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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok
@veradekok.nl
170 followers 280 following 170 posts
The Wikimedia community's 2025 Media Contributor of the Year https://veradekok.nl
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Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Aug 6
This year's Wikimania is extra special because I'm the Media Contributor of the Year! 🥳 This is for my work of uploading over 86,000 media files to Wikimedia Commons, over 7,500, of which were my original work, mostly photographs but also graphics, videos and audio recordings.
wikimediafoundation.org
Wikimedia Foundation @wikimediafoundation.org · Aug 6
Media Contributor of the Year: Vera de Kok (User:1Veertje)

This award celebrates those who have contributed to the Wikimedia projects through visual content that enriches the informational value and appeal of Wikimedia projects. (3/9)
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · 9d
Please don't use a prong collar on this lovely dog.
Prong Collars | RSPCA - RSPCA - rspca.org.uk
Prong collars are a painful and unethical training collar some owners put on their dogs in an attempt to stop them from pulling on the lead.
www.rspca.org.uk
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · 17d
Customize your search string in your settings so that " -ai " is always an additional keyword
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Reposted by Vera de Kok
wikimediafoundation.org
Wikimedia Foundation @wikimediafoundation.org · 21d
George Pendergast, known as "G3," turned 100 and still edits Wikipedia daily. Since starting in his 80s, he has created and improved articles on WWII and overlooked women’s histories. His work shows that contribution has no age limit.

Read more ➡️ w.wiki/FJi5
Smiling man with a white beard sitting outdoors at a table with food, wearing a patterned shirt. Text overlay reads: "What can you learn from a 100-year-old Wikipedia editor?" with palm trees in the background.
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Reposted by Vera de Kok
haykranen.nl
Hay Kranen @haykranen.nl · 24d
Was vandaag met Open Monumentendag bij het fantastische brutalistische stadhuis van Terneuzen. Heb veel foto's genomen en het artikel op Wikipedia flink onder handen genomen. Met dank aan de geweldige bronnen van @martjankuit.bsky.social (boek BRUUT) en de RCE. nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadhui...
Stadhuis van Terneuzen - Wikipedia
nl.wikipedia.org
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · 27d
De lokale omroep heeft een stukje over mij geschreven:
Vera de Kok: de Delftenaar achter 86.000 Wikipedia-beelden
10-9-2025 17:04 Door Frans van Rijnswou Met meer dan 86.000 bijdragen aan Wikimedia Commons – de mediabibliotheek van Wikipedia – behoort Vera de Kok tot de meest actieve vrijwilligers van de website ...
www.omroepdelft.nl
veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · 29d
Only added it to the article about gender-flipping just now en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_...
Gender flip - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · 29d
This article on a German opera became a lot more interesting when I added this 19th Dutch photograph of a performance that had the male love interest played by a woman

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_sch...
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · 29d
The article on the Shakespearean character of Feste only got a photo added to it back in 2020 when I was tagged the photos from the "Onze Tooneelspelers" ("Our Stage Actors") from 1899. Articles look so much better with a picture

