Fotopedia

{{Short description|Former online photo encyclopedia}}

{{Infobox website

| name = Fotopedia

| logo = File:Logo fotopedia.png

| screenshot = File:Fotopedia new screenshot.png

| caption = Fotopedia's landing page since the site's closure.

| collapsible = no

| url = [http://www.fotopedia.com/ www.fotopedia.com]

| type = Photo/Encyclopedia

| registration = optional

| owner = Fotonauts, Inc.

| language = English

| founded = October 10, 2008

| launch_date = June 9, 2009

| current_status = Closed

| content_license = Creative Commons or All Rights Reserved

}}

File:Www.fotopedia.com screenshot 3oct2010.png

Fotopedia was a photo encyclopedia that, as of August 2011, had generated more than 51,000 pages and linked to over 755,000 photos.

Fotopedia was launched in June 2009 by five former Apple employees: Jean-Marie Hullot, Bertrand Guiheneuf, Manuel Colom, Sébastien Maury and Olivier Gutknecht.{{cite news|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/web/newsletter_exemple/0,30-0,62-1243954@60-7@45-2,0.html|title=The Monde.fr: Checklist|date=29 September 2009|newspaper=Le Monde|language=French}}

Members could create photo-driven articles which include Wikipedia and Google Maps information.{{cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2009/06/09/fotonauts-emerges-from-its-cocoon-as-interactive-web-based-fotopedia/|title=Fotonauts Emerges From Its Cocoon As Interactive, Web-Based Fotopedia|author=Leena Rao|date=June 9, 2009|newspaper=Tech Crunch}} They were able to add a limited number of photos per day resulting in a high quality selection of photos.{{cite web|url=http://mashable.com/2009/06/09/fotopedia/|title=Fotopedia: An Online Encyclopedia for Photos|author=Jennifer Van Grove|date=9 June 2009|publisher=Mashable}} The range of topics varied widely from precise locations, music bands or species to countries and famous people.{{cite web|url=http://www.fotopedia.com/help/basics|title=Help - Fotopedia|publisher=Fotopedia|access-date=2010-06-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620064930/http://www.fotopedia.com/help/basics|archive-date=2010-06-20|url-status=dead}} As well as taking part in the encyclopedia, professional and amateur photographers on Fotopedia could create albums to display their works, use Wikipedia articles to add context and to advertise popular albums. Fotopedia also had several social networking features, such as a profile page and ability to interact with other users and content.

Fotopedia supported Creative Commons licenses, enabling photos to be reused throughout the encyclopedia.{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/5284577/fotopedia-creates-a-wikipedia+inspired-online-photo-encyclopedia|title=Fotopedia Creates a Wikipedia-Inspired Online Photo Encyclopedia|publisher=LifeHacker}} Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons, was a board member.{{cite news|url=http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Fotopedia-Launches-the-Worlds-First-Collaborative-Photo-Encyclopedia-1001600.htm|title=Fotopedia Launches the World's First Collaborative Photo Encyclopedia|author=Stephanie Schlegel|date=June 9, 2009|location=Palo Alto|newspaper=Marketwire}}

On July 31, 2014, Fotopedia announced it would be discontinued. Users had until August 10, 2014 to retrieve their data. After that, all data was deleted from the server. As a reason for the site's discontinuation, the founders listed that they believed "there [was no] suitable business in [the concept of storytelling] yet."{{cite web|url=http://blog.fotopedia.com/fotopedia-shutdown/|title=Fotopedia is shutting down|author=The Fotopedia team|date=July 31, 2014|accessdate=July 31, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140731151855/http://blog.fotopedia.com/fotopedia-shutdown/|archive-date=July 31, 2014|url-status=dead}} Three days before the deadline, the Evernote Corporation announced that users could sync their existing Fotopedia material with Evernote before the shutdown, free of charge.{{cite web|last1=Dove|first1=Jackie|title=Evernote offers a free safe haven for Fotopedia images|date=8 August 2014|url=https://thenextweb.com/creativity/2014/08/08/evernote-offers-free-safe-haven-fotopedia-images/|publisher=thenextweb.com|accessdate=23 October 2014}}

The Archive Team made a backup available on archive.org.{{cite web|url=http://archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Fotopedia|title=Fotopedia|author=Archive Team|date=16 August 2014}}{{cite web|url=https://creativecommons.org/2014/08/09/fotopedia-closes-but-cc-licensed-photos-live-on/|title=Fotopedia closes, but CC-licensed photos live on|author=elliot|date=August 9, 2014}} However, the pictures are not directly displayed, but assembled within archive files that need to be downloaded and extracted. The software used to copy the pictures from fotopedia.com to archive.org is available on GitHub.{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/ArchiveTeam/fotopedia-grab|title=Fotopedia-grab|date=30 January 2021}}