Hello everyone,
I have attempted to put together a work plan for Gender gap activities in
India: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_gap_India_work_plan
I request inputs, comments, and suggestions from everybody.
Regards,
Rohini
--
Chairperson (Special Interest Group), Gender gap,
Wikimedia Chapter (India)
Greetings from CIS-A2K!
We request the pleasure of your company at the event 'Re-releasing Konkani Vishwakosh & Building Konkani Wikipedia' . The event will take place on the 26th September, Thursday,10am - 11am at the Conference Hall, Goa University, Taleigao.
Upon CIS-A2K' explicit request, Goa University has approved the re-release of Konkani Vishwakosh under Creative Commons License (CC‐BY‐SA 3.0) to make it freely available to public and thus preserve Konkani language and culture in the digital era. This encyclopedia will also serve as one of the main sources of building and writing articles on Konkani Wikipedia (which is currently under incubation).
This is a major win for the Wikimedia movement in India. This is, probably, the first time ever a State run higher education institution has re-released copyrighted content under Creative Commons. Hope more such initiatives will be underway to "Let the Knowledge Go around"!
We'd like you to be a part of this event and help showcase Konkani community and language on a global digital platform such as Konkani Wikipedia.
Please see the link for the invite.[1] We look forward to seeing you at the event.
Best,
Nitika Tandon
Program Manager
Access to Knowledge
The Centre for Internet & Society
[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Re-release_of_Konkani_Vishwakosh_un…
Dear All,
On behalf of CIS-A2K, I am glad to share with you that GOA University has
signed an MoU with CIS-A2K.
As part of this MoU Goa University and CIS-A2K will work together to
digitize “Konkani Vishwakosh” under Creative Common license and build a
Digital Knowledge Partnership in order to enhance digital literacy in the
Konkani language and facilitate collaborative knowledge production and
disseminate the same free of cost through Kokani Wikipedia (currently under
incubation). Gos University and CIS-A2K will co-design and jointly
implement relevant training programmes to achieve this objective.
CIS-A2K is grateful for the support and encouragement received from the Goa
University Vice-Chancellor Dr. Satish Shetye; Prof. Alito Siqueira; Prof.
Priyadarshini Tadkodkar; Dr. Madhavi Sardesai; Dr. Gopakumar; and other
faculty of Goa University.
We are also equally grateful to Wikipedians Harriet Vidyasagar and
Frederick Noronha who have engaged with CIS-A2K team and been a constant
source of support.
Wish us best of luck!
Vishnu
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sowmyan Tirumurti <tsowmyan(a)wikimedia.in>
Date: Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 12:29 PM
Subject: FDC grant application
To: wmin-members(a)googlegroups.com
The FDC grants process has begun. We have already sent in a letter of
intent. We are now moving to the next phase of making the application.
For those who do not know about the FDC grant, this provides for staff,
office, and infrastructure. We have considered opening a office in
Bangalore, with a meeting room cum training center, where about 10
computers will be available for users / trainees. We can use this for city
community meets, wikiacademies, editathons, hackathons, etc.
This measure is to provide for a formal office for the Chapter in India,
and give ourselves a exclusive address to meet compliance issues better.
The facility is also expected to be more centrally located within the city
so that members and other Wikimedians do not find it difficult to visit the
office.
Yet another infrastructure proposal that has been considered is to have a
scanning facility to meet digitization requirements that can enable
wikisource, and other wikimedia commons file generation
We invite members suggestions towards major initiatives that can be taken
as part of our activities in the Calender year 2014. Kindly send in your
suggestions in the next 10 days. We would like to have discussions on the
suggestions in the week after. We will add financial measures to the
proposals in the third week. In the fourth week we will submit to WMF.
This is an open brain storming. Every one can build on the ideas of every
one else. Here is the webpage where you can add your suggestions.
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/FDC_Proposal_2013
Regards,
Sowmyan
Executive Manager
Wikimedia Chapter, Bangalore
+91 96329 11650
Dear All,
CIS-A2K would like to invite you to our first monthly IRC to receive
feedback on our work. We are slowly rolling out the work-plans that we
have developed with your collaboration and input. We have received
some useful feedback from some of you on Meta specifically on two
important aspects, which informed the agenda for this IRC.
IRC details:
Channel: #Wikimedia-in
Date: September 5, 2013 (Thursday)
Time: 8-9 pm
Agenda:
What more measures can CIS-A2K take to increase community participation?
Pilot Projects - Discussion on possible topics, strategies of
execution and community involvement.
Any specific aspect of CIS-A2K's work that majority of the community
members, present for IRC, would like to discuss.
