[[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outdated.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_marriagehttp://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]
Hello friends,
There is a lot happening in Pune next week. We have a lot of visitors in
town who would especially like to interact with the Pune Community. Our help
and cooperation has been sought for the Campus Ambassador training event
next weekend. Our *MEETUP DATE IS NOW CHANGED FROM 11 JUN TO 04 JUN* *2011
(Saturday)* at 1800 hours at SICSR, Atur Centre, Model Colony. Room No 704.
7th floor.
Hisham Mundol, National Program Coordinator, who is leading the Campus
Ambassador programme, will be in Pune for a week for masterminding the
event. Bishakha Datta, Trustee, will be gracing the event on Saturday. Tinu
Cherian, the quintessential Indian outreach activist, will also be coming
for and participating in the meet - a rare treat for us. I spoke to Arjuna
Rao Chawala and he has promised to confirm attendance by an Indian Chapter
representative soon.
We have a number of people visiting us from abroad. Frank Schulenburg, Head
of Public Outreach and Annie Lin, who leads the Ambassador Program are
visiting Pune for the Campus Ambassador training event on 04-05 Jun 2011. We
also have P.J. Tabit coming down to India between June 1st and August 21st
to support the launch of the Wikipedia India Education Program. PJ is a
Campus Ambassador in the US and is on the Ambassador Steering Committee for
Wikipedia. We, the Pune community, welcome Frank, Annie & PJ to Pune and
hope they have a wonderful stay.
We also welcome any members of the Wikimedian community in India from
outside Pune who are going to be with us for this event. Do let us know if
we can help you in any way.
Broadly speaking, the campus ambassadors will be trained on 4th and 5th Jun
by the outreach team comprising lndian and foreign Wikipedians. In the
evening on Saturday, the campus ambassadors and the outreach team will be
present for our meetup.* After the meetup, the Outreach Team has invited the
Pune Wikipedia community for a* *SOCIAL EVENING WITH DINNER*. Venue for
social evening will be indicated at the meetup.
Coming to another issue, the Campus Ambassadors themselves.
The first batch of Campus Ambassadors has been selected. To those selected,
we say - heartiest congratulations, you will shortly be learning to edit and
to evangelise Wikipedia. It is a most challenging task and we assure you of
the community's support. We invite you to be part of our community and we
promise to help you, guide you and partner you in this extraordinary journey
you will undertake.
We also know that some other aspirants have not been selected this time
round. In most cases, this is due to their lack of Wikipedia skills. To all
of them we say - there will be another round of selection coming up in a few
months, so have a great heart and wait. The fact that all of you stood tall
and came forth means you already belong to the select batch of people who
are doers and achievers. We, the Pune community, invite you to join us for
this meetup and become part of us. We will help you get the skills to make
you ready for the next round of selections.
*Many of you all who are interested in becoming Wikipedians are requested to
join all of the above :*
- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mr-wiki/ (Marathi Wikipedia Group)
- https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l (Mailing
list for Wikimedians in Pune, India)
- https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-in-pun (Mailing
list for Wikimedians in Pune, India)
*Also please join the following groups on Facebook*
- Wikimedia India
- WikiPuneri
*IMPORTANT*: All those attending the meetup from Pune (excepting those
selected for the Campus Ambassador program or those organising the event or
visiting from outside Pune) need to confirm attendance so that we can plan
accordingly. Send your confirmation to :
ashwin.baindur(a)gmail.com with subject : "Attending Pune meetup". Those not
attending need not respond.
So till then, Au revoir & Namaste, Khuda Hafez and Sat Sri Akal,
Jai Hind
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Ashwin Baindur
Cross posting on India/Mumbai/Pune mailing lists
Just to follow up on the minutes of Mumbai X - we would like to invite
members of the national wikicommunity to come and support WikiConference
2011, Mumbai/Pune.
It was felt important that to move forward we need an
Event Organising Committee (OC) for the WikiConference and sub-committee members. Kindly note
we are not looking for people who just lend their names but people who
will actually come forward and put in time and effort in the entire 6
month preceding period.
Sub-Committees suggested:
•Conference Programming
(Includes Themes, Tracks, Keynote Speakers and Scheduling)
Deciding the direction this meet should take.