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feste
Late 19th century Dutch actor Louis H. Chrispijn dressed up as Feste
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · 29d
By matching archival footage to articles you get to unexpected stories. Like how Albert Pomper got to be a professional organ player despite coming from the most humble backgrounds because he got educated at the Amsterdam Institute for the Blind
nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_...
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · 29d
You get to explore the world from home by cataloging other people's photos. I got introduced to Kenyan writer Nanjala Nyabola by doing that with those made available by @re-publica.com
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjala...
Photo: Jan Michalko / re:publica (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · 29d
In 2017 I got to contribute the photograph of @naomiaklein.bsky.social to Wikipedia when she visited Amsterdam, how cool is that?
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · 29d
When you do things right within the Wikimedia projects, the resulting response is typically deafening silence. Thinks are getting better but compared to the dopamine hit social media can be. I got one "thank you" for finding these silos that look like the default Dutch peanut butter jar
Two silos at the side of a river embankment in Rotterdam that have been made to look like Calvé peanut butter jars
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 7
Read about how I got to upload 86k+ files to Wikimedia Commons on my blog:
I'm Wikipedia's "Media Contributor of the Year"!
Over 15 years I added 86,000 media files to Wikipedia's media library — 7,500 of them my own photos, videos, illustrations and audio. That work earned me the title Media Contributor of the Year 2025. ...
www.veradekok.nl
veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 5
New and improved: more embedded media, and a whole section added about working with public domain material
veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 5
Did the Wikipedian who is this year's "Media Contributor of the Year" add more media and text to a blog post after publishing it? Of course she did
veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 3
How did Wikipedia's "Media Contributor of the Year get to 86,000+ uploads? Read about it in my blog post:
I'm Wikipedia's "Media Contributor of the Year"!
Over 15 years I added 86,000 media files to Wikipedia's media library — 7,500 of them my own photos, videos, illustrations and audio. That work earned me the title Media Contributor of the Year 2025. ...
www.veradekok.nl
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 4
Delpher, the Dutch newspaper archive, made an website in which you can browse newspaper photos that have been added to Wikipedia. If you browse for politicians you can see many of my finds kbnlwikimedia.github.io/GLAMorousToH...
Big radical beard on a radical politician from the early 20th century
veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 4
I got really into digging up the new portraits out of public domain material in 2019-2020. This early 20th century parliamentarian is so dapper, finding new things like this is so fun. He's nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egbertu...
dapper dude in a suit with a big black moustache
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 4
I build it back in 2018 so I could match names to faces on my phone after I'd uploaded a mass of photos the @re-publica.com conference had published on Flickr. They're the largest new media conference in the German speaking world. Their files are currently being used in just over 1700 locations
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 4
I've gamified matching photos to individuals described in Wikidata with software I've written myself: the Orator-Matcher can take a list of names and give you an overview of matches. It ranks them by how many language editions of Wikipedia describe them
Screenshot of the Orator-Matcher with Naomi Klein being ranked at 65, Victoria Pedretti at 30, Judit Elek at 11 and Herman Philipse at 8
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 4
My very best portrait is that of Judit Elek (10 language editions) at the IFFR 2023. It makes me proud to think it will stand as a representation of her through the ages en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_E...
Judit Elek at the launch of her biography during the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2023; photo: Vera de Kok (cc-by-sa-4.0)
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 4
I've taught myself photography by doing this for so long. At the beginning of this year I captured this portrait of American actress Victoria Pedretti (article in 29 language editions)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victori...
Victoria Pedretti at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, smiling and looking to the side while holding a microphone in her left hand; photo: Vera de Kok (cc-by-sa-4.0)
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 4
I've been doing that with press credentials at the International Film Festival Rotterdam since 2015. The photos of the IFFR can be sent on hundreds of articles.
www.veradekok.nl/en/2025/03/i...
Graph showing the many places the iffr photos are used.
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 4
Pretty quickly I noticed I could have a big impact if I also went out and tried to capture photos of notable individuals for Wikipedia. The Dutch philosopher Herman Philipse was photographed by me in 2012. Naomi Klein in 2017

@naomiaklein.bsky.social
Herman Philipse in the academy building of Leiden University; photo: Vera de Kok (cc-by-sa-4.0) Naomi Klein in Amsterdam; photo: Vera de Kok (cc-by-sa-4.0)
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 4
I've developed an eye for matching things I encounter to Wikipedia. Twice my phone breaking has been of benefit for the encyclopedia: my broken S2 is the example of a small motherboard, the broken image sensor in my Nokia is the example of a different kind of dead pixel
Vera's hand holding the motherboard of a Samsung s2 Two apartment complexes in a digital photograph that has a weird black blob in the middle
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veradekok.nl
Vera de Kok @veradekok.nl · Sep 4
The 10 year anniversary of the Dutch Wikipedia in Den Bosch is where I got introduced to the Wikimedia movement, and it's been a fun community to be part of ever since

Photo: @ikbendaf.bsky.social (cc-by-sa-2.0)
A woman in her 40s on the left looking to Vera on the right, who is wearing a red coat, big sunglasses and a big smile
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