WikimediaIndia-l May 2011

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Fwd:happy birthday, Wikipedias
by CherianTinu Abraham 10 May '11

10 May '11

Just a small piece of history of the Global Wikipedia movement, see below mail thread. Thought to share it here also. For those who are wondering about the origin of Indic / Indian subcontinent language Wikipedias, here it is. *2002* *June*: *Assamese*,*Punjabi*, *Nepali*, *Oriya( Odia)* *December* : *Malayalam* *2003* *February: Bhojpuri May: Marathi June: Kannada July: Hindi, Kashmiri September: Tamil December: Telugu, Gujarati, Sanskrit, Sindhi* *2004* *January: Bengali, Urdu, Sinhala* Regards Tinu Cherian ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: phoebe ayers <phoebe.wiki(a)gmail.com> Date: Wed, May 11, 2011 at 4:43 AM Subject: [Foundation-l] happy birthday, Wikipedias To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Tomorrow (May 11) is another anniversary date: it's been 10 years since the first group of non-English Wikipedias came online. Originally with spelled-out names rather than language codes, these sites were: catalan.wikipedia.com chinese.wikipedia.com esperanto.wikipedia.com french.wikipedia.com deutsche.wikipedia.com hebrew.wikipedia.com italian.wikipedia.com japanese.wikipedia.com portuguese.wikipedia.com spanish.wikipedia.com russian.wikipedia.com (from http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2001-May/000116.html) The idea of having Wikipedias in multiple languages came from Jimbo in March 2001 ( http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2001-March/000048.html); note that the original German Wikipedia was actually set up at that time, making it the second-oldest Wikipedia. Though the idea of using two-letter domain codes was first raised then, after the above sites were brought online in May there was further discussion, and the sites were switched to two-letter codes a few days later: http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2001-May/000132.html. Happy tenth birthday, Wikipedias! (and many more!) May all of our language editions flourish. -- phoebe -- * I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers <at> gmail.com * _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

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Fwd: Copyright problems of images from India
by Shiju Alex 10 May '11

