All,
Please note that the Steward elections for the second half of 2011 is
beginning in Meta Wiki. If you wish to nominate yourself as a candidate,
please read the guidelines carefully. It is mandatory that you should be
18 or older and have a three months of admin experience to be a candidate.
Candidate should also be willing to identify themselves to the foundation as
well. Please read the Guidelines page listed below for all requirements.
Candidate submissions are open from 21 August 2011, 00:00 until 7 September
2011, 23:59 (UTC). Questions to the candidates can be submitted until 14
September 2011, 23:59 (UTC). The voting will begin on 15 September 2011,
00:00 and end 6 October 2011, 23:59 (UTC). Candidates must meet the criteria
and obtain at least 30 votes in favor with an 80% support ratio.
You are welcome to help with translations as well.
More information on the links below:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewardshttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/elections_2011-2http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/elections_2011-2/Guidelines
Kindly reach out to me or one of the election committee members should you
have any questions.
Regards,
Jyothis.
Hi,
I'm sorry but the influx of mail is a little too much for me. Can you unsubscribe me from
everyday updates and only have me on for important ones? If that's not possible then please
take me off all together.
Thanks.
Kartik mani
India Loves Wikipedia 100 days of photos collecting online event.
*794 *photos are in Commons in 7 days .... *Hip hip hurray...**
*http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:India_loves_Wikipedia-_2011For
the photographs you upload please add the following template *{{India loves
Wikipedia event}}*
Naveen Francis
Wiki outreach Team
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConference_India_2011/Wiki_Outreach
Hiya,
This is to announce Mumbai Meetup XII will take place on Saturday 20th August 2011 at 4pm (Day After Tomorrow). Venue:
ABC Paradigms - 311, 3rd Floor, Parvati Complex, Sun Mill Compound,
Lower Parel (Opposite Phoenix Mills). Nearest Railway Station is Lower
Parel (Western Line).
Agenda:
Introductions & General Discussions.Update on India Programs (including Education Programs) by Hisham Mundol, Coordinator India ProgramsIntroduction of Nikita Tandon, newly appointed Officer in Charge of Participation at Wikimedia India Programs (by Hisham Mundol, Coordinator India Programs)Updates on WikiConference India 2011 (scheduled to take place in November at Mumbai)
Preview of Oral Citations Project Video (To be confirmed)GLAM update
Despite extremely short notice we hope to see good attendance for this meet.
Kind Regards,
Dear Wikimedia India Members and Community,
The highlights of Chapter Update for July 2011 are given below.
Membership update
The membership stands at 67 as on 7 Aug 2011. Few analytics of the data are
given below.
*Gender *
Male membership is at 55 corresponding to 82% and Female membership is at 12
corresponding to 18%.
*Geographic location *
Maharashtra accounted for largest number of members at 26 followed by
Karnataka at 20 and Kerala at 8.
*Vocation *
Industry members are the highest at 23 followed by Student at 17 and
Academia at 9. Others category has 18.
*Preferred language as Editor *
English at 54 corresponding to 90% stands first followed by Malayalam 11 and
Hindi 6.
City/Language SIG
- City/language
subcommittee<http://members.wikimedia.in/City_and_Language_Special_Interest_Group_subcom…>formation
call (for members only) did not receive a good response. Mumbai
and Sanskrit communities showed some interest and had proposals for
respective Chairs.
- Chapter would like to clarify that SIGs are critical to promote wiki
projects in their respective areas. SIG Chairs would work closely with
Chapter EC in getting necessary support for the activities and they are
expected to play a key role in india wide events like Wiki Conference India.
As the membership base is low currently as per the analysis in the previous
section, there could be some issues in forming a group of members interested
in SIG, but we do hope that these SIGs will be strengthened in due course.
Aditional clarity on role and responsibility will emerge as we work with
these groups. Chapter encourages members to associate with one or more SIGs.
EC Elections
A committee called Nominations Committee consisting of Achal Prabhala,
BalaSundara Raman Lakshmanan and Pradeep Mohandas is appointed to conduct EC
elections. More details on the process and dates will be communicated
shortly by them.
Events
Wikimedia Chapter organised its first public event on 30 July 2011. The
title of the event was Copyright and open licensing
seminar<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Events/Copyright_and_Open_Licensing_Seminar>.
Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Pranesh Prakash and Dhanish covered the entire breadth
and depth of Copyrights and licensing aspects.
Sudhir explained the abstracted Copyright as a way to regulate information
flow. Reproduction of content without attribution is called as plagiarism.
In academic world, reproduction of 5 word or more in sequence without
acknowledgement of the original source will be termed plagiarism. In open
communities like Wikimedia projects, social form of preventing plagiarism is
practised. He highlighted that Art instruction rests on copying. To a
question on whether Census map reuse in Wikimedia projects will violate
copyright, he clarified that Copyright applies to works created by
Government agencies, hence it is better to get approval from the relevant
authorities. He shared his experience of how government denied reproduction
of NSSO data after extensive analytics. He clarified that the material
released by Press information or public relations department can be
reproduced for journalistic purpose, but it does not mean that the material
has become free of copyright.
Pranesh explained that Copyright originated when there was a need to control
printed documents, but was expanded to included any content on any media
subsequently. Copyright exceptions are provided to Libraries. He said
copyrights are not infringed as per US Copyright act, when the material is
copied for private study/use including research/criticism/review. He said
that even Gazette of GOI is copyrighted and not availble electronically for
public. He shared that Government authorities were planning to make the
Gazette available electonically soon. He shared that with the availability
of e-books, Libraries are also given special and limited licenses of copying
when they lend the books to their customers (Harper Collins gives license to
allow 27 copies). If the number of copies are used, library has to obtain
additional licenses from the vendor as the material is DRM protected. He
expressed his disappointment that GOI is planning to amend the copyright of
photographs to the same terms as books in terms of aligning with WIPO
expectations, although the move will not be beneficial for society at large.
Dhanish explained how creative commons allows the authors to license their
works as desired. So instead of "All rights reserved", it becomes "Some
rights reserved". Wikimedia projects follow CC-BY-SA along with GFDL license
for the content.
Chapter thanks Centre for Internet and Society for sponsoring this event.
Look forward to your continued support
Best,
On behalf of Wikimedia Chapter EC
Arjuna Rao Chavala
President
*Times of India : " Editing Wiki is now part of CoEP's syllabi"*
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Editing-Wiki-is-now-part-of-Co…
*PUNE: Over 800 students from seven engineering disciplines of the College
of Engineering Pune (CoEP) will now engage in editing Wikipedia pages, as a
mandatory activity for first semester of their B.Tech programme. *
*
*
*"Articles written by students for the web-based free content encyclopaedia,
will carry weightage in terms of internal evaluation at the end of
semester," said CoEP director Anil Sahasrabudhe on Wednesday. "The exercise
is aimed at developing research, writing and review skills, critical
thinking and collaborative work ethics among students," he said. *
*
*
*Students from mechanical, electrical, electronics and telecom, production,
computer, infotech and mathematics disciplines will work on select topics,
under the guidance of trained faculties, for writing articles. Most topics
relate to their respective engineering branches. *
*
*
*"In all, 843 students from seven disciplines and 10 courses have been
identified for the content writing activity. Details of topics have been
posted on the Wikipedia site, which can be accessed by going to search for
`WP:INDIAEDU' or `Wiki India Education Program'," said Sahasrabudhe. *
*
*
*Wikipedia, which ranks among the world's biggest and most referred
encyclopaedias, have signed an agreement with the CoEP to facilitate
training of students as well as faculty in content editing and article
writing aspects. *
*
*
*Incidentally, the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the online free
encyclopedia, has chosen Pune as the first place outside San Fransico, US,
for a pilot program in India that aims at promoting web-based free content
writing as a tool of learning in higher education. *
*
*
*"Apart from CoEP, we are working with the Symbiosis School of Economics;
Progressive Education Society's Modern College of Engineering; and Shrimati
Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) University," said Hisham Mundol,
Wikimedia's national programs consultant for India. *
*
*
*As of now, Wikipedia has over 400 million users worldwide including 8
million in India. The free encylopedia logs 12 billion page requests every
month. Yet, it presents a unique model of content development through
writing, editing and re-editing entirely by community members, who share a
strong passion for various subjects. *
*
*
*Mundol said, "The advent of internet has only ensured that accessing
information has become easier, but on the flip side, it has also given way
to intellectual laziness that was first recognised by professors and
teachers at leading US institutions in terms of paper writing by their
students. This also led to skepticism and hatred for the online
encyclopedia." *
*
*
*To dispel doubts, Wikimedia launched a pilot project called 'Public Policy
Initiative' to explore the potential of formally using Wikipedia as a
teaching and learning tool in higher education, he said. *
*
*
*"Professors at Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley and
Georgetown University, among other institutions, have implemented Wikipedia
into their class curricula, asking their students to create and improve
articles on the English-language Wikipedia. The success of this programme
prompted us to undertake similar projects elsewhere," he added.*
Regards
Tinu Cherian
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news#Aug_2011
Hiya,
Looking for a Social Media Partner for the WCI 2011, we have received one proposal and we would love to know if there are any others interested. For any details contact me by private email. Do get back to us by Friday 8PM (19August 2011) which is the deadline for sending in letters of interest/proposals.
Kind Regards,