•Finance (Includes both budgeting, raising finances and
scholarships)
People who are either qualified or have experience preferred. Handling finance of such an event
•Conference Venue and Catering
Coordination of venue and catering booking to helping things move on the floor during the event
•Major Events (Attendee Party/Mega Event)
Undertaking responsibility of any major events other than actual conference
•Press and Media coordination
Deciding on a path for media promotion of event, giving interviews, inviting media and taking care of them during the event
•Accommodation and Registration
Reserving
the accommodation, picking people up and making sure they find their
accommodation, registering people on the event day.
•Promotion and Advertisement
There
will be a promotion budget which will have to be judiciously used for
maximum benefit - again person with experience or qualification
preferred.
•Technical and IT
Running
the event site, setting up wifi and other electronic goods, webcast of
the event online for those who cannot make it in person
•Volunteer
On ground. Running around during the event
Whoever is interested
in being on the OC or any of the sub-committees, kindly write to the
Mumbai list (wikimedia-in-mum(a)lists.wikimedia.org).
Kind Regards,
User:AroundTheGlobe
Hey,
I can help out with promotional activity and other activities so long as my
physical presence isn't required.
Cheers,
Srikanth.
Sent from my Motorola L9. Please excuse spelling errors.
On May 30, 2011 1:22 PM, "Noopur" <noopur.raval(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hey,
I am Noopur and I can help with press and media coordination, promotion and
volunteering of any other kind.
Cheers
Noopur
On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 10:28 PM, <wheredevelsdare(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Cross posting on India/Mumbai/Pune mailing lists
> >
> > Just to follow up on the minutes of Mumbai ...
>
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> > Wikimediaindia-l...
>
--
Noopur Raval
Student
Arts and Aesthetics
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Ph: 9650567690
_______________________________________________
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
*Dainik Bhaskar / DNA : Now, you can also become Wikipedia's campus
ambassador*
http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/MAH-PUN-now-you-can-also-become-wikipedias…
*Pune will soon become the first city outside the United States to host the
'Wikipedia campus ambassador programme'.*
*
*
*The initiative is part of the larger 'India education programme' to augment
interest and support the Wikipedia community in the country. Hisham Mundol of
the Wikimedia Foundation's India Programmes explained, "We understand that
information about India and contributed by people from India are sorely
missing from Wikipedia, and we want to change that. The programme is our way
of piloting ways to change this."*
*
*
*The programme involves encouraging professors in city colleges and
universities to implement the use of Wikipedia as an educational tool,
covering a diverse range of academic subjects. It proposes to replace or
augment reports and papers that students are required to prepare with
Wikipedia articles and formally incorporate it into the syllabus.*
*
*
*This is where the campus ambassadors come in. They will help in updating
content, adding references, training student editors, organising workshops
and presentations to promote educational activities using the world's
largest encyclopedia.*
*
*
*The volunteers will work for three to four hours a week, initially trained
by the Wikimedia Foundation. Though the position is unpaid, the benefits
include interacting with educators on a global level.*
*
*
*Mundol said, "This will sharpen their research and critical thinking
abilities, improve writing skills, and will learn how to work
collaboratively by interacting with readers and writers around the world."
He is also confident that the educational programme would play an important
role in motivating students and increase interest of participating
universities.*
*
*
*Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, Syracuse, and
Georgetown University in the US have already incorporated Wikipedia in the
curricula of different academic subjects. The campus ambassador programme
was launched in 2010 to facilitate this, with volunteers mentoring
first-time editors, along with providing lessons plans, online and video
tutorials.*
*
*
*When Wikimedia Foundation decided to take their education-based programme
globally, Pune was the pilot city chosen in India.*
*
*
*"We chose Pune as the region for the kick-off because the city has a strong
reputation for education in India and is reported to have the highest
concentration of education institutions in the world. Also, a very
interesting aspect of the Pune student body is that they come from all over
the country; so there is great diversity which is also very important to
us", said Mundol.*
*
*
*City institutions open to innovative teaching and learning practices are
currently being approached as partners. The launch of the programme is set
to coincide with the start of the academic year of 2011.*
*
*
*Applications for campus ambassadors will be accepted from students,
professors, faculty members and others related to the educational field
based anywhere in India but willing to come to Pune for training sessions.*
*
*
*The Wikimedia Foundation's presence in India will also help promote
awareness, access and readership of its other projects like 'Wikimedia
Commons' as well as 'Indic language Wikipedias', revealed Mundol.*
Regards
Tinu Cherian
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/wiki/In_the_news#May_2011
Google shutting down translate and transliterate APIS.
