Michael Barera's talk archives

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Congratulations on your residency. Could I talk to you soon? Blue Rasberry (talk) 20:18, 2 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Sure, we can talk, whenever you want to. Also, you can e-mail me through the "e-mail this user" function if that is easier for you. I'm not picky about how we talk (though in person will be difficult, considering that I'm in Ann Arbor). Michael Barera (talk) 20:55, 2 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

17:18, 22 December 2012‎

Merry Christmas indeed! Hope you are well. My interest was peaked by seeing that a Ford photo was removed from en-wiki. :) Arbitrarily0 ^(talk) 20:25, 3 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I'm not sure which one it was that was removed, but that certainly will happen: it wouldn't be surprising if someone found a superior image for something like, I don't know, raincoat (actually, the raincoat image is still there, but you get the point!). Michael Barera (talk) 21:20, 3 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for showing me how to edit and create an article on Wikipedia! I have made our project: Organogels live! When I was trying to figure out how to properly upload it from my template, I think I accidentally made it as a redirecting page from "Gel", and it is not showing up in Google Search. Is it alright or do you think I should move the page???

Again, THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!Susulee (talk) 04:41, 10 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You are most welcome! I've answered your questions on your talk page, which I though would be easier for you to find, and I've also given you a barnstar for all your hard work. Thank you so much for enriching Wikipedia! Michael Barera (talk) 18:56, 10 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the cookie. You've reminded me that I'm overdue for redesigning my user page. The Transhumanist 12:15, 15 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

P.S.: I love your extensive navbar/menu.

Thanks a lot! I probably never would have done it without your inspiration! Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 22:47, 15 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Happy new semester! I may have missed you guys last week, but are we all still meeting Thurs. nights this term? Not sure I can make it this week but that is generally a good time for me. P.S. congrats on the big Record Update article, Mr. Wikipedian-in-residence!! Adam Kriesberg (talk) 03:56, 16 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, thanks! Yeah, we're still meeting on Thursdays at 8pm. Actually, we had two new members join us last week: Noajshu and The Midfielder. How cool is that? Michael Barera (talk) 15:05, 16 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, Michael! I heard you formalized your partnership with the folks at the Gerald Ford Library. So glad you were able to connect with them! Congratulations :). You deserve it and will be great! JMathewson (WMF) (talk) 19:12, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, thanks a lot Jami! Without you running that WEP session back in September, I may never had met Bdcousineau and this may never have happened. Thanks again for all you do for the Foundation and the movement more broadly: I really do appreciate it! Michael Barera (talk) 22:00, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Congrats on your appointment. There are a couple of image needs I have that might be filled from the Ford Library for the articles I've worked on and hope you can help with this.

1. Gough Whitlam. He visited the White House on May 7, 1975, contact sheet here. Is it possible to get one of the images which shows Whitlam full face (not one of the ones with his mouth open, though) uploaded in high enough resolution we can take a crop of his portrait for use as lead image in his article?
2. United States Bicentennial coinage Can we get a higher resolution scan of this or one of the other images showing Ford examining the coins on that contact sheet? (link to contact sheet on image page)

Many thanks for your help.--Wehwalt (talk) 02:37, 23 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'll see what I can do, but based on what I know already, I don't think it is possible to get the contact sheets in a higher resolution. I might have more luck with the second one, though. Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 14:00, 23 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

They can photograph the individual images on the contact sheets, I've had it done for me at the Nixon Library. You too.--Wehwalt (talk) 14:01, 23 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'll ask about it when I'm at the Library again on Friday. Michael Barera (talk) 14:07, 23 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This was from a contact sheet.--Wehwalt (talk) 14:21, 23 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, that's good! I will be absolutely sure to ask now! Michael Barera (talk) 23:55, 23 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Both articles are FA, so you'd be starting out by assisting major undertakings, and that might sell the people at the Library on helping out too.--Wehwalt (talk) 20:15, 24 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Good points: I'll see what I can do. Michael Barera (talk) 20:16, 24 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I'm at the Library now, and I've just filed a request for rescans of the two images in questions (and for Whitlam, it is as you requested: I selected the frame with him smiling, not with his mouth open). My mentor has also just informed me that neither of images I have requested have been scanned into the Library's digital collections, but it looks as those she will be able to put in a scanning request on them. I'll let you know as things happen! Michael Barera (talk) 14:35, 25 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That's the way it often is with images to fulfil article needs. At least the Ford puts its contact sheets online. I went through books of them in Yorba Linda. And thank you. What resolution did you ask for?--Wehwalt (talk) 15:02, 25 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

