Please join us in documenting public art in Washington D.C. Project and feel free to help find ways to organize and coordinate this work. A List of public art in Washington, D.C. has been created (thanks, User:Missvain!) as a primary organizational source.
Our ultimate goal is to accurately document, photograph, and geolocate every work of public art in Washington, D.C.! It is suggested that the best way to do this is through coordinated surveys. To this end, it is suggested that surveys begin on the National Mall, and in the Arlington National Cemetery, two highly prominent areas in the city.
From there, other areas could surveyed in similar fashion.
Take photos of all public artworks and upload the images to Wikipedia or The Commons as possible. Some images will not be able to be uploaded until a Wikipedia article is created and the “Fair Use” rational can be claimed. It is suggested that these image images be uploaded to Flickr, Picasa, and Panaramio.
It would be great to develop guidelines for taking photos that teach people how to become proficient photographers, and perhaps also how to use Flickr and the other web-based photo sharing services. To this end, an initial effort was made to teach users the basics, and it can be found here. This could use some more development.
Confirm highly accurate GPS coordinates for all artworks and add the locations to the D.C. List and the images in WP or Commons images (and the other web-based applications if used).
Accurate naming conventions for images should be used and or developed.
Update Coords in the List.
Create new articles about artworks based on SIRIS data, other research, and photography.
As possible, evaluate completeness and currentness of Smithsonian SIRIS data for these artworks.
If desired and if you have a smart phone: Create “spots” for all of the artworks using Gowalla, Foursquare, and possibly other popular location based mobile applications. Populate these spots with photographs of the artworks.
Even if you don't live in The District you can be involved!
Become an editor! Please help us edit the live articles on Washington D.C. public art.
Look at the List of public art in Washington, D.C. and either pick a sculpture from the list that hasn't been written about (links in red), or add a new one you know about.
It would be great to develop guidelines for taking photos that teach people how to become proficient photographers, and perhaps also how to use Flickr and the other web-based photo sharing services. To this end, an initial effort was made to teach users the basics, [Wikipedia:WikiProject Public art/Image guide|and it can be found here]. This could use some more development.
User:Missvain is writing a weekly column called "The People's Art" discussing public art in DC based on her research for Wikipedia articles. Check out her article about the Benjamin C. Grenup Monument on the DCist.
