WikimediaIndia-l May 2012

wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org

61 participants
53 discussions

Please add your name to the Geographical List of Indian Wikipedians
by Ashwin Baindur 31 Jul '18

31 Jul '18

Hello friends, This is a link I recommend you to bookmark. http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Geographical_distribution_of_Indian_Wikipedians This list is useful for outreach & also whenever someone needs Wiki-Help in a particular city. It would be great if Wikipedians could update this list.:) We have the following completely unrepresented states/UTs: * Andaman & Nicobar Islands * Arunachal Pradesh * Assam * Chandigarh * Chhattisgarh * Dadra, Nagar & Haveli * Daman & Diu * Goa * Himachal Pradesh * Jammu & Kashmir * Jharkhand (AngPradesh is in Mumbai) * Lakshadweep * Manipur * Meghalaya * Mizoram * Puducherry * Punjab (oye, ye ki hoya!) * Nagaland * Uttar Pradesh * Uttarakhand Okay, all you admins, please update your status (Mikey my boy, that means you too)! Abroad, we dont have Indic Wikipedians listed for: * Africa * Australia * Asia (other than India) * Middle East * North America * South America Unless you would like to stay off list, of course that's acceptable too. May I also request Tinu / list admins to please forward it all the Indic language & city Wikimedia lists. We need this resource to be as comprehensible as possible. Warm regards, Ashwin Baindur ------------------------------------------------------

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Mobile sites of Indic Wikipedias
by Srikanth Lakshmanan 28 Feb '13

28 Feb '13

Hi all, Needless to repeat the <India-Indic-Mobile-Growth> story. But I was surprised even with that, many Indic wikipedias do not have a mobile site(or some have gone dead since they failed to update for MobileFrontend[1] changes), even the ones that had weren't very much usable. Lets not cite, mobile phones do not have fonts, no one uses Indic on mobile, we all know lot of people do use Opera-mini with complex script rendering support. * Please visit <yourlanguage>.m.wikpedia.org and see if there is a page. If it has nothing but 'search, license, and action control' links, here[2] are the steps that an admin need to do to get a mobile site running with content. If you have problem in doing those, come and ask at #wikimedia-tech (or #mediawiki {?}). * When I visited Tamil wikipedia mobile site, I was restricted to content that was put on mainpage, the links in it. Since my Symbian phone doesnt have Indic input system, I cant search anything. The solution to this is to have a list of articles in alphabetical order *and* display it in mobile front page, like Assamese wikipedians have done[3]. Many Indic wikis have this template, but few show it on main page. This might be incredibly useful on mobile versions. More thoughts on improving Mobile sites welcome :) Mobile sites are important since, 1. Lot of people will be using this. 2. The Wikipedia app uses this(?) [Correct me if am wrong] [1] http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:MobileFrontend [2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Projects/Mobile_Gateway#Mobile_homepa… [3] http://as.m.wikipedia.org/ -- Regards Srikanth.L

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Fwd: [Wikikn-l (kannada wikipedia)] Global Vandalism through IP 212.121.219.1 on Indian territory info
by Harish 30 Dec '12

30 Dec '12

This has been observed and reverted in Kannada wikipedia. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Tejas jain <teju2friends(a)gmail.com> Date: 2012/2/2 Subject: [Wikikn-l (kannada wikipedia)] Global Vandalism through IP 212.121.219.1 on Indian territory info To: wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org, wikikn-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Some one has done global vandalism through IP 212.121.219.1< http://toolserver.org/%7Eluxo/contributions/contributions.php?user=212.121.… >on Indian territory info. User's edit list: http://toolserver.org/~luxo/contributions/contributions.php?user=212.121.21… Arunachal pradesh <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arunachal_Pradesh> and Jammu_and_Kashmir <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammu_and_Kashmir> are hatched as disputed. Was there any discussion before these changes? All the edits on Kannada wiki <http://kn.wikipedia.org/> have been reverted because of following reasons, 1. No discussion prior to the changes 2. No references were made 3. Changes done anonymously 4. No change log message 5. No such changes are done on English wiki If it is sure case of vandalism, changes have to be reverted globally. Thanks, Tejas jain < http://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%B8%E0%B2%A6%E0%B2%B8%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AF:… > _______________________________________________ Wikikn-l mailing list Wikikn-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikikn-l -- Harish 9740069624