10 May '11

Dear All, I am forwarding the below mail on behalf of a Malayalam wikipedian who is very active in Wikimedia Commons. Of late it is becoming very difficult for many Wikimedians from India to contribute to Wikimedia Commons especially if they are uploading historical images which are in PD. We are facing lot of issues (and many a times unnecessary controversies also) with the historic images in PD, images of wall paintings and statues, and so on. Please see the below mail in which Sreejith citing various examples. It is almost impossible for the uploaders from India to show proof of the century old images of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. The current policies of Commons are not permitting many of the PD images from India citing all sorts of policies which might be relevant only in the western world. With these type of policies we are going to have serious issues when we try to go for GLAM type events. But I also do not know the solution for this issue. Requesting constructive discussion. Shiju Alex ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Sreejith K. <sreejithk2000(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, May 5, 2011 at 12:03 PM Subject: Copyright problems of images from India To: Shiju Alex <shijualexonline(a)gmail.com> Shiju, As you might be aware already, we are having trouble keeping historical images about India in Wikimedia commons. This pertains mostly to images about Hindu gods and people who died before 1947. Please see the below examples: - File:Narayana Guru.jpg<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Narayana_Guru.jpg> - This is the image of Sree Narayana Guru<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narayana_Guru>, a Hindu saint, social reformer and is even considered a god by certain castes in Kerala. This image has been tagged as an image with No source. Narayana Guru expired in 1928 and considering the conditions in which India was in during that period and before, it is very difficult to get an image source online. Most active Wikipedians does not have access or information on how old the image is or where a source of it can be found. Any photograph published before 1941 in India is in public domain as per Indian copyright act. Common sense says that this image meets this criteria because the person was long lead before 1941, but we still need proof of the first publishing date. Deleting this image on grounds that no source could be found will only reduce the informative values of all the articles which this image is included in. - File:Aravana.JPG: This image has already been deleted, but you can see the amount of discussion that went in before deleting it. See Commons:Deletion requests/File:Aravana.JPG<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/File:Aravana.JPG>. (An almost similar image can be found here<http://www.flickr.com/photos/anoopp/5706721852/in/photostream/>.)This image as put for deletion because it had the image of Swami Ayyappan<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Ayyappan>in it. Ayyappan, a popular god of Kerala, has his image circulated everywhere on the plant with no proof of copyrights. It makes sense to believe that this image is not eligible for copyright because Hindu deities are all common property, but again, Commons need proof that the image is in public domain. This is the same case with all Hindu gods/goddesses. The images can only be kept in Commons if the uploader can provide proof that the images are in public domain. - File:Kottarathil sankunni.jpg<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kottarathil_sankunni.jpg>: This is a picture of Kottarathil Sankunni<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kottarathil_Sankunni>, the author of the famous book Aithiyamaala<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aithihyamala>. Kottarathil Sankunni died in 1937 and so it makes sense to believe that this image was created on or before 1937 and thus falls in Public Domain. But some people in Commons is refusing to believe that and is asking for proof. Now it becomes the responsibility of the uploader to show proof that this image was published 60 years before today. The editor who nominated the image for deletion is on the safer side because it is not his responsibility to prove that the image is a copyright violation. So long story short, anyone can nominate any image for copyright violation and it becomes the uploaders responsibility to prove that its not. The deletion nomination need not be accompanied with a reason for disbelief. - File:Anoop Menon.jpg<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anoop_Menon.jpg>: This is the picture of Anoop Menon<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoop_Menon>, a popular actor from Kerala. A discussion is going on about the uploaders credibility whether he is the original photographer of this image. Please see File talk:Anoop Menon.jpg<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File_talk:Anoop_Menon.jpg>. The reason for doubting the uploader is simple. This image has professional quality and so the uploader cannot be the copyright owner because this is his first upload. Strange? Now, it becomes the responsibility of the uploader to prove that he took this image and I do not know how and nor does the person who is arguing for it. He claims that the uploader can upload the full resolution image with EXIF but whats even funny is that most of images from the person who is saying this does not meet this criteria. Again, back to round 1 in my first example. Its the responsibility of the uploader to prove his image and anyone can doubt him for any stupid reason and commons hardly cares. As you can see, it is getting quite difficult to maintain images from India in commons. India is a country which has only started to use Internet less than a decade ago and we still do not have many of our countries' books or sources of information online. So any image from India which gets nominated for deletion in Wikimedia Commons get deleted for absence of proof. Commons is ruled by *precautionary principle*, where in they are not willing to take any risks on copyright and will delete any image for which anyone has doubts. This is in contrary to local wikipedia projects in India where it is rules by the *good faith principle* where we will trust the uploader and it becomes the responsibility of the nominator to prove that the image has false copyright claim. This issue is beginning to hurt the contents from India. If we can do something, its time we act immediately. If we are just going to just spent out time discussing about it, the pictures of all Hindu gods and people who died before independence might get deleted by that time. Regards, Sreejith K.

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Foundation-l] Fwd: Copyright problems of images from India
by Achal Prabhala 10 May '11

