At the recent Wikipedia hackathon, I had the privilege of meeting
User:YuviPanda. While taking with him, I came to know that he had writen a
Google Chrome plugin. User: Yuvi Panda has come up with a great extension
which will help discoverability of Wikipedia articles. Since I don't recall
mention of this on the list (probably done about a year ago or so?) I'm
taking the liberty the liberty of re-introducing it in India in-en and my
lists.
YenWikipedia is an extension for both Chrome and Firefox downloadable from:
- https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/yenwikipedia (creator -
yuvipanda)
-https://addas.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/yenikipedia (creator -
arunmozhi)
What does it do? When you use Google search and results turn up Wikipedia
articles, the add-on adds interwiki links for that article in the language
of your choice.
The setting of language for the inter-wiki choice is done while setting up
the options in chrome and can be also changed later on. The firefox
extension goes one better- it permits more than one language inter-wiki to
be chosen. In my configuration, my Chrome worked but I was unable to find
out how to adjust the languages in the Firefox.
That apart. it is an excellent idea and it really helps you discover
relevant Wikipedia articles in Indian languages.
Warm regards,
Ashwin Baindur
------------------------------------------------------
Cross posting.
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Nitika <ntandon(a)wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Improving outreach efforts in India
> Date: 13 February 2012 5:12:49 PM GMT+05:30
> To: Wikimedia India Community list <wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>
> Dear All,
>
> The following is a post I've put up on the India Program page on meta regarding outreach (Please see:http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Program/Outreach_Programs). Please do comment on the page itself; I'm posting it on this mailing list only to make sure it doesn't slip your attention.
>
> We have conducted over 13 outreach sessions in the past one month and have many more events scheduled to participate in over the coming weeks. (Please see: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Outreach_Programs/Outreach_Ses…). It's amazing that we're doing so many outreach events all over the country to create awareness about Wikipedia, motivate attendees to learn about editing and training newbies to contribute to Wikipedia in their own special way.
>
> The single biggest challenge is that we don't know the actual outcome of these efforts in most cases, and the results are weak when we have the data. I think most of us agree that outreach can be made to work better. (For example, 2 outreach sessions conducted recently by the Assamese community had about 80 participants, and 8 active editors emerged - which is a hit rate of 10% - which is FANTASTIC!) For most other sessions, the results have been closer to 1-2% or even lower - which is depressing. What makes outreach work? How can outreach work better? Is there anything you need from me?
>
> Over the past 3 months, I have been working on building a handbook for Outreach (Please see: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Outreach_Programs/Handbook) where you can get presentation material and tips. Please do go through it and help me build it.
>
> My post consists of 5 (deliberately) provocative statements on the day of and the days after an outreach session. These are framed with the objective of generating debate and suggestions.
>
> THE DAY OF
>
> Hypthesis 1: Don't Shoot the Puppy: Outreach is not being done effectively and we aren't adequately introspecting on what we can do better; instead choosing to lose faith in attendees
>
> Should we discontinue general introduction sessions completely and just convert everything into Wiki workshops? Every second of volunteer time is precious and we need to make sure that every second is made to count. The good sessions appear to be those where people are actually shown how to edit - rather than just doing a song-and-dance about Wikipedia.
> The best sessions are those where people have actual hands-on editing opportunity. Shall we limit the intro session on Wikipedia to just 15 minutes and then spend 45 minute on basic editing, 30 minutes on hand-on editing and leave 30 minutes for Q&A?
> Not everyone is a natural presenter and might need help on basic outreach skills. Is there value and interest in a capacity building roadshow where we help existing editors who want to improve their outreach and presentation skills? Is it useful to pair up a good presenter with a not-so-confident presenter when we are doing outreach?
> THE DAY AFTER
>
> Hypothesis #2: Staying in Touch: We assume the job is complete after the outreach session when in fact the journey has only just begun
>
> Can we gather (basic) information about attendees (e.g., names, usernames & email IDs?) so that we can stay in touch with them after sessions?
