cross-posting pan India (apologies if you have got this through other mailing lists.)
Hi Folks
I wanted to share an update on the Wikipedia India Education Program. As of today, we have 15 teachers from 4 colleges participating. The most exciting part is that we have nearly 800 students (and counting) who are going to work on about 1200 articles in this semester. (Do note these numbers may fluctuate as the actual editing in classrooms starts - which is only to be expected.)
Please see the project page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:India_Education_Program - and do go through the sub-tabs for Ambassadors and courses.)
I think it will be a great idea if the Campus Ambassadors had a chance to introduce themselves to you and you had a chance to interact with them. Can we do it on the India Programs Monthly IRC this Thursday (July 28th) at ppm IST on #wikimedia-office. (I apologise that we are late on this month's IRC.)
You can also hear from them about their experiences. They've having 1-on-1 discussions with faculty members to identify potential articles to work on and conducting editing workshops for students in classrooms.
I look forward to as many of you attending as possible - and for a wonderful interaction with the Campus Ambassadors. They are great guys and have done amazing stuff so far. They're going to need your help and encouragement. Drop in and say hello, and a little more!
Warm Regards,
Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia India Programs
skype : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk : hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
*Bangalore Mirror : "Not just the written word"*
http://www.bangaloremirror.com/article/81/20110724201107240043349229ed6f4b5…
*Bangalore-based Wikipedians are spearheading an experimental initiative,
the Oral Citations Project to overcome the lack of published material in
emerging languages on the online encyclopedia initiative, the Oral Citations
Project to overcome the lack of published material in emerging languages on
the online encyclopedia*
*
*
*There is more Wikipedia in India but it would be interesting if there could
be more India in Wikipedia...or more South Africa for that matter” — this
view put forth by researcher and Wikipedian Achal Prabhala in the film
People are Knowledge, probably sums up the need for capturing simple things
that we know and do in forms other than the published material. *
*
*
*And taking this thought forward is the Oral Citations Project, a pilot
project which explores alternative methods of citation that could be
employed on Wikipedia. Funded through a grant by the Wikimedia Foundation,
the essence of how this project was undertaken is captured quite lyrically
in the short 40-minute film. *
*
*
*“For most of our learning, a majority of us are trained to look at
something that comes in the published form because the written word is
considered sacrosanct. That way, we become prisoners of a system of
hierarchy of knowledge. But there are so many things that we know and do in
our everyday lives that are not documented in the written form or any other
form for that matter. Recording these things in some form would add to the
vast knowledge base,” says Bangalore-based Achal Prabhala who is also member
of the Wikimedia Foundation Advisory Board and makes South Africa his home
for three months in a year. *
*
*
*Achal adds that the nature of the project is experimental as nothing like
this has ever been done in Wikipedia before and if it finally gets
implemented, it would be a path-breaking venture. *
*
*
*The idea behind this project was this — Wikipedia privileges printed
knowledge (books, journals, magazines, newspapers and more) as authentic
sources of citable material. Restricting citation sources makes the
enterprise workable. But books and printed words generally are closely
correlated to rich economies: Europe, North America, and a small section of
Asia.*
*
*
*“Just to give an example — in 2005, 161,000 books were produced for a
population of 60 million people, while in South Africa there were 6,100
books for 48 million people and in India for a population of 1100 million
people, only 97,000 books were published. What this means for indigenous
language Wikipedias from India and South Africa is that there is very little
citable, printed material to rely on in those languages; in turn, it means
that it is very difficult for any of those languages to grow on Wikipedia,”
adds Achal. *
*
*
*The project was done with three Wikipedia languages — Malayalam, Hindi and
Sepedi (a South African language) and the subjects chosen to be documented
through audio interviews were two games Sur and Gillidanda in Hindi,
Naaliyar Bhagavathi Theyyam, a temple ritual and Dappa Kali, a folk game,
both from Kerala in Malayalam and in Sepedi, Mokgope, a country liquor made
from the marula fruit, and two games played in Limpopo in South Africa,
Kgati and Tsere Tsere. Collaborators for the project are Bangalore-based IT
professional Shiju Alex and Mayur, Mohau Monaledi of South Africa and Achal
Prabhala, with additional help from Vijayakumar Blathur. *
*
*
*“We wanted to take up languages that were varied in terms of number of
people who spoke them and the kind of media market they reperesent. Sepedi
is a South African language spoken by just 5 million people with hardly any
media market or any published material in that language. The fact that these
language Wikipedias had active editors also helped. The common thread for
picking these topics was that there is hardly any written material on them
and whatever exists cannot be accessed,” says Shiju, a Malayalam Wikipedia
editor, who travelled along with Achal to witness and document Dappa Kali
and Naaliyar Bhagavathi. Achal also travelled to Johannesberg and Limpopo to
collaborate with Mohau, who recorded audio interviews with women who made
the liquor and played the age-old games. *
*
*
*In the long run, Shiju feels that this project will help in capturing for
posterity traditional symbols of Indian society that may get lost to the
coming generations. “Nobody plays Dappa Kali these days. Kids in Kerala are
more interested in cricket,” he rues. The project will be presented at the
forthcoming Wikimania to be held in Israel.*
*
*
*
*
*RECORDING THE PROCESS*
*
*
*The film People are Knowledge was shot and directed by Priya Sen with
additional assistance from Zen Marie and Achal Prabhala and was completed
this month. It includes interviews with noted experts in the field of
language, anthropology and women studies such as Jon Soske, a scholar of
Indo-African history, Urvashi Butalia, a pioneering feminist publisher and
writer, Isabel Hofmeyr from the University of the Witwatersrand and also
various people who were directly involved in the project. It records the
process of audio interviews done through internet telephony and documents
discussions held with a priest in a remote village in Kannur district, women
making liquor from marula and playing their native games and children
playing folk games in remote Kerala villages. *
Regards
Tinu Cherian
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news#July_2011
cross-posting pan India (apologies if you have got this through other mailing lists.)
Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia India Programs
skype : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk : hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Hisham Mundol <hmundol(a)wikimedia.org>
> Date: June 21, 2011 5:00:50 PM GMT+05:30
> To: India Mailing list for Wikimedians in Pune <wikimedia-in-pun(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, Wikimedia India Community list <wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Cc: Wikipedia Ambassadors India <wikipedia-ambassadors-india(a)googlegroups.com>
> Subject: Update on Wikipedia India Education Program: Report & Project Page
>
> Hi Folks
>
> Here's a report on the Wikipedia India Education Program: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/India_…
>
> In (very) short summary, it's been an action packed 4-5 weeks, the team has done a huge amount of groundwork - and there appears to be significant potential. Do go through the report for further details.
>
> ...I've tried to make the report as interesting to read as possible - and focus on the learnings and implications for a national roll-out (instead of making it a random list summarising various activities.)
>
> Do let me have your views on the mailing lists or the Talk Page.
>
> (A project page has also been set up at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Pune but I hasten to add that it is in early stages of construction. ...but do keep visiting it. Finger crossed, it's going to get very busy, very soon!)
>
> I'd like to thank everyone from the community who have helped out so amazingly!
>
> Best
>
> Hisham Mundol
>
> Wikimedia India Programs
> skype : hisham.wikimedia
> gtalk : hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
> twitter : @mundol
>
cross-posting pan India (apologies if you have got this through other mailing lists.)
Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia India Programs
skype : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk : hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Hisham Mundol <hmundol(a)wikimedia.org>
> Date: June 1, 2011 11:04:02 AM GMT+05:30
> To: wikimediaindia-l Community list <wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Cc: Annie Lin <alin(a)wikimedia.org>, Frank Schulenburg <fschulenburg(a)wikimedia.org>, PJ Tabit <pjtabit(a)gmail.com>, Srikeit <srikeit(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: India Programs IRC : Thursday June 2nd 2011 @ 9pm IST (GMT + 5:30) : #wikimedia-office
>
> Hi Folks
>
> We conduct a monthly IRC on India Programs on the first Thursday of every month. I'm writing to invite you to attend tomorrow's IRC. I've scheduled it for 9pm IST - based on feedback I've gotten from the community when discussing this at the various meet-ups I've been attending that this time slot might be more convenient.
>
> Something different that I thought we would do in the IRC tomorrow is to have some guests. Specifically, I wanted to invite Frank, Annie, PJ & Srikeit - all of who are supporting the Wikipedia India Education Program's Pune Pilot. Frank & Annie are with the Foundation. PJ is from the Campus Ambassador program in the US - and has offered to come down to Pune to support this initiative for just under the next 3 months. Srikeit is an existing Wikipedia and has offered to support the program for the next 1 year.
>
> I thought it would be a great way of getting to know them and for you to interact with them and to discuss the (very early) signals that we would have on the program (given that we are starting formal outreach today.) We'd love to hear your views as well.
>
> As always, we will also give a quick summary of India Programs and discuss any other issues you'd like to.
>
> Do join us!
>
> Best
>
> Hisham Mundol
>
> Wikimedia India Programs
> skype : hisham.wikimedia
> gtalk : hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
> twitter : @mundol
>
Hi All
(cross-posting pan-india; apologies if you get this more than once.)