Many Indic websites & applications will now be affected
Read more here:
http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2011/05/spring-cleaning-for-some-of-our-apis…
Looks like this is the right time for WMF tech team to create their own APIs
--Sudhanwa
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
web: www.sudhanwa.com blog: www.sudhanwa.in
Twitter: sudhanwa Check on FB, Linkedin for more.
Cross Posted on India/Mumbai/Pune Mailing Lists:
Minutes of WikiMeet Mumbai 21 May 2011 held at office of Pinstorm, Santacruz:
1. Hisham gave a presentation on the Campus Ambassador program pilot that was much discussed.
2. Was decided to write to chapter Executive Committee as to what is exactly required of them (Has been done)
3.
We had written to Jimbo asking him to pencil us in his diary for the
said dates of the WikiConference - an event in the UK has beat us to
that. It was discussed that it is very important to have him around as
it is the first Indian National WikiConference. An email will be sent to
him in the next few days with other possible dates (other weekends in
November)
4a. It was felt important that to move forward we need an
Event Organising Committee for the WikiConference. Whoever is interested
in being on the OC or any of the sub-committees, kindly write to the
Mumbai list (wikimedia-in-mum(a)lists.wikimedia.org). Kindly note
we are not looking for people who just lend their names but people who
will actually come forward and put in time and effort in the entire 6
month preceding period.
4b. Sub-Committees suggested:
•Conference Programming
(Includes Themes, Tracks, Keynote Speakers and Scheduling)
•Finance (Includes both budgeting, raising finances and
scholarships)
•Conference Venue and Catering
•Major Events (Attendee Party/Mega Event)
•Press and Media coordination
•Accommodation and Registration
•Promotion and Advertisement
•Technical and IT
•Volunteer
5. Possibility of having full time support
Kind Regards,
User:AroundTheGlobe
Hiya,
Just to remind everyone that Mumbai Meet-up X will take place DAY AFTER TOMORROW, 21 May 2011 (Saturday) at 3.45PM - venue is Pinstorm office, Santacruz (W) - nearest railway station is Santacruz on the Western Line. The two major items on the agenda are the proposed WikiConference India in November 2011 and a presentation on Campus Ambassadors by Hisham Mundol, Consultant - India Programs.
You can now follow the Mumbai Wiki Community on Facebook - "Like" this page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wikipedia-in-Mumbai/112915472127887
To refresh yourself on the details of the meet-up and add your name to the attendees list (there is a section for those who will be attending remotely via Skype as well): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Mumbai/Mumbai10
Looking forward seeing everyone from the Mumbai Community present on Saturday.
Kind Regards,
User:AroundTheGlobe
>
>
>
> On May 18, 2011, at 3:51 PM, Hisham Mundol wrote:
>
>> Dear Pune Community
>>
>>
>>
>> d) Meetings & Visits
>>
>> I am planning to come down to Pune next week between May 17th to 20th to do some more groundwork for the India Education Program.
>>
> Apologies - need to correct one error in my note. I am planning to come down on May 24-27 and not May 17-20. I will be coming down for the other visits mentioned in the note.
Dear Pune Community
This is a long mail but there is much to cover. I'm writing with an update on the India Education Program - and to ask for support from you as we roll it out.
a) Campus Ambassadors
We have finished going through the ~70 applications we have received from Pune for Campus Ambassadors. I have interviewed more than half of them. I am pleased to report that we have asked 22 to join us at this stage in becoming Campus Ambassadors.
There are other opportunities for the other applicants, as well as the ~20 others who enquired but didn't apply. We will be in touch with them shortly regarding starting Student Clubs or WikiClubs or other means of participation. In any case, we invited all of them the (very successful) Pune community meet-up last Saturday. My guess is that at least 40 people attended from the Campus Ambassador applicants/enquirers.
This is the first batch of Campus Ambassadors and we will have subsequent batches. Indeed, I have asked some people from the ones who applied to learn more about Wikimedia projects, learn about Wikipedia editing, try their hands at editing and (on your behalf) invited them to join the community - and then consider reapplying if they are not currently ready.
