Hi Srikanth R,
Please allow me to share my view.
Hisham, I don't understand why the Executive Committee offer to be
informed 48 HOURS in advance of the community. Isn't Wikipedia a
community based system? If the chapter or trust is everything then
what is the community sitting here to do? I know I sound rude, but I
fail to understand why some people get prior preference. Especially
after I spend an entire day talking to newcomers telling them that
everyone in Wiki is equal.
--
On 06/12/2011, Hisham <hisham@wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Dear All
>
> As you might be aware, we've been have a monthly call between the India
> Chapter and India Programs team. Since we last updated you, we have had 2
> calls and also a face-to-face meeting after WikiConference. Here's an
> update on these meetings.
>
> I must beforehand apologize for being so late on updating you on these calls
> / meetings. Shall endeavor to be more on schedule going forward.
>
> Do share your feedback and comments. Do let us know if there are any
> clarifications we can provide.
>
> Thursday November 9th (Voice Conference) [Arjun, Arun, Naveen, Sudhanwa,
> Tinu, Asaf & Hisham]
>
> India Programs Update
>
> India Trust has been set up and a formal announcement will be made shortly
> on this matter.
> India Education Program has encountered significant problems with regard to
> copy-pasted material. While efforts have been made (including asking for
> help from Online Ambassadors), in-class sessions from Campus Ambassadors (in
> almost every single class of the program), asking for intervention from
> faculty, asking students only to work on sandboxes, etc., the situation
> remained particularly serious at College of Engineering, Pune. As a result,
> the program was suspended at this college. It currently runs at 1 class at
> Symbiosis School of Economics (while the other classes there have concluded
> their assignments) and at 1 class at SNDT Women's University.
> Specifically, the lessons learnt on the pilot were discussed. These
> included scale, choice of faculty, choice of classes, inadequate engagement
> and communication with en-wp community, modifications to Campus Ambassador
> training going forward, modifications to student training going forward,
> etc. It was pointed out that a comprehensive and honest learnings exercise
> would be undertaken.
> Recruitment of additional team members (for Communications and for Team
> Support) have been delayed because the right candidate was not available.
> The initial work on the Indic Languages initiatives would start off with
> preliminary discussions and data analysis of the various language projects.
> This will help to build a picture with both experience and data of the
> current state, challenges, opportunities and potential of the various
> projects. Eventually, the objective will be to identify potential pilots
> and language communities that might be interested in these pilots.
> Chapter Update
>
> Arjun said that as Wikipedia is always evolving with contributions of
> community, any project needs to be carefully planned and executed to
> minimize the load on community. We had some experiences with Google
> Translate project, which received adverse reaction from wikipedian
> community. Even if Foundation undertakes an initiative, there is a
> possibility of similar adverse response. He hoped that we can use this
> experience to improve future project planning.
>
> Sunday November 20th (Face to Face Meeting) [Arjun, Arun, Naveen, Sudhanwa,
> Tinu, Barry & Hisham]
>
> India Programs Update
>
> Point of View was shared about the nature of communication and co-operation
> between the Chapter and India Programs. It was pointed out that all the
> activities of India Programs have been in line with the publicly available
> page at
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs. The
> monthly co-ordination calls that the Chapter EC had initaited and that are
> now being regularly undertaken is useful and must be continued. Chapter EC
> requested prior information on activities and it was suggested by India
> Programs (and agreed by Chapter EC) that all important announcements would
> be sent to the Chapter EC 48 hours before being shared publicly.
> The nature of the work that was happening on Indic Languages initiatives was
> shared (including the kinds of discussions and how these discussions were
> being conducted) and that Shiju will shortly start sharing the updates of
> language discussions with the community.
> The learnings process of the India Education Program was shared - including
> the fact that data gathering was going to be commenced and that the
> learnings would inform the next steps of the project. Nitika will shortly
> update the community about how these learnings were going to be gathered.
> It was reiterated that the plans going forward would be finalized only after
> a thorough review of the program was conducted.
> It was proposed to identify potential areas where the Chapter EC and India
> Programs would work collaboratively.
>
> Chapter Update
>
> Arjun said that it is essential to have clarity on the focus areas of WMF
> and identify projects where WMF and WMIN could work together. Arun suggested
> the need for a governance framework for the various activities in India.
> Arjun summarized the focus of Wikimedia India on Wiki academies and
> Strengthening City/Language SIGs. Preliminary discussions around Regional
> Conferences, GLAM, Wiki loves monuments and Knowledge Kiosks are in
> progress.
> He explained how Knowledge Kiosks pilot, where visitors to public libraries
> can access Wikipedia through tablet computers in the language of their
> choice can be a great help for reaching out to the population, who can't
> afford computers and Internet. He suggested that it can be a good
> collaborative project and requested India programs support. India programs
> could take care of program management and dealing with Library organizations
> and vendors. Chapter would help in training library personnel and users in
> the various pilot locations. Hisham suggested inviting fellowships for such
> a project. Arjun opined that organizational help is really needed to do
> such projects. It is agreed to have further discussions on this topic after
> sharing additional information.
> Wednesday November 23rd (Voice Conference) [Arjun, Arun, Naveen, Sudhanwa &
> Hisham]
>
> India Programs Update
> Ambiguity around the two entities "India Programs" and "India Trust" were
> clarified. India Programs is the team of consultants (currently, Hisham,
> Shiju & Nitika) who are working as consultants to WMF. Once the funding for
> the Wikimedia India Program Trust is sorted out (after the appropriate
> funding has the necessary approvals), these consultants will transition to
> the Trust. Until then, the Trust is an organisation that has been
> registered by has no funds available and therefore will not undertake any
> activities
> An update was shared the the Trust was going to be filing for the necessary
> taxation related applications (Sections 12A and 80G) as well as FCRA
> Prior-Permission in the next few days. An update will be shared after these
> have been done.
> A discussion was made on the Chapter EC proposal for Chapter & India
> Programs to work together on the Knowledge Kiosks initiative of the Chapter.
> India Programs indicated their preference not to work on projects that
> require such intensive effort in infrastructure building (both hardware and
> connectivity.) It was also recommended that the Chapter carefully consider
> their involvement in such initiatives especially given the kind of effort
> that will be required in stuff like procurement.
> It was proposed that the Chapter EC and India Programs work collaboratively
> on at least 2 broad areas: supporting community outreach & community
> building (especially volunteer mobilization) as well PR & social media with
> Chapter EC. Both areas are aspects where India Programs can bring
> capability to the table and are areas of interest to members of the Chapter
> EC.
> An update was shared on the meeting with the Ministry of HRD regarding
> potential collaboration with Aakash tablet. The meeting was extremely
> positive and holds potential. Hisham will be sharing an update to the
> community on the next steps on this after some additional discussions.
> It was proposed that a discussion commence that will collaboratively arrive
> at a draft document that provide clarity to how Chapter EC and the India
> Trust can work together. This will be in the nature of definition of roles.
>
> Chapter Update
> Arjun said that with the kind of resources that the India Programs Trust
> will have access, it can take up challenging projects like Knowledge Kiosks
> as it can certainly outsource stuff that can not done by Trust. It is agreed
> to continue the discussion on this topic.
> Best
>
> hisham
>
>
Sent from my mobile device
Regards,
Srikanth Ramakrishnan.
Wikipedia Coimbatore Meetup on December 10th.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Coimbatore
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