Wikimedia Commons must be "realistically useful for educational purposes," which I think fits rather well with VIM's mission/purpose. In addition, this leads to a focus on media that is high-quality, that is not advertising, and not keeping every possible image. Given that VIM wants enough media examples of instruments to exemplify the instrument, but not (for example) 1000 photos of a piano for the sake of showing all possible pianos, this also seems aligned.
• Integration with other Wikimedia Foundation products, especially Wikidata (Images on Wikidata Q-objects, for example) are hosted at the Wikimedia Commons.

Potential Cons

• Media on the Commons can be edited or deleted, so we cannot assume that the same media files will be available in perpetuity.
• The recommended way of using Wikimedia Commons media is downloading and hosting on the server, so if we do that this doesn't really solve the hosting problem. They also provide the InstantCommons feature to make this integration easier, but I don't know that this will be useful for us.

Maybe Pro/Maybe Con

• Proper licensing is required for media hosted on the Commons. Pro is that means that anything that we show on VIM will conform to these licensing standards and we aren't winging it. The Con is that it means that when we are adding any media we need to make sure that this media meets the licensing standards enforced by the Commons. For example, the Commons has a tool (the Attribution Generator) that helps compliance with attribution requirements for licensed media files.

InternetArchive

Overview: The Internet Archive allows contributors to upload audio-visual collections for public archiving.

Potential Pros

• The InternetArchive provides an API with a python interface for adding and retrieving items and item metadata in the collection.
• Media are not removable/editable by others (except by the rights holder/uploader). Links to images are stable.
• Licensing of images is clearly stated.

Potential Cons

• Not integrated into the Wiki universe (ie. Wikidata), which may lead to extra steps to reconcile.

In-House IIIF Server

Overview: We could set up our own server (maybe an IIIF-compliant server in some cases) to host the audiovisual elements of the VIM.

Potential Pros

• We have complete control over the resources. They won't move or be taken down.
• We can fine-tune service of the resources for optimal speed and responsiveness.

Potential Cons

• We have to deal with our own licensing and copyright enforcement.
• We have to do our own wikidata integration.
• We have to create the server from the ground up.