The Church creates online and printed materials to help in its worldwide efforts to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. To be effective, these materials need great photos that bring them to life. But before these photos can be used, they must first be found.
“I know we have the photo I need, but I just can’t find it!” That’s hard to hear from a Church graphic designer, but it happens.
The Church has thousands of new photos coming in each year that can be used in gospel-sharing efforts. Every photo you have seen in Church websites, magazines, videos, and printed products was first searched for. You can help make them easier to find.
For a Church designer, finding the one needed photo out of hundreds of thousands can be impossible if the photo hasn’t been tagged with enough descriptive search words.
If each photo has been accurately tagged, great photos can be found for every Church need. The home page of ChurchofJesusChrist.org uses hundreds of photos each year. Each of those photos must be found by searching in the Church’s photo database.
To help make these photos findable, someone must look at each photo and tag it with words that can be used to search for it.
The Church has hundreds of thousands of photos that have no search words or too few words to make them easy to find, so they need to have more search words added to them.
Below is an example of the web page used to add tags to photos.
This service opportunity seems best suited to people who have a strong desire to help the Church share the gospel with the world, enjoy discovering the world through photos, are interested in serving from home, love making lists, have good vocabularies, have a wide variety of life experiences, and are detail oriented. While some people find this activity boring, others find it very interesting and fulfilling in providing a valuable service to the Church.
The secret to being a great photo tagger is to look at each photo and add words that you would use to find the photo if you were searching for it and avoid general words such as beautiful, lovely, or special.
Everyone can help. Those who help the most are members willing to become long-term volunteers or Church-service missionaries who come to the site often to tag photos.
These members sign up to serve for 12, 18, or 24 months.
For long-term volunteers, there is no set number of hours per week. Church-service missionaries are required to serve a minimum of 8 hours per week. The Church needs a dedicated group who can consistently and dependably tag photos. Sign up here to be a long-term volunteer or a Church-service missionary.
If being a long-term volunteer or Church-service missionary isn’t right for you, the Church needs members who can serve as they have time, even if it is for only 15 minutes. It is meaningful service that helps the Church. You can do it anytime you are looking for a way to serve. It is a great service activity on Sunday evenings or while watching television and can be done on your own, with someone else, or as a family with everyone suggesting search words.
Becoming a Long-Term Volunteer or Church-Service Missionary
Try the activity before applying—try it for a few hours per week for two weeks.
- For each photo that is displayed, add a title, a brief description, and search words you would use to search for the photo. Add tags for only the main subjects in each photo.
- If it is a poor photo, put the word delete in as a tag so we can look at it.
- We have two projects. You need an LDS Account to participate.
- Large project: 124,000 existing photos needing more tags. Try helping now.
- New photos every day. Try helping now.
- Click the Start Activity button.
- Click Submit.
Requirements
- Must be at least 18 years old.
- Choose to serve 12, 18, or 24 months.
- Have internet access.
- Use your own equipment.
- Church-service missionaries must serve a minimum of 8 hours per week and must be worthy of a temple recommend.
Expectations
- Regularly tag photos.
- Submit an activity report telling how many photos you have tagged and note any problems.
- As often as possible, attend monthly online webinars, which are held the fourth Tuesday of each month at 2:00 p.m. mountain daylight time (mountain standard time in the winter).
- If married, you can serve alone or with your spouse.
Ready to sign up?
If you are ready to be a long-term volunteer or a Church-service missionary, sign up here.
Just want to help but you are not ready to make a long-term commitment? Click here.
Answers to Common Questions
What will I be doing?
You will look at photos and type titles, descriptions, and words you would use to search for them.
How will my service make a difference?
Adding titles, descriptions, and photo tag search words to photos will help Church designers find photos they need for Church products that will be distributed worldwide.
Where are these images being used?
In everything the Church publishes. The photos will become part of a database used by Church designers in Church websites, videos, applications, and printed publications and by members in noncommercial lessons, websites, blog posts, family home evenings, and other projects.
How does adding photo tag search terms help the Church?
Adding search words makes the photos easier to find and be used by Church designers and members.
How many photos do I need to tag each week?
There is no set number you need to tag, but new photos are added each week, so the more you can do, the more it helps.
Why am I adding photo tags if the photographer has already added some?
There are times when photographers add search words, but not always. More search words are generally needed to make images easy to find. Each image has search words added by multiple volunteers to ensure completeness and accuracy.
What if I find a low-quality photo that should be deleted?
There are some low-quality photos that need to be removed from the database. You can help us find and get rid of low-quality photos by adding the word delete as a photo tag word.
How many photo tag search words should I add?
Add search terms for the main subjects depicted in the image. The number of search words will vary with each image, but typically a minimum of five words is needed. More words always help if they are specific.
What if I cannot think of any relevant photo tag words? Should I guess?
If you are not familiar with the subjects in the image, or cannot think of any search words, click Skip and a new image will appear. The skipped image will be viewed and completed by other volunteers. However, so that your effort is noted, you can type one of the same words as the photographer added so we can know how many people have looked at the photo.
Should I include adjectives as photo tags?
No. Avoid using adjectives to describe the photo. Instead, use nouns—names of places, events, buildings, and other main subjects in the photo.
Can I go back and add photo tag words to an image I have already done?
No. Once you have clicked on Submit & Advance you will not be able to return to that image.
What if I make a mistake? How do I delete an incorrect photo tag word?
Click the X to the right of the search word you want to delete. If it is on a photo you have already submitted, there is not a way to make corrections.
