Dear Dr.Krant M.L.Verma, Siddartha Ghai and Anunad Singh
Thank you for your wishes to Mr. Syed.
From: Siddhartha Ghai <siddhartha.ghai(a)gmail.com>
>
> I'm certain that with Mr. Syed's involvement interaction between the
> CIS-A2K team and the wiki communities of hindi and urdu will increase.
> It brings me great joy to see someone with such vast experience being
> a part of indic WMF projects.
>
Most certainly! At CIS-A2K we are eagerly looking forward to increasing our
interaction with the Hindi and Urdu Wiki communities and to learn and to
contribute.
From: Anunad Singh <anunad(a)gmail.com>
>
> Can the group know the criteria for selection to this post. (or is it given
> somewhere?)
This was mentioned in the job advertisement, which I think was also posted
on this list, some months ago. We will also be putting up a blog post on
the selection process, which will give more details.
I want to know this because I do not think that the 'BOLT
> Award' , Gold medals from IGNOU, papers in weeklies etc are relevant and
> really matter in this case. Was his contribution to Hindi wiki also
> assesed?
Yes. Each applicant's on-wiki experience was also taken into consideration
among other criteria.
> Were some other candidates also in the race?
>
>
Yes. We had received more than 35 applications.
Best,
Vishnu
Dear All,
I am happy to inform you about the selection of the new Programme Officer,
who has joined the CIS-A2K Team on August 15, 2013. Please join me in
welcoming Muzammiluddin Syed.
Muzammiluddin Syed holds about 14 years of teaching experience. He is a
recipient of Air India BOLT Award for Excellence in Teaching 2004
(Hyderabad District Runner-up). He received a Gold Medal for securing the
first position in the Diploma in HIV & Family Education from the Indira
Gandhi National Open University in 2011. Muzammil has contributed papers
to various national and international conferences. As a netizen, he has
contributed to a number of websites which include Content Writer (
www.contentwriter.in), Journal of Turkish Weekly (www.turkishweekly.net),
Boloji Free Expressions Website (www.boloji.com), Cite HR (www.citehr.com),
Hindi Nest Website (www.hindinest.com) and the oldest Urdu Website (
www.urdustan.com). However, his main online passion is the Wikimedia
Foundation projects. He has been an active contributor on Wikimedia
Commons, Hindi, English and Urdu Wikipedia. He goes by the User name
<Hindustanilanguage> . Many of you may have met Muzammil in Wiki
Conference India 2011 where he was a speaker.
Apologies for cross-posting.
Best regards,
Vishnu
Dear all,
Here is the A2K newsletter for the month of May, 2013. Apologies for the delay.
Wikimedia Foundation, beginning from September 1, 2012, awarded the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. Consequently, Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program became the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program of CIS. In this newsletter, we are pleased to bring you updates about the recently concluded exhibition organised in our offices in Bangalore and Delhi and share with you the feedback to the Access to Knowledge work plan from the wikipedia community.
The A2K team consists of three members based in Bangalore: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Dr. U.B. Pavanaja and Subhashish Panigrahi and one member Nitika Tandon in Delhi. Noopur Raval, Programme Officer left the organisation on April 24, 2013. Archives of our newsletters arehere.
Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at http://bit.ly/TOcXId.
Celebrating 5 Years of CIS
CIS is now 5 years old and we recently celebrated this by holding an open exhibition in our offices in Bangalore and Delhi from May 20 to 23, showcasing our work and accomplishments over the five year period. We had about 170 visitors coming in to our office. Renowned artists like Tara Kelton, Kiran Subbaiah, Navin Thomas, Abhishek Hazra and Sharath Chandra Ram exhibited their work. The four-day event attracted press coverage: Bangalore Mirror (May 18, 2013), DNA (May 19, 2013), Hindu (May 22, 2013), Prajavani (May 23, 2013), Udayavani (May 25, 2013) and Bangalore Mirror (May 31, 2013). Download all the posters that were part of the exhibition here.
# Announcements
Access to Knowledge Work Plan (April 2013 - June 2014): CIS has announced its detailed plan with projection of outcomes and expected impact of the A2K programme activities. The document has been made in consultation with various stakeholders and keeping in mind the objectives, opportunities and challenges faced by each of the Indian language Wikimedia projects. Feel free to share any feedback.
WMF-A2K Revised Budget (draft) and Utilization (September 2012 - February 2013): In our effort to increase transparency with the working of CIS-A2K programme, we aresharing with you the A2K Programme Budget along with the utilization for the above period. The proposed revisions to the budget along with some notes are here.
CIS Signs MOU with TISS, Mumbai: has signed a MoU with TISS as part of which we will collaboratively work towards building Digital Knowledge Partnerships with select higher education institutions.