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Report on WCI 2011
by wheredevelsdare＠hotmail.com 29 Sep '12

29 Sep '12

Hi, This is to inform those interested that User:Prad2609 and I have written a report on WCI 2011 which is public on meta [1]. A warning on queries; we probably wont answer those since Prad2609 has unsubscribed from all Wikipedia mailing lists and retired and Iv got other priorities myself. Once again, we thank all those involved with WCI 2011 and thank the Indian Community which responsible for making it a resounding success. Signing off, [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_IN/WikiConference_India_2011/Report

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Android ICS support for Tamil and Indic languages
by Ravishankar 10 Jul '12

10 Jul '12

Hi, I did some testing on how the recently released Android ICS supports Indic languages. *Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and Hindi are the only Indian languages supported for now*. Oh ya, it can also show English well without a problem ;) You can view the findings in details at http://microblog.ravidreams.net/2011/12/android-ics-support-for-tamil-indic… Screen shots with description can be found at https://picasaweb.google.com/115896376016313561916/AndroidICSSupportForIndi… I could not view the web fonts in Kannada, Telugu Wikipedias as Gerard has indicated at http://ultimategerardm.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-android.html Please let me know if I have to configure anything. One major To Do for all Indic Wiki projects: The mobile version homepage of most of the Indic Wikipedias is not showing anything except the search box. Please configure this well. You can see ta.m.wikipedia.org for example. Ravi

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Experimenting with Virtual Outreach
by Nitika 09 Jul '12

09 Jul '12

Hi Folks, I was thinking of experimenting conducting online outreach. I want to try out if we can do an effective outreach event using a google+ (video) hangout. Virtual outreach has a number of advantages: * No investment of time/effort/cost in travel * Personal attention to each participant (because of individual video/screenshare facilities.) * No complications of no laptops available at the venue or a limit on creating user names from a single IP address during the event * Lower dependency on institutions/college fests to organize an event for us. * Not limited by physical presence. Sitting in Kanyakumari, one can conduct outreach for interested folks in Kashmir! This is just a trial to test if online outreach is effective, doable and manageable. This could be one of the ways forward! (Potentially, we could have more community members doing more events with a more diverse audience.) I'm really excited. Fingers crossed! Thanks Nitika

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Please help translate grant information
by Asaf Bartov 06 Jun '12

06 Jun '12

Dear colleagues, A few months ago, I wrote to this list (and to translators-l) asking for help in translating the information page about the Wikimedia Grants program into Indic languages. This is important in order to make this information about an important tool and opportunity for community-level initiative available to those who would have a hard time digesting that information in English. While there has been a good response in translating into other languages[1], very little progress was made on the Indic languages: So far, only one Tamil speaker volunteered some time (thank you, User:Shanmugamp7!), but much more help is needed (including in Tamil, which is 10% translated). I ask that you consider taking some time to help with this, or to reach out to your personal contacts whom you know to be interested in helping in this way, to help us make the program more accessible throughout India. The page is here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Index and you can use the "Translate this page" link at the top to begin translating. Many thanks in advance, Asaf [1] as of this writing, Arabic, Catalan, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Japanese, Macedonian, Dutch, and Swahili are 100% translated. -- Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org>

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Update on Social Media Pilot
by Noopur Raval 03 Jun '12

