Wikimedia-in-hyd May 2011

wikimedia-in-hyd@lists.wikimedia.org

11 participants
8 discussions

WikifyIndia
by Sohel Bohra 22 Jun '11

22 Jun '11

[[This is a lengthy mail and is cross-posted on all mailing lists. Kindly bear]] Dear Wikimedians, We interact with the government on multiple occasions. The problems are all too familiar - complex systems, official apathy, corruption - just to name a few. Some trivia and stats to qualify these claims: * Entrepreneurs identified increasing the speed and ease of issuing permits; lowering taxes; and reducing the time it takes to start a business as key issues. (Note - All issues relate to government interactions; Source - Legatum Institute) * In Mumbai, there are 37 procedural hoops to jump through to gain approval to build a warehouse. (Source : World Bank) * On the Corruption Perception Index (2010), India ranks 87th of 178 countries * Indians are highest ranked in volume of search for terms such as government rules, passport and registration (Source - Google Trends) Here's where WikifyIndia - a wiki of government procedures - kicks in. If Wikipedia is the Thinkers Encyclopedia, WikifyIndia is the Doer's Encyclopedia We (the founders) are ardent believers of the Wikipedia model and want to apply it to government procedures. Our belief is that ordinary citizens suffer for two reasons – the process is complex and accurate information is unavailable. WikifyIndia addresses the latter. Agents distort information to suit themselves. Officials are rarely friendly. The best solution has always been to ask someone who has ‘been through the grind’. WikifyIndia does it on a national level. The scope of the Project is wide ranging. From getting into the armed forces to filing a Right To Information request, from complaining about a broken traffic signal to opening a restaurant, from changing your name to adopting a child, from applying for euthanasia to marrying in court, from getting a gun permit to filing your taxes, from getting a permit to climb peaks to getting a gas connection, it will all be there. www.wikifyindia.com Every article is expected to have a short intro, requirements/eligibility, procedure, list of documents, timings, fees, application form, sample certificate among other details. Unlike Wikipedia, WikifyIndia is also a forum. There is merit in aggregating experiences (for ex. visa experiences can be quite varied). Current approaches on the internet are inadequate. Information is retrieved from Q&A forums, blog posts, agent or government sites. It is incomplete and outdated. Wikipedia has proved that a bottom approach is far more suitable in some areas than any top down approach (where a group is formally trying to organise information). Even if someone did a good job, they wouldn't be able to distribute it for free. WikifyIndia complements Wikipedia. The article on Civil Marriage in Wikipedia is written differently from the same article on WikifyIndia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_marriage http://www.wikifyindia.com/wiki/Civil_Marriage When WikifyIndia has adequate accurate content, it will reduce what economists call 'transaction costs'. Any tool to improve productivity of citizens, entrepreneurs and organisations will be directly contributing to the Indian economy. To the best of our knowledge, there is no other site with a similar approach in any other country. We urge you to jump in and make a difference. WikifyIndia is a non-profit initiative free of advertising and is being run by a small fund created by the Founders. We (the founders) have cribbed about a @#$% and rotten system for far too long. WikifyIndia is our way of doing something about it. We ask for your complete support in adding content, sharing experiences, creating templates and technical support. The goal is for every government procedure to be available in every Indian language with complete and accurate guidelines. If a farmer's wife in Manipur wants to get employed under Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, she should have all the information and forms on the site in her language. Thank you for your time and patience, Anish and Sohel [User:Sbohra]

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[Press] Times of India : "Who wrote my Wiki? / Wiki league" , Hyderabad Ed, Hyderabad Times - 25 May 2011
by CherianTinu Abraham 29 May '11

