<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Some of the important points from the discussions with Hindi wikipedians are <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Indic_Languages/Hindi/Discussions/2011">captured by Hisham</a>. Thought of sharing that here also. </span><br>
</font><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; "><br></dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">
<b>Motivators for joining Indic Language Projects</b><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; "><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; "><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-top: 0.3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.5em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANCAMAAABW4lS6AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAAZQTFRFAFKM////QIUK9QAAAAJ0Uk5T/wDltzBKAAAAGklEQVR42mJgBAEGokgGBjBGBxBxsBqAAAMACHwALd5r8ygAAAAASUVORK5CYII=); ">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">Awareness mostly through search engines not through outreach or media</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">It's not been about parochial (sic) notions about preserving culture or a language or lofty ambitions about knowledge access; but about core Wikipedia basics of building a knowledge repository </li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">Wanting to stay away from antagonistic, aggressive en-wp edit environment</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">Helping the Indic language project - as the number of volunteers were low (especially when compared to en-wp which has higher numbers of volunteers)</li>
</ul></dd></dl></dd></dl><dl style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; "><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; "><b>Community</b></dd>
</dl><dl style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; "><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; "><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">
<dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; "><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-top: 0.3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.5em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANCAMAAABW4lS6AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAAZQTFRFAFKM////QIUK9QAAAAJ0Uk5T/wDltzBKAAAAGklEQVR42mJgBAEGokgGBjBGBxBxsBqAAAMACHwALd5r8ygAAAAASUVORK5CYII=); ">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">Very low community meet up attendance</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">Not finding meet-ups as they are currently run useful as the discussions are not engaging or relevant</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">
Collaboration is weak (especially on articles) - and more about process</li></ul></dd></dl></dd></dl><dl style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; "><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">
<b>Activities</b><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; "><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; "><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-top: 0.3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.5em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANCAMAAABW4lS6AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAAZQTFRFAFKM////QIUK9QAAAAJ0Uk5T/wDltzBKAAAAGklEQVR42mJgBAEGokgGBjBGBxBxsBqAAAMACHwALd5r8ygAAAAASUVORK5CYII=); ">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">Doing a lot of clean up after damage done by bots</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">Categorisation, copyvio clean ups</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">Perform a different role on Indic projects (a lot of support work instead of article content) as compared to their roles in en-wp (where they edit articles on subjects of interest)</li>
</ul></dd></dl></dd></dl><dl style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; "><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; "><b>Barriers</b><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; ">
<dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; "><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-top: 0.3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.5em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANCAMAAABW4lS6AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAAZQTFRFAFKM////QIUK9QAAAAJ0Uk5T/wDltzBKAAAAGklEQVR42mJgBAEGokgGBjBGBxBxsBqAAAMACHwALd5r8ygAAAAASUVORK5CYII=); ">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">Technical issues are not *such* a major challenge; though awareness that technical solutions exist is low.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">Basic awareness of projects</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">
Lack of reliable sources online</li></ul></dd></dl></dd></dl><dl style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; "><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">
<b>Suggestions</b><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; "><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; "><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-top: 0.3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1.5em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANCAMAAABW4lS6AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAAZQTFRFAFKM////QIUK9QAAAAJ0Uk5T/wDltzBKAAAAGklEQVR42mJgBAEGokgGBjBGBxBxsBqAAAMACHwALd5r8ygAAAAASUVORK5CYII=); ">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">Media coverage on Indic language media vehicles (e.g., local language newspapers, etc.) to build basic awareness of the very existence of Indic language projects as well as invitation to edit</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">Tie-ups with education system of various kinds (colleges, teachers, state government bodies, etc.)</li></ul></dd></dl></dd></dl></span><div><br></div><div><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">
Shiju</div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 12:24 PM, Shiju Alex <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:shiju@wikimedia.org">shiju@wikimedia.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><span style="border-collapse:collapse;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Dear Indic Language Wikimedia Community members,<div>
<br></div><div>As part of the <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Indic_Languages" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">Indic Languages initiative of India Programs</a>, I have been having detailed discussions with a wide range of Indic language wikipedians for the past few weeks. Yesterday I shared the summary of discussions with few Assamese Wikipedians which helped us to understand the current situation of Assamese wikipedia. Thank you for the discussions and ideas that emerged on the mailing list and the talk page.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Today I'm particularly excited to share a summary of the discussions I've been been having with <b>Hindi wikipedians</b>. It is available here: <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Indic_Languages/Hindi/Discussions/2011" target="_blank">http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Indic_Languages/Hindi/Discussions/2011</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>I will be honest and confess that I was not sure about the level of engagement I would have with Hindi wikipedians because the community is relatively quiet in public forums. I'm really pleased to report that I was very pleasantly surprised by the broad-based, insightful, and constructive communications. Hindi community might be silent but they are active and full of powerful ideas. We have seen wonderful Hindi wikipedians like Anirudh in WCI. Even though the current community strength of Hindi wikipedia might not be good cosidering the huge speaker base of Hindi, I am sure the situation will change soon.</div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Even if you are not involved in Hindi projects, I invite you to read this report because the points raised are applicable to all Indic languages. Personally, as someone who has been passionate about Indic languages for many years now, I found the discussions very educative and informative and thought-provoking. I have learnt a lot from these discussions and I hope you find them as useful as I have. I want to thank Hindi community for their time and their fantastic inputs.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Remember most of the issues the Hindi editors raised are applicable not only to Hindi but for all the Indic languages. So it is important that other Indic language communities take lessons from it while building the community.</div>
<div><br></div><div>As mentioned before, I've edited the discussions to protect confidentiality as well as to remove any specific personal comments. </div><div><br></div></span><span style="border-collapse:collapse;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Inviting your active participation in these discussions (either on talk page or in the mailing lists).</span><span style="border-collapse:collapse;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div>
<br></div><div>Warm Regards,</div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div><br></div><div>Shiju Alex</div></font></span></span>
</blockquote></div><br>