For those who are attending IRC for the first time please check this
link to join: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IRC/Tutorial
--
Best!
Subhashish Panigrahi
Programme Officer, Access To Knowledge
Centre for Internet and Society
@psubhashish
Dear All,
CIS-A2K is organising a 4 day Train the Trainer (TTT) program in Bangalore during 1st week of October 2013. The idea of the program is to build capacity and enable community members to conduct outreach sessions independently or with minimal support to introduce Wikipedia to prospective editors in their respective Indian languages.
By way of this program, CIS-A2K wants to support and enable community members who might be interested to conduct Wikipedia outreach sessions in their own cities/languages. The event is open to all Wikimedia volunteers from India who can and want to support outreach events in the coming year.
CIS-A2K is calling for applicants for it's Train the Trainer Program. If you'd like to be part of this program please make sure that you meet the selection criterion [1] and submit Train the Trainer Program Application From [2] by 13th September, 2013.
To know more about the program, rationale, overview, timeline etc. please check the attached document or visit the Meta page.[3]
We look forward to hearing from you soon. For any further queries please mail at a2k(a)cis-india.org
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
Program Manager
Access to Knowledge
The Centre for Internet & Society
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/TTT#Select…
[2] http://bit.ly/A2Kttt
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/TTT
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,
Sincere apologies for delay in sending the bulletin. We have worked on
changing the format of the Centre for Internet and Society’s Access To
Knowledge (CIS-A2K) monthly bulletin. Please find below the details of
our work in the last two months (i.e. June and July 2013) as a single
bulletin. We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions on how
we can improve the bulletin at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge
Indian Language Wikipedia Statistics April to September 2013 (by T.
Vishnu Vardhan; Nitika Tandon and Subhashish Panigrahi June 30, 2013):
The Access to Knowledge team carried out quantitative analysis to
identify trends and growth patterns in Indian Language Wikipedias over
the time period from September 2012 to April 2013. Though it is
difficult for the A2K programme to take direct credit for the growth
or lack of it the programme's support has been one of the key factors
in impacting the growth of the Wikimedia projects and communities in
India since the commencement of the project. Primary focus areas of
the statistics are: growth of articles, Active editors, Monthly growth
of new editors, Monthly pageviews and New editors statistics from
outreach events organized or supported by A2K programme. Link:
http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/indian-language-wikipedia-statistics
￭ Workshops
● Wikipedia editing workshop for participants from 10 civil society
institutions from across India at the Institute of Internet and
Society, Bangalore (Organized by the A2K team members T. Vishnu
Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi, June 9, 2013)
● A 'Kannada' Wikipedia Workshop for Bloggers (organized by CIS-A2K
Team, Suchitra, Bengaluru, June 23, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted
the workshop. Link:
http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-bloggers
● Digital Humanities for Indian Higher Education (co-organised by
HEIRA-CSCS, Tumkur University, CILHE-TISS and CCS, Indian Institute of
Science, July 13, 2013). Link:
http://cis-india.org/openness/events/digital-humanities-for-indian-higher-e…
● A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (organized by CIS-A2K team, July 21,
2013, Hubli). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave training to the participants on
Wikipedia. Leading newspapers like Times of India, Vijaya Karnataka,
Deccan Herald, VijayaVani, Prajavani, Samyukta Karnataka and
HosaDiganta covered the event. Scanned versions of the published
articles can be viewed here
(http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/hubli-workshop-press-coverage.zip).
Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-hubli
● Telugu Wikipedia Training Workshop (organized by CIS-A2K Team in
collaboration with Telugu Jati Nava Nirmana Samstha, Hyderabad, July
21, 2013). Dr. Rajasekhar (Telugu WP admin) and T. Vishnu Vardhan
conducted the workshop. Link: http://bit.ly/13Z00Ue
● A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Sagara (organized by CIS-A2K team,
Sagara, July 28, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a talk on Wikipedia and
Kannada Wikipedia. Link:
http://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara
● Odia Wikipedia Training Workshop at the Veer Surendra Sai University
of Technology (Organized by Odia Wikipedian Gorvachove Pothal and
supported by CIS-A2K programme, July 26, 2013). Event link:
http://or.wikipedia.org/s/gqw
● Telugu Wiki Academy at Centre for Good Governance (co-organised by
A2K team and Telugu Wikipedia community, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad,
April 9, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan was a speaker at this event. Link:
http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/telegu-wiki-academy-at-centre-for-good-g…
￭ Meetups
● First Telugu Wiki Meetup @ CIS, Bangalore (co-organised by Telugu
Wikipedia community and A2K on June 2, 2013). S.J. Veera conducted the
meet-up. Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/telegu-wiki-meet-up-at-cis-june-2-2013
● Second monthly Telugu Wiki Meetup @ CIS, Bangalore (co-organized by
Telugu Wikipedia community and A2K on July 13, 2013). Event link:
http://goo.gl/zVueaO
● Telugu Wikipedia Meetup @ Theatre Outreach Unit, Hyderabad
(co-organised by TE WP community, ToU and A2K on July 21, 2013). T.
