Project idea
What is the problem you're trying to solve?
Indic languages represent a large portion of languages used
worldwide. The number of contributors for Indic languages has been
lagging other language families for a variety of reasons. Internet
connectivity in India being limited/expensive is a major reason among
them. Indic wikiprojects have beens working to encourage more
contributors for Indic Languages.
There are a number of areas on Indic wikipedias where content is
either lacking or is of poor quality. Health-related content is a prime
example of this.
Potential for solution
There is a strong and diverse Indian diaspora in the United States.
Eastern Seaboard has a large number of Indian expats that have either
settled there or live there for work/business. This was evidenced by the
20,000+ people attending a speech in Hindi by the Prime Minister of
India at Madison Square Garden, New York.
In general, the Indian origin community in the United States has very
high literacy rates. They are also well-versed in English as well as at
least one of Indic languages. Access to Internet is not an issue for
this demographic. Enthusiasm for advancement of Indic languages is also
evident by the many initiatives being pursued by this group.
What is your solution?
- Dedicated workshops for Indian Languages in United States of America.
- Informal User Group to conduct periodic meetings/offline events.
- Collaboration with local chapters and editors to improve Offline Wikipedia in Indian Languages.
- Special content (health related articles/essential medicines info
etc) on Indic Wikipedia can be improved by specialized dedicated group
of Indian medical students in U.S.
- Collaboration with (U.S based) like minded individuals and organizations dedicated to improve Open Knowledge movement in India.
Pilot Project
Outreach events in
- New York,
- Washington D.C,
- Boston
- Colorado Springs
-
- A session here will serve as an aide to developing and/or fine-tuning presentations and sequence of activities.
Goals
- Reach out to more Indians to increase their understanding of how
Indic Language Wikimedia projects work, and enable them to pass this
knowledge on to others.
- Improving and building upon contributions to Wikimedia projects in English, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Commons etc.
- Increasing visibility, reach and access to Wikimedia projects amongst Indian Americans, especially in students.
- Sign up students interested in our various activities & any other training workshops planned.
- Conduct outreach sessions in universities, student fests, fairs etc.
Other benefits
- A strong, diverse and engaged students community.
- Growth in editorship and readership from U.S.
We look forward to hear from you. Kindly share your views here -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Indic_Language_Wikipedia_Outreach_in_United_States
Keep Supporting, Keep Inspiring :-)
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