Dear Indian Wikimedians,
As many of you may have known, one of our fellow Wikimedian was arrested by
Uttar Pradesh Police in October 2020. His name is Siddique Kappan (His
wikimedia username is User:Sidheeq). He is from Kerala, and he was active
in Wikimedia projects (mainly in Malayalam Wikipedia) until his arrest.
Incidently he is a journalist and he was arrested from the home of Hathras
rape and murder victim while reporting the victim Dalit girl's family
members. UP Police has slapped Sedition, Terrorism as well as UAPA charges
against him.
Kappen is diabetic and now COVID positive. He was admitted to hospital only
after he collapsed in the jail cell. With his deteriorating health, it was
accused that Kappan was chained to hospital bed like an animal. Today's
news reports say that he is in critical condition. (You could always google
"Siddique Kappan")
As a tone deaf people I don't expect anything from this mail, I just wish
to share the information.
Stay Inside, Stay Complementary (non-critical), Stay safe, Stay healthy.
User:Praveenp
-------------
Siddique's en.wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Sidheeq
Namaskara,
This might be some food for thought, and inputs are welcome. India mailing
list is the largest and most widely used Wikimedia mailing list for the
Indian community. Could we have a practice that all grant requests from the
country (or related to) are informed on the Wikimediaindia-l mailing list?
Whether it is a state-level, project-level, language-level etc, or whether
it is a rapid grant, project grant etc it would be good to see the plan
details on this mailing list in advance. It will ensure greater visibility,
and it will also ensure the community's understanding/knowing of each
other's projects.
If we can have a practice like this, we can inform Wikimedia, or CR team or
relevant support structure(s) as an India community practice.
This post is in my personal capacity. Please assume good faith
Regards,
User:Titodutta
Hello all,
We are happy to announce that a new tool <https://bodh.toolforge.org/>,
named Bodh, has been developed by Jay Prakash
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/User:Jay_(CIS-A2K)>, as a CIS-A2K
assignment, to add or modify statements for lexemes, senses and forms.
This tool presents lexicographical data in tabular format generated from
SPARQL queries or from manual lists. Users can switch whether to work on
lexeme proper, sense or form and add or modify statements there.
The idea of this tool was inspired by the one and only Magnus Manske's
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13520818> Tabernacle
<https://tabernacle.toolforge.org/#/> which helps editors to add or modify
statements, labels, descriptions and aliases for Wikidata's entity data.
The tool is going to be documented here
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Bodh>. Users of this tool can
request for more features or report for bugs using this phabricator project
profile <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/project/profile/5166/>.
Happy editing!
Regards,
Bodhisattwa
Wikidata Co-ordinator, CIS-A2K
Dear Indic Wikimedians,
As you may already know, *Movement Charter* is a key priority of Movement
Strategy. The Movement Charter will be a document defining roles and
responsibilities for all the members and entities of the Wikimedia
Movement, including laying out a new Global Council for movement
governance. A broad ratification process is expected for its adoption. One
of the first steps in the process is to constitute a *Movement Charter
drafting committee*.
To gather inputs from community members regarding forming this
committee, a *regional
event* is being organized on *25 June 2021 (Friday) from 6:30 pm to 8 pm
(IST)*. This event is a part of several regional conversations that will
lead up to the global conversations.
The discussion will mainly be focused on the following questions:
- What composition should the committee have in terms of movement roles,
gender, regions, affiliations and other diversity factors?
- What is the best process to select the committee members to form a
competent and diverse team?
- How much dedication is it reasonable to expect from committee members,
in terms of hours per week and months of work?
You can join the meeting at: https://meet.google.com/sef-gwes-imx
Note: You may also send in your responses to the above questions via email
if you prefer it that way.
Thank you
--
Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (he/him)
Board Governance Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation
One of Goa's most talented Western music musicians has shared one of his
lovely recordings via the Wikimedia Commons! Thank you Roque Lazarus... a
great day for music in Goa indeed!
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Relaxing_music_on_Nylon_Guitars_in_…
--
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ FN * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا +91-9822122436
_/ See a different Goa here, via
_/ https://youtube.com/c/frederickfnnoronha
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Dear Wikimedians,
As you may be aware, the Wikimedia Foundation has started elections[1] for
community seats on the Board of Trustees. While previously there were three
community seats on the Board, with the expansion of the Board to sixteen
seats last year, community seats have been increased to eight, four of
which are up for election this year.