A few of you have reached out and suggested modifications / corrections in the postings. I've made these. Thank you for your inputs.
Please see the revised ones :
Wiki
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Participation_-_India_P…http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Indic_Initiatives_-_Ind…
LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1592308http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1592351
Many thanks
Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol
On May 4, 2011, at 10:06 AM, Hisham Mundol wrote:
> Hi All
>
> I'm writing to inform you that the selection process for 2 of the 4 potential new team members of the India Programs team has started. These have been posted on Office as well as LinkedIn. They can be seen at the at the following locations:
>
> Wiki
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Participation_-_India_P…
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Indic_Initiatives_-_Ind…
>
> LinkedIn
> http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1592308
> http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1592351
>
> Can I request a few things.
>
> a) India Programs is extremely keen on having existing Wikimedians on board in the team. I therefore invite and urge anyone from the existing community to respond to either / both of these. As you will make out from the wordings, there is a clear preference for those who are already involved in the community.
> b) Please do forward this mail to anyone you know who you think might be interested. While they may not be from the existing community, you are best placed to know your who would fit into the movement and who might be interested.
> c) Please do broadcast these links on any other mailing lists, bulletin boards, various social networks (twitter, facebook, etc.), etc. so that we can reach more potential candidates / remind potential candidates.
>
> Please do not hesitate to contact me for any clarifications.
>
> Many thanks.
>
> Hisham Mundol
> Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
> skype: hisham.wikimedia
>
> gtalk: hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
> twitter: @mundol
>
Hi Folks
(cross-posting to reach all-India; apologies if you get multiple messages.)
Our regular monthly IRC on India Programs is on the 1st Thursday of every month. Please do join in this evening (details are in the subject of this mail.)
The agenda is to share an update on India Programs (such as the India Campus Program, the Campus Ambassadors initiative and building the team for India Programs.) Needless to say, we will also discuss any other areas that you wish to cover.
I look forward to as many of you as can make it.
Many thanks.
Warm Regards,
Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol
cross posting to local India lists
Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Hisham Mundol <hmundol(a)wikimedia.org>
> Date: May 4, 2011 10:06:31 AM GMT+05:30
> To: Wikimedia India Community list <wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: India Programs: Team Selection: Call for Talent!
>
> Hi All
>
> I'm writing to inform you that the selection process for 2 of the 4 potential new team members of the India Programs team has started. These have been posted on Office as well as LinkedIn. They can be seen at the at the following locations:
>
> Wiki
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Participation_-_India_P…
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Indic_Initiatives_-_Ind…
>
> LinkedIn
> http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1592308
> http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1592351
>
> Can I request a few things.
>
> a) India Programs is extremely keen on having existing Wikimedians on board in the team. I therefore invite and urge anyone from the existing community to respond to either / both of these. As you will make out from the wordings, there is a clear preference for those who are already involved in the community.
> b) Please do forward this mail to anyone you know who you think might be interested. While they may not be from the existing community, you are best placed to know your who would fit into the movement and who might be interested.
> c) Please do broadcast these links on any other mailing lists, bulletin boards, various social networks (twitter, facebook, etc.), etc. so that we can reach more potential candidates / remind potential candidates.
>
> Please do not hesitate to contact me for any clarifications.
>
> Many thanks.
>
> Hisham Mundol
> Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
> skype: hisham.wikimedia
>
> gtalk: hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
> twitter: @mundol
>
Hi All (cross-posting to make sure I reach as much of India as possible),
As you're aware, we had invited applications for Campus Ambassadors for the upcoming Pune Pilot of the India Campus Program.
The response has been fantastic: we've received ~500 applications/enquiries from across India, ~70 of which were from Pune. This has been really heartening - indicating the desire of many to support the Wikimedia movement. It's also been overwhelming because we need to process all the applications, respond to applicants, etc.!
I think, most critically, it also presents an amazing opportunity for us to introduce new people to Wikimedia projects (especially Wikipedia) - and invite them to join the community. I've interviewed quite a few and there is a recurring theme I hear from many of them. It goes something like, "I've been using Wikipedia for years and years, and I love it. I want to contribute back to it - but I wasn't sure how. Then I saw the banner and decided this was a great way to help." The overwhelming common trait I have noticed in the applicants is that they are bright, well-intentioned and eager to contribute.
Here are some thoughts I had, and I'd love to hear your suggestions/comments on these.
We should respond to every single applicant, and even to those who didn't actually apply but sent emails enquiries (such as "When is the program coming to my city?", etc.) No one should be left behind.