> Can we get feedback on sessions (duration, level of detail, quality of presenters, etc.?) so that we can all improve? Do we need some sort of CRM solution for this or will something like Google Docs suffice?
> How do we get more folks to actually provide their contact details and feedback? Which of the following will get higher response rates: asking for these just before the end, immediately after the end or the day after a session?
> Hypothesis #3: Nudge-Nudge: Newbies struggle with the most basic things - including which article to select
>
> Should we send links to useful wiki pages and tutorial videos where they can read up more about how Wikipedia works and how to edit Wikipedia? Can we leave handouts on basic editing after all sessions? Can we send them links to the actual presentations made at the session.
> Can we suggest / elicit potential articles that individual newbies will work on after the workshop? Can we give them individual pointers on what they can do with each article by reviewing them there-and-then during the session?
> Can we schedule a follow-up session (even if virtually using google+ hangout) to clarify any doubts about Wikipedia editing or otherwise - maybe 2 weeks after a session?
> Hypothesis #4: Loneliness - Newbies feel alone and the only time they sense the community is when their edits get reverted
>
> Should we not encourage them to join project pages (such as the WP:INDIA) and/or the India mailing list and/or their city/language mailing list to get involved with the community?
> Can we involve them in COTM or conduct specific editathons for them?
> Can we celebrate their successes and get newbies to talk to other newbies about how they learnt stuff?
> Hyptothesis #5: Black Hole: No one has a clue about the actual results of outreach
>
> Can we regularly monitor number & % of active editors after 1 and 3 months of conducting all events? Can we figure out % of mainspace edits from these newbies after 1 and 3 months? Can this be analysed to provide recommendations on how we can do things better?
> Can we actively reach out to those who look like they are struggling? Do we need a CRM tool for something like this?
> Is it useful to track and attempt to co-relate age / profession / subject (if student) / sex of participants to figure out what is likely to give greatest results?
> I have been working to see how can we overcome these challenges and make our outreach efforts far more effective. I'd love to hear from on the above. Some of you have been actively involved in outreach sessions (attending or conducting or planning) an I'd like to know your thoughts and suggestions which might serve as solutions for this set of very real challenges.
>
> Thanks
>
> Nitika
>
>
Some time back, WMF funded research on Oral Citations. Some articles on English Wikipedia (and probably some indic wikis like hi as well from the looks of it) have begun using oral citations. However, there is no mention of their acceptability on WP:RS so far.
I have taken the liberty of starting a discussion on this [1] and Im posting it on the list as I think its important that this be discussed in detail as it would be a major change to current policy, if implemented.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard#Oral_Ci…
Kind Regards,
Dear all,
I am extremely delighted to announce India's first (?) GLAM collaboration
with a State institution in New Delhi, the capital of India. The* National
Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum (NHHM)*, New Delhi has approved our draft
and we will soon begin a 6 month pilot project with them.
I have been corresponding with their director for over 2 months now, since
the GLAMcamp in Amsterdam. After a series of conversations with the
Director, Dr Ruchira Ghose, I sent in an approval and after two meetings,
she sent in a revised proposal to the Ministry of Culture in India. Just
two days ago, the Ministry approved this project and has also provided her
a small grant to support our incidental expenses. NHHM has over 30,000
objects including pottery, textiles, metal work, paintings and more.
*Goals:*
- 6 month pilot project to churn out 25 'Good Articles'.
- Training staff and capacity building
- Recruiting 10 new editors from art colleges to work on site for
digitization/documentation
- Make the museum a regular avenue for GLAM meets
Note: Good Articles here doesn't mean GA by en-WP standards. We intend to
create at least 25 articles with substantial information. Would like your
inputs on this.
*Challenges: *
- Delhi has a small community, so we *really *need help from EVERYONE
possible, local and global
- The staff members are only comfortable with Hindi, so we'd appreciate
ALL help possible from hi-WP editors
- *Biggest challenge: *India is a vast country with craft traditions in
millions of villages. So, at the time of acquiring, many art objects do not
come with published information, documentation and references. Much of this
stuff is 'word of mouth', oral traditions and stories of artisans etc. We
have asked the Museum to start documenting and publishing these stories
under their Publication cell BUT that will take time. Do you think using
oral citations in this case would be helpful?