India Access to Knowledge IRC can be accessed here: May 13, 2013 (All Language Discussion) and May 26, 2013 (Odia Language Discussion).
# Blog Entries
Odia Wikipedia: Needs Assessment (by Subhashish Panigrahi, May 11, 2013).
Access to Knowledge Work Plan: Synopsis of Feedback by Wikipedians (by Nitika Tandon, May 20, 2013).
Wikipedia Introductory Session organized for Data and India portal consultants (by Subhashish Panigrahi, May 30, 2013).
My First Wikipedia Training Workshop – Theatre Outreach Unit, University of Hyderabad (by T. Vishnu Vardhan, June 19, 2013).
# Event Organised
Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia
# Event Participated
Kannada IRC Meet (organised by the Wikipedia Community, May 7, 2013). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja participated in this.
# Upcoming Event
Digital Humanities for Indian Higher Education (co-organised in collaboration with HEIRA-CSCS, Tumkur University, CILHE-TISS and CCS (IISc), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, July 13, 2013).
# Press Coverage
Report on CIS 5 Years Celebration (Prajavani, May 23, 2013). Prajavani published a report of Dr. U.B. Pavanja’s talk “From Palm Leaf to Tablet – Journey of Kannada”.
Report on CIS 5 Years Celebration (Udayavani, May 25, 2013). Udayavani published a report of the evening programme hosted as part of the Centre for Internet and Society's 5 year celebrations in its Bangalore edition.
A Feature on Wikipedia and Telegu Wikipedians (HMTV, May 30 – 31, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan is quoted in this half an hour feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians.
Wikipedia Live Phone-in Programme (HMTV, June 1, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan speaks about Telegu Wikipedia in the discussion that was telecasted live.
*About CIS*
CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities with ITU and G3ict, and Digital Alternatives with a Cause?, Thinkathon Position Papers and the Digital Natives with a Cause? Report with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on WIPO Treaties, Copyright Bill, NIA Bill, etc.
CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India and also received the NIVH Excellence Award.
*Follow us elsewhere*
Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter
Join the CIS group on Facebook
Visit us at http://cis-india.org
*Support Us*
Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.
*Request for Collaboration*
We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil(a)cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant(a)cis-india.org
CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
Program Manager
Access to Knowledge
The Centre for Internet & Society
Dear all,
Here is the A2K newsletter for the month of April, 2013.
Wikimedia Foundation, beginning from September 1, 2012, awarded the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. Consequently, Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program became the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program of CIS. In the third issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates from the Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project, reports of events organised in Goa, and press coverage of the Kannada Wikipedia Workshop held in Mysore.
The A2K team consists of three members based in Delhi: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Nitika Tandon and Subhashish Panigrahiand one member Dr. U.B. Pavanaja who is working from Bangalore office. Noopur Raval, Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge) has resigned. April 24, 2013 was her last working day. Archives of our newsletters are here.
Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications athttp://bit.ly/TOcXId.
# Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project
Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #2: Visualising Page Views and Project Pages.
# Blog Entries
Indian WikiWomen celebrate Women’s History Month (by Netha Hussain, April 29, 2013).
Analysis of Konkani Wikipedia: Facts & Challenges (by Nitika Tandon, April 30, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia: Needs Assessment (by Subhashish Panigrahi, April 30, 2013).
# Event Organised
Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia.
# Events Co-organised
The following events were organised in the month of March but reports were written during the month of April. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi held meetings with wikipedians:
Kolkata Wiki Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Kolkata Wiki Community, March 14, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia - Cuttack Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Cuttack, March 16, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia – Bhubaneswar Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Bhubaneswar, March 17, 2013).
The following event was organised in the month of April. We will be publishing the report soon:
Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013 (organised by Telugu Wikipedia Community and CIS, Hyderabad, April 9 – 11, 2013). Vishnu Vardhan was one of the trainers at the Wikipedia Academy at Centre for Good Governance on April 9, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan spoke about the Access to Knowledge work in one of the sessions of Wikimedia Meeting with Media Heads on April 10, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk on A2K’s plans for the growth of Telegu Wikipedia in 2013-14 at the Telegu Wikipedia general meeting on April 11, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan also gave a talk about Access to Knowledge in the digital era at the Wiki Chaitanya Vedika on April 11, 2013.
*About CIS*
CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilitieswith ITU and G3ict, and Digital Alternatives with a Cause?,Thinkathon Position Papers and the Digital Natives with a Cause? Report with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on WIPO Treaties, Copyright Bill, NIA Bill, etc.
CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India and also received the NIVH Excellence Award.