Vishnu Vardhan spoke on Copyright-Creative Commons and Wikipedia.
Link: http://bit.ly/14ctSxr
￭ Upcoming / Ongoing Events
● A Workshop on Posting Articles in Kannada on Wikipedia (organised by
the Centre for Proficiency Development Placement Service, University
of Mysore, CPDPS premises, Manasagangotri, August 6, 2013). Dr. U.B.
Pavanaja will conduct a workshop. The announcement
(http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/stress-on-pos…)
was made in an article by R. Krishna Kumar in the Hindu on August 2,
2013. Link: http://cis-india.org/news/hindu-r-krishna-kumar-august-2-2013-stress-on-pos…
● Wikipedia Training workshop for students at the St. Xavier College,
Goa Wikipedia
● Training workshop for students from Library Science Department at
the Goa University, Goa Wikipedia
● Training workshop for students from Konkani language Department at
the Goa University, Goa
￭ Events Participated
● Free Software (organized by Free Software Movement of Karnataka in
partnership with Jnana Vikas Institute of Technology, Bidadi, July 24,
2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja presented about Wikipedia in this event.
Link: http://cis-india.org/news/free-software
● Institute of Internet and Society, Bangalore (participated by A2K
team, T. Vishnu Vardhan presented about “Building Knowledge Bases and
Platforms via Mass Collaboration on the Internet” Presentation Link:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Building_Knowledge_Bases_and_Platfor…,
Event Link: http://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/instit…
￭ Media Coverage (including videos)
● A Feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians (HMTV, May 30-31,
2013). Watch the video:
http://cis-india.org/news/hmtv-may-30-2013-wikipedia-and-telegu-wikipedians
● Wikipedia Live Phone-in Programme (HMTV, June 1, 2013). T. Vishnu
Vardhan took part in a one hour live phone-in programme on Wikipedia.
Video: http://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-live-phone-in-programme
● Wiki donors (by Akhila Seetharaman, TimeOut Bengaluru, June 21,
2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan and Dr. U.B. Pavanaja are quoted. Link:
http://cis-india.org/news/timeout-bengaluru-akhila-seetharaman-june-21-2013…
● Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Prajavani, June 5, 2013). Dr.
U.B. Pavanaja conducted the workshop on June 4, 2013. Link:
http://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-…
● Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Samyukta Karnataka, June 5,
2013). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja conducted the workshop on June 4, 2013. Link:
http://cis-india.org/news/samyukta-karnataka-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-…
● Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Vijaya Karnataka, June 5,
2013). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja conducted the workshop on June 4, 2013. Link:
http://cis-india.org/news/vijaya-karnataka-june-5-2013-report-of-kannada-wi…
● Wiki Rahasya: Panel Discussion (Suvarna News, June 13, 2013). Dr.
U.B.Pavanaja participated in a panel discussion around Wikipedia in
general and about Kannada Wikipedia in specific. Link:
http://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-disc…
￭ Blog Entry
● Wikipedia Visual Editor (by Nitika Tandon, June 27, 2013). Link:
http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/visual-editor.pdf/view
● My First Wikipedia Training Workshop – Theatre Outreach Unit,
University of Hyderabad (Organized by A2K team, attended by T. Vishnu
Vardhan) Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/my-first-wikipedia-training-workshop
Wikimedia Foundation has funded A2K to anchor the growth of Wikimedia
movement in India. 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. Archives of our
newsletters can be accessed here
(http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters). Wikipedians from various
communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs,
logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications
at http://bit.ly/TOcXId.
￭ About CIS
The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-profit research
organization that works on policy issues relating to freedom of
expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities,
access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness (including open
government, FOSS, open standards, etc.), and engages in academic
research on digital natives and digital humanities.
￭ Follow us elsewhere
● Twitter: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
● CIS group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cis.india
● Visit us at: https://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. To discuss collaborations on Indic
language wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director,
A2K, at vishnu(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.
--
Best!
Subhashish Panigrahi
Programme Officer, Access To Knowledge
Centre for Internet and Society
https://bitly.com/CISA2K
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