WikimediaIndia-l June 2011

wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org

74 participants
120 discussions

Global Fund raising Support to Indian Currency
by Srikanth Lakshmanan 14 Jun '11

14 Jun '11

Hi all, I am writing this mail to ask Chapter folks / Wikimedians experienced in Global Fundraising as to get some information on our preparedness to support INR currency in the Global Fundraising initiative which would be up later this year. I am under impression, Chapter is one of the pre-requisite. Now that we have a Chapter and that it has a bank account, I would like to know what else would it take to support INR this year. I would appreciate if Chapter takes this up as a key project(I dont see this listed currently) and helps in this since it is largely in legal / administration thing. I hope the community would always do its part, be it translating the banners, things which can be done by individual contributors. * Providing support to donations in INR is 1st priority * Optionally providing tax rebate under donations, would attract more donors. Regards Srikanth.L <http://srik.me>

6 11

34th Bangalore Wiki Meetup, Sunday 12June2011
by Subhashish Panigrahi 14 Jun '11

14 Jun '11

Hi Folks, This is again a good news to inform you that 34th Bangalore Wiki Meetup is just over! Bangalore Wiki Community's 34th Meetup was attended by 16 enthusiast attendees. The meetup went through 2 talks by Tory Read and Achal Prabhala and post talk discussions and networking. *Tory Read’s Talk:* *[ Tory, being a photographer, artist and journalist in profession works basically in arts, humanity, behavioral approach of humans to a new technology and strategic thinking. ] *In her visit to India she has been visiting places, meeting people who are taking part in the WMF initiatives and documenting them in the form of Images/Audio/Video files. For her, photography is a tool to understand how organizations like Wikimedia work. She explained the focus of her ongoing project which is based on making Wikipedia more supportive, how well they could help people, the good and bad points in its organization system, strategic thinking of Wikipedia in India, both in English and regional languages. She has interviewed people of varied personal and professional backgrounds and recorded almost 25 videos which she’d be uploading to commons. She has met Bishakha Datta in Mumbai, visited Pune Pilot Program campus, taken part in interacting with 22 campus ambassadors, attended Kannur Malayalam Wiki Meetup along with Bishakha and Hisham, trvelled Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and interviewed several Malayalam Wikipedians, from a very-young-Wikipedian to a Heart-Stroke-Patient-Wikipedian. Tory would be documenting the history of Wikipedia along with the work pattern, strategic plans, cons and pros of new initiatives based on the behavioral function. *Achal Prabhala’s talk:** [Achal is an Indian researcher, activist and writer based in Bangalore, Karnataka. He works on intellectual property rights in relation to medicine and knowledge. He also serves on the board of the Centre for Internet and Society<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_for_Internet_and_Society_%28India%29><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achal_Prabhala#cite_note-1>and on the Advisory board of the Wikimedia Foundation.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achal_Prabhala#cite_note-2> ]* Achal, being a part of a long term project on Oral citation has interviewed many people in India (mostly in Kerala and Maharashtra), attended public gathering, folk dances, observed process of traditional liquor skills of local folks in South Africa, interviewed them and recorded their words and action. His work also pervaded to understand how newspapers in a long span of their lives never worked as authentic source of information, media, entertainment industry has popularized languages like Hindi, but the same language has still not reached more scholarly published articles. During a long presentation Achal showed the extensive approach and need of Oral citation in documenting the history of mankind in a more generic way. Post talks there was few discussions. Arjuna Rao Chavala explained the Bangalore Community Engagement with Wikimedia Chapter and its role as an independent body. The main topics discussed are: - Membership (*Membership needs, benefits, role as a Chapter member*) - Projects 2011-2012 - Representation of Bangalore in the city SIG Post discussion Membership forms were distributed. The forms are also avaibale online at http://wiki.wikimedia.in/File:WikimediaChapterMembershipFormIndividual.pdf Wikipedians also discussed about taking initiatives to start on campus Wiki Workshops in Engineering and Communication/Media Studies Institutes which will bring out students for taking part in Wikimedia initiatives. Post discussion Wikipedians socialized and had photoshoots. Photos and videos can be found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bangalore_Meetup_June2011 Thanks * ସୁଭପାSubhashishPanigrahi ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Odia (Oriya) mailing list wikipedia-or(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-or facebook.com/OdiaWiki Tweet @OdiaWiki *

