WikimediaIndia-l June 2011

wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org

74 participants
120 discussions

Wikimedia India membership
by Shyam Bihari Agarwal 07 Jun '11

07 Jun '11

Tinu, I was just worndering, what is the procedure to be a member of Wikimedia India. I may have missed a few of the threads regarding this. Is there an annual fee involved to be a member? Thanks, Shyam On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 6:41 PM, CherianTinu Abraham <tinucherian(a)gmail.com>wrote: > Folks, > I feel little guilty of forwarding the thread to India list. The > discussion is now getting nowhere and borderline dirtier. > > I humbly appeal to everyone involved in the discussion to kindly abandon > this thread. > > Each one of you are the integral part of the Wikimedia movement in India. > Differences may happen, but let us not forget our ultimate goal. > Chapter, community , foundation, let us all work together. > The India chapter was formed after much hard work and let us give it as > little more time... Requesting everyone interested to kindly apply for > membership and remember it is you who could drive the chapter to a bigger > success. Constructive Criticism is useful, Blaming each other is easy but it > is you who could make a difference. > > thanks again > > Regards > Tinu Cherian > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > >

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Membership and Community engagement-June2011
by Arjuna Rao Chavala 07 Jun '11

07 Jun '11

Hi Wikimedians, Executive Committee has been working on several fronts to quickly operationalising the chapter. I am glad to share with you the highlights of the same. Contents - 1 Membership<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Announcements/Membership_and_Commu…> - 2 Wikipedia Chapter Brochure Design Contest<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Announcements/Membership_and_Commu…> - 3 City and Language SIG subcommittee<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Announcements/Membership_and_Commu…> - 4 Projects<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Announcements/Membership_and_Commu…> - 5 Volunteers for Website and Wiki Administration<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Announcements/Membership_and_Commu…> - 6 AGM Plans<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Announcements/Membership_and_Commu…> - 7 India Wiki Conference<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Announcements/Membership_and_Commu…> - 8 Donations<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Announcements/Membership_and_Commu…> - 9 Changes in EC<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Announcements/Membership_and_Commu…> Membership - *Individual:* We have opened Individual Membership of the chapter last month. I am glad to report that we have received over 30 applications as of last week. As already announced, Ashwin Baindur was the first to sign up with conventional payment(Cheque payable at par at Bangalore) and Pranav Curumsey was the first one to sign up using NEFT/online transfer mode. We have reviewed the filled in membership forms and made minor updates to the form. The Revised Form<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/File:WikimediaChapterMembershipFormIndividual.pdf>is updated on Wiki. The membership cards and receipts are under process for the applications received as of May 31 and are expected to be sent within a week. - *Institutional:* We are ready to accept Institutional Membership<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/File:WikimediaChapterMembershipFormInstitution.pdf>applications now. I request all community members to help enroll Institutional members as well. If you have more questions, please do check out the Membership-FAQ<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Membership-FAQ>page. You can also contact any of the chapter EC members or on chapter's email address: chapter(a)wikimedia.in Wikipedia Chapter Brochure Design Contest - We invite you to design a brochure for Wikimedia chapter in English and native languages and are happy to announce a contest for the same. The rules and regulations are as follows - Contest open to all Wikimedians either individuals or team of upto 3 wikimedians. - Name of the contributors to the winning entry will be credited on the brochure - The design has to reflect the language diversity of India and have pictures or graphics representing India - A sample design<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/File:Wikiindia-trifold.pdf>is available to provide rough guidance and also for use as interim brochure. - A print ready file with good quality/resolution should be made available - The design should be easy to extend to other Indian languages, by substituting few pictures and textual