As high a resolution as they can reasonably provide: my mentor mentioned that the batch-uploaded contact sheets were scanned at 200 (dpi, I believe), but that individual requests like this are typically scanned at 600 (although she warned me that she isn't involved directly in scanning and that she couldn't promise me 600). I hope that this helps. Michael Barera (talk) 15:33, 25 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I've just learned that it can be done, but it will cost $17 per image. I honestly don't have the budget for that, so I'm not sure what our next step should be. Sorry. Michael Barera (talk) 16:31, 25 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Well, if they won't do it, they won't do it. But given that they've engaged you and obviously want a Wikipedia presence, it strikes me as penny (or $17) wise and pound foolish. JMO. Thanks for your help.--Wehwalt (talk) 18:14, 25 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

On my way out of the Library today, it was explained to me that the reason for the $17 cost is that the Ford scans the image from the negative, not the contact sheet. I don't have enough technical understanding to appreciate this explanation, but I though I'd pass it along to you because of your previous experience with the Nixon Library. Anyway, thanks for the chat and all your wonderful work on Wikipedia: you've really given the community some wonderful content over the years, and I for one really appreciate that! Michael Barera (talk) 02:52, 26 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I understand but my point still stands. I appreciate the kind words. Thanks and good luck.--Wehwalt (talk) 03:01, 26 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hey there, my name is Jessamyn and I'm a librarian and also on the advisory board of the Wikimedia Foundation. I love that you're doing the Wikipedia in residence and I'd love to ask you a few questions about it for my blog librarian.net. If that's okay with you (should take 15-20 min, not like some long thing, I'd love to ask a few questions and then maybe one or two followup questions) could you drop me a note at my email address (my first name at gmail.com) and we can swap some email? If you're married to wikiformat we could do it that way as well but I thought email might be simpler. Thanks and congrats on the gig. Jessamyn (talk) 16:05, 24 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks: I've responded to your message with an e-mail. Michael Barera (talk) 20:13, 24 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks I am trying to get good info put together that will be more relevant to the page I hope someone will start with good info. I also added a talk page so maybe it will be a good info page. MDSanker 22:10, 24 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Well, it is certainly off to a good start! Thanks again! Michael Barera (talk) 22:12, 24 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Michael. Like Jessamyn above I'm curious about your role at the Ford Library. Have you published anything about your job and the approach you're taking to it?

I work at a research unit at a university but have interpreted Wikipedia's COI rules to mean that I couldn't create or edit articles that relate to my institution. Presumably you have found a way to serve your employer's mission without creating a conflict of interest. If you have any guidance on this point I'd love to see it. I've been trying to RTFM, but even the Wikipedia: Plain and simple conflict of interest guide doesn't seem simple to me. Thanks! Pzriddle (talk) 21:08, 26 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