2 1

Event Organising Committee
by wheredevelsdare＠hotmail.com 14 Jun '11

14 Jun '11

Dear All, *Cross posted on India/Mumbai/Pune Mailing lists to reach everyone. Recipients from other cities are requested to forward this email to their respective city list as well.* Welcome to Mumbai for the First Annual WikiConference India scheduled to take place 18-19-20 November 2011 and is co-hosted by Mumbai and Pune Communities along with Wikimedia Chapter (India). The first Organising Committee meeting shall take place this Saturday, 18 June 2011 in Mumbai. The first ever GLAM event event in Asia which will be hosted by Mumbai will take place at National College in Bandra from 5pm-8pm the same day. The Event Organising Committee (OC) consists of (Random Order): 1. Bishakha Dutta (Wikimedia Foundation Trustee) 2. Hisham Mundol (Consultant, India Programs) 3. Achal Prabhala (Member, Global Advisory Board) 4. Gautam K. John (Secretary, Wikimedia Chapter (India)) 5. Arun Ramarathnam (Member, Wikimedia Chapter (India) Executive Committee - Former President) 6. Salman Haroon (Delhi) 7. Jayanth Nath (Kolkata) 8. Ashwin Baindur (Pune) 9. Sudhanwa Joglekar (Pune) 10. Srikeit Tadepalli (Pune) 11. Mandar Kulkarni (Pune) 12. Kundan Amitabh (Mumbai) 13. Moksh Juneja (Mumbai) 14. Prof. Nagarjuna (Mumbai) 15. Vickram Crishna (Mumbai) 16. Pradeep Mohandas (Mumbai) 17. Pranav Curumsey (Mumbai) 18. Tinu Cherian Abaraham (Bangalore) 19. Shiju Alex (Bangalore) Wikimedia Chapter (India) President, Arjuna Rao Chavala has kindly agreed to support the event as an Advisor. He is invited to attend all OC meetings as Advisor. Once again, thanking the entire Indian Community for all their support and requesting continued support during the planning and execution of this event. If anyone has any suggestions, do write to any of the above or on this mailing list. Kind Regards, User:AroundTheGlobe

3 2

[Press]: Mathrubhumi :( Malayalam - A digital book collection , every Malayalee should treasure at Home ) ഓരോ മലയാളിയും വീട്ടില്‍ സൂക്ഷിക്കേണ്ട ഡിജിറ്റല്‍ ഗ്രന്ഥസമാഹാരം -
by CherianTinu Abraham 14 Jun '11