content. A sample design for a native language should also be made available. - The original file should be released as per CC-BY-SA 3.0 license terms City and Language SIG subcommittee - We are forming City and Language Special Interest Group subcommittee<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/City_and_Language_Special_Interest_Group_subcommit…>of the chapter and invite all Wikimedians to participate in them. The guidelines are as follows: - A chair person of each SIG (City/Langauge) can only represent either a city or a language - Self nomination with recommendation by others or nominations of others and acceptance by such nominated individuals are allowed. - Chairs of such subcommittees will interface with one EC member charged with City/Language SIG - All such Chairpersons are required to apply for membership of the Chapter at the earliest. - As we just started membership drive, the process is now open for community. In future, the process may be restricted to members only. Projects - Projects for the year EC would like to call for active community participation in prioritising projects for 2011-12. The initial list of projects for this year<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Projects:2011-12>is available and organised into three categories namely Outreach, Quality improvement and improve access to wiki projects. Please feel free to add to this and share your ideas. Please check the details and indicate your interest in participating in them on the respective pages. - Wiki outreach Chapter would like to extend all the help for any Wiki outreach events happening across India through the participation of EC members, members and community volunteers. Please do share with us news of any such events 2 to 3 weeks in advance. Volunteers for Website and Wiki Administration Chapter has restructured its digital resources to provide members only wiki and also streamline access management. As part of this all users on wikimedia.in community wiki need email confirmation for editing. Those from community who become members, can be given seamless access to members wiki, without need for a separate login. Chapter also proposes to run a website to serve static information, support blogs and also provide better support for html/javascript requirements. Chapter is seeking volunteers to help design/administer wiki and website. People interested in these positions can send their profile giving details of their past experience to chapter(a)wikimedia.in, with subject line "Application for volunteer position for Wiki/website design/administration" by 21 June 2011. AGM Plans - AGM is scheduled for 17 Sep 2011 and will happen in Bangalore. India Wiki Conference - EC has deliberated and come up with a framework for running India Wiki Conference <http://wiki.wikimedia.in/India_Wiki_Conference_Framework>with engagement of all stakeholders on a sustainable basis. We invite you to review the same and submit proposals for this year's conference in two weeks (before 21 June 2010). Chapter will evaluate the proposals and decide on the City by 30 June 2011) Additional details on Chapter support and engagement with Organising Committee are being worked out. Donations - Chapter is working on priority actions like appointing consultant to process FEMA approvals to receive funds in foreign currency from Wikimedia Foundation, printing of brochures and providing support for Wikimedia events. As receipt of funds from Foundation for local spending could take 4-5 months, we require financial help in the form of donations from community, members and philanthropists to increase activity levels of the Chapter. Please donate whatever amount you can. The donation form<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/File:Wikimedia_Donation_Form.pdf>is available. If the donation is through NEFT/Online transfer, you can email the scanned image of your donation form to chapter(a)wikimedia.in. A receipt will be sent to you once the donation is processed. For more information, please check FAQ-Donations<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/FAQ-Donations>page. Changes in EC BalaSundaraRaman Lakshmanan submitted his resignation from EC citing personal reasons. EC deliberated and decided to accept the same. EC thanks him for his contribution towards registration and operationalisation of the chapter till date and would like him to continue the support to Wikimedia movement in future. Thanks for your attention and looking forward to your active engagement with Chapter. Please do share your feedback on Wiki or through email to chapter(a)wikimedia.in. Yours sincerely Arjuna Rao Chavala President, Bangalore 7 June 2011

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[Press]: The Hindu : "World heritage site tag sought for Wikipedia"
by CherianTinu Abraham 07 Jun '11