We'll, I've been avoiding topics relating to the Library/Museum itself, instead concentrating on Gerald Ford, his life, career, and presidency. In my experience, the easiest way to avoid COI with institutions is to focus on content and not on the institution (so for you, I would venture a guess that this would mean focusing your Wikipedia contributions on your research and not your university). If you are writing about your institution, I think the golden rule is in that "Plain and simple conflict of interest guide" you mentioned: When advancing outside interests is more important to an editor than advancing the aims of Wikipedia, that editor stands in a conflict of interest. The real heart of this issue, in my opinion, is the need to not compromise the purpose and values of Wikipedia with material that unfairly or unethically benefits an outside institution. I hope that this helps. Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 04:37, 27 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I was walking from my room today, and the maintenance lady recognized me from the paper, and she was all like, "I saw you in the paper!" So after I couldn't find us in yesterday's paper, which was in the stack, she went and got Thursday's! And there we were!! I still have the paper as well! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tyrael123 (talk • contribs) 19:05, 2 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Very cool! It was great to get a mention of the field hockey article in there as well! You will have to show me the physical paper at some point, though, haha! Michael Barera (talk) 20:49, 2 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, thanks for adding and proofreading the Carter Interview on Wikisource. It looks good from what I've seen so far. I took the liberty of implementing the last step: transcluding the proofread pages to Carter Interview with Harry Reasoner. You mentioned you weren't sure about categorisation; it's pretty much the same as Wikipedia or Commons. I've added Wikisource:Category:Politics of the United States and Wikisource:Category:Interviews for now (the year and licence categories come from templates). If you can think of anything more appropriate, please change them. (NB: I also created an author page for Harry Reasoner to correspond with this interview; its his first appearance on Wikisource). - AdamBMorgan (talk) 18:12, 8 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your help! Do you think it would be wise to create some sort of a Wikisource presence (like a WikiProject) for the Ford Library collaboration? We have quite a few more documents, and I'm hoping that this is only the beginning of getting quality Ford-related materials on Wikisource. Thanks again and take care! Michael Barera (talk) 18:22, 8 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry for the delay. I've made WikiProject page at WikiProject Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library to help co-ordinate things. The main part of the project is in the /Works subpage. This is loosely based on a previous WikiProject and the tables on Commons (although I've left out the "Memoranda of Conversations" documents for now as there are so many the page might not be able to cope). The red crosses should turn to green ticks as work is done. It could probably use some more guidance and documentation but it's in a workable state at the moment. - AdamBMorgan (talk) 10:43, 13 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Very cool, thanks so much! I really do appreciate your help. That "Works" subpage is really something: thank you so much! Michael Barera (talk) 20:18, 13 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited Ben Scrivens, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page TSN (check to confirm | fix with Dab solver). Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 11:00, 21 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry about that, I've fixed it. Thanks! Michael Barera (talk) 01:00, 22 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Shiny Medal.

I think I like it.

Oh and I don't know if Matt knows this or not, but that Colleen girl will be at next Thursday's meeting. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tyrael123 (talk • contribs) 02:30, 23 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You deserve it, Tyrael123! And none of us Michigan Wikipedians will ever complain about more people coming to one of our meetings, that's for sure. Have a nice weekend! Michael Barera (talk) 02:33, 23 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I found that article about teachers and Wikipedia that I mentioned yesterday. Here's the link: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/teachers-students-cellphones-class-study-115433922.html

Also, I think I found a video in the Dude today where you were speaking, though I cannot recall how to add the picture. I tagged you on facebook with it though. I thought is was interesting, and I was like," I think I know this guy!"

Tyrael123 (how do you sign these?)

Thanks for the link to the article: certainly a fascinating read. And yes, that was my likeness you saw in the Duderstadt Center today: I was being interviewed for TEDx U of M. And finally, regarding your question, you should just sign your posts with 4 tildes (like this: ~~~~). That will generate both a signature and a timestamp. Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 02:30, 2 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Great job on the new article! I had created the List of Soviet Union–United States summits article a few years ago and am glad to see another individual summit receive a full article.

Best regards,

Mtminchi08 (talk) 21:13, 3 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks so much, Mtminchi08! That really means a lot to me. Thank you for creating the List of Soviet Union–United States summits article in the first place. Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 01:14, 4 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I fixed what I could. Unfortunately, a large amount of the dead links aren't on the wayback machine, so I'll have to take some time to find alternate sources if possible. When I do, I'll probably need help altering the pages.Tyrael123 (talk) 23:27, 5 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds good: thanks for your help! Michael Barera (talk) 23:32, 5 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Graeme Bartlett (talk) 08:03, 6 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Very cool, thank you! Michael Barera (talk) 16:30, 6 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the barnstar. Didn't know we had a Wikipedian in Residence at the Ford Library. I spent many hours next door at the Bentley in ancient times -- before Wikipedia or even the internet were even a dream. Also nice to see that there's a Michigan Wikpedians club. We could certainly benefit from development of University-related topics on Wikpedia. Cbl62 (talk) 05:50, 7 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You are very welcome: you deserve it! Also, you're more than welcome to join the Michigan Wikipedians. We have a number of former members who are no longer on campus but are still active on Wikipedia, and as I'm sure you know distance has never prevented collaboration on this site! Also, if you're ever in Ann Arbor, feel free to stop by one of our weekly meetings: we meet every Thursday night that school is in session from 8-9pm in 4041 Shapiro. Happy editing and Go Blue! Michael Barera (talk) 06:01, 7 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The DYK project (nominate) 00:23, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