14 Jun '11

*Mathrubhumi :ഓരോ മലയാളിയും വീട്ടില്‍ സൂക്ഷിക്കേണ്ട ഡിജിറ്റല്‍ ഗ്രന്ഥസമാഹാരം ( Malayalam - A digital book collection , every Malayalee should treasure at Home)* http://www.mathrubhumi.com/tech/wikipedia-wikisource-malayalam-wiki-192803.… Mathrubhumi , a Malayalam newspaper published a good story on recent Malayalam Wikisource CD. A rough summary of the article would be something like this>> *It says that lots of people may have varied opinions of which is "must keep" book at home - It may be Kottarathil Sankunni's "Aithihyamala" or Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan's "Adhyathmaramayanam" or "Hari Nama Keerthanam" or "Works of Sree Narayana Guru" or Sathyavedapusthakam ( Bible) or Quran... While such a list may be long, imagine every one of them are available together on a CD in digital form. Such a CD was released as a part of Malayalam Wikimeetup at Kannur on 11 June. The Malayalam Wikisource CD is a compilation of valuable literary works , whose Copyrights have expired. * * * *The CD is categorized into 8 sections including Poetry, Grammer, Legends , spirituality etc. The CD version can connect with the online version too. Both the CD contents ( http://www.mlwiki.in/wikisrccd/index.html ) and CD ISO image ( http://www.mlwiki.in/cdimage/mlwikisource.iso ) are also available online for download. * * * *Apart from the numerous poems, folk songs, devotional songs, novel, grammar book, tales, books on Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Communism and Philosophy, there is also a collection of images which are related to Malayalam and Kerala.* * * *This is the first offline version of any language Wikisource in the world. Malayalee Wiki activists claims that this is the largest Malayalam digital archive in the world. The project reminds the need of new methods for the survival of the language in the digital era. * * * *This is the not first time the Mlayalam Wikicommunity has come up with such an unique project. Earlier , It released a offline version of hundreds of Malayalam Wikipedia articles in a compact disk, which had also attracted world wide attention. * ( Malayalam version below ) "ഓരോ മലയാളിയുടെയും വീട്ടില്‍ അത്യാവശ്യം വേണ്ട ഗ്രന്ഥമേത് എന്ന് ചോദിച്ചാല്‍ പലരും പല മറുപടിയാകും നല്‍കുക. കൊട്ടാരത്തില്‍ ശങ്കുണ്ണി രചിച്ച 'ഐതിഹ്യമാല'യാണ് ഓരോ മലയാളിയുടെയും വീട്ടില്‍ അത്യാവശ്യം വേണ്ട മലയാളഗ്രന്ഥമെന്നും, കേരളത്തില്‍ വളരുന്ന ഓരോ കുട്ടിയും അത് വായിച്ചിരിക്കണമെന്നും അഭിപ്രായമുള്ളവരുണ്ട്. അതല്ല, തുഞ്ചത്ത് എഴുത്തച്ചന്റെ 'ആദ്ധ്യാത്മരാമായണം കിളിപ്പാട്ട്' ആണ് ഓരോ മലയാളിയുടെയും വീട്ടില്‍ തീര്‍ച്ചയായും ഉണ്ടായിരിക്കേണ്ട മലയാളഗ്രന്ഥമെന്ന് വിശ്വസിക്കുന്നവര്‍ ഏറെയാണ്. 'ഹരിനാമകീര്‍ത്തനം' ഇല്ലാത്ത ഭവനം ഭവനമാണോ എന്ന് ചോദിക്കുന്നവരുമുണ്ട്. ചിലര്‍ക്ക് വീട്ടില്‍ വേണ്ടത് 'ശ്രീനാരായണഗുരുവിന്റെ കൃതികള്‍' ആകാം. അതല്ല, സത്യവേദപുസ്തകമാണ് വേണ്ടതന്നെ അഭിപ്രായക്കാരുമുണ്ട്. ഖുര്‍ആനും ഒഴിവാക്കാനാവില്ല എന്ന് വാദിക്കുന്നവരുമുണ്ട്. ഈ പട്ടിക ഇങ്ങനെ നീണ്ടു പോകും. തീര്‍ച്ചയായും മലയാളികള്‍ അത്യാവശ്യം വായിക്കുകയും പഠിക്കുകയും വേണ്ട പുസ്തകങ്ങള്‍ തന്നെയാണ് മേല്‍ സൂചിപ്പിച്ചവ ഓരോന്നും. ഇവയ്‌ക്കൊപ്പം ഇനിയും ഏറെയെണ്ണം ചേര്‍ത്ത് വെയ്ക്കാം. അത്തരം അമൂല്യമായ ഗ്രന്ഥങ്ങളുടെ ഒരു സമാഹാരം ഡിജിറ്റല്‍ രൂപത്തില്‍ സിഡിയില്‍ ലഭ്യമാകുന്ന കാര്യം ആലോചിച്ചു നോക്കൂ. അങ്ങനെയൊരു സിഡി ഇപ്പോള്‍ പുറത്തിറങ്ങിയിരിക്കുകയാണ്-'മലയാളം വിക്കിഗ്രന്ഥശാല-തിരഞ്ഞെടുത്ത കൃതികള്‍'. ജൂണ്‍ 