07 Jun '11

*The Hindu : "World heritage site tag sought for Wikipedia"* http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news *If you thought that a world heritage site is something ancient and should have a physical form, wikipedians think otherwise. They are out to seek a world heritage site tag to their website.* * * *An on-going petition, called “Wikipedia for World Heritage,” has garnered the support of 12,600 people. It aims at getting Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia in over 270 languages, tagged as a potential “World Heritage Site” by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The petition is based on the view that Wikipedia is “predestined to become the first ever digital World Heritage Site as it is a pioneer project of the digital age, carrying the ancient idea of common and free knowledge into the third millennium.”* * * *“It is a brilliant idea. Wikipedia is an Internet property that deserves nomination [to the heritage list],” says Arun Ramarathnam, Executive Committee member, Wikimedia India chapter.* * * *While he said it was time traditional definitions of heritage as buildings and monuments evolve to include digital resources, Cherian Tinu Abraham, Wikipedia administrator, who thought the site “represents a masterpiece of human creative genius” (a UNESCO criterion), says, “I am excited about the idea, it is unprecedented.” The site provides free access to knowledge to everyone, enabling cooperation beyond national and cultural barriers. “Can the world think of a life without Wikipedia? It is a truly global heritage project recording human history from every corner of the world,” he says.* * * *Says Harinath Pudipeddi, a software professional: “Definitely, Wikipedia can claim a place. But it will take a little time to get there.”* * * *One supporter (known as “FT2” on the site) said that Wikipedia should be included in the heritage list because it notes and stores, historical images and texts on culture, knowledge, and languages. The documentation is especially significant for India, he said. Languages and cultures, and, with them, our knowledge of peoples, their history and cultural perspectives, are vanishing at a frightening speed. “In 2009, UNESCO reported almost 200 Indian languages were going silent. With them die their heritage and culture — and a part of the soul of India,” says FT2.* * * *That process is not limited to India. “It's a worldwide cultural heritage phenomenon,” he says. Ancient materials degrade and some are lost forever like “Bo,” one of the world's old languages, which went extinct in the Andaman Islands in 2010, when its last speaker died. Now, efforts are on to at least document the dying “Nuumte Oote” language in Mexico.* * * *Jimmy Wales, Co-founder, Wikipedia, says: “Wikipedia is now a part of world culture in a way that no one could have anticipated several years ago. It is a voluntary humanitarian effort pursued as a charitable project to bring free knowledge to everyone. It is now a part of our shared heritage as human beings.”* * * *“UNESCO has also recognised abstract ideas such as flamenco dancing and French cuisine. So we think it is time to think broadly about the meaning of culture and how we can support culture broadly in the digital age. A recognition of Wikipedia would signal that it is time to take digital culture seriously.”* Regards Tinu Cherian http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Delhi Chapter (User:AroundTheGlobe)
by Ashwin Baindur 06 Jun '11

06 Jun '11

*Mayur wrote ...* * * *"My answer would be to grow from good to Excellent Community"* To Mayur I say, make a community first, with so much discord and rancour there doesn't quite appear to be one in Delhi... When all of you work hard together and achieve worthwhile goals through comradeship and cooperation - thats when you become a good community When every one else tells you that your community is an asset to the nation, thats when you reach excellence Kindly notice - Chapter, whether one or two, plays no roll in this... But whats the point, you seem impervious to sensible discourse? Warm regards, Ashwin Baindur ------------------------------------------------------

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[Press]: The Indian Express : "Wikipedia Campus Ambassadors Pilot Project to begin in Pune"
by CherianTinu Abraham 06 Jun '11

06 Jun '11

* The Indian Express : "Wikipedia Campus Ambassadors Pilot Project to begin in Pune"* http://www.indianexpress.com/news/wikipedia-campus-ambassadors-pilot-projec… *The Wikipedia Campus Ambassadors Project, which involves volunteers providing face-to-face support to university students on how to edit Wikipedia and work with professors to incorporate Wikipedia assignments into classrooms, will see its pilot project in the country take off from Pune.* * * *The project that will start in tandem with the academic year has been implemented successfully in the US. Hisham Mundol, consultant, India Programs, said, “Pune was chosen because of the large number of colleges and universities and the student population. The programme in the US has been successful in terms of both the amount of information added to the English Wikipedia (1.4M characters - 900 pages - in March alone) as well as quality of information (an estimated 60 per cent increase in quality on edited articles).”* * * *While the execution and format of the programme might differ, similar success in India is the objective, said Mundol. “Given the strength of the education system and the drive of students and faculty alike, we are confident of thoughtful, quality contributions,” he said. The project will cover a wide range of subjects and train volunteers to work on them. Mundol cites the vast opportunity for volunteers to contribute to Wikipedia. He says, “This way, as the programme grows, professors from any subject area will have the opportunity to enhance their curriculum with a tool to teach their students to contribute information.” The initial Campus Ambassador training programme will take two days, but ongoing training is provided if the ambassadors stay involved from semester to semester. As of now, there is no set number of Campus Ambassadors for the programme.* * * * Mundol said this will be determined both by the quality of applicants as well as the number of classrooms that will pilot the programme. The project will not be going beyond Pune till September. “The campus programme has great potential, but we also want to make sure to start the effort in a manageable way in order to ensure proof-of-principle and to iron out details. A more controlled programme at the outset will help ensure that supports are properly established and will also help provide opportunities for programme evaluation,” he added. * Regards Tinu Cherian http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news#June_2011