We will prioritise (in terms of sequence of events) the Pune Campus Ambassadors. We need to have a reasonable number available for a training session that we need to conduct before the start of the program. Of the 70 who applied from Pune, we should hopefully get 20-30 Campus Ambassadors.
The important suggestion I had for everyone else (in Pune and beyond) is that we do not "reject" anyone. While some might not become Campus Ambassadors because we don't plan to run the program in their towns/cities right now, or some in Pune might not currently have the desired experience (in teaching and people management), there is no reason that they can't participate in some other roles. Therefore, I don't think we should send any "reject letters" to anyone. No one should be left behind. Instead, we should send them options on how they can participate/learn more about participating. For example:-
i) they could form student clubs in their respective educational establishments
ii) they could form Wikipedia clubs in their workplaces/social groups (as a number of applicants are working professionals, and no longer on campus)
iii) they could become individual editors
For us to try and help realise their potential, here are some thoughts I had:-
i) Invite all the applicants/enquirers to attend the next community meet-ups. This was a suggestion shared by the Pune community. This would give them a chance to interact with the community and understand more about the movement/projects.
ii) Additionally, those who have not been selected as Campus Ambassadors can be reassured by telling them that they can join an "incubation" program. This was a suggestion shared by the Pune community. This would involve them attending meet-ups, learning how to edit, starting to edit - and being supported and hand-held along the way by existing community members. This would help them if they eventually wish to reapply as Campus Ambassadors. Even if they choose not to, they could easily become individual newbie editors.
iii) Invite all applicants/enquirers in a town/city to attend a full-fledged Wiki Academy. This was a suggestion shared by the Mumbai community. This is currently envisaged as a full day session where they are given insights into the movement & projects, taught how to edit, and actually edit articles.
iv) In towns/cities where a full-fledged Wiki Academy is not viable (e.g. if there aren't enough numbers of either participants or volunteers/volunteer time to run a Wiki Academy), then an alternative suggestion is to have a smaller group (3-5) of the applicants /enquirers linked up with a community member who can conduct smaller, shorter groups to explain how to edit and hand-hold them as they edit.
I'd really like to hear your views/comments/suggestions on the ideas listed here.
Also, do let me know which of you would like to volunteer either to help conduct Wiki Academies (point (iii) above) or to manage smaller groups of potential newbies (point (iv) above). Also, it'd be great if we could invite them to your next meet-ups at your respective towns/cities (point (i) above).
Another aspect I'd like to get suggestions from you on is how to manage the process of inviting them to these events. We could, for example, share the contacts of these applicants with the respective communities could reach out and invite them. Alternatively, if you wish this to be done for you, that also can be arranged (though it will put some strain on already stretched resources.)
I look forward to hearing from you. (Please note that we have received applicants from every corner of the country - so please don't assume that the applicants are only from Pune or only from large cities or only interested in English Wikipedia. (They are literally from everywhere, and no one should be left behind!)
Kind Regards,
Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol
Hi Folks
I am writing to all of you to correct a potential error. As you might be aware, the Wikimedia Foundation has set itself an important objective of supporting the community in India to expand participation. As part of this, India Programs has been set up - and I work for it.
I have put together a plan for India (please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs) - and I had communicated this on the India mailing list. This has generated interest as well as debate and discussion. However, I understand that some of you might not be on that mailing list. I therefore thought I'd correct this by reaching out directly to you and requesting you to have a look at the page and share your comments (on the Talk Page or on this mailing list or directly to me; my contact details are in my signature.) It outines the thinking behind India Programs, key initiatives, milestones, team structure, visit reports, IRC logs, recommendations on office location and some other details. I hope you find it interesting, and I'd love to hear your views / comments / suggestions.
Also, we I have a monthly IRC on India Programs with whoever is interested - on the first Thursday of every month. I'll send out an invite to your mailing list from now on. Do see if you can join in.
I am also going to try and attend as many community meet-ups in as many locations as possible - so I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible, as soon as possible. If you would be kind enough to let me know when the next meeting is planned for and on what schedule (e.g. 2nd Saturday, etc.) then I'll work out how to attend asap.
(Do excuse me if you have received this message through other mailing lists, or it's a bit of a duplication if you are already on the India mailing list.)
Thank You.
Warm Regards,
Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol
Dear Wikimedians,
Today we have released first version of FAQ
for Hindi Wikipedia
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hindi_Wiki_Projects_FAQ_Version_1.0.…>.With
a nice effort of malayalam wiki community they translated their FAQ from
malayalam to english.That translation helped us a lot for preparing FAQ for
Hindi Wikipedia.Special thanks to Shiju Alex and Junad pv who gave this FAQ
its Final pdf form.
Thank you and Regards
Mayur