Hello friends,
This is a link I recommend you to bookmark.
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Geographical_distribution_of_Indian_Wikipedians
This list is useful for outreach & also whenever someone needs Wiki-Help in
a particular city. It would be great if Wikipedians could update this
list.:)
We have the following completely unrepresented states/UTs:
* Andaman & Nicobar Islands
* Arunachal Pradesh
* Assam
* Chandigarh
* Chhattisgarh
* Dadra, Nagar & Haveli
* Daman & Diu
* Goa
* Himachal Pradesh
* Jammu & Kashmir
* Jharkhand (AngPradesh is in Mumbai)
* Lakshadweep
* Manipur
* Meghalaya
* Mizoram
* Puducherry
* Punjab (oye, ye ki hoya!)
* Nagaland
* Uttar Pradesh
* Uttarakhand
Okay, all you admins, please update your status (Mikey my boy, that means
you too)!
Abroad, we dont have Indic Wikipedians listed for:
* Africa
* Australia
* Asia (other than India)
* Middle East
* North America
* South America
Unless you would like to stay off list, of course that's acceptable too.
May I also request Tinu / list admins to please forward it all the Indic
language & city Wikimedia lists. We need this resource to be as
comprehensible as possible.
Warm regards,
Ashwin Baindur
------------------------------------------------------
Dear all,
On a casual request, I was prompted to support some of the tasks the
India Chapter and the India community would benefit together, and I decided
to take up the responsibility of creating profiles for the 'Featured
Wikimedian' section in the Wikimedia India Chapter
wiki<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Main_Page>.
This section aims to showcase the achievements of active Wikimedians who
have contributed significantly to the Wikimedia projects in English and/or
Indian languages. The featured profile for January is that of Mr. Balachandran
G <http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Featured_Wikimedian/Archive/2013//January> from
Malayalam Wikipedia.
If you know an inspiring Wikimedian whose profile hasn't been featured
yet, do let me know! Please also go through the profile of the featured
Wikimedian of this month and send your suggestions and comments for
improving this section.
Happy new year!
Regards
User: Netha Hussain
--
Netha Hussain
Student of Medicine and Surgery
Govt. Medical College, Kozhikode
Blogs : *nethahussain.blogspot.com
swethaambari.wordpress.com*
Apologies for the rant that follows and can be conveniently skipped by the
busy folks here.
I am quite intrigued by the kinds of discussion on this list and indeed
intrigued by most of the characters that seem to be involved in the
Wikimedia movement in India and how it stands out in contrast to the spirit
of Wikipedia and its sister projects. Whereas the project is more a culture
of giving, most of what we see here seems to be more about merely getting
things for oneself and getting ahead of each other which I suppose is
inspiration drawn from street traffic. Having observed the movement from
the outside, it is my hope that the best values of Wikipedia culture are
imbibed rather than the worst of Indian culture.
* Wikiculture - Deal with issues not the persons raising them - what
matters more than who. Those who actually interact with the *community* (an
earlier thread gave the suggestion that people would get an opportunity to
interact with the *community* only by attending Wikimania) on Wikipedia
will know this aspect. This is a symptom of the fact that hardly anyone out
here is really editing substantially.
* Wikiculture - Think independently and question everything - Wikipedia
achieved a lot and is interesting because it questions(or questioned)
paradigms that are (or were) taken for granted. It uses direct interaction,
direct democracy, rather than representatives. So voting people into
committees / positions that work in private is not the way things are done
here, it is by discussing ideas. Independence requires that you question
any sense of group identity.
* Wikiculture - Forsake cliques, identity traps and recognize in-out-group
dynamics. In particular I think much of the poverty of editing from India
comes from poor research driven by the idea that an "Indian" needs to
represent India-related Wikipedia entries in a (POV) way that apparently
instills pride among fellow-Indians!
* Wikiculture - Wiki is not paper, editors do not need an office, the best
community support is provided on-wiki. So again, why would having funds for
an office, 3 employees visiting that office each day (and adding to
Bangalore's traffic) help the Wikimedia movement? If something needs to be
organized, let leadership be elected on Wiki and let there be an grant such
as IEG on Wiki to support it. I have been quite intrigued by the idea of
Special Interest Groups being defined by many here by the language in which
they edit - one would expect SIGs to be subject dependent - so you could
have astronomers, law experts, literature experts, and so on with members
who work in multiple language mediums. There could be language specific
technical SIGs that work on IME, Unicode etc but what we see here instead
appears more like language chauvinism. Those professing to be subject
matter experts (and really ought to members of specific SIGs) out here seem
to contribute almost nothing to Wikipedia in their claimed area of
expertise - for instance there are quite a number of law experts in the
group and despite that, one finds that the law related articles, even on
the English Wikipedia quite atrocious. With the amount of money being
thrown here one would expect that at least something like the article on
the Indian Copyright Act to be a GA if not an FA (on the English WP).