In the last fifteen years of the Board's history, there were only a few
candidates from the South Asian region who participated in the elections,
and hardly anyone from the community had a chance to serve on the Board.
While there are several reasons for this, this time, the Board and WMF are
very keen on encouraging and providing support to potential candidates from
historically underrepresented regions. This is a good chance to change the
historical problem of representation from the South Asian region in
high-level governance structures.
Ten days after the call for candidates began, there aren't any candidates
from South Asia yet[2], there are still 10 days left! I would like to ask
community members to encourage other community members, whom you think
would be potential candidates for the Board. While the final decision is
completely up to the person, it can be helpful to make sure that they are
aware of the election and the call for candidates.
Let me know if you need any information or support.
Best
--
Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (he/him)
Board Governance Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021/Candida…>
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021/Candida…
Dear Indic Wikimedians,
As you may be aware, the Wikimedia Foundation has started elections[1] for
community seats on the Board of Trustees. While previously there were three
community seats on the Board, with the expansion of the Board to sixteen
seats last year, community seats have been increased to eight, four of
which are up for election this year.
In the last fifteen years of the Board's history, there were only a few
candidates from the South Asian region who participated in the elections,
and hardly anyone from the community had a chance to serve on the Board.
While there are several reasons for this, this time, the Board and WMF are
very keen on encouraging and providing support to potential candidates from
historically underrepresented regions. This is a good chance to change the
historical problem of representation from the South Asian region in
high-level governance structures.
Ten days after the call for candidates began, there aren't any candidates
from South Asia yet[1], there are still 10 days left! I would like to ask
community members to encourage other community members, whom you think
would be potential candidates for the Board. While the final decision is
completely up to the person, it can be helpful to make sure that they are
aware of the election and the call for candidates.
Let me know if you need any information or support.
Best
--
Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (he/him)
Board Governance Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021/Candida…>
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021/Candida…
Hello everyone / Sat Sri Akal / Namaskar / Adaab,
The third session of Stay safe, stay connected will take place on *Sunday,
20 June 2021 *at *7:00 pm to 8:30 pm IST*. In this session, we are inviting
Wikimedians from neighbourhood countries to participate. Wikimedians from
*Bangladesh*, *India*, *Nepal*, *Pakistan*, *Sri Lanka* etc. are expected
to participate.
For more details, feel free to see the event page here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stay_safe,_stay_connected#Session_III
In this neighbourhood community solidarity session, the participants can—
1. share about the projects and exciting events they are doing in the
countries;
2. learn what is going on in other regions in the neighbourhood;
3. possibly think or discuss past cross-border collaboration or
collaborative projects;
4. possibly discuss any point of tension among the Wikimedia projects;
(Please read more on Diff:
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/06/08/stay-safe-stay-connected-session-iii-…
)
*Asaf Bartov *will be the facilitator of this meeting. The session will be
hosted on Zoom. Please fill this short form, if you are interested to
attend the talk: https://forms.gle/e85k84tX4oroKkjx7
You may alternatively send an email to wmwm(a)cis-india.org if you have
trouble filling the Google form or if you have any query.
P.S. Feel free to speak in your native language during the call. That's
cool. We'll try to translate.
Regards
Satdeep
Dear Wikimedians,
As part of its ongoing program
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_support_for_Wikimedians/India> to
support Wikimedians in India during the COVID 19 pandemic, CIS-A2K has
organised 'Awareness/orientation session on Mental health and pandemic.
This online session is open to all Wikimedians in India to understand more
about mental health concerns that are prevalent at the present time, due to
pandemic-related anxiety, stress and trauma. This interactive session would
ideally aim to:
- create awareness and sensitisation about mental health in general
- deliberate on the variety of issues faced by people at this particular
time
- demystify/address any misgivings/stigma related to mental health
issues and counselling/therapy/treatment
- and encourage people to avail counselling services in case they feel
the need for the same.
The details of the session are as follows -
- Date: Saturday, 12 June 2021
- Time: 4 to 6 pm (IST)
- Expert: Dr. Anand Nadkarni, Psychiatrist and founder of IPH
- More about Dr. Anand Nadkarni - http://iphpune.org/wp/about-me/- LinkedIn
profile -
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anand-nadkarni-41a290129/?originalSubdomain=in-
Videos on Avahan channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/AVAHANIPH/videos
- Link: To be shared soon.
We kindly request you to book your time slot for this important session and
promote the event in your communities as well.
Stay safe, with best wishes,
Subodh
On behalf of A2K team,
Centre for Internet & Society - Access to Knowledge Programme