11 ന് കണ്ണൂരില്‍ നടന്ന വിക്കിസംഗമത്തിലാണ് മലയാളം വിക്കി ഗ്രന്ഥശാലയിലെ കൃതികളടങ്ങിയ സിഡി പ്രകാശനം ചെയ്തത്. പകര്‍പ്പവകാശ കാലാവധി കഴിഞ്ഞ മലയാളം കൃതികളാണ് സിഡിയിലുള്ളത്. പകര്‍പ്പവകാശ കാലാവധി കഴിഞ്ഞ ഗ്രന്ഥങ്ങള്‍ എന്നതുകൊണ്ടുമാത്രം ഈ സിഡിയിലെ ഉള്ളടക്കത്തിന്റെ സവിശേഷത തീരുന്നില്ല. സാധാരണക്കാര്‍ക്ക് അത്ര ലഭ്യമല്ലാത്ത ഒട്ടേറെ കൃതികളും ഇതില്‍ ഉള്‍ക്കൊള്ളിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു. കാവ്യങ്ങള്‍, ഭാഷാവ്യാകരണം, ഐതിഹ്യം, ആത്മീയം എന്നിങ്ങനെ എട്ട് വിഭാഗങ്ങളും വിക്കിചിത്രശാലയെന്ന ചിത്രസമാഹാരവുമാണ് സിഡിയുടെ ഉള്ളടക്കം. സിഡി ഉപയോഗിച്ച് ഓഫ്‌ലൈനില്‍ തന്നെ അതിലെ ഉള്ളടക്കം വായിക്കാനാകും. ഈ സിഡിയുടെ ഉള്ളടക്കം പൂര്‍ണമായും ഓണ്‍ലൈനിലും ലഭ്യമാണ്.*http://www.mlwiki.in/wikisrccd/index.html * <http://www.mlwiki.in/wikisrccd/index.html>എന്ന ലിങ്കില്‍ പോവുക. വിക്കിഗ്രന്ഥശാലയിലെ തിരഞ്ഞെടുത്ത കൃതികളുടെ സിഡി http://www.mlwiki.in/cdimage/mlwikisource.iso എന്ന ലിങ്കില്‍ നിന്ന് നേരിട്ട് ഡൗണ്‍ലോഡ് ചെയ്യാന്‍ സാധിക്കും. ഈ സമാഹാരത്തില്‍ ഏറ്റവും സമ്പന്നമായ വിഭാഗം 'കാവ്യങ്ങളു'ടേതാണ്. വീണ പൂവ്, നളിനി, ലീല, വനമാല, മണിമാല തുടങ്ങി കുമാരനാശാന്റെ കൃതികള്‍ സമഗ്രമായി ഇതിലുണ്ട്. കൂടാതെ ചെറുശ്ശേരിയുടെ 'കൃഷ്ണഗാഥ', ചങ്ങമ്പുഴ, കുഞ്ചന്‍ നമ്പ്യാര്‍, ഇരയിമ്മന്‍ തമ്പി, രാമപുരത്ത് വാര്യര്‍ എന്നിവരുടെ കൃതികള്‍ ഒക്കെ ഡിജിറ്റല്‍ രൂപത്തില്‍ മനോഹരമായി മുന്നിലെത്തും. ഭാഷാവ്യാകരണം വിഭാഗത്തില്‍ 'കേരളപാണിനീയം' പൂര്‍ണരൂപത്തില്‍ ചേര്‍ത്തിരിക്കുന്നു. ഐതിഹ്യം വിഭാഗത്തില്‍ 'ഐതിഹ്യമാല' എന്ന ബൃഹത്ഗ്രന്ഥം മുഴുവനും വായിക്കാം. മലയാളത്തിലെ ലക്ഷണമൊത്ത ആദ്യനോവലായ ചന്തുമേനോന്റെ 'ഇന്ദുലേഖ'യാണ് നോവല്‍ വിഭാഗത്തിലുള്ള ഏക കൃതി. 'ശ്രീമത് ഭഗവദ് ഗീത', 'അദ്ധ്യാത്മരാമായണം കിളിപ്പാട്ട്', 'ഹരിനാമകീര്‍ത്തനം', 'ഗീതാഗോവിന്ദം', 'സത്യവേദപുസ്തകം', 'ഖുര്‍ആന്‍', 'ശ്രീനാരായണഗുരു കൃതികള്‍' -ആത്മീയം വിഭാഗം സമ്പന്നമാണ്. ഭക്തിഗാനങ്ങള്‍ എന്ന വിഭാഗവും ശ്രദ്ധേയമാണ്. ക്രിസ്തീയ കീര്‍ത്തനങ്ങളുടെയും, ഹൈന്ദവ ഭക്തിഗാനങ്ങളുടെയും, ഇസ്‌ലാമിക ഗാനങ്ങളുടെയും ശ്രദ്ധേയമായ ഒരു സമാഹാരം ഇവിടെയുണ്ട്. തത്വശാസ്ത്രം വിഭാഗത്തില്‍ 'കമ്മ്യൂണിസ്റ്റ് മാനിഫെസ്റ്റോ', 'കമ്മ്യൂണിസത്തിന്റെ തത്വങ്ങള്‍' എന്നിവ ഉള്‍ക്കൊള്ളിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു. സിഡിയിലെ ഉള്ളടക്കം മുഴുവന്‍ വ്യത്യസ്തമായ നാല് മലയാളം യുണികോഡ് ഫോണ്ടുകളില്‍ വായിക്കാം-അഞ്ജലി, മീര, രചന, ലഘുമലയാളം എന്നിവയാണ് ആ ഫോണ്ടുകള്‍. മാത്രമല്ല, ഫോണ്ടിന്റെ വലിപ്പം വര്‍ധിപ്പിക്കാനും കഴിയും. ഓരോ അധ്യായവും സ്‌ക്രോള്‍ ചെയ്ത് താഴേക്ക് അടുത്ത് പേജില്‍ പോകുന്നതിന് പകരം, വായനയ്ക്കുള്ള പേജിനെ ഇടത്തേക്കും വലത്തേക്കും നീക്കി അധ്യായം മുഴുവന്‍ വായിക്കാന്‍ പാകത്തിലാണ് ഉള്ളടക്കത്തിന്റെ വ്യന്യാസം. പക്ഷേ, ഉള്ളടക്കം ക്രമീകരിച്ചിട്ടുള്ള കോളങ്ങളുടെ വീതി അല്‍പ്പംകൂടി കുറഞ്ഞിരുന്നെങ്കില്‍ വായന കുറെക്കൂടി അനായാസമാകുമായിരുന്നു. വിക്കി ഗ്രന്ഥശാലയുടെ ഓഫ്‌ലൈന്‍ സിഡി ഇറക്കുന്ന ലോകത്തിലെ ആദ്യ സംരംഭമാണിതെന്ന്, ഈ സിഡി അണിയിച്ചൊരുക്കിയവരില്‍ പ്രധാനിയായ സന്തോഷ് തോട്ടിങ്ങല്‍ ഒരു ചര്‍ച്ചാഫോറത്തില്‍ അറിയിച്ചു. മലയാളത്തില്‍ പുറത്തിറക്കിയിരിക്കുന്നതില്‍ ഏറ്റവും വലിയ ഡിജിറ്റല്‍ ആര്‍ക്കൈവ് കൂടിയാണ് ഈ സിഡിയെന്നും വിക്കി പ്രവര്‍ത്തകര്‍ പറയുന്നു. ഏതായാലും, മലയാളഭാഷയ്ക്ക് അര്‍ഹിക്കുന്ന ഉപഹാരം തന്നെയാണ് ഈ സമാഹാരം. ഡിജിറ്റല്‍ യുഗത്തില്‍ ഭാഷയുടെ നിലനില്‍പ്പിന് പുതിയ മാര്‍ഗങ്ങള്‍ തേടണമെന്ന് ഓര്‍മിപ്പിക്കുകയും ചെയ്യുന്നു ഈ സംരംഭം. മലയാളം വിക്കി പ്രവര്‍ത്തകര്‍ ആദ്യമായല്ല ഇത്തരമൊരു സംരംഭത്തിന് തുനിയുന്നത്. മലയാളം വിക്കിപീഡിയയിലെ തിരഞ്ഞെടുത്ത നൂറുകണക്കിന് ലേഖനങ്ങള്‍ സിഡിയാക്കി അവതരിപ്പിച്ചുകൊണ്ട് ഇതിന് മുമ്പ് അവര്‍ ആഗോളശ്രദ്ധ പിടിച്ചുപറ്റിയിരുന്നു " Regards Tinu Cherian http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news#June_2011