Thanks! Michael Barera (talk) 14:21, 12 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Well done Michael; a nice article. Arbitrarily0 ^(talk) 03:22, 16 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, thanks: sooner or later, we're going to have a Wikipedia article for every Michigan varsity sport! Michael Barera (talk) 03:29, 16 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Worked on it in your sandbox. Feel free to move to regular space anytime. We can keep tweaking it. Bdcousineau (talk) 21:02, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks so much! When I have a bit more time (hopefully tonight), I'll look it over and then move it to the Outreach wiki. Have a great weekend! Michael Barera (talk) 21:55, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I've finally finished it and moved it to the Outreach wiki (here is the page and here it is in a list with other GLAM case studies). Feel free to make any changes as you see fit. Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Michael Barera (talk) 05:15, 17 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

thanks for all your work and input. Bdcousineau (talk) 00:06, 18 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

My pleasure! Michael Barera (talk) 00:37, 18 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the explanation on how the wiki 'Category' system works. Perfectly logical. Michener david (talk) 16:36, 18 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You are most welcome. Also, thank you for stopping by to chat! Michael Barera (talk) 16:53, 18 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

May I get in contact with you regarding the diagram of the Virginia Plan on the "Virginia Plan" page? Where did that diagram come from? Who made it? For what reason did they make it? Also, in the top left corner it says, "Initiate, pass, and overturn veXAto." Why is there an "XA" in the middle of the word "veto?" It looks pretty professional, but I want to find the source, so I know it's reliable. Avanwagner (talk) 10:37, 16 April 2013 (UTC)AVW[reply]

Thanks for stopping by. The only relation that I have to the image is that I transfered it from English Wikipedia to Wikimedia Commons because it is a free image and can do more good on Commons than just here (as you can see, since it was moved a couple new language versions have been created, in Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese, respectively). Regarding your question about where the diagram came from and who made it, it was created by a Wikipedian, User:Publius97 (apparently with the real name of Adam Shane). Presumably he made it to illustrate the Wikipedia articles on the Virginia Plan and the Constitutional Convention (note that he also made other similar diagrams for the other plans), but I can only speculate and you'll have to ask him directly to get the real answers. The "XA" looks like some sort of typo or corruption, but again I'm only speculating. As I said before, I only transfered this file from Wikipedia to Commons, so I don't know anything about its creation or other such details. Sorry I can't be of any more help: like I already mentioned, however, I think you should ask Publius97 about it. Take care and thanks for the chat! Michael Barera (talk) 15:46, 16 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm hopeless when it comes to Photoshop and whatnot, and even a simple crop makes me dizzy. It's a heck of a lot better than what was there. Appreciate it. NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 17:39, 9 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, thanks! I actually used Cropbot on Wikimedia Commons, which has its own interface that makes cropping photos much easier than it used to be. And thanks again for writing that article on the Intrepid RM-1. Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 16:35, 10 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Since I see you've worked on history of the hamburger, please accept this one in recognition of your work at Vladivostok Summit Meeting on Arms Control. I've left some suggestions for revision at the GA review page; though it doesn't seem to meet some of the criteria at this time, I hope you'll rework and renominate soon. Thanks, and eat hearty! There's more where this came from. -- Khazar2 (talk) 02:39, 16 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the thought and the review. I don't think I'm the one to re-write the article, though: I'm too close to the original version and too far from the requisite secondary sources. Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 13:14, 16 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the photo. Over the next week, we'll be seeing articles on the DYK portion of the main page featuring about 15 persons associated with UM softball. Amanda Chidester is up now with Tiffany Haas on deck, Gloria Soluk in the hole, and Haylie Wagner due up after that. If you have other UM softball images, feel free to post them! Cbl62 (talk) 02:12, 15 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Pollyanna Johns Kimbrough also nominated from the women's basketball team. Cbl62 (talk) 02:14, 15 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Very cool! If it is of any use, I have this from women's basketball and this from softball (both from earlier this year). Very few of the images center on a single player (or coach), but you may want to consider cropping derivative images from them. All the best! Michael Barera (talk) 02:51, 15 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Would you happen to have any photographs to accompany this one: Template:Did you know nominations/Michigan Wolverines women's volleyball? Cbl62 (talk) 21:54, 16 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, I do: here, in my gallery on Commons (and in this accompanying category). I hope you find something that you like: I pulled out this one for my "showcase", but if you like another one better feel free to use it. Also, thanks so much for working on writing all these wonderful U of M athletics articles! From a Michigan student, it is much appreciated. Go Blue! Michael Barera (talk) 23:36, 16 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Happy First Edit Day, Michael Barera, from the Wikipedia Birthday Committee! Have a great day!

