Greetings KPAC Members…
At the request of your Competitions Director, Wyanne Chase, I have been exploring the feasibility of online voting for photo competitions. At this point in time, I cannot see this being a viable option for CAPA Selection…at least not with the strict rules currently in place. However, I do believe there are other options that could prove to be very beneficial — and FUN — for all members who might wish to participate. Maybe sometime down the road, CAPA might develop an appropriate plugin for all the WordPress sites now in use by clubs across Canada. Until then…
I am suggesting that the “People’s Choice Awards” approach might be one way to handle online voting. For one thing it removes the need for strict voting rules, but allows participants to receive feedback about their images. In addition, comments can be added by clicking the “speech bubble” icon below each image.
This is all just experimental and open to suggestions. As a start, I have created three examples of what could be done with this plugin (Click Contest Gallery to learn more about this plugin). I you wish, you can explore other options with a simple Google search: wordpress contest plugins. I chose this one (and Wyanne agrees) because it appears to provide the best options at the best price: Basic is Free and Pro – $39USD. This is a one time fee and includes ongoing updates…quite unusual these days.
IF the club wishes to pursue this, I would strongly recommend the Pro version. Here are a few important benefits of going Pro:
- Only allow registered users to see the gallery
- Auto forward to page after Login
- Set contest Start and End times
- Users have to be registered and logged in to be able to vote
- Users WordPress ID based voting – uncheatable
- Control voting: limits, timing intervals…
- Only registered users can upload images (optional)
Gallery Samples
GALLERies > MEMBER > VALERIE RAMPONE
I hope you don’t mind Valerie, but, at the time of setting this up, you where the last person to update your members gallery and this is exactly the idea: That members could have their gallery — or selected images, posted here for feedback when they refresh an existing gallery or add one for the first time. This example is similar to getting “Likes” on Facebook, just a single star voting system with the option of comments for each photo.
GALLERIES > SHOWCASE > REFLECTIONS
Showcase galleries tend to be quite large (100+ images) and this could present a problem here. I’m finding that a suitable restriction might be 20-30 images per gallery. Therefore I suggest that each member might choose just 1 or 2 favourites from their 6 Showcase images to submit to the contest. This could take place after the Showcase evening which might influence their choice of photos to submit. This gallery is set up as a 5 Star rating for each image.
GALLERIES > CAPA SELECTION > THEME: OPEN 2010
These are the actual images submitted for selection back in 2010 . It might be an interesting exercise to have people vote online and compare the results to the actual voting for that competition. For sure, you would want to be able to have more control over voting for a more serious competition such as this, so the Pro version would be a must (See above).
Notice in this gallery I have left the option to upload images directly to the gallery: the large “Up-arrow” icon. This may not be desirable, but I just want to display this option — try it out if you wish. However be certain to reformat images precisely as requested: Fits 800×600 and max 250KB.
GENERAL COMMENTS
Why a new site: https://contests.kamloopsphotoarts.ca?
- This sub-domain is an independent site that will only be accessible through a menu link on the main site: CLUB MEMBERS > KPAC CONTESTS. Or by using the new URL. Either way, a password will be required to enter.
- Notice the link on this page: KPAC. This takes you back to the main site. Once you have logged in here you may not have to re-enter the password if you return as the site recognizes your IP address.
- With this gallery all images uploaded go into the sites Media Library. This could be very problematic if hosted on the main KPAC site.
- If the registration option is used, all users are registered as special WordPress “Subscribers” called “Contest Gallery User”. This user role has access only to the galleries and not the Backend. However, this too, could be problematic if it were set up on the main site.
- Click LOGIN to see the Login/Registration options. These are active but so far as I can tell it serves no purpose with the Basic version. It would allow more control if applied however with the Pro version. Do try it out!
- Having a separate site also allows for better privacy restrictions via the sign in currently active. This site is also blocked from Google and other search engines and will not be indexed.
Please direct comments and/or suggestions to Wyanne or Marian. This can be facilitated via INFORMATION > ABOUT US > KPAC EXECUTIVE
Harvey Dalley – KPAC Site Administrator