10 May '11

Sreejith's point is that proving the date of authorship in commonly used religious iconography is difficult; it's also difficult to work through the dates of derivatives of the 'original' work in order to establish which versions have what period - if any - of copyright validity left. For what it's worth, Indian copyright law does have provisions to address orphan works. It's just that the provisions (linked to below my text) are rather cumbersome, and ultimately do not result in a public domain license being applied on the work even if it is found that the author is untraceable or doesn't exist; it merely results in a license to the individual who applied to use the work, possibly even the payment of royalty to the 'public account.' Current Indian copyright law has provisions around orphan works for 'Indian works' only (where questions of citizenship, as you described below, could play some part), but the law is about to be amended, and the new copyright law, effective very shortly, applies the orphan works provisions to all/any works vis-a-vis their use/effect in India, so this question will soon be moot. But the larger point is that unless one can definitively show that a work is out of copyright in terms of years since published or by the terms of an alternative copyright license, the law does not offer a way to deposit that work in the public domain. Current Indian copyright law (with suggested amendments from government and civil society): See s.31A - http://www.altlawforum.org/intellectual-property/advocacy/proposed-amendmen… Proposed amended copyright law (soon to be tabled in parliament): See s.31A - *http://tinyurl.com/3tb7drx* On Tuesday 10 May 2011 07:12 PM, FT2 wrote: > Why would the creator's citizenship, or the place of its creation, be > decisive? The works of an Indian citizen are granted copyright under US law > in the United States, on a parity with the works of a US or any other > citizen, even if copyright has expired or still continues in India -- and it > is US law that governs Wikimedia. > > FT2 > > > > On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 12:07 PM,<wiki-list(a)phizz.demon.co.uk> wrote: > >> Welcome to the problem of Orphan Works. what you have to show is that >> either of the following is true? >> >> (i) the author of which is a citizen of India; or >> (ii) which is first published in India; or >> (iii) the author of which, in the case of an unpublished work, is, at the >> time of the making of the work, a citizen of India; >> >> > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l >

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: Copyright problems of images from India
by wheredevelsdare＠hotmail.com 10 May '11

10 May '11

I dont understand where PD is concerned why proof is asked for, have we forgotten "Assuming good faith"? > From: wikimediaindia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org > Subject: Wikimediaindia-l Digest, Vol 35, Issue 16 > To: wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 11:07:14 +0000 > > Send Wikimediaindia-l mailing list submissions to > wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > wikimediaindia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > wikimediaindia-l-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Wikimediaindia-l digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. 13th Meetup of Wikipedians in [[Pune]], [[Maharashtra]] - > please note details and register (Ashwin Baindur) > 2. Fwd: Copyright problems of images from India (Shiju Alex) > 3. Re: Fwd: Copyright problems of images from India (Bala Jeyaraman) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 9 May 2011 11:15:53 +0530 > From: Ashwin Baindur <ashwin.baindur(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [Wikimediaindia-l] 13th Meetup of Wikipedians in [[Pune]], > [[Maharashtra]] - please note details and register > To: "Mailing list for Wikimedians in Pune, India" > <wikimedia-in-pun(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, mr-wiki(a)yahoogroups.com, > wikimediaindia-l <wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, Wikipedians > for Indian Nature <Wiki_India_Nature(a)googlegroups.com>, > wikimedia-in-mum <wikimedia-in-mum(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, "Agarwal, > Shirish" <shirishag75(a)gmail.com>, "Bagade, Ashok " > <ashok.bagade(a)gmail.com>, Col Ashwin Baindur > <ashwin.baindur(a)gmail.com>, "Jogalekar, Sudhanwa " > <sudhanwa.com(a)gmail.com>, "Patankar, Anand" > <anandpatankar(a)gmail.com>, "Rasal, Prasad" <studioblossoms(a)gmail.com>, > "Sharma, Chandan" <chandan7882(a)yahoo.com>, "Vaidya, Prasad" > <prasad.vaidya(a)gmail.com> > Message-ID: <BANLkTimrnYci=Pg=V-X7AS+XztUUFLqDkA(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > A reminder for the 13th Meetup of Wikipedians in [[Pune]], [[Maharashtra]]. > Please see the[[Wikipedia:Meetup/Pune/Pune13|meetup page]] for details and > indicate your attendance. > The intended purpose of the meetup is: > <blockquote> '''to discuss the Campus Ambassador Program and forthcoming > WikiConference 2011'''.</blockquote> > ''Highlights - '''Hisham Mundol''', National Director, India Program & > '''Bishakha > Datta''', Global Trustee, Wikimedia Foundation will be present for the > meetup.'' > > > [[User:AshLin|AshLin]] ([[User talk:AshLin|talk]]) 04:13, 9 May 2011 (UTC) > > Warm regards, > > Ashwin Baindur > ------------------------------------------------------ >