03 Jun '12

Dear all, Greetings! Here's an update on the Social Media pilot program<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Pilot_Designs/Social_Media>. Just a small recap before I go on to the numbers. *Why Facebook?* Why we decided to go with Facebook at all is because potential new editors are more comfortable and familiar with the channel. To illustrate, after outreach sessions, we tried staying in touch with around 100 participants using a combination of email and talk page messages and got just 3 responses. When we sent an invite to a Facebook page where they could get help and inputs on how to edit, we got 300 signed up in less than 3 days. Also, social media requires relatively lower investments of time and resources from our community and many Internet savvy people are comfortable using it. The Social Media program was started in order to effectively utilize platforms like Facebook and community groups there (like the Odia Wikipedia group, Kannada Wikipedia group) in order to engage more new editors and give them basic lessons on editing. However, running a Facebook group is very different from using Facebook for personal updates. That's why after observing how these groups work and interacting with a few editors who started these groups, we developed a systematic 19 point guide that looks at various aspects of how to do use Facebook effectively including aspects like discipline in messaging, structuring the interactions, tone of messaging, selecting articles, being cautious with Wikispeak etc. (Of course, it keeps in mind WP:NOTFACEBOOK.) Here's a sneak peek into what we've been doing on two different groups: 1) You can also write on Wikipedia<https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediasupport/> This group was primarily started to give lessons in English editing. Although all of us use social network sites, it is important to understand that the way we interact on Wikipedia is very different from Facebook. This is the gap we are trying to bridge through more deliberate messaging. As mentioned in the detailed program guide<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Pilot_Designs/Social_Media#Pro…>, we try and do regular editing sessions with fun, interesting articles that have adequate space for improvement (therefore making it easier for new editors to make their first edits.) Through a series of 5 basic tasks like creating a username, correcting a spelling mistake, adding a line of information, adding a reference and adding an interwiki link, we try and get the user to make their first 5 edits in less than 10 minutes. Our initial experiments show promise and of the 400+ members right now, over 30 users have participated in these mini-editing sessions and have now edited for the very first time. (You can see their usernames in the doc<https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediasupport/doc/353268748054711/>on the group; do note that are the names of 7 existing editors also on that list, who are the mentors.) To cite examples, User: Zamsam<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Zamsam>(a young new editor) came to the group and wanted to create the article on cricketer Ajit Chandila <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajit_Chandila>. Once we helped him create the article, he started contributing to Chandila's article and moved on to another cricketer, Manvinder Bisla's<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manvinder_Bisla>article. Similarly, User:10gible <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/10gible>joined us to edit the article on Lalu Prasad Yadav <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalu_Prasad_Yadav> while User:Neeasmaverick<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Neeasmaverick>edited the article on his college, Jawaharlal Nehru University <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru_University>, Vicky Donor <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicky_Donor> and Amul girl<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul_girl>and User:Saranshkataria<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Saranshkataria>edited Aloo Chaat <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloo_Chaat> and Rasgulla<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasgulla>. This could not have been possible without a group of wonderful mentors like Debanjan, Karthik, Deepon, Sheel, Pratik and Harsh who volunteered and constantly keep helping new editors. We had Skype calls and regular chats just to ensure that we connect with new users in a way they find most comfortable. The first hurdle of getting new editors to do a set of basic tasks has been crossed for some. The challenge going forward will always be is to sustain the interest of these new editors and make them long term editors hopefully by multiple editing sessions. That still needs to be figured out. Any inputs, comments and help are welcome. 2) Odia Wikipedia group <https://www.facebook.com/groups/OdiaWiki/> This group caters to Odia Wikipedians as well as people who speak the language and might be interested in knowing about Wikipedia. We used similar techniques as above to expand the group conversations beyond existing Wikipedians and encourage new editors to participate. Once when an article on Handia <https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handia> (a local beverage) was posted, a new User:Swetapadma<https://or.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E0%AC%AC%E0%AD%8D%E0%AD%9F%E0%A…>came forward to contribute images. Since then, she has been contributing to articles on Odia cuisine and adding images to articles on Tribes of Odisha. User:Hellohappy<https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AD%8D%E0%AD%9F%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%B9…>edited the article on Capital High School, Bhubaneswar<https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_High_School,_Bhubaneswar> . So far almost 10 new users have joined in and made their first few edits in the past month. Given the small size of Indic communities, this could be a very effective way of encouraging newbies. This also helps because it means that it filters in those who have Internet connectivity, are passionate about the language and (in most cases) are familiar with typing in Indic languages). Again, this was done with the help of existing Odia Wikipedians like Gorvachove, Mrutyunjay Kar, Gyanranjan Sahu, Suratha Parhi, Diptiman and others. *Challenges*: Now that we've figured out a way of engaging so many new editors and getting them to make their first 5 edits, the challenge is to integrate them into our community and make sure they continue editing. Also, it would be ideal to expand this initiative to other Indic and Wikipedia user groups. (I am already working with the Kannada community and I know that Wikipedia Club Pune has already been trying something similar). I would like to invite all community members interested to write to me ( noopur(a)wikimedia.org) and then we can have a brief skype call and figure how to implement it for your group. [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Pilot_Designs/Social_Media [2] https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediasupport/ [3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Pilot_Designs/Social_Media#Pro… [4] https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediasupport/doc/353268748054711/ [5] https://www.facebook.com/groups/OdiaWiki/ Regards, Noopur -- Noopur Raval