*Follow us elsewhere*
· Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter
· Join the CIS group on Facebook
· Visit us at http://cis-india.org
*Support Us*
Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.
*Request for Collaboration*
We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil(a)cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant(a)cis-india.org
CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
Program Manager
Access to Knowledge
The Centre for Internet & Society
Dear All,
The A2K team is organising an IRC on 13th May 2012, Monday from 8.30pm - 9.30 pm on: http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#wikimedia-in.
The main agenda for IRC is to discuss the A2K Work Plan for the year 2013-2014 [1] that we had shared with you earlier. We'd like to hear comments/suggestions from as many of you as possible. This mail is to invite each one of you to join us for this IRC and help improvise our work plan. Just incase you'd like to join but cannot due to prior commitments please drop me a private message and we'll arrange a call with your separately.
Looking forward to see you tomorrow at IRC!
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
Program Manager
Access to Knowledge
The Centre for Internet & Society
[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_April_20…
Dear All,
In our effort to increase transparency with the working of CIS-A2K
programme, we are sharing with you the A2K Programme Budget along with the
Utilization for the period Sept. 2012 to February 2013 [1]. We intended to
share this with you by mid April, but it got delayed, as we felt the need
to propose revisions to the budget in the context of the A2K Work Plans.
Apologies for this delay.
The proposed revisions to the budget along with some notes are here [2]. We
would appreciate your feedback and suggestions on this. Based on the
feedback received from you, we will approach the Wikimedia Foundation
seeking for approval of the revised budget. It will be very useful to hear
from you on the proposed revisions to the A2K grant budget before May 20,
2013.
Looking forward to your feedback.
Warmly,
Vishnu
Programme Director
Access to Knowledge Programme
CIS
[1]
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF-A2K_Grant_Budget_and_Utilization…
[2]
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF-A2K_Revised_Budget_(draft)_and_U…
Dear All,
The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is seeking applications for the post of Programme Officer, Pilot Projects for its Access to Knowledge (A2K) Programme. The position will be based in its Bangalore office. Programme Officer will collaboratively work with the A2K Team and would report to the Programme Director, Access to Knowledge at CIS.
Position Summary
As Programme Officer, Pilot Projects, your job will be to drive and support the growth of Indian language Wikipedias and its sister projects. Your primary responsibility will be to design and implement different pilot projects with an aim to create high quality content and cultivate new editors on different language Wikipedias in a time bound manner. One of the main pilots you will be spearheading immediately will be on ‘Indian Performing Arts’. The pilots will be premised on themes and seek to create a multi-lingual repository of knowledge using Wikimedia projects as knowledge platforms. In addition to this you will be anchoring the development and growth of at least one Indian language Wikipedia. You are encouraged to deeply engage with the A2K Work Plan before making the application.
You will work cohesively with the Wikimedia community and the Wikimedia India Chapter to meet specific goals of each language community in India. You will be a part of a small team of 5 to 6 doing high visibility and high impact work.
Responsibilities
Support India-focused initiatives to improve quality of India-relevant content and number of editors on Indian language Wikimedia projects.
Support the growth of Indian language Wikimedia communities and projects by designing and implementing community collaborations and partnerships pilot projects – detailing rationale, aim and objective, execution, evaluation, timeline, resource investment, etc.
Spearhead A2K’s pilot projects.
Identify institutions/groups that have ready-made content/archived material and aggregate available material in respective languages.
Create a network of state institutions, university departments, non-government organisations, academics, artists, researchers and wikipedia community members that will work towards creating a repository of knowledge on specific themes by using Wikimedia projects as a platform.
Conduct initial meetings with the principal investigators from each of the shortlisted institutions and share project idea.
Facilitate Wikimedia community involvement with the core network of institutions and principal investigators to collaboratively participate on specific content/area modules.
Create social media platforms for visibility of these projects and facilitate need-based technical and online support.
Conduct a series of wiki-training workshops for various nodes within the network.
Conduct periodic monitoring and evaluation of the pilot projects in progress.
Generate and document lessons from programme activities that can inform the work of Indian communities and similar programmes in other countries.
Providing ad hoc support to the Wikipedia community on all aspects of Indian languages as may be deemed necessary.
Candidate's Background & Experience
At least two to three years of professional experience with a strong track record of success in high performance organizations.
Prior experience of working with schools of performing arts and/or cultural departments.
A deep understanding of the varied cultural context of India.
Good understanding of the basics of program design and management.
Experience of working in a collaborative community (preferably online).
Strong academic results from highly-regarded university.
Strong understanding of the Internet and the forces that underpin the success of Wikipedia.
Active participation as a Wikimedia volunteer would be an asset, though not a prerequisite (must be prepared to demonstrate knowledge of how Wikipedia works in interviews).