1 0

[Press] : The Hindu : "Malayalam Wiki activists, online users make the language lively: Ekbal"
by CherianTinu Abraham 13 Jun '11

13 Jun '11

*The Hindu : "Malayalam Wiki activists, online users make the language lively: Ekbal"* http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article2096471.ece *Public health activist and the former Kerala University Vice-Chancellor B. Ekbal has said that Malayalam Wiki activists and online Malayalam writers are rendering yeomen service to the Malayalam language by making it lively.* * * *Inaugurating the fourth annual meeting of Malayalam Wikimedia activists at the District Library Council Hall here on Saturday, Dr. Ekbal said though many mainstream Malayalam writers treated online Malayalam as no alternative to written Malayalam, the online writers and Wikipedia activists were in fact re-inventing the beauty of the language.* * * *These activists were also developing fonts for Malayalam scripts, including the old ones, he said, adding that these software were developed by developers who had not studied Malayalam in their schools. It was wrong to presume that the online Malayalam users and Wikipedia activists had no passion for their mother tongue.* * * *Dr. Ekbal said there was a society of young online Malayalam users and Wikipedia activists who were voluntarily developing Malayalam fonts and software. Wikipedia activists involved in sharing knowledge and information were participating in a great revolution, he added.* * * *The day-long session was attended by Malayalam Wiki contributors and administrators.* * * *Wikipedia Foundation representatives Tory Read, Bisakha Dutta, and Hisham Mundol were among those who participated in the session organised in collaboration with the Kannur District Library Council and the Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad.* * * *The organisers of the event said the representatives of the Wikipedia Foundation interacted with the Malayalam Wikipedia activists as part of their initiative to see the activities in the Malayalam Wikipedia.* * * *The foundation representatives underlined the need for more Wikipedia activists in a country like India to ensure more information and knowledge to a larger number of people.* * * *The organisers said the Malayalam Wikipedia had over 18,000 articles on different disciplines. A compact disc containing contents from the Malayalam Wikipedia and digital archives of works of Kumaranasan, Sree Narayana Guru, Kunjan Nambiar as well as the Communist Manifesto, the Bible, and the Koran, among others, were released at the function.* * * *The session also included presentation on ‘Narayam' software developed by Junaid. The software was presented as the built-in Malayalam typing solution integrated to Wikis. Santhosh Kottungal made a presentation on Web fonts.* Regards Tinu Cherian http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news#June_2011