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Delhi chapter ....A humble appeal .....some Wikilove
by CherianTinu Abraham 06 Jun '11

06 Jun '11

Folks, I feel little guilty of forwarding the thread to India list. The discussion is now getting nowhere and borderline dirtier. I humbly appeal to everyone involved in the discussion to kindly abandon this thread. Each one of you are the integral part of the Wikimedia movement in India. Differences may happen, but let us not forget our ultimate goal. Chapter, community , foundation, let us all work together. The India chapter was formed after much hard work and let us give it as little more time... Requesting everyone interested to kindly apply for membership and remember it is you who could drive the chapter to a bigger success. Constructive Criticism is useful, Blaming each other is easy but it is you who could make a difference. thanks again Regards Tinu Cherian

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikimediaindia-l Digest, Vol 36, Issue 33
by Vibhi Jain 06 Jun '11

06 Jun '11

Hey, as Mayur said, we will not proceed without a community. Well I am interested in all those programs. I will contact you on your email id soon. Thanks.

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[Press} : The Outlook : "Help: This Is A Stub"
by CherianTinu Abraham 06 Jun '11

06 Jun '11

*The Outlook : "Help: This Is A Stub"* http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?272101 ( web version) *Wikipedia is betting on its Indian language versions to drive growth* * * *The Fountainhead* * * ** Wikipedia, a free online encyclopaedia that anybody can contribute to, has 3.6 million articles in its English version* ** Over 60% of Wikipedia’s traffic comes from the US, Germany, Japan, the UK, Canada, France* ** Big opportunities now in China, South Korea and India, where less than 10% of online population use Wikipedia now* ** Most popular Indian language Wikipedias: Hindi (97,013 articles), Marathi (33,711), Tamil (32,439), Bangla (22,234) and Malayalam (18,193)* * * * * *Chances are you haven’t heard of Angika, or even realised you had heard it being spoken. Indeed, the odds are greater you came across it online, especially on Wikipedia. As the world’s most popular encyclopaedia seeks to grow outside the West, it is lesser known languages like Angika—spoken mainly in Bihar and Jharkhand—that the site promoters are betting on. Currently in incubation, along with 19 other Indian language micro sites, the Angika version should go live soon, joining the 20 operational Indic Wikipedias like Hindi, Marathi and Tamil.* * * *India’s rising importance in the expansion plans of Wikimedia Foundation (which oversees Wikipedia) is evident from the fact that its first office outside the US is set to open—in Delhi. In a related development, Mumbai-based documentary filmmaker Bishakha Datta has been appointed to Wikimedia’s board of directors. It has also launched its first-ever ‘Campus Ambassadors’ programme in Pune, modelled after universities in America where teachers and students come together to contribute to Wikipedia. And it’s not all research and details. Indians were also the sixth largest donors to Wikimedia—they gave $1,93,000 dollars last financial year.* * * *It was inevitable, really. Wikimedia had little choice but to come to India as growth in the West, or the ‘Global North’, tapers off. What began in 2001 as an idea to take as much information as possible to as many people in a multitude of languages—all this for free—which gained spectacular success, catapulting Wikipedia to the fifth most visited website, has now hit a roadblock. As it finalised growth plans in February, just after celebrating its 10th anniversary, it was clear that Wikimedia had to focus on the ‘Global South’ to keep growing. China was thought of as an alternative but was dropped because of state censorship. India was a more obvious choice with its “strong culture of free speech” and its numerous languages. “There is a huge growth potential here...just look at the number of languages,” says Datta. What also worked in India’s favour is the rapidly growing number of Indians going online; there are currently over 11 million broadband subscribers in the country. “More and more people will now begin accessing the internet from their phones, not even their laptops,” she says. “And India has over 750 million cellphone consumers.”