Demonstrated experience working in a global, multi-cultural team environment.
Good writing skills in English and Indic languages and must be fluent in English and at least one Indic language.
Women are strongly encouraged to apply.
Characteristics of the Programme Officer
High level of commitment: The Programme Officer should believe in the values of CIS and Wikimedia projects, exude enthusiasm for the mission and can powerfully embody and communicate the mission.
Intellectual curiosity and flexibility: Must enjoy tackling difficult, ambiguous problems and able to incorporate new knowledge into how one approaches situations and generates solutions, loves learning from others while expanding intellectual horizons.
Open and transparent: Have a high level of integrity and be comfortable working in a highly transparent fashion, open to input and feedback, a proactive and candid communicator who wants people to know what s/he is doing and isn't afraid to bring others in when things are off-track or when you need help and should able to handle criticism in a mature fashion.
Community builder: It is essential that the Programme Officer sees herself/himself as a partner to and supporter of the Wikimedians who have and will continue to be the leaders in building the Wikimedia projects. The Programme Officer must be willing and able to work with a diverse array of people, many of whom come from non-traditional backgrounds and have a fervent commitment to Wikimedia’s community-led nature.
Strong cultural competency: Able to navigate in a global movement and on a global team in addition to navigating the complexity of India.
Partnership developer: Able to initiate, negotiate and operate partnerships that advance the Wikimedia mission in Indic languages and English (as relevant to India) with a wide range of institutions across the public, NGO, universities, philanthropic and private sector.
Willing to travel: The Programme Officer must regularly travel within India to engage with Wikimedia communities and partner with institutions.
Location: The position is based out of the CIS Bangalore office.
Remuneration: Compensation structure will be determined by the level of expertise, experience and current remuneration.
To apply, please send your resume to T. Vishnu Vardhan (vishnu(a)cis-india.org).
You can also find the job posting on our website (http://cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-pilot-projects-access-to-knowle…). Please feel free to share this mail with your networks.
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
Program Manager
Access to Knowledge
The Centre for Internet & Society
Dear All,
CIS-A2K Team would like to share with you it's draft Work Plan (2013-2014)
for Indian language Wikimedia projects. The detailed work plan can be found
here. [1] The main objective of this document is to present a detailed
plan with projection of outcomes and expected impact of the A2K programme
activities, during the next 15 months.
The A2K team has, over the last two months, extensively engaged with
various stakeholders in developing these plans. These include a) some
Wikimedia India Community members across various Indian language Wikimedia
projects; b) some English Language Wikimedia community members from India;
c) Wikimedia India Chapter Executive Committee; d) some potential
institutional partners; e) a few like minded advocates of free knowledge;
f) A2K Programme Adviser Dr. Tejaswini Niranjana; and last but not least g)
a few of the Wikimedia Foundation staff. We are extremely thankful to all
of them who have taken time out in sharing their ideas and opinions and in
actively giving feedback, which has helped us immensely in drawing up these
plans. This document has been made keeping in mind the objectives,
opportunities and challenges faced by each of the Indian language Wikimedia
projects.
We welcome your feedback and suggestions to further refine these
plans. However, for the sake of structured engagement, we would request you
to *please read the following guidelines [2] on how to share your
feedback.*We would deeply appreciate if you could share your valuable
feedback in the
next three weeks based on which we will revise the plans.
Looking forward to receiving your inputs.
Thank you,
T. Vishnu Vardhan
Programme Director
Access to Knowledge<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge>
The Centre for Internet and Society
[1]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_April_20…
[2]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_April_20…
Dear All,
It’s with deep regret that I announce the resignation of Noopur Raval as Programme Officer CIS-A2K Team.
The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) would like to thank her for all her valuable contributions to the Wikimedia movement. Noopur has been a great asset to the A2K team. We'd like to thank her for all her leadership and work in the past year around PR, communications, GLAM, outreach and social media. In her formal capacity Noopur has worked to promote Wikimedia movement in India for over a year. We're hoping that she'll continue to be a part of the movement as a treasured volunteer.
It is with warmest regards that CIS wishes her best in all her future endeavors. Please join us as we bid a fond farewell to Noopur and and send her off with hopes for more success and fulfillment. I will personally retain many wonderful memories working with her.
In a day or two CIS-A2K Team will send out an advertisement for the opening of Programme Officer which has been created due to Noopur's departure.
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
Program Manager
Access to Knowledge
The Centre for Internet & Society
Dear all,
Please find attached the Access to Knowledge bulletin
for March 2013.
For feedback, suggestions and queries please do write
to us or you could respond to this thread.
Thank you,
Noopur Raval