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Can I apply for this job
by Gerard Meijssen 09 May '11

09 May '11

Hoi, I read the opening for Consultant, Participation - India Programs. To my amazement I find that I can apply for this job. I think I qualify because I have ample qualification when it comes to Wikimedia, projects and what not. I am a well known Wikimedian in India because of my frequent writing about issues with supporting India for the WMF projects. Given that the job states that the online ambassadors are to write in English only ... eh ... I can even do their training. But wait a moment, Hisham WHY English only ?? If you ask me the most passionate people about Wikipedia are the ones writing in the languages of India. Why may the languages of India not benefit from the ambassadors program ??? Hisham, when you hire me as the Consultant Participation, I will certainly train people in English but I promise you that I will tell people that the same techniques, the same abilities the students are learning apply equally to their mother tongue. You know Hisham, the people championing the languages of India would even welcome me because they know they can expect this of me. So even though I am European and have never been to India, I can apply for this job. What do you say? Thanks, GerardM

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13th Meetup of Wikipedians in [[Pune]], [[Maharashtra]] - please note details and register
by Ashwin Baindur 09 May '11

09 May '11

A reminder for the 13th Meetup of Wikipedians in [[Pune]], [[Maharashtra]]. Please see the[[Wikipedia:Meetup/Pune/Pune13|meetup page]] for details and indicate your attendance. The intended purpose of the meetup is: <blockquote> '''to discuss the Campus Ambassador Program and forthcoming WikiConference 2011'''.</blockquote> ''Highlights - '''Hisham Mundol''', National Director, India Program & '''Bishakha Datta''', Global Trustee, Wikimedia Foundation will be present for the meetup.'' [[User:AshLin|AshLin]] ([[User talk:AshLin|talk]]) 04:13, 9 May 2011 (UTC) Warm regards, Ashwin Baindur ------------------------------------------------------

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Wikipedia Meetup 4 at Hyderabad
by Srikanth Lakshmanan 09 May '11

09 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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unable to edit Wikimedia.in
by CherianTinu Abraham 08 May '11

08 May '11

I am unable to edit Wikimedia.in It throws this error continuously. Any Ideas ? Internal error Set *$wgShowExceptionDetails = true;* at the bottom of LocalSettings.php to show detailed debugging information. I don't have admin access to this mediawiki. Can one of the admins of Wikimedia.in look into this? Regards Tinu Cherian

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"Creating a new Language ecosystem- Sourashtra as example"
by CherianTinu Abraham 07 May '11

07 May '11

*"Creating a new Language ecosystem- Sourashtra as example"* Blog Post by Santhosh Thottingal http://thottingal.in/blog/2011/05/07/language-ecosystem-sourashtra/ Regards Tinu Cherian

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Bangalore Wiki-meetup 33 Announcement - Sunday, May 8 · 3:00pm
by CherianTinu Abraham 07 May '11

07 May '11

Hi Wikipedians, You are cordially invited to attend the upcoming * Bangalore Wikipedia / Wikimedia Wiki-meetup 33* on *Sunday, May 8 , 3:00PM*. This is the 33rd edition of Bangalore Wiki-meetups. *Hisham Mundol*, Wikimedia Foundation - India Progams and *Bishakha Datta*, Member, Wikimedia Foundation - Board of Trustees will also be attending the Wikimeetup. *Venue :* The Centre for Internet and Society No. 194,Opposite to Domlur Club, 2nd 'C' Cross, 4th Main Domlur 2nd Stage Bangalore, Karnataka. *Agenda : * * Talks: * * *Wikimedia Foundation India Programs and Campus Wikipedia Campus Ambassadors Initiative* - Hisham Mundol * Discussions * Updates * * *Wikimedia India Chapter Updates *- Arjuna Rao Chavala Please do sign up and attend the Wiki-meetup. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Bangalore/Bangalore33 http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143327615739148 Regards Tinu Cherian

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WikimediaIndia-l May 2011