2 1

Community-Chapter Relations
by Ashwin Baindur 13 Jun '11

13 Jun '11

The national chapter recently informed the community about its Membership and Community engagement plan -June 2011. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-June/003346.html In that document, the regulatory framework for conduct of Wikiconferences was released. http://wiki.wikimedia.in/India_Wiki_Conference_Framework Shortly thereafter, a clarification was issued. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-June/003378.html Members of the community must be puzzled at the need for clarification from the Chapter on the issues of its regulatory framework when there was no discussion online. This is because the recent announcement of the framework, in conjunction with other issues, led to the community believing that the chapter had forsaken it. A little history - the idea for a Wikiconference was mooted way back in March by the Mumbai community and they asked the Pune community to co-host it to which the Pune community agreed. As India now has a national chapter, we naturally asked for their support more than two months ago. For more than two months they were silent. Yesterday, they responded saying that the community was invited to submit their proposal, duly modified as per the said framework, and resubmit it for consideration with other bids. The cavaliar treatment of the serious efforts put in to date by the communities and the contents of the Framework of Regulations were disturbing to the community. At the face off it, one may just consider the Regulatory Framework as just another logical and reasonable document, but its language, text and subtext upset the community, in light of Chapter's attitude. The first and over-riding issue was the type of language used and its indication of the relation between chapter and communities. We all know that the Wikimedia Foundation encourages national chapters so that the community and creation of knowledge by them is facilitated. However, the language herein clearly gives a message - that the Indian chapter is boss and all Indian wikimedian communities are subservient to it. While that is a great inequity in itself, the community was also aggrieved that the framework has been foisted on them without discussion, without any attempt to get them to participate and buy in into the plan, without community consensus and without any consideration of the community's interests. This feudalistic attitude is considered to be an anachronism in volunteer driven communities of the 21st Centuries especially in India. So, no matter whether the framework is good or bad, sensible or not, the approach to the community taken by the chapter is to be firmly objected to and resisted. The Mumbai & Pune community supports the chapter, and have defended the chapter on number of occasions in email discussions. Members of the two communities have enthusiastically joined the chapter once membership opened. A member of the Mumbai and a member of the Pune community are the first two members to join by NEFT and physical cheque. To the best of my knowledge 24 members from Pune joined the chapter in response to Arjuna Rao Chavala's appeal for member ships when he came last month to our Pune meetup. We earnestly believe that India needs an active, sympathetic, facilitative and supportive chapter. We look forward to heartily cooperating with such a chapter - alas, the chapter's latest tune was nothing of that kind. It seemed to be indicative of wanting power and to dominate. The third issue, were the "black" provisions of the framework. Each of the sentences seemed to imply negative connotations for the community. To give you some examples of the "black" provisions - Example one - Finance The responsibilities of the Host city team included "Fund raising", whereas the corresponding responsibility of the Chapter Team was "Responsible for facilitating financial operations and accountability for finances for the event". The message conveyed was that the community was responsible for raiising funds but only the chapter was allowed to decide how it was spent. No commitment of raising monetary support was made by the chapter for the event. Example two - Logistics The responsibility for the "Host city team" is mentioned as being "responsible for City logistics in terms of Venue, local transportation, stay assistance". However, the city community was to be given no say in the decision-making i.e. organisation of the programme, guest list, expenditure etc. The OC head was to be some person of chapter Executive Committee. That meant, the community had to do the hard work but the chapter would take credit. If the conference succeeded, it was the chapter's moment of glory. Whereas if the conference failed, the communities would be blamed. Example three - Venue After three months of spade work by Mumbai-Pune, when no other city had shown any inclination to take up the project, the chapter thanked the city community for the "proposal", came up with this framework, asks the city to make changes as per the framework and resubmit it for consideration within two weeks or so. Then, all proposals/bids would be considered by the chapter and the decision communicated. For two months, the community waited with bated breath for the chapter's response and was floored when it eventually came. There were no emails of encouragement, no saying "we support you", no saying "great job guys, lets give it to Mumbai-Pune this time, next time, cities can bid". The community, not surprisingly, were forced to construe such a response as lack of support by the chapter. So what was to be done? The community was furious at being treated this way. They could not acquiese to this kind of 'fatwa' type of decision-making by the chapter. It was felt that if the community accepted this state of affairs this time around, it would act as a precedent and set the tone for all future interactions between community and chapter. So, we indicated to the chapter informally through various people that this sort of thing just will not do. We were prepared for a confrontation on matter of principle. However, thanks to various third party back-of-the-scenes attempts, the chapter is now beginning to realise this. A member of the chapter Executive Committee has given a clarification. You can read it here - http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-June/003378.html The community's demands are few and equitable. Firstly, treat us like equals and stakeholders. Amongst us, chapter will then be first among equals. The community will not accept any other form of relationship. The second request is always ask our opinion before issuing policy especially for a thing like Wikiconference which has not been conducted before. The chapter must be consultative and facilitative of the community. The community will not accept orders by fiat. Lastly, this present framework will not do. We need a framework which gives autonomy to the Organising Committee to successfully pull off an event of this scale and nature. While organising this Wikiconference, the community is willing to develop a sensible, practical framework which can be debated and finalised after the event is over. In this manner best practices and lessons learnt will be incorporated. We felt that you as a community member should know what was going on and what happened and how we responded to it. Our next step is to list the issues concerning how the Wikiconference should be conducted and discuss them on the list. At present, an active discussion on this is going on between Pune and Mumbai communities off-list. In the meantime, we invite the chapter to Mumbai where these issues can be discussed amicably face to face and resolved. We thank all those who spoke out in favour of the community. Please write back with your views and support as this concerns every one of us. Ashwin Baindur