* * * *A lot of this growth is going to come from India’s young. This is why they are targeting students in Pune, known for its many educational institutes. “Wikipedia editors throughout the world tend to be younger people who are immersed in the world of information and learning. So we see college campuses as the natural place for us to be,” says Hisham Mundol, a consultant hired recently to oversee Wikimedia’s activities in India. “Moreover, Pune’s student community comes from all over the country, making it an ideal place for diversity and participation.” Diversification of Wikipedia into different Indian languages is actually not just replicating existing information on the English version but bringing in new information. For instance, the Telugu entry on Alluri Sita Rama Raju, a freedom fighter from Andhra Pradesh, is much more detailed, along with photographs, than the one in English, points out Arjuna Rao Chavala, an administrator with the Telugu Wikipedia.* * * *Of all the Indian language Wikipedias, the Malayalam one has especially been noted for the quality of its articles. However, after the launch in 2002, it struggled with a tally of little over 400 entries till about 2005. That changed as workshops in Kerala sought to raise awareness and create a community of people who could generate reliable content. The number of entries on the site has now gone up to over 18,000; the articles are more detailed, with a high frequency of reliable citation. This has also indigenised knowledge generation. “For a long time, most of the contributions on Malayalam Wikipedia came from emigre Malayalis. But now we have started receiving more contributions from Kerala itself,” says Tinu Cherian, an editor with the site.* * * *The Malayalam Wikipedia also prospered because of indirect backing from the previous Left Front government. It allowed Wikipedia to borrow content from Sarvavijnanakosam, a state-sponsored encyclopaedia, and launched ‘School Wiki’ in 2009, a website about the state’s schools and one that, like Wikipedia, can be edited by anyone, including students. The government also introduced a chapter on Wikipedia for students of classes VIII, IX and X. “All these measures will indirectly ensure that we have a community of people who can keep the Malayalam Wikipedia going,” says Shiju Alex, one of the site’s administrators.* * * *“The key is greater awareness,” agrees Jayanth Nath, an administrator at the Bangla Wikipedia. The version has as many as 150 active users but strangely only 10 of them are from West Bengal. That’s because most users are Bangladeshis, perhaps why the site didn’t have a single India-related article till as late as 2007. “We have actually just finished a full-length feature article on India,” says Jayanth, quite unselfconsciously. “Of course, this also means that there is tremendous scope to grow.”* * * *In fact, it was the dearth of Wikipedians that set the rot in the Oriya version of the encyclopaedia despite it being one of the first off the blocks in ’02. “For eight years, there were no efforts made to generate awareness or create a community. The entries just had titles, no text or pictures and no citations,” says Subhashish Panigrahi in Bangalore, who’s spearheading the resurrection drive. A repeat of the Oriya example is what Bishakha fears the most. “We keep asking—will there be a community to create Wikipedias, edit and sustain them always,” she says. This fear is at its most menacing for languages like Angika, spoken mostly in the hinterland far from the cities. “We have to reach out to people who have moved to urban areas and have adopted technology, instil in them a pride of having an encyclopaedia in their language,” says Mumbai-based Kundan Amitabh, administrator for the Angika Wikipedia.* * * *The stakes in seeing Wikipedia succeed in India are high, not just for its supporters, but in a way also for the country. For its fortunes are intertwined with several factors: the survival and enrichment of Indian languages, access to the Net, growth in literacy and especially the development of computer interface. The day when Indian language Wikipedias list their millionth article, it will be a hard-earned triumph not just for the encyclopaedia but also for hundreds of millions of non-English speakers in this country. Wikipedia, after all, is just a footnote in the larger India story.* Regards Tinu Cherian http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news#June_2011

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Latest issue of Outlook magazine
by Jacob Joseph 06 Jun '11

