Hi Ravi,<div> I really appreciate your views on the new initiative. I thought I may also share on how I view the whole process,... <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">these comments are my personal views and not necessarily as an Executive Committee Member of the Wikimedia India chapter. </span></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, sans-serif">You had already seen that </font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Wikimania/ Wikimedia Foundation started "Wikipedian of the Year" this year. </span></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, sans-serif">Having said that, </font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">this is an humble effort to recognize at least a few of our really outstanding contributors of the Wikimedia Movement in India.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, sans-serif">When we thought about this initiative , we wanted to make sure the process is very OPEN and TRANSPARENT, although we were fully aware of the very short time we have in hand before the Wiki-conference. We wanted it to be selected by a Jury that is highly respected and qualified. We wanted to it be announced to all in advance so that everybody gets a fair chance. We are fully aware that there are some good candidates on the chapter EC, jury and foundation staff. But again, wouldn't it be more transparent and ethical if we could free the jury on any kind of conflict of interest ?</font></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></span></div><div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">
The result of this doesn't mean that anyone who didn't get the annual "Noteworthy Wikimedian Recognition" is any less good. </div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">
Who knows there are more than one Noteworthy Wikimedians to be recognized ? </div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Make the selection difficult for the jury ! May be Jury will be forced to recognize at least a handful of Wikipedians ! :)</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div>There are many reasons of attempting this :</div>
<div>How many of you know all the remarkable contributors in other languages ? </div><div>Do you know all the outstanding contributors in your own language Wikipedia since its creation?</div><div><br></div><div>I may know some, you may know some.. Let everybody know them ! </div>
<div><br></div><div>Nominate others, recognize their efforts, if you know that they have made some outstanding contributions to the Movement ! </div><div><br></div><div>Since this is the first time, the contributions are considered from 2001-2010, because we didn't want of ignore all those who have contributed from the start of the project. Next year , probably it might be a fixed time frame like Jan - Dec 2011. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Thank you for listing some of the great contributors of Tamil Wikipedia. Honestly, I didn't know most of them. And possibly many on the list too .. That is exactly the intention of this effort. This is just such an effort to find the real gems of the Wikipedia and recognize them ! </div>
<div><br></div><div>Please note that <u>this is NOT a competition</u> and the best you can do is to nominate all of them.</div><div><br></div></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">
Being a sysop. b'crat or steward is NOT an achievement or consideration for noteworthy Wikipedian. The contributions as an individual Wikipedian is important. It is not even edit counts or even number of articles. Not everyone is a great article writer, but have contributed in 1001 ways, copy editing, vandal fighting, removing copy vio, uploading images, organizing events , meet-ups and academies, evangelizing Wikimedia to others, the ways to contribute are countless. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">And should we not recognize anyone because we are not sure they are the only best ? No. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">So should we just ignore the contributions of everyone ? No.</div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">
Even Nobel Prize is based on nominations . We don't even know if we have missed lots of deserving people for the Nobel nominations. But still, are we not giving Nobel Prizes every year?</div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">
<br></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, sans-serif">We may not be able to find all those who have made great contributions, but at-least we could find some and recognize them. Trust me, it will be a great motivation and encouraging for them. And an inspiration for lot others !</font></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Do notice that we had intentionally named it as "Noteworthy Wikimedian" and not "Best Wikimedian" ! </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">So what could you and everyone do ? Find them, nominate and recognize them. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Just a gentle reminder that the last date of nomination is Nov 13. <a href="http://wiki.wikimedia.in/NWR_2011" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">http://wiki.wikimedia.in/NWR_2011</a> </div>
<div><br></div><div>Regards</div><div>Tinu Cherian </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 6:11 PM, Ravishankar <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ravidreams@gmail.com">ravidreams@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Arjuna,<br>
<br>
I am not very excited with this idea of a jury for picking noteworthy<br>
Wikimedians.<br>
<br>
1. Many noteworthy Wikimedians are serving in Jury, conference<br>
activities, chapter and WMF. Omitting them from the recognition will<br>
not give a real picture to the public.<br>
<br>
2. Having a jury to pick this seems so Un-Wikipediac. Only in extreme<br>
cases, we have a jury in Wikimedia projects. Usually, the nomination<br>
and approval is done by the community itself.<br>
<br>
3.There are tens of noteworthy Wikimedians for each Wikipedia. An<br>
example for Tamil Wikipedia alone at<br>
<br>
<a href="http://tawp.in/r/1eyn" target="_blank">http://tawp.in/r/1eyn</a><br>
<br>
I can't nominate just one or two as every one's contribution is<br>
valuable and unique. Not good to have a competition sort of thing and<br>
upset a lot of people.<br>
<br>
3. What is the point of a citation / certificate in this digital age?<br>
What is the purpose achieved after the event is over?<br>
<br>
I would recommend requesting each language community and project to<br>
suggest noteworthy contributions with a mini profile and make a audio<br>
/ visual out of it. These people can be interviewed and the content<br>
can be used in the conference venue and future outreach activities.<br>
This will be a powerful way to motivate and recognize a lot of people.<br>
<br>
Ravi<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit <a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>