15 28

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikiml-l] [Foundation-l] Announcement: Selected Books from Malayalam Wikisource on CD released
by Ramesh N G 13 Jun '11

13 Jun '11

Was there any Wikisource CD offline released in any other language before? If anyone has information, please share. regards User:Rameshng On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 10:34 PM, Luiz Augusto <lugusto(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Congratulations! > > Specially because it is a non-Wikipedia CD project released after of a > Wikipedia CD project [1]. > > Maybe the entire Wikimedia community learn from your experience what they > can do if someone remembers that Wikimedia is more than Wikipedia. > > --[[:m:User:555|Lugusto]] > > [1] - http://www.mlwiki.in/ : Malayalam Wikisource on CD *2011* release > and Malayalam Wikipedia on CD *2010* release > > > On Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 4:12 PM, emijrp <emijrp(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> Creating an offline version of a wiki project is a hard work. Keep up the >> good work! Congratulations! : ) >> >> P.D.: downloading... >> >> 2011/6/11 Jyothis E <jyothis.e(a)gmail.com> >> >> > Dear fellow Wikimedians, >> > >> > With great pleasure, Malayalam Wikimedia Community announced its 2011 CD >> > project "Selected Books from Malayalam Wikisource on CD - 1.0" at the >> 4th >> > annual Wiki Meetup in Kannur, Kerala. This is by far the biggest digital >> > collection of free books in Malayalam language available on CD for >> offline >> > use. This is an important milestone, as majority of the households in >> > Kerala >> > does not have internet or does not have an always on connection and this >> > will enable them to access these books as an offline content. >> > >> > Contents: >> > >> > Selected Poems by >> > * Kumaranasan >> > * Cherusseri >> > * Changampuzha Krishna Pillai >> > * Kalakkaththu Kunchan Nambiar >> > * Irayimman Thampi >> > * Ramapurathu Warrier >> > >> > Malayalam Grammer >> > * Kerala Panineeyam by AR Rajaraja Varma >> > >> > Legends/Folklore >> > * Aithihyamala >> > >> > Novels >> > * Indulekha >> > >> > Religious >> > * Bhagavad Gita >> > * Adhyatma Ramayanam Kilippaatu >> > * Harinama Keerthanam >> > * Geetha Govindam >> > * Sathya Veda Pusthakam (Malayalam Bible) >> > * Quran >> > * Works of Sree Narayana Guru >> > * Devotional songs for Christian, Hindu and Islamic religions >> > >> > Native Art Form >> > * Parichamuttukali pattukal >> > >> > Philosophy (Political) >> > * Communist Manifesto >> > * Principles of Communism (Friedrich Engels) >> > >> > The CD also contains the commons collections of images on food, plants, >> > birds, maps and celebrations from Kerala. The CD is made available for >> > download in iso format as well as browsing at our community website - >> > http://www.mlwiki.in. For those who are interested in the technical >> > challenges and aspects of the background work may read Santhosh's blog >> > post< >> > >> http://thottingal.in/blog/2011/06/11/malayalam-wikisource-offline-version/ >> > >about >> > it. >> > >> > We thank every one who participated in the effort. Comments and >> questions >> > are welcome. >> > >> > Thanks and Regards, >> > Malayalam Wikimedia Community. >> > _______________________________________________ >> > foundation-l mailing list >> > foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org >> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l >> > >> _______________________________________________ >> foundation-l mailing list >> foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikiml-l is the mailing list for Malayalam Wikimedia Projects > email: Wikiml-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > Website: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikiml-l > >