I know that many of the people in the Wikimedia movement in India know each
other from before, have worked in the same NGOs or are good friends. That
is not to say that corporates and organizations across the world are devoid
of "old-school" connections but full disclosure would certainly be
appropriate here while not being disqualifying. I agree with the anonymous
commentator and would rather like to see issues being addressed just the
way Wikipedia works and not by Indian style ad hominem or argument from
authority.
In a somewhat Groucho-Marxian way I think an ideal club like the Wikimedia
India chapter should abhor club-mentality and should probably not want to
have me (or anyone) as an "exclusive" member. It should instead perhaps
consider everyone as a member. And for full disclosure - my political
leaning is obviously towards the anarchist-left-liberal end of the spectrum
unlike most of the Indian Wikipedian movement.
best wishes
Shyamal
en:User:Shyamal
N.A.Nazeer Participating in Malayalam Loves Wikimedia
3<http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLW3>,
the Photo Uploading Event as Solidarity to Free Knowledge Movement.
N.A.Naseer is Wildlife photographer and Nature conservation activist. He
is incessantly traveling in the forests of Kerala for the last 35 years.
In addition to Malayalam periodicals, he writes on wild life with
magnificent photographs, in magazines like Sanctuary Asia, Hornbill,
Frontline, Outlook, Traveller etc. He is a life member of Bombay Natural
History Society. He founded the Nature conservation society of
photographers. Also, a society for nature conservation and martial arts.
His book ' Woods and Photographer " on wild life, is the first of its kind
written in his mother tongue, Malayalam. It contains exciting real life
photographs of wild fauna of South India.The book was sold out in three
months .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N.A.Nazeerhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:N_A_Nazeer%27s_uploads(uploading
just started.
)
Joseph Lazer 's Clicks
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=250&off…>
Naseer's Website : http://www.nilgirimarten.com/
-FWD-
Subject: നസീറിന്റെ ചിത്രങ്ങൾ സ്വതന്ത്രലൈസൻസിൽ കോമൺസിലേക്ക്
To: Malayalam Wikimedia Project Mailing list <wikiml-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>,
Discussion list of Swathanthra Malayalam Computing <discuss(a)lists.smc.org.in
>
ഏവര്ക്കും ലോകഫോട്ടോഗ്രാഫി ദിനാശംസകള്.
*പ്രശസ്ത വന്യജീവിഫോട്ടോഗ്രാഫർ എൻ എ നസീറിന്റെ ചിത്രങ്ങൾ സ്വതന്ത്രലൈസൻസിൽ
വിക്കിമീഡിയ കോമൺസിലേക്ക്..*
മലയാളം വിക്കിമീഡിയ സമൂഹത്തിന്റെ ആഭിമുഖ്യത്തിൽ സംഘടിപ്പിക്കുന്ന മലയാളം
വിക്കിമീഡിയയെ <http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLW3>
<http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLW3>സ്നേഹിക്കുന്നു<http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLW3>എന്ന
ഫോട്ടോ അപ്ലോഡിങ് ഇവ
ന്റിൽ പങ്കെടുക്കുന്ന നൂറിലധികം വിക്കിമീഡിയ പ്രവർത്തകർക്ക് ഐക്യദാർഢ്യവുമായി
പരിസ്ഥിതിപ്രവർത്തകനും വന്യജീവിഫോട്ടോഗ്രാഫറുമായ എൻ എ നസീറും സുഹൃത്ത് ജോസഫ്
ലാസറും. 350 ലധികം ചിത്രങ്ങള് സ്വതന്ത്രലൈസന്സില് പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിക്കാനായി
മുന്നോട്ടുവന്നിട്ടുണ്ട്.