29 May '11

*Times of India : "Wiki league" , Hyderabad Ed, Hyderabad Times - 25 May 2011 * *Who wrote my Wiki?* *A group of Hyderabadi, techies, professors and students have turned Wikipedia editors to write about everything from haleem to highways and share it with the world* http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archiv… *Wiki league* http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archiv… *Whether you want to find out the latest dope on Arnold Schwarzenneger’s love child or how Osama was really killed, all you need to do is just “Wiki it” up. But the headquarters of this Web superhero that always comes to your rescue, could just be your neighbour’s crib! * *We know Wikipedia is the world’s largest free, collaborative encyclopedia project where anyone can contribute. But how many of us actually do it? Head to one session of the city’s “Wikipedia meet-up” and you’ll be surprised. * *These ‘Wikipedians’ catch up regularly to talk about everything from promoting India on this global platform to adding colour to our own city’s entries. Srikanth Lakshmanan, proudly sporting a Wikipedia tee, says, “I started by editing a page on my college and went on to write 50 articles on Indian roads. If you spare time to write accurate info about something you like, it becomes a point of reference for the world.” * *For the Wiki page on Hyderabadi haleem, you have Randhir Reddy, a local contributor, to thank. “When I realized there is no page on haleem, I started one and it turned out to get a huge number of hits. My page on the local Bathukamma Festival too was much read.” * *Giridhar Rao, a professor of humanities in IIIT, Hyderabad, who contributes to Wiki pages in Esperanto, an artificial international language with a vocabulary based on word roots common to many European languages, says,“If you don’t feel confident enough to start your own Wikipedia page, you can contribute to existing ones.” * *Seconding the opinion is Hisham Mundol a consultant to the Wikimedia Foundation. “Since we think, dream and express best in our mother tongue, contributing to the pages in Indian regional languages is also a great way to share our knowledge.” Ashhar Farhan, the curator of Lamakaan, where the meet was held, shares an experience. “The page on actress Tabu, who is a dear friend, read, ‘Hindu film actress,’ instead of ‘Hindi film actress.’ She asked me to help her out, so I tried editing it. My edit was rejected as I was considered a vandal who was sabotaging the article. So it’s important to give reference to a newspaper article or a book while making any change.” * *Hyderabadi Wikipedia enthusiasts at the meetup* Regards Tinu Cherian http://wiki.wikimedia.in/wiki/In_the_news#May_2011

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Report on Wikipedia Meetup 4 at Hyderabad on 15th May
by Ravishankar 19 May '11

19 May '11

Hi, On 15th May, we had the 4th Wikimedia meetup at Hyderabad as planned. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:MHB4 Around 20 people attended. We had participants from Telugu Wikipedia, Tamil Wikipedia, English Wikipedia and Esperanto Wikipedia and few new comers. We had an open agenda with people sharing their motivation for contributing to Wikipedia and best practices in their Wikipedias. One of the participants promised to get us in touch with people from Digital South Asia Library Project. We hope to follow up on this and see the possibilities for getting their content in Wiktionary. This was followed by an introduction on editing and campus ambassadors program. We plan to have regular meetups henceforth with fixed agenda. Special thanks: Hisham who flew down from Pune for this meetup. http://www.lamakaan.com/ for offering the space and LCD projector facility. Times of India reporter who attended the meeting. Regards, Ravi

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Wikipedia Meetup 4 - Hyderabad
by Srikanth Lakshmanan 12 May '11

12 May '11

Hi all, Its been long since we had a meetup. Its important we start to give a momentum to various Wiki related activities in Hyderabad. The 4th meetup of Hyderabad is being planned on May 15th, Sunday evening. Venue would most probably be http://www.lamakaan.com/ and I would confirm the same tomorrow. Please sign up in the meetup page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Hyderabad/Hyderabad4 and looking forward to meeting you all. Hisham Mundol, Wikimedia India Programs might also be joining us and giving an update on India Programs and its various initiatives. Expect your support. While i understand the date is being fixed without discussion, its better to get a start even if most of us are not able to attend, we can come up with a convenient date every month going forward, but starting one is key. Lesson learned from Bangalore meetups, it doesnt matter 4 people or 40 people turn up, keep the meeting date fixed and meet month after month. See you all on May 15! Regards Srikanth.L

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Wikipedia Meetup 4 at Hyderabad
by Srikanth Lakshmanan 12 May '11

12 May '11

Hi all, Wikimeetup 4 @ Hyderabad is scheduled to be held on May 15, 5 pm - 7 pm at Lamakaan,Banjara Hills.Plans to increase Wiki activities[read monthly meetups], outreach programs,increasing contributor base in the city will be discussed. As usual there will be an introductory session for all new comers. Hisham might be joining us to provide an update on India programs.Agenda will be updated in the coming days. Please refer meetup page for more details and sign up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:MHB4 . Would also be great if you could spread the word around. Looking forward to meeting as many Cyberabad folks at the meetup. Regards Srikanth.L http://srik.me

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India Programs IRC : Thursday May5th 2011 @ 8pm IST (GMT + 5:30) : #wikimedia-office
by Hisham Mundol 05 May '11

05 May '11

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

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Re: [Wikimedia-in-hyd] India Programs: Team Selection: Call for Talent!
by Hisham Mundol 05 May '11

05 May '11

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=1592308 http://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 >

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Fwd: India Programs: Team Selection: Call for Talent!
by Hisham Mundol 04 May '11

04 May '11

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 >

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Wikimedia-in-hyd May 2011