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.comchinese.wikipedia.comesperanto.wikipedia.comfrench.wikipedia.comdeutsche.wikipedia.comhebrew.wikipedia.comitalian.wikipedia.comjapanese.wikipedia.comportuguese.wikipedia.comspanish.wikipedia.comrussian.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 *
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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.
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
>
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
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> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
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>
>
> 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
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
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
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
------------------------------------------------------
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
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
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/Bangalore33http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143327615739148
Regards
Tinu Cherian