അപൂര്വ്വവും ഉയര്ന്ന റെസല്യൂഷനിലുള്ളതുമായ ഒരു പിടി ചിത്രങ്ങളാണ് ഇതിലൂടെ
പകര്പ്പാവകാശം സ്വതന്ത്രമായി നമുക്ക് ലഭ്യമാവുന്നത്. 350ലധികം ചിത്രങ്ങള്
(ഏകദേശം 2.8 ജിബി) ആണ് ഈ ഒരു ചിത്രങ്ങള് അപ്ലോഡ് ചെയ്യുന്ന
ഇവന്റിനെക്കുറിച്ച് പറഞ്ഞപ്പോള് എന്.എ നസീറും ജോസഫ് ലാസറും സംഭാവനയായി
ക്രിയേറ്റീവ് കോമണ്സില് പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിക്കാനായി ഏല്പ്പിച്ചത്. ഡാറ്റയുടെ
വലിപ്പം കുറച്ചധികമായതിനാല് അപ്ലോഡിങ്ങ് പതുക്കെയേ നടക്കുന്നുള്ളൂ.
ഇതുപോലുള്ളവരുടെ ചിത്രങ്ങള് കോമണ്സിലെത്തുന്നതോടെ വിക്കി സംരംഭങ്ങളിലേക്ക്
സംഭാവന ചെയ്യാനെത്തവരെ കൂടുതല് ഇതിലേക്ക് ആകര്ഷിക്കാനാകുമെന്ന്
പ്രതീക്ഷിക്കാം :)
ക്രിയേറ്റീവ് കോമണ്സ് ലൈസന്സില് പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിക്കാന് മൂന്നോട്ട് വന്നതിന്റെ
പിന്നില് ലൈസന്സിങ്ങിനെ ചുറ്റിപ്പറ്റി ഒരു സംഭവമുണ്ട്. എന് എ നസീറിന്റെ
ചിത്രങ്ങള് ആട്രിബ്യൂഷന് നല്കാതെ കേരളം വനം വകുപ്പ് മാഗസീനുകളില്
പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിച്ചതിനെ ചോദ്യം ചെയ്തപ്പോള് നസീറിനേയും കൂടെയുള്ള സംഘത്തേയും
നിയന്ത്രിയ്ക്കാനെന്നപ്പോലെ കാട്ടിലെ ഫോട്ടോഗ്രാഫി നിയന്ത്രണം
ഏര്പ്പെടുത്തിക്കൊണ്ട് ഉത്തരവ് ഇറങ്ങുകയും ഇതിനെതിരെ വലിയ
പ്രതിഷേധങ്ങളുണ്ടാക്കുകയും നടന്നിട്ടുണ്ട്.
സ്വതന്ത്രലൈസന്സില് പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിച്ച ഈ ചിത്രങ്ങളെല്ലാം ആട്രിബൂഷനോടെ
പുനരുപയോഗിക്കാനും ജനങ്ങളിലേക്ക് സ്വതന്ത്രമായി ഉപയോഗിക്കാനായി എത്തിച്ചേരാനും
ഇതുവഴി സാധിക്കും. നിങ്ങളുടെ ഫോട്ടോഗ്രാഫി സുഹൃത്തുക്കളോടും ഈ വിധത്തില്
ചിത്രങ്ങള് പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിക്കാമെന്നുള്ള ആശയത്തെക്കുറിച്ച് പങ്കുവയ്ക്കുമല്ലോ :)
ചിത്രങ്ങളുടെ അപ്ലോഡിങ്ങ് പൂര്ത്തിയായിട്ടില്ല. കാടകത്തിലെ ചിത്രങ്ങള്
താഴെയുള്ള ലിങ്കില് കാണാം
എന് എ നസീറിന്റെ ചിത്രങ്ങൾ
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:N_A_Nazeer%27s_uploads>
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=250&off…>ജോസഫ്
ലാസറിന്റെ ചിത്രങ്ങള് :(വര്ഗ്ഗം ഇപ്പൊ കാണാനില്ല.സായിപ്പ് നീക്കം ചെയ്തു.)
Manoj.K/മനോജ്.കെ
www.manojkmohan.com
"We are born free...No gates or windows can snatch our freedom...Use
GNU/Linux - it keeps you free."
*Times of India : "Tamil wikipedia tops charts" *
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Tamil-wikipedia-tops-charts…
With more than 56,000 articles, Tamil is the 60th most popular language in
the world when it comes to Wikipedia.
On Sunday, a group of contributors to the page gathered to celebrate its
10th anniversary at Anna University. In India, it is second to Hindi in the
number of articles.
"When it comes to the average word length of articles and the number of
references for each article, Tamil is ahead," says *Mayurnathan*, the first
contributor to Tamil Wikipedia in 2003. "When I began, I was the only one
writing for the page in the first eight months," he said.
Ten years on, there are 965 contributers, of which 300 are active at any
given point. "We have around 1.75 lakh page views everyday - this is more
than several other Tamil magazine websites," said Mayurnathan.
Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia available online to which anyone can
contribute and edit existing articles.
Wiktionary, a free dictionary has more than 35 lakh entries in 1,100
languages. Of this, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam have more than one lakh
entries each.
"Our presence is bound to get better as Tamil Virtual Academy has decided
to donate two lakh technical definitions," said *L Sundar*, another
contributor.
Regards
Tinu Cherian
press(a)wikimedia.in
Important Note : Non-commercial reproduction for informative purposes only.
The publisher ( Times of India ) of the above news article owns the
copyrights of the article / content. All copyrights are duly acknowledged.
*Times of India : "Snapshots of history: Global Wikipedia photo contest
sending Indians scouting for rare monuments"*
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Snapshots-of-history-Global-Wikipe…
On the pretext of a picnic, Gurgaon-based *Anupam Ganguly* recently took
his family out to a place called Gandhak Ki Baoli. The journey to this
medieval stepwell near Qutub Minar involved taking Google map printouts,
wading through a gridlock of slums, asking several apprehensive locals for
directions and assuring them that he wasn't part of an election campaign.
Over the past few months, Ganguly's wife has tolerated many such "picnics"
only because he has a legitimate reason. "I intend to explore unknown
monuments," says the business analyst, who has already submitted close to
1,400 pictures for a contest called 'Wiki Loves Monuments'. WLM is the
biggest global photo contest around monuments organized by Wikimedia
chapters and groups annually.
People are invited to upload images of monuments under a free licence for
use on Wikipedia. This year, with over 1,300 candidates and 10,000 photos,
India ranks eighth in terms of the number of entries submitted. "You need
not be a professional photographer to participate , just someone who
travels and takes pictures," says Mumbai-based *Karthik Nadar*, secretary
of the Wikimedia India chapter. "Uploading these photos can help
Wikipedia," he adds. Last year, in fact, it was a beautiful photograph of
the rear end of Taj Mahal taken on a cellphone that won Delhibased
schoolteacher *Narender Kumar Gautam* the sixth prize in the international
contest. "I wanted to capture a rare angle of the Taj Mahal," says Gautam,
who received a cash prize of Rs 20,000, a calendar and a certificate for
his only submission.
"It has increased my confidence and inspired me to do better," says Gautam,
who feels elated when friends recognize his photo online. However, the
prize is only a small part of the motivation. "Pictures tell a story beyond
words," says Delhi's *Nupur Rawal*, who submitted photos of monuments last
year to help people in other countries connect with India in a unique way.
"For instance, if a Japanese newspaper wants to write about Indian history,
they can go ahead and use my images because photos on Wikipedia have a
Creative Commons licence. This means they can be used freely," says Rawal.
Besides, the pursuit of rare slices of Indian history has led people like
Delhi-based *Ranjit Kumar* to explore the nooks of Chandni Chowk. "Everyone
has seen India Gate but very few outsiders have seen Ghalib Ki Haveli. I am
just trying to put a place that I love online," says Kumar. On the other
hand, Ganguly, who can now rattle off facts about little-known structures
such as Jamali Kamali mosque and Rajaon ki Baoli in Mehrauli, has now
developed an appreciation for Mughal architecture. He seeks out
documentaries on Indian history.
After the WLM contest closes on September 30, a jury of photographers and
Wikipedians will shortlist 10 photos for the international contest.
Ganguly, who was in the top 50 last year, says, "I want to be in the top 20
this time." This means a few more family picnics.
Regards
Tinu Cherian
press(a)wikimedia.in
Important Note : Non-commercial reproduction for informative purposes only.
The publisher ( Times of India ) of the above news article owns the
copyrights of the article / content. All copyrights are duly acknowledged.
For the love of Konkani: Preserving Goa's official language
http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/1895382/report-for-the-love-of-konkani-pr…
With many local dialects on the brink of extinction, Joanna Lobo meets the language conservationists who have taken it upon themselves to preserve Goa's official language.
Social networking site Orkut may have lost its lustre but digging through its remnants throws up a group called Aamchigele Bindaas Community (ABC). It was started to bring together Konkani-speaking people across the world.
The group is now active on Facebook under the name Broad Minded Konkanis (BMK), where people post queries about Konkani words and phrases. "This group has helped members understand the language to a great extent,” says Rajanikanth Shenoy Kudpi, founder and one of the administrators of the 160-member group. BMK has members from Saraswat, Catholic Christian, Bunt, Navayat Muslim, Jain and other communities, who speak Konkani.
“Konkani as a language will definitely be rejuvenated if contemporaries and scholars put in consistent efforts,” says Kudpi.