1 0

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikisource-l] Announcement: Selected Books from Malayalam Wikisource on CD released
by Shiju Alex 13 Jun '11

13 Jun '11

> > What software did you use? > The technical details of this offline release is available in Santhosh's blogpost. http://thottingal.in/blog/2011/06/11/malayalam-wikisource-offline-version/ As you can see from the online version of this offline release ( http://www.mlwiki.in/wikisrccd/), we have used a different approach for display since the content of wikisource are *books*. And how are you going to distribute it? > As of now we have produced *500 CD*s to distribute among the participants of 4th Malayalam wikimeetup. It is almost over now. Now few social organizations, books, magazines, and so on have come forwrad to reuse the content of this CD for their various types of distributions. Malayalam Wikimedians do not have plans to produce more copies of this wikisource CD. We expect people outside wiki community will take over it now. Shiju On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 11:18 PM, Federico Leva (Nemo) <nemowiki(a)gmail.com>wrote: > Jyothis E, 11/06/2011 19:01: > > With great pleasure, Malayalam Wikimedia Community announced its 2011 CD > > project "Selected Books from Malayalam Wikisource on CD - 1.0" at the > > 4th annual Wiki Meetup in Kannur, Kerala. This is by far the biggest > > digital collection of free books in Malayalam language available on CD > > for offline use. This is an important milestone, as majority of the > > households in Kerala does not have internet or does not have an always > > on connection and this will enable them to access these books as an > > offline content. > > Very nice! > What software did you use? > And how are you going to distribute it? > > Nemo > > _______________________________________________ > Wikisource-l mailing list > Wikisource-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikisource-l >

1 0

Invitation to connect on LinkedIn
by Gokuldas Mitian Bangalore 12 Jun '11

12 Jun '11

LinkedIn ------------ to, I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. - Gokuldas Mitian Gokuldas Mitian Bangalore Independent Financial Services Professional Bengaluru Area, India Confirm that you know Gokuldas Mitian Bangalore https://www.linkedin.com/e/6vtwj7-got7zv7s-3s/isd/3184680472/C5hGm-b4/ -- (c) 2011, LinkedIn Corporation

5 4

Jimbo at WikiConference 2011
by wheredevelsdare＠hotmail.com 11 Jun '11

11 Jun '11

Hi All, As Pradeep announced late last night, Jimmy Wales (aka Jimbo, Founder, Wikipedia and Member of Global Board of Trustees) was approached by the Mumbai/Pune Community along with other supporters from various parts of the country requesting him to attend the First National WikiConference in India later this year. Late last night we received a response from Jimbo expressing availability on 18-19-20 November 2011. There is consensus among the Mumbai/Pune Community that we reschedule the conference dates in order to facilitate Jimbo's presence. I am sure the entire Indian Community (and the Chapter) will be extremely pleased to host Jimbo for this event. This is a big push for us now to go ahead with this benchmark event and do conduct it in the best possible way. Kind Regards, User:AroundTheGlobe

9 8

← Newer
1
...
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Older →

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

WikimediaIndia-l June 2011