TheFlyingFoot (talk) 08:35, 9 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed! By abandoning your past life you became quite young. Hope you are well, Arbitrarily0 ^(talk) 11:44, 9 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, thanks so much TheFlyingFoot and Arbitrarily0! My First Edit Day was great: I decided to celebrate by going to the University of Michigan's North Campus and taking photos for Wikimedia Commons (visible now, subject to upload time). Thanks for your kind thoughts and wishes. All the best to you too! Michael Barera (talk) 20:49, 9 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited County Farm Park, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Yellow Coneflower (check to confirm | fix with Dab solver). Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 11:30, 26 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the heads-up, but I'm not sure which species is referred to by the source, which only uses the common English name "Yellow Coneflower". Sorry. Michael Barera (talk) 14:59, 26 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Graeme Bartlett (talk) 00:05, 30 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you: the recognition is much appreciated! Michael Barera (talk) 00:27, 30 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

All your photos are very dark because the camera has read the sky rather than the foliage.

Do you have "Photoshop"? If so, run the photos through it. Go to "Enhance" option. Ignore "Auto Contrast" etc, and go to "Adjust Lighting"- "Shadows and Highlights". The pic may adjust automatically. If it doesn't, then use the "Shadows" slide. The sky will stay the same, but all the foliage will leap into view. Don't overdo it.

If you don't have this facility, let me know. I am a little hesitant to process large files as my connection isn't good. Amandajm (talk) 03:16, 30 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the tip, Amandajm. I'm actually a GIMP user, but I'm sure I can find its version of "Shadows and Highlights". I'll see what I can do... Michael Barera (talk) 03:34, 30 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm practicing now in GIMP, and I think I've found the right tool: "White Balance" (not "Color Enhancer", which looks overdone, as you warned me about). I should have some time tomorrow for fixing these photos and then uploading the results: at that point, I'd love your feedback. I want to make the photos look as good as I can. Thanks! Michael Barera (talk) 03:52, 30 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Update: I think I've fixed the coloration on all of my County Farm Park photos. You can see them all together here, in a gallery on Wikimedia Commons. Let me know if this does the trick: I certainly think that they look better than they did, but I'm not sure if this is what you had in mind. Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 13:24, 30 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! Thanks for getting back to me.

Your program, which I suppose you used on automatic, has not picked up the tonal discrepancy. I fixed the lead pic using Photoshop, and this how it came out. I have the option to make the tones if the foliage lighter. Notice how much detail is present in the pic. It's a really good picture, once the tone is adjusted. But you can't use the automatic settings, because they generally just make darker things darker and lighter things lighter, which means that your clouds get bleached and the trees become a black blob.

Would you like me to work on the other pictures in the article? I've got to finish Michelangelo first. I suggest that you fiddle around with your editor, using pics that don't matter much, in case you accidentally save something that you don't want.