I'd like to thank Pune Community for making an incredible effort to invite and welcome all applicants/enquirers into your fold. Ashwin in particular has been amazing! I know many others have also helped out, so thank you to everyone!
b) Additional Support
We have received 2 offers of help from PJ Tabit and Srikeit Tadepalli. PJ [[User:Pjthepiano]] is from Georgetown University in the US, is an existing Campus Ambassador for the Public Policy Initiative and is part of the Campus Ambassador Council in the US. In between academic years, PJ has offered to come down to Pune for 2 3/4 months starting June 2011 to support the India Education Program. Srikeit [[User:Srikeit]] is a long-time Wikipedia and is probably known to many of you. He is pursuing an academic course in Pune and has offered to work part-time for 1 year starting June 2011. We are extremely pleased to have both of them support us and you in what is an exciting and challenging program. Please feel free to reach out to them!
In addition, Jessie Wild supports Student Clubs at WMF and she's eager to help establish them in India. Please feel free to reach out to Jessie!
c) Campus Ambassador Training
We plan to hold a 2 day Campus Ambassador training session on June 4-5. In this, we hope to cover the basics of Wikimedia projects, "How to Edit Wikipedia", how to teach students to edit Wikipedia, how to work with professors to implement Wikipedia-editing assignments, tips around conducting outreach on campus, public speaking & classroom management skills as well as other subjects.
d) Meetings & Visits
I am planning to come down to Pune next week between May 17th to 20th to do some more groundwork for the India Education Program.
Frank Schulenberg (who heads up the Global Education Program for WMF) and Annie Lin (who heads up the Global Ambassador Program for WMF) will be visiting Pune from May 31st to June 7th. They are coming to help out with the Campus Ambassador training as well as to hold meetings with education authorities, professors & teachers as well as students to support the Pune Pilot of the India Education Program. It would be really nice if I could host a community get together while they are here. I'll be in touch on this. Please feel free to reach out to them!
Professor Bob Cummings is also visiting Pune between June 13th - 17th. He is Director of the Center for Writing and Rhetoric and the University of Mississippi, has participated as a Professor in the Public Policy Initiative and is also on the the Advisory Board for WMF's Public Policy Initiative. He'll be here to hold meetings with education authorities, professors & teachers as well as students to support the Pune Pilot of the India Education Program. It will be useful to establish the credibility of the program with authorities and teaching staff by having a Professor who has actually conducted the program in his class talk to them about it. While he is here, I am going to try and organise 1 or 2 mini workshops for authorities and teaching staff that will help a larger group interact with Bob.
(I'll be in Pune during the visits of Frank, Annie and Bob.)
e) Community Requests
It would be really really good if interested community members can volunteer to help out on Campus Ambassador trainings planned for June 4-5. For example, this could be how to conduct the "How to edit Wikipedia" sessions, any other sessions or other help during the workshops. Please do get in touch with and let me know. We need all the help we can get!
Even if you can't actively support the training, please do attend the sessions to get to know the Campus Ambassadors; I am sure they would love the opportunity! I'll work out a convenient time slot for those who can't attend the full 2 days. I'll be in touch shortly on this.
Another aspect where we need help is in mentoring Campus Ambassadors and students. This would be on part-time basis but for a relatively longer period (both to be determined by your time availability.) Again, please do get in touch with me and let me know of your interest. We need all the help we can get!!
A third area where we need help is on getting contacts and introductions to as many education authorities (e.g., principals, deans, heads of departments, etc.) as well as professors & teachers in Pune who might be interested. Would you be kind enough to get in touch with me offline with these contacts and we can work out the best way of reaching them?
Please also let me know if there is any other way you would like to get involved. If you want to get involved and don't know how, give me a shout and I'm sure we can work something out. We need all the help we can get!!!
f) Other Next Steps
We are in the process of sending out formal notes to various colleges, institutes and universities in Pune regarding this program. This will outline the program and request time to have 1-on-1 meetings with them over the course of the next 3 weeks.
It is expected that we will start the actual work at colleges, institutes and universities asap after the Campus Ambassador training. However, it is likely that there will be some time and effort to onboard teachers and students - and so actual editing might only start a few weeks after this.
Warm Regards,
Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol