L’appel est lancé – le concours pour le son de Wikimédia commence

Wikimedia invites the world to share in the sum of all human knowledge, we now invite the world to share in The Sound of All Human Knowledge. Take a note – from 13 September to 10 October 2022, everyone, everywhere is invited to help create a sound logo for the Wikimedia projects.

Useful links: Watch a master class in sound logos  |  Register for the drop-in clinic | Community resources

Scaling Up – what is a sound logo and why do we need it?

A sound logo is a brief collection of sounds, often between 2 and 4 seconds long. Sound logos have gained popularity with the rise of audio technology globally; the number of active voice assistant users has grown from 544.1 million in 2015 to 2.6 billion in 2021. Wikimedia projects increasingly power other websites, search engines, and general knowledge queries on voice-assisted devices, but many listeners are not aware because the source of the information is not consistently identified. A sound logo is needed to help listeners identify when they are accessing trusted, verifiable knowledge from Wikimedia projects. In harmony with our values and as always curious to experiment and learn, we will have an open contest for the sound of all human knowledge and invite the world to participate.  

In Tune with Our Movement – contest background

The contest proposal first shared with the Wikimedia movement in May 2022 is now coming to life. Resonating with our open values and collaborative participation, the sound logo contest is in tune with existing practices in the movement. Inspired by a legacy of visual logo contests –  from the earliest version of the Wikipedia puzzle globe to the more recent Wikidata logo contest and the MediaWiki logo refresh, the present contest  branches out into exciting new areas when it comes to sound and audio production.

“The sound logo contest builds on a tradition of organizing both global photo competitions and visual logo contests in our movement and brings Wikimedia branding into a new landscape: sound. A sound logo for the Wikimedia movement is long overdue. We’re excited to bring our own knowledge together with expertise in sound to finally identify, with the movement, a sound logo that represents us and connects Wikimedia knowledge across platforms.”

Lodewijk Gelauff, one of the initiators of the global Wiki Loves Monuments contest and Selection Committee member.

The Right Key – contest overview

The Wikimedia Sound Logo contest will run from September 13 to October 10, 2022. All submissions will be reviewed by a volunteer Screening Team through a blind peer review process. This initial check is primarily for vandalism, length, obvious copyright infringements, and other general criteria. 

Once the contest has closed, a Selection Committee comprising 7 Wikimedia community members and 5 music experts – assembled by our technical partner MassiveMusic – will then present 10 finalists to the movement. The top 10 sound logo submissions will be put up to a vote on Wikimedia Commons, scheduled for late November 2022. 

The selection criteria used by the volunteer-led Selection Committee will be based on:  

• 50% conceptual match – does the sound logo represent the spirit of the Wikimedia movement? 
• 25% originality – is the sound logo unique? 
• 25% recallability – is the sound logo memorable?

Please visit the Sound Logo portal for complete contest rules.

Play Your Part

You don’t have to be pitch perfect to take part in this contest. If you have a great sound logo idea, but are not sure how to capture it, join the upcoming audio production drop-in clinic with MassiveMusic on 29 September, 15:00-16:00 UTC. 

Help our search vibrate throughout the movement – spread the word using your social media toolkit.

Number of submissions	Up to 3 sound logo submissions per person
Length	Between 1 and 4 seconds long
File type	MP3 at a bit rate of at least 192kbps, OGG at a bit rate of at least 160kbpsWAV with a bit depth of at least 16-bit
Copyright	Original sounds and CC0/PD samples only