• If your program doesn't recognise shadows (which is an advantage of Photoshop) then you have to select the areas that you want to adjust. You might have a tool labelled as a selector/edge-finder which can mark the areas you want (all the dark ones) and recognise the border between trees and sky, and grass and path.
• Having selected just the dark areas, you then do a tonal adjustment, and the lighter parts will become more visible. Try to do a manual adjustment rather than automatic, as it nearly always works best.
• Tonal adjustment will give you two options: Lighten/darken which effects the whole part selected, and Contrast which increases the darkness/brightness of the darkest and lightest parts within you selection.
• In this case the steps are: 1. Select all the foliage, including the flowers. 2. Lighten everything in your selection 3. increase the tonal contrast which will make the dark shadows under the trees and bushes darker, and make the highlights on the leaves, and the flowers lighter and brighter.

Hope that this is helpful. Practice makes perfect! Amandajm (talk) 05:02, 31 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

For the moment at least, I can't figure it out in GIMP. I'm going to go back to all the photos that I color adjusted and return them to their original states. For the future, I think my photos should be color adjusted on an as-needed basis: please feel free to overwrite the original files. Michael Barera (talk) 14:22, 31 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The DYK project (nominate) 16:02, 7 September 2013 (UTC)

Thanks! Michael Barera (talk) 12:13, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Greetings Michael Barera! I noticed that you made mention of the University of Michigan or Ann Arbor on your userpage. If you are a current student, faculty, or other affiliate at the University of Michigan, I would like to welcome you, on behalf of the Michigan Wikipedians, to our next weekly meeting on Monday September 30 (and every Monday thereafter). The meetings are held at 8:00 PM (EDT) in the University of Michigan Shapiro Library, room 4041. New and experienced editors alike are most welcome. Do not hesitate to leave me a message if you have any questions, and feel free to stop by the MWiki talk page. The Michigan Wikipedians are excited to meet you! Arbitrarily0 ^(talk) 00:18, 24 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Count me in, haha! Michael Barera (talk) 00:22, 24 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

	The Original Barnstar
	Nice article at County Farm Park. Bearian (talk) 18:20, 24 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the barnstar, Bearian! That was very kind of you! Michael Barera (talk) 18:31, 24 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Greetings Michael Barera! The Michigan Wikipedians is currently conducting a roll call to ascertain which of its members are still active. If you are still an active Michigan Wikipedian, please go to our members list and move yourself from into the active members subsection at the top of the page. On November 1st, all of the members who have not moved themselves into the active members subsection will be renamed inactive members. Even after November 1st, however, any editor can move himself or herself from inactive to active status. Thank you for your participation in the Michigan Wikipedians. As always, you are more than welcome to participate with us, either in person or remotely via the Internet. Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 00:40, 1 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Just making sure this works... Michael Barera (talk) 00:41, 1 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! I'm interested in attending a Michigan Wikipedians meeting. However, I need a clarification about the meeting time/location: the MLibrary Guide says that you meet Thursday at 8:00PM in Room 4041 of Shapiro Library, but your group page says you meet every Monday at 8:00PM at the Language Resource Center in the basement of North Quadrangle. I assume that since the Monday edit was made in September 2013, you now meet in NQ? Thanks! Stara729 (talk) 21:14, 23 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, Stara729, we now meet in the Language Resource Center in the basement of North Quad at 8pm every Monday. This was a change that was just made this September for logistical reasons. Please, feel free to join us at any (or all) of our meetings. Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 23:07, 23 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! What sort of things do you do at meetings, anyway? I'm quite curious :) Stara729 (talk) 02:15, 24 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It depends. Sometimes it is low-key, just editing Wikipedia together in a friendly and collaborative environment. Sometimes we put together presentations or mini-workshops, and we are preparing a topical series that is open to the public for the rest of this semester on the first Monday of each month. The first will be November 4 on the subject of creating an account and learning how to edit, while the second will be on December 2, possibly on uploading images to Wikimedia Commons. We are small and flexible, however, so we'd be very open to your suggestions if there is something that you'd like to see at one of our meetings. Michael Barera (talk) 02:52, 24 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! I think I will try to come to the next meeting. I'm actually using Wikipedia as a social media study for one of my classes, and I think this would be helpful as a supplement. Plus, I think I need to learn more about Wikipedia beyond the basics. Stara729 (talk) 16:18, 24 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That sounds fantastic! We look forward to seeing you this upcoming Monday. We'll probably spend most of our time planning for the next week's seminar/workshop, but feel free to push us in other directions if there is something you want to work on or are especially interested in. Michael Barera (talk) 20:31, 24 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael, this tutorial is really funny and interesting! Inmaalei (talk) 21:58, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! Michael Barera (talk) 21:59, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael, this tutorial is useful! Bingjiex (talk) 01:47, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I'm glad you found it of value! Michael Barera (talk) 03:37, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael, I Am trying to add an image from Geograph to a wikepedia page. I noticed that a 'bot' you have made this https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bromley_War_Memorial_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2561383.jpg available to wiki ! How do I get other images from the same date onto Wiki Commons and (therfore onto Wiki (such as http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2561381 ??) DavidAnstiss (talk) 17:47, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