One such effort was a recent four-day workshop organised by the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) and Access to Knowledge (A2K) for the students of Goa University and St.
Xavier’s College. “We want to strengthen the Konkani Wikipedia,” says Nitika Tandon, program manager, CIS-A2K.
Tandon quotes the Census Department of India 2001 figures that puts Konkani speakers at 24 lakh but adds that limited documentation is available online.
However, opinion is divided over the language's fate. “I don’t think it's dying,” says Roshan Pai, founder, savemylanguage.org. Pai started the website, a Konkani dictionary that documents the language spoken by the GSB community in and around Mangalore, in 2005
The site is dependent on volunteer contributions — people send in meanings of various words that are validated by others, who also put in different uses or meanings of the words. All the 17,528 words collected (belonging to GSB dialects in Mangalore, Goa, Kerala and Cochin) are stored online.
One of the major factors behind people talking about saving a language has to do with its links to culture. “It is the essence of life and contains a lot of information that has been passed on through the generations,” says Gurudath Baliga, assistant director at World Konkani Centre, Mangalore.
The centre works towards preserving the language by empowering the community that speaks it through tech-related grassroot activities, documenting folklore, appointing teachers in different schools and publishing books. The centre is now working on Konkanverter.com, an in, catholic Christian, ter script translator, and World Konkani Archives, that will serve as a repository for all data and text. With such initiatives, the language is in safe hands.
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
Konkani Wikipedia in the making
http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/konkani-wikipedia-in-the-making/…
Process of uploading the four volumes of Konkani encyclopaedia will be completed in six months’ time
The Goa University has re-launched a four-volume Konkani Vishwakosh (Konkani encyclopaedia) and announced its plan to upload the same on Wikipedia so as to build the Konkani Wikipedia.
The project is seen as a major stride in Konkani learning, research and production of books. The project, which will involve 42 students of the Konkani Department of Goa University including four designated as Ambassadors of Konkani, will turn students into producers of knowledge rather than mere consumers of knowledge. The University has signed a three-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) for building up the Konkani Wikipedia.
“Wikipedia is a global phenomenon and a platform to bring people together for making creative activities possible, which in fact, has challenged the monopoly of publishers and created a movement in order to put together knowledge, further making it accessible to public,” said Satish Shetye, Vice-Chancellor of Goa University, speaking at the launch of the project.
Narrating how the project began, Registrar of Goa University V. P. Kamat explained that Mr. Satish Shetye, who took over as Vice-Chancellor over a year ago, happened to notice the huge piles of hardbound volumes of the Konkani encyclopaedia stacked in the Goa University library and wished to digitise the manuscripts and re-launch the encyclopaedia. The idea to upload the whole content on Wikipedia was thus born.
The work for the Konkani encyclopaedia project was commissioned during the tenure of the first Vice-Chancellor B. Sheik Ali. The project was seen as a historical step to document the identity of the State and its people and the history of Goa for posterity. University insiders, however, said that no serious efforts were made to take the invaluable research work undertaken beyond the University. Secondly, because of the lack of human resource and funds, no initiative was taken so far to update these volumes.
Initiative
Prof. Shetye took a proactive initiative and tied up with Access to Knowledge Programme of the CIS. The four volumes of the 3,632 page Konkani encyclopaedia are being released under Creative Commons License CC-BY-SA 3.0 to support the movement of open knowledge and open access.
Programme Director at CIS’s Access to Knowledge Programme Vishnu Vardhan said that the process of uploading the four volumes of Konkani encyclopa edia on Wikipedia would be completed in six months’ time. He also stressed on the need to rewrite some of the articles in the encyclopaedia so as to make the content more relevant.
Students of the University involved in digitisation work and rewriting the content see this as an opportunity to learn about digitisation and to write Konkani of global standard, said Madhavi Sardesai, Professor, Department of Konkani at the University. Mr. Vardhan also disclosed plans for a relevant training programme specially co-designed by the CIS as well as the University to put up the content on Wikipedia.
He said that the Goa University is the first in the country to re-license copyright of its content and hailed the initiative towards open knowledge. Though the MoU signed last month would be initially valid for three years, Mr. Vardhan is optimistic that it would go beyond the launch of the Vishwakosh volumes.
Mr. Halarnkar, associated with the Konkani literary movement, who was present at the launch as the editor of the original volumes, welcomed the process of digitisation as relevant, historical and need of the hour. However, he stressed on supervision over the accuracy and accountability while digitising original data and regular updating of the content in the context of the Konkani language, its history and movement.
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