06 Jun '11

The latest issue of Outlook magazine has an article on Wikipedia: Jacob twitter: @23jacob http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?272101 society: knowledge Help: This Is A Stub<https://mail.google.com/mail/html/compose/static_files/article.aspx?272101> Wikipedia is betting on its Indian language versions to drive growth Debarshi Dasgupta<https://mail.google.com/mail/html/compose/static_files/peoplefnl.aspx?pid=3…> *The Fountainhead* - Wikipedia, a free online encyclopaedia that anybody can contribute to, has 3.6 million articles in its English version - Over 60% of Wikipedia’s traffic comes from the US, Germany, Japan, the UK, Canada, France - Big opportunities now in China, South Korea and India, where less than 10% of online population use Wikipedia now - Most popular Indian language Wikipedias: Hindi (97,013 articles), Marathi (33,711), Tamil (32,439), Bangla (22,234) and Malayalam (18,193) *** Chances are you haven’t heard of Angika, or even realised you had heard it being spoken. Indeed, the odds are greater you came across it online, especially on Wikipedia. As the world’s most popular encyclopaedia seeks to grow outside the West, it is lesser known languages like Angika—spoken mainly in Bihar and Jharkhand—that the site promoters are betting on. Currently in incubation, along with 19 other Indian language micro sites, the Angika version should go live soon, joining the 20 operational Indic Wikipedias like Hindi, Marathi and Tamil. India’s rising importance in the expansion plans of Wikimedia Foundation (which oversees Wikipedia) is evident from the fact that its first office outside the US is set to open—in Delhi. In a related development, Mumbai-based documentary filmmaker Bishakha Datta has been appointed to Wikimedia’s board of directors. It has also launched its first-ever ‘Campus Ambassadors’ programme in Pune, modelled after universities in America where teachers and students come together to contribute to Wikipedia. And it’s not all research and details. Indians were also the sixth largest donors to Wikimedia—they gave $1,93,000 dollars last financial year. It was inevitable, really. Wikimedia had little choice but to come to India as growth in the West, or the ‘Global North’, tapers off. What began in 2001 as an idea to take as much information as possible to as many people in a multitude of languages—all this for free—which gained spectacular success, catapulting Wikipedia to the fifth most visited website, has now hit a roadblock. As it finalised growth plans in February, just after celebrating its 10th anniversary, it was clear that Wikimedia had to focus on the ‘Global South’ to keep growing. China was thought of as an alternative but was dropped because of state censorship. India was a more obvious choice with its “strong culture of free speech” and its numerous languages. “There is a huge growth potential here...just look at the number of languages,” says Datta. What also worked in India’s favour is the rapidly growing number of Indians going online; there are currently over 11 million broadband subscribers in the country. “More and more people will now begin accessing the internet from their phones, not even their laptops,” she says. “And India has over 750 million cellphone consumers.” A lot of this growth is going to come from India’s young. This is why they are targeting students in Pune, known for its many educational institutes. “Wikipedia editors throughout the world tend to be younger people who are immersed in the world of information and learning. So we see college campuses as the natural place for us to be,” says Hisham Mundol, a consultant hired recently to oversee Wikimedia’s activities in India. “Moreover, Pune’s student community comes from all over the country, making it an ideal place for diversity and participation.” Diversification of Wikipedia into different Indian languages is actually not just replicating existing information on the English version but bringing in new information. For instance, the Telugu entry on Alluri Sita Rama Raju, a freedom fighter from Andhra Pradesh, is much more detailed, along with photographs, than the one in English, points out Arjuna Rao Chavala, an administrator with the Telugu Wikipedia. Of all the Indian language Wikipedias, the Malayalam one has especially been noted for the quality of its articles. However, after the launch in 2002, it struggled with a tally of little over 400 entries till about 2005. That changed as workshops in Kerala sought to raise awareness and create a community of people who could generate reliable content. The number of entries on the site has now gone up to over 18,000; the articles are more detailed, with a high frequency of reliable citation. This has also indigenised knowledge generation. “For a long time, most of the contributions on Malayalam Wikipedia came from emigre Malayalis. But now we have started receiving more contributions from Kerala itself,” says Tinu Cherian, an editor with the site. The Malayalam Wikipedia also prospered because of indirect backing from the previous Left Front government. It allowed Wikipedia to borrow content from *Sarvavijnanakosam*, a state-sponsored encyclopaedia, and launched ‘School Wiki’ in 2009, a website about the state’s schools and one that, like Wikipedia, can be edited by anyone, including students. The government also introduced a chapter on Wikipedia for students of classes VIII, IX and X. “All these measures will indirectly ensure that we have a community of people who can keep the Malayalam Wikipedia going,” says Shiju Alex, one of the site’s administrators. “The key is greater awareness,” agrees Jayanth Nath, an administrator at the Bangla Wikipedia. The version has as many as 150 active users but strangely only 10 of them are from West Bengal. That’s because most users are Bangladeshis, perhaps why the site didn’t have a single India-related article till as late as 2007. “We have actually just finished a full-length feature article on India,” says Jayanth, quite unselfconsciously. “Of course, this also means that there is tremendous scope to grow.” In fact, it was the dearth of Wikipedians that set the rot in the Oriya version of the encyclopaedia despite it being one of the first off the blocks in ’02. “For eight years, there were no efforts made to generate awareness or create a community. The entries just had titles, no text or pictures and no citations,” says Subhashish Panigrahi in Bangalore, who’s spearheading the resurrection drive. A repeat of the Oriya example is what Bishakha fears the most. “We keep asking—will there be a community to create Wikipedias, edit and sustain them always,” she says. This fear is at its most menacing for languages like Angika, spoken mostly in the hinterland far from the cities. “We have to reach out to people who have moved to urban areas and have adopted technology, instil in them a pride of having an encyclopaedia in their language,” says Mumbai-based Kundan Amitabh, administrator for the Angika Wikipedia. The stakes in seeing Wikipedia succeed in India are high, not just for its supporters, but in a way also for the country. For its fortunes are intertwined with several factors: the survival and enrichment of Indian languages, access to the Net, growth in literacy and especially the development of computer interface. The day when Indian language Wikipedias list their millionth article, it will be a hard-earned triumph not just for the encyclopaedia but also for hundreds of millions of non-English speakers in this country. Wikipedia, after all, is just a footnote in the larger India story.

