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hi arun and co, how r u guys doing?
Since we dont seem to have a mailing list to discuss ethical issues of wiki, i continue to post.
now lemme try to tell all of you something what i normally tell journalism interns on their first day;
1. Only becoz you have an access to a mass medium of expression, do not think you are wiser than any poor illeterate farmer in the last village of this country. In fact, your learning has just begun.
2. Access to a mass medium is a great opportunity to learn. When i started reading Indian/world history along with various views on it and Indian/ world polity, most of today's college kids were not even born but i am yet to form a decisive commentery. so it is better to carry all view points rather than go without any viewpoints.
3. Whatever be the story, understand social context before putting it up for public consumption. Every story exists only in a social context and without social relevance even the best stories can serve anti-soical elements.
4. No story is written. All stories are re-written. So before publishing the story get it checked by your peers.
Having said that, i must remind all of you that if wikipedians are not discussing the social relevance of what they are doing, they should start doing so. It is pointless being wikipedian or being anybody, unless you understand the social context. And dont think that they had no sense of context before starting Wiki Foundation. They had, but have you asked them what it was? Ask them, find an answer and then see if it compliments Indian context. The idea of wikipedia is not concieved in vaccum so dont blindly jump into the band wagon. There must be a reason why wiki keeps its editors and admins anonymous even when India has thousands of learned men and women who never say anything anonymously - however risky it would be to say that.
Often the findings may not suit our ego but ego blocks your understanding. All wikipedians must read Indian history. you may begin with
1. Indian History by Romila Thapar
2. Indian History by Percieval Spear
3. Indian Independance Movement by Bipin Chandra
4. Freedom at midnight by Dominique lappierre
5. Discovery of India by Nehru
6. Intervals in Politics by Ram Manohar Lohia
7. Caste System by Ram Manohar Lohia
8. Wheels of History by Ram Manohar Lohia
...this list can go on. more later.
regards
From: Arun Ramarathnam < arunram25@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-in-blr] [Wikimediaindia-l] ToI front page: Rs 1 cr for Sanskrit WP
Cc: "IndiaMailing list for Wikimedians / Wikipedians in & from Bangalore" <wikimedia-in-blr@lists.wikimedia.org>
Date: Saturday, February 26, 2011, 2:06 PM
On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 6:21 PM, Basavaraj Itnal <basavarajitnal@yahoo.com> wrote:
| explain. how social relevance of sanskrit is out of scope of wiki in sanskrit and govt funding to it? |
Basavaraj,
You must differentiate between the following:
- The social relevance of Sanskrit in India (as you put it)
- Impact of Wikipedia in Sanskrit to society.
The first topic, I maintain is beyond the scope of this list. It is to wide a topic.
As far as the second one goes, Wikipedia in Sanskrit is too small to discuss this now.
If you question was with regards to the process followed to start a wikipedia in a language (like Sankrit or any other), you are referred to the following:
As you can see from the links above, there *are* active discussions before a wikipedia project is created.
do you guys discuss social relavance of what you are doing at all? if yes, where? if no, that is a grave ommission.
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Wikipedia has evolved over 10 years. It did not become a phenomenon just like that. There surely is a "method" to most things, even if it doesn't seem very apparent to some. And these methods keep improving. You too can contribute to bettering these while participating in the processes and experiencing them.
A lot of links and references have been shared on this thread. Hope it helps you form your views on the processes behind wikipedia. And as they say, "Rome was not built in one day"! In this case it took 10 years (and it is still a WIP).
Thanks
Arun
--- On Sat, 2/26/11, Arun Ramarathnam <arunram25@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Arun Ramarathnam <arunram25@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-in-blr] [Wikimediaindia-l] ToI front page: Rs 1 cr for Sanskrit WP
To: "Mailing list for Wikimedians / Wikipedians in & from Bangalore, India" <wikimedia-in-blr@lists.wikimedia.org>, "Basavaraj Itnal" <basavarajitnal@yahoo.com>
Date: Saturday, February 26, 2011, 12:47 PM
Basavaraj,
The social relevance of Sanskrit in India, is not a topic that is in the scope if this list.
It is a much larger topic.
As far as your observations on factual inaccuracies of some articles, that is certainly something you can take up on the talk page of the respective wiki page. There may be more knowledgeable contributors on the subject who can comment on it.
Could you also please refer the following links or pages that may assist you further:
Thank you
Arun
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