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[Wikipatrika]: Announcing the third issue of Wikipatrika!
by Noopur Raval 01 Jun '12

01 Jun '12

Dear all, I am very happy to tell you all that the third issue of Wikipatrika - the community newsletter is finally out! You can check it here: http://wiki.wikimedia.in/WikiPatrika/2012-05 First things first, a humble acknowledgement to all the editors who helped out with this issue of the newsletter. A special thanks to Gitartha (as), Debanjan (bn), Karthik (en and mr), Pratik (en), DS Vyas and Sushant (gu), Siddhartha (hi), Omshivaprakash (kn), Anoop, Kannan, Sreejith, Viswaprabha and Shiju (ml), Abhishek (mr), Rajesh and Saroj (ne), Mkar and Srikant Kedia (or), Abhiram (sa), Logicwiki and Shanmugam (ta), Arjuna and Rahimanuddin (te). In other contributions, thanks to Srikanth R for Commons, Logic, Santhosh, Achal for Free culture news and Tinu for Press news. This entire venture could not have been possible without Tanvir's constant support with templates and tweaks. Forgive me if I have missed someone. So, what has changed from last time? Since all the Wikimeetups are listed on Wikipedia here and on the respective community pages, we've omitted the section on events and meetups. Instead, we've added a section on* Featured Interviews* which has a GLAM interview this time and the *EPOV* column (Editor's point of view: INCOTM report). The idea is to make Wikipatrika a supplement to the mailing lists and village pumps and not replicate the same information in all places. Hopefully, by the next issue, with more featured interviews, insightful pieces from editors and free culture persons we will be able to achieve that. *The way forward: * It's a proud moment to see the amount of activity that all our language communities are involved in. We should definitely strive to make Wikipatrika regular and hopefully get more editors to contribute. This is one space where editors can express the dreams, visions and challenges that their Wikipedia community faces. If you have projects you want to publicize or successful projects that could be started in other communities, this is the space to express your opinion! From next time onward, we will coordinate Patrika on https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-in-newsletter *mailing list*. I welcome you all to join right away and we can discuss ideas for features, changing the format and more! :) Regards, Noopur -- Noopur Raval

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2011 Picture of the Year Competition
by Srikant Kedia 30 May '12

30 May '12

Dear Wikimedians, Wikimedia Commons is happy to announce that the 2011 Picture of the Year competition is now open at last. We're interested in your opinion as to which images qualify to be the Picture of the Year for 2011 (not for 2012). Any user registered at Commons or a Wikimedia wiki SUL-related to Commons with more than 75 edits before 1 April 2012 (UTC) is welcome to vote. Check your eligibility now<http://toolserver.org/%7Epathoschild/accounteligibility/?user=&wiki=&event=…> ! If you meet the criteria, you are eligible to vote. Nearly 600 images that have been rated Featured Pictures by the international Wikimedia Commons community in the past year are all entered in this competition. From professional animal and plant shots to breathtaking panoramas and skylines, restorations of historically relevant images, images portraying the world's best architecture, maps, emblems, diagrams created with the most modern technology, and impressive human portraits, Commons features pictures of all flavors. For your convenience, we have sorted the images into topic categories. Two rounds of voting will be held: In the first round, you can vote for as many images as you like. The first round the top 32 images , by number of votes, from any category will go to the final round - the categories are irrelevant when it comes to counting the votes. If no picture of one topic category is not in the top 32s, that will be also promoted to the Final to guarantee a diverse final. In the final round, when a limited number of images are left, you must decide on the one image that you want to become the Picture of the Year. To see the candidate images just go to: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Picture_of_the_Year/2011/Galleries Wikimedia Commons is interested in hearing your opinions on our featured images of 2011. The deadline for first round voting is 2012-06-04 at 23:59 (UTC). Thanks, Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year committee http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:POTY/2011 -- Thanks & Regards, Srikant Kedia Odia (Oriya) Wikipedia Community <http://or.wikipedia.org> Mail ID - odiawiki(a)gmail.com Facebook- facebook.com/OdiaWiki Tweet @OdiaWiki

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WikimediaIndia-l May 2012