- Since this is my/our first time, we will appreciate guidance on
scanning, making an MoU and help creating/maintaining the project page. Can
someone please help? *makes puppy face*
I apologize for this really long mail but, my next meeting with the
Director is on the 14th of February when we will start our 'lead-up'
program to the project.
*To all the WiRs: *Did you make some sort of a program schedule or a
timeline that I could use?
I would love all your suggestions on this project and am *very* excited to
make my own share of GLAM contributions and mistakes :) Of course, now we
will also start contributing to TGIM.
Cheers,
Noopur
--
Noopur Raval
Student
Arts and Aesthetics
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Ph: 9650567690
I think, some are getting it all wrong. It is not about sympathies to
Nichalp or who so ever.
The problem is not conflict of interest editing... It is not even a
philosophical debate of Paid editing Vs Volunteer editing... The problem is
getting paid to white wash "negative materials" in favor of the clients,
which eventually render Wikipedia articles biased and information
suppressed... And if those people can get favors from the level of Admins,
it is definitely wrong. What is more shocking is that if that if an account
created possibly with a single purpose ( of protecting the interests of a
business group) can manage to climb up the ladder of admin-ship of a
"stronger" Wikipedia like en.wiki , it is definitely alarming !
At this point of time, I am giving the benefit of doubt of whether Wifione
is actually Nichalp or not. But definitely an account like Wifione aka
"Wireless Fidelity Class One" must be investigated.
It is not the first time, IIPM related folks tried to infiltrate Wikipedia
to get the articles in their favour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_checkuser/Case/Mrinal_P…
I am sure that scores of such sock puppet users are still having a free run
with related articles.
Previous sockpuppet investigations against Wifione in 2009 returned a
"possible" result.
Imagine having an admin also with ACC ( Account Creation) toolserver
authorization in the favour.
What is more shocking is that one user who slapped the notice on Wifione
got this message on his talk page
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Makrandjoshi&oldid=104617335
(which closely translates to DONT YOU GET SCARED? THESE IIPM GUYS WILL KILL
YOU)
Now tell me, can volunteers like you and me fearlessly edit articles
related to IIPM to remove its bias, in such situations of death threats?
Least I want to go to Silichar after being sued.
-TC
On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 2:47 PM, Pradeep Mohandas <pradeep.mohandas(a)gmail.com
> wrote:
> hi,
>
> I think we mean this criticism only in the Wikipedia reference. It's
> not as if we're going to catch and hand over this guy to the Police.
>
> Such paid editing lowers the morale of other editors. Efforts must be
> made to stop such work that is detrimental to other Wikipedia
> volunteers.
>
> Then again, we're putting the cart in front of the horse. It's not
> been proved Nichalp and wifione are one and the same. It is hence best
> to discuss only about paid editing and how this practise can be
> identified and stopped.
>
> Pradeep
> Handheld
>
> On 09/02/2012, Ashwin Baindur <ashwin.baindur(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> > I would only like to remind people that showing some sympathy is not a
> > bad thing .
> >
> > Coming from armed forces where there are no second places - to me the
> > greatest sin is lack of competence, whether in language, wiki-writing,
> > techniques or otherwise. I was told by someone that Wikipeding was a
> > voluntary activity so high standards should not be expected in
> > competence. If that is true, then we should not suddenly start
> > witch-hunting on the basis of principle when we are ourselves so
> > casual about other qualities in other ways!
> >
> > Without mentioning specific incidents, I have come across this
> > tendency to crucify others in India community - which is deplorable.
> >
> > Before any one becomes high & mighty on morals here, one should look
> > closely at what are harmful crimes against humanity (murder, rape etc)
> > and what are social misdemeanours (wiki-crimes). So many of us condone
> > other faults all the time in Indian society; it is hypocrisy to be
> > principled in issues concerning others, when we ourselves don't apply
> > the highest standards to ourselves.