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikimediaindia-l Digest, Vol 36, Issue 19
by Srikanth Ramakrishnan 06 Jun '11

06 Jun '11

Vibhi, I seriously and personally suggest you get in touch with Hari. In Oct, 2009, Hari had presented a case study on the Kannada wikipedia. Follow it closely, take guidance from HPN sirjee, and you can do wonders for the community. Cheers, and regards. Sent from my Motorola L9. Please excuse spelling errors. On Jun 6, 2011 12:51 PM, "Hari Prasad Nadig" <hpnadig(a)gmail.com> wrote: On Sun, Jun 5, 2011 at 11:14 PM, Theo10011 <de10011(a)gmail.com> wrote: > [..snip..] > > You once requested 3 rights from stewards in one week along with removal of HPN, it's not co... [..snip..] > > On Sun, Jun 5, 2011 at 10:35 PM, Vibhi Jain <vibhijain(a)yahoo.in> wrote: [..snip..] >> >> And now the removal, I don't think that this right is not given to me, for your information,... [..snip..] Thanks to Salman for putting some sanity into all this. Since this is being discussed on the public list, I believe some clarifications are due. I've had Mr. Vibhi Jain bombarding me with messages on Facebook and Google Talk, seeking my 'retirement' as a sysop from Sanskrit Wikipedia. So much so that it has been nothing short of a nuisance for me during work hours for last couple of weeks. However, unlike our little enthusiastic friend seems to suggest on this email about him having a fight (goodness gracious!), there was no _fight_ involved. While I appreciate his enthusiasm, the approach has been a no-go. Mr. Vibhi Jain got in touch with me asking "whether I will be active on Sanskrit Wikipedia or not". If not, he says *he has* drafted a policy which allows to de-flag a sysop on Sanskrit Wikipedia. On couple of occasions when he messaged me on Facebook and Google Chat, I tried telling him that "focusing on improving the projects should be the goal" rather than kicking people out. I also tried explaining him how "Wikipedians do go inactive at times on some of the projects and that wouldn't mean they would never contribute back to the projects". The conversation just ended with his statements like (in his own words) "the policy will be soon ready. then please do not say to me that i didn't told u". Personally, I wouldn't be bothered if my id is deflagged or not. I would just be helping out in any ways I can, either way. I would just ignore some of these, pat on his back for the rest of the good work he's been doing and move on. Having said that, I would definitely wish that there would be more sanity injected into all this though, and guiding new contributors in the right direction like Salman has done would always help. -- Hari Prasad Nadig http://hpnadig.net | http://twitter.com/hpnadig http://flickr.com/hpnadig _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

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WikimediaIndia-l June 2011