First of all, check out this on Wikimedia Commons: there is a whole project dedicated to importing all of the wonderful Geograph (or at least many, many of them) into Commons. If you're looking to do a whole bunch of images, I'd suggest connecting with them. If you're only going to do a few and it would be easier to do them one at a time, however, I'd recommend using the old-fashioned "basic" upload form (make sure you're logged in on Commons, otherwise it won't work) and pasting in all the code from a sample, relevant file on Commons (or perhaps the one you mentioned, although it is not templated as well), and then just changing all of the fields that need changing. Hopefully this helps. If you have any further questions, or need clarification, please don't hesitate to ask. Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 23:21, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your note and barnstar; it was most kind of you. It's been real fun writing the last batch of articles, particularly all the domes about which there was scattered information but not a lot of depth. Best, Mackensen (talk) 01:48, 13 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You are more than welcome: you deserve it, Mackensen! Thanks again for all your hard work and the wonderful content that you've created and shared with us all. Michael Barera (talk) 01:52, 13 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for creating The Land of Sunshine, Michael Barera!

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Thanks, Tritario! Michael Barera (talk) 18:10, 15 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The DYK project (nominate) 16:02, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

Thanks! Michael Barera (talk) 16:10, 17 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It was great meeting and chatting with you. We all learned a lot, and there's definitely interest in figuring out how to move forward with the information you gave us. I'd personally love to continue the discussion as I think of new ways of implementing Wikipedia into my own work, but I may be in touch about larger efforts if anything develops. Bdleaf (talk) 16:45, 10 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That sounds great, Bdleaf. Please feel free to contact me for any reason regarding a Wikipedian in Residence at Ohio State, or any other reason, and I will be more than happy to help in any way that I can. Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 22:57, 10 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Michael, I have a question about an image I uploaded to Commons this evening https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Patshotdog.jpg. The photo was taken by a personal friend who consented to me uploading to Wikimedia over email. How should I represent this so that the file is kosher? Right now I am using the Atribution tag. Adam Kriesberg (talk) 03:08, 13 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It is good to hear from you again, Adam! Regarding the image, I believe you need to go through OTRS. I've never done it before myself, but I believe you need to send an e-mail to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org identifying both the specified image (File:Patshotdog.jpg) and the e-mail consent that your friend sent to you. Note that there is an estimated backlog of 10 days, so be patient with the process. If you have any specific questions about OTRS, I will probably not be able to answer them, so you should probably contact the OTRS team directly. I hope that this helps. Michael Barera (talk) 04:07, 13 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Michael, just wanted to say thanks for creating the WikiHouse article. Much appreciated! Tav (talk) 01:46, 20 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

My pleasure, Tav! Thanks for jumping in and improving the article and, more importantly, working on the team that has made WikiHouse a reality. It is a really, really cool idea. I read Rupert Goodwins' article about it in the January 2014 issue of Popular Science earlier this week, and I was blown away by the idea and the team. After discovering that there wasn't a Wikipedia article on it, I decided to change that as quickly as I could! Thanks again for all your hard work on this project, and the very best of luck going forward. Michael Barera (talk) 02:08, 20 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 00:32, 22 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Michael Barera (talk) 03:16, 22 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]