> >
> > In my opinion. it is NOT the business of this community to go
> > searching for culprits unless the culprit has affected us in some
> > manner, which does not appear to be the case.
> >
> > As Jesus Christ said, let he who is without blame cast the first stone.
> >
> > There are far better and much more important things to do here.
> >
> > Warm regards,
> >
> > Ashwin Baindur
> > ------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 9:23 PM, praveenp <me.praveen(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> >> I feel no sympathy for Nichalp or any such users....
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> > Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
> >
>
>
> --
> Pradeep Mohandas
> How Pradeep uses email - http://goo.gl/6v1I9
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
>
Unbelievable but Shocking !
I am not sure if Wikifone is same as Nichalp, but a look at the edit
history of Wikifone, the editor has some serious interest to protect the
interests of IIPM and its stakeholders.
He seems to even change policy pages to suit his cause
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ANo_original_research&…
Wifione seems to be working on IIM and Amity ( Competitors to IIPM)
articles as well, possibly trying to show them in bad light.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amity_University&action=historysu…
Nevertheless , this has be investigated or possibly reported to Arb Com.
-TC
On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Pradeep Mohandas <
pradeep.mohandas(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> hi,
>
> I do not understand why this accusation is written as a work of fiction.
>
> Whatever the problems faced by an individual, it does not provide
> grounds for crimes like theft. If the person does resort to these
> methods, has to face the consequences, if found out. I am sure we
> appreciated User:Nichalp's contributions when they were made. However,
> when he/she has made mistakes and makes them multiple times, I think
> this also warrants serious investigation.
>
> Pradeep
> Handheld
>
> On 07/02/2012, guptchar(a)ovi.com <guptchar(a)ovi.com> wrote:
> >
> > This is the story of Nichalp[1], an Indian student from Mumbai who became
> > obsessed with editing Wikipedia at a young age. He transformed several
> > articles into featured articles, and became a role model for many
> editors.
> > He was granted the bureaucrat, oversight and administrator privileges -
> > nobody deserved these rights more than him, not even Jimbo.
> >
> > A major change in Nichalp's life came when he came to Australia for
> higher
> > education. Facing a severe financial crunch, Nichalp decided to use the
> only
> > extraordinary skill he had - editing Wikipedia - for making money. He
> put up
> > ads on several freelancer recruiting websites, promising to write
> articles
> > in oexchange for small amounts of money.[2] These were the days when the
> PR
> > professionals had started realizing the importance of Wikipedia. There
> were
> > many takers for Nichalp's services. With his "sockpuppet" accounts,
> Nichalp
> > made a number of contributions (many of which stand deleted now).
> >
> > Unfortunately for Nichalp, the Wikizealots live in an idealistic world.
> They
> > don't realize that, in the long run, editors cannot be expected to
> devote
> > their time to the project for free.[3] When the Wikihounds came to know
> > about one of Nichalp's paid editing accounts they came after him. Nichalp
> > knew he would be stalked in real life, so he made his main account
> inactive.
