Hi Tinu, Bala and team<br><br>Very well written press release. Especially, I would like to appreciate Tinu's stellar role in media relations for Wikimedia projects in India :)<br><br>Ravi<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 11:03 AM, CherianTinu Abraham <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tinucherian@gmail.com">tinucherian@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div class="gmail_quote"><div>The article is on national editions of The Hindu newspaper and back cover page on many editions.</div><div><b><br></b></div><b>The Hindu : "Contest to add files to Tamil Wikipedia gathers steam"</b><div>
<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2719118.ece?textsize=small&test=2" target="_blank">http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2719118.ece?textsize=small&test=2</a> <br>
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<div><div><i>The Tamil Wikimedia community has organised an international contest to get more photos, videos and audios related to Tamil, Tamilians and Tamil culture to the Tamil Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.</i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i>The aim of the contest (themed “Eluthu mattum arivanru” or “Knowledge beyond text”) is “to increase the quality media content related to Tamil and Tamilians in Wikimedia projects, to attract non-text contributors such as photographers, graphic artists, animators, mapmakers and videographers to Tamil Wiki projects and to create a model precedent for cooperation with Wikimedia Foundation [WMF] in organising projects,” according to <b>Bala Jeyaraman</b>, Wikipedia volunteer and lead co-ordinator for the contest.</i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i>People may send photos of places where Tamils reside, Tamil people themselves, studies, heritage symbols, institutions, species (plants and animals) and Diaspora; temples, places of worship and buildings. They can send educational resources such as files used to teach in Tamil. Also invited are maps, graphs, illustrations, diagrams, charts, audio and video files that contain explanations in Tamil, pronunciation files for Tamil words and phrases, audio recordings of literary works; audio and video recordings of Tamil cultural practices, arts, dances or sports.</i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i>Foreign contribution</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>Contributions were coming in from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Norway, America, Canada, Germany and India, Mr. Jeyaraman said.</i></div><div>
<i><br></i></div><div><i><b>Kalaiarasy Kugarajh</b>, who lives in Norway, is one of five persons co-ordinating the project. She said she was delighted to know that a Tamil Wikipedia existed. Using an encyclopaedia online was convenient and, being of Tamil origin, she found getting information in Tamil very useful.</i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i>She initially began contributing to the Tamil Wikipedia and then added to Tamil Wiktionary and other projects. She thought that contributing to Tamil content online could help Tamil people with limited knowledge of English or other languages. “Especially, when we live in a foreign country, we lack the printed version of books, and dictionaries, encyclopaedias in Tamil. To people who want to refer to something in Tamil or who want the Tamil meaning for something, or want some old Tamil writings, the Tamil Wikipedia and the sister projects are much helpful. The Tamil Diaspora can gain a lot from Tamil Wiki projects,” she said. Besides, storing information online was necessary and efficient.</i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i>Categorisation</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>“We are categorising the uploads and checking for any copyright violations. We have already started to make use of the suitable uploads in Wiki projects continuously too. Finally, we will evaluate the uploads to select the winners.” The contest, while increasing the media files on Tamil, would increase awareness among people of the Tamil Wiki as a source of information and get contributions from them to Tamil Wiki projects in future.</i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i>Chennai student <b>Surya Prakash S</b>, who suggested the theme name of the contest, has uploaded more than 120 images taken on his campus (Anna University), photos of film stars and Chennai monuments.</i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i>He said: “I just capture images using my cell phone and camera for this contest. I haven't chosen any subject at all. I just captured images that are useful for knowledge such as orchids and ‘bonsai' trees in the “Semmozhi Poonga” [botanical gardens] and some rare herbs from my native [home].”</i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i>He was adding files as he “knows well the status of Tamil content in Internet.” The Tamil Nadu government should support such initiatives in its academic institutions to increase the student community's activity in the free, collaborative encyclopaedia-building project, he said.</i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i>Prize money</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>The Tamil Wikipedia Community and the WMF have sponsored a prize money of $850 (with nine prizes) for winners. (The first, second and third prizes are $200, $100 and $50. Three prizes of $100 each are for those uploading the maximum number of quality entries.</i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i>A special prize of $150 is for media files on traditional Tamil arts and crafts.</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>Winners would be announced on March 15, <a href="tel:2012" value="+9722012" target="_blank">2012</a> and they would get certificates with their entries displayed on the front pages of Tamil Wiki projects, said the invitation to contributors.</i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i>The contest (<a href="http://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/contest" target="_blank">http://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/contest</a>, November 15, <a href="tel:2011" value="+9722011" target="_blank">2011</a> to February 29, <a href="tel:2012" value="+9722012" target="_blank">2012</a>) is open to all and is on Facebook (<a href="http://www.facebook.com/tawmc" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/tawmc</a>).</i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>* People may send photos of places where Tamils reside, heritage symbols, institutions, plants and animals</i></div><div><i>* Tamil Diaspora can gain a lot from Tamil Wiki projects'</i></div>
</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div><div>Regards</div><div>Tinu Cherian</div><div><a href="mailto:press@wikimedia.in" target="_blank">press@wikimedia.in</a></div><div><a href="http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news" target="_blank">http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news</a></div>
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