> > Meanwhile, he continued to be active through his other paid editing
> > accounts. A man of foresight, Nichalp started another account in April
> 2009
> > to gain back his admin rights.[4]
> >
> > The Wikihounds have an astonishing ability to track the suspicious
> accounts
> > - they tracked another one of Nichalp's paid editing accouents.[5] The
> drama
> > prompted the Arbitration Committee to send him an email enquiry about the
> > paid editing concerns. Nichalp's identity was well-known to those who had
> > exposed his paid editing. The personal information that he had posted
> > earlier on his user page and elsewhere on Wikipedia (and social
> networking
> > sites) had made it easy for Wikihounds to stalk him in real life. Denial
> was
> > not an option - Nichalp knew the Wikihounds were capable of producing
> > evidence against him. Pleading not guilty would only gather more eyeballs
> > and possibly lead to media attention - that could sabotage his
> post-college
> > career. Pleading guilty was not an option either - it would lead to the
> same
> > fate. Nichalp did what he felt was the best option before him. He neither
> > accepted the charge, nor denied it. What happened next was unfortunate
> for
> > him. Ignoring his 5-year long devotion to the project, the Arbitration
> > Committee took away his bureaucrat, administrator and oversight rights
> in an
> > unopposed judgment.[6]
> > Realizing that his paid editing accounts may be under survelliance from
> the
> > Wikihounds, Nichalp abandoned all of them. All of them, except one - the
> one
> > he had started in April 2009 with the objective of gaining back his admin
> > rights: Wifione. Nichalp carefully crafted his new wiki identity. He
> devoted
> > this new account to earning money from India's most notorious self-styled
> > "management guru". To make sure his paid editing does not appear
> blatantly
> > obvious, Nichalp (or shall we call him Wifione, now?) engaged in a wide
> > range of edits. Wifione rose up in the wiki-hierarchy and became the
> > administrator. He tried not to appear like a paid editor, but the
> constant
> > pressure from his client forced him to make constant edits to the pages
> > associated with the client. Anyone looking at his top 50 edits would not
> > fail to notice that much of his work in the article namespace was
> devoted to
> > the pages associated with his client and its competitors.[7] But Wifione
> > knew
> > that nobody would oppose him openly: his client is infamous for suing
> any
> > one who criticizes him or his organization. Nobody wants to be sued for
> 500
> > million bucks in a court that lies in the remotest part of the Indian
> > subcontinent - traveling to and staying in Silchar during every court
> > hearing could bankrupt a humble wiki editor. Besides, Wifione had taken
> care
> > not to repeat the mistakes he had made as Nichalp - he had left no tracks
> > that would lead the Wikihounds to him. Or so he thought.
> >
> >
> > [1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Nichalp
> >
> > [2]
> >
> wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=1122a1d3e604276b519c9501881856f4&showtopic=…
> >
> > [3] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Paid_editing
> >
> > [4]
> >
> en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&dir=prev&action=vi…
> >
> > [5]
> >
> en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&oldid=295308358#Ca…
> >
> > [6]
> >
> en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee/Noticebo…
> >
> > [7] wikidashboard.appspot.com/enwiki/wiki/User:Wifione
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> > Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
> >
>
>
> --
> Pradeep Mohandas
> How Pradeep uses email - http://goo.gl/6v1I9
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
>
This is with regard to category:WTM on Wikimedia Commons.
It is requested that rotations may be requested for all images which
are in horizontal inclination. It is very easy to request rotation. On
the source page of each Wikimedia image, a small link is found just
below the image next to the size versions available. By pressing the
link and choosing the rotation through degrees, a request can be made
which will be acted upon by a bot in due course of time.
Warm regards,
Ashwin Baindur
------------------------------------------------------
Deal all,
As a part of helping the community to reach out to more people apart from
the presentations, handouts, FAQs and mailing list support we also have
need for more visuals. Audio/Video clips containing Indian Wikipedians
sharing their message "I EDIT WIKIPEDIA" or "I EDIT AN INDIAN LANGUAGE
WIKIPEDIA" or "WIKIPEDIA IS HELPING ME DOCUMENTING MY HERITAGE" will create
impact among people and motivate them to contribute to Wikipedia. Many
people use Wikipedia in a daily basis without being aware of they can also
[Edit] it, social media, Youtube, mails containing link to such a video can
be used to reach this message to them. Moreover, such videos which are
already there in Outreach (outreach.wikimedia.org) Bookshelf might make
some people feel it's project being managed by some foreigners. Seeing some
real Indians editing Wikipedia with the Main page of an Indian language
background will definitely make this message clearer.
If there is a fairly good no of community members located in anywhere in
India (e.g Pune, Bangalore and Mumbai community) we can ask the community
members say it altogether aloud apart from one/two community members
speaking in their own language. I will be posting the details in the
community village pumps, you are allowed to send as many people's footage
as you can provided the video and audio quality are reasonable good. We
will be collecting footage from all the communities and do a post
production.
Subha
Community & Program Support, India Program
Wikimedia Foundation