Dear All,
Was the WMF brief for the India office limited to languages in India or did
it include South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal,
Bhutan, Maldives – and by some definitions Tibet and Afghanistan as well)?
According to what I could find online, the public announcement of WMF
specifies Hindi and 20 other Indian languages. As I’ve discussed with some
of you before, the term “Indic” could be problematic when used to refer to
contemporary languages, and I’m sure our South Asian neighbours will take
strong exception to their languages being given this description. The issue
isn't merely a philological one to do with the etymology of words, but has
extensive social and political ramifications, as we would all know from
different kinds of contexts.
If we’re presently intervening in generating content and increasing
editorship for languages used in India, we should perhaps be using the term
“Indian languages”. If we’re including languages that have a different
originating location geographically, like Nepali, we should say “South
Asian languages”. Of course there will be the problematic cases of Bangla,
Punjabi and Urdu which are spoken across borders. I heard from Wikipedia
users in Kolkata that the majority of Bangla wiki editors are from
Bangladesh. This was a casual remark and needs to be borne out by an actual
survey. It would be an interesting challenge to confront this problem
rather than avoid it.
Here’s a brief note on the Indic/Indian question:
*Indic:* a theoretical concept used to *refer to common characteristics* of
the languages falling in the family of languages native to India. Most
often the term 'Indic' means ''of Indian origin". This usage is in line
with the assumptions of classical philology that Indian languages and
customs share a common root and origin. Such assumptions have either
been*challenged for their overwhelming homogeneity
* or have become* theoretically less and less useful* over the years in
understanding the growth of Indian culture and society. At any rate, Indic
in contemporary theoretical usage refers to ancient and medieval historical
texts and languages of the Indian subcontinent and has an archaic ring to
it.
*Indian Languages:* a term referring to all the languages which are in use
in India. Unlike the previous term, it doesn’t contain any hidden
theoretical or ideological assumptions and may be used to refer neutrally
to languages which have been in India for a considerable amount of time.
This usage may be more appropriate to Wikipedia’s NPOV position.
Eg., While there can be debate about whether Urdu is an Indic language,
there can be no controversy in stating that Urdu is an Indian language.
While Nepali and Sinhalese are definitely Indic languages owing to their
linguistic genealogy, we may choose to, or not choose to, term them as
Indian languages based on the geographical and political context we’re
referring to. [Here, I would strongly recommend using the term South Asian
languages - this usage is common in defining a disciplinary domain as well,
such as South Asian Studies. Famous university departments such as the SALC
at the University of Chicago explicitly use the term South Asian Languages
(and Civilizations, but that is another story).] By the way, South Indian
languages are technically speaking not 'Indic' at all, since they belong to
the Dravidian language family. We can't also forget that it is three South
Indian languages - Kannada, Tamil, Telugu - that are regarded as classical
languages in India.
Although there’s no clarity on exact usage of the terms, there’s a general
consensus about using Indic to refer to ancient and medieval texts. For
example, see,
Sheldon Pollock, *The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit,
Culture, and Power in Premodern India* (Berkeley: Univ of California Press,
2006).
The other point I want to add is that the term 'Indic' comes out of the
colonial and Indological approaches to the subcontinent. Indology is a
variant of Orientalism and has been criticised as such by Edward Said, in *
Orientalism* (New York: Vintage, 1978); see Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism_%28book%29*. *There’s an extensive
critique of Indological translations in my book *Siting Translation:
History, Post-structuralism and the Colonial Context* (Berkeley: Univ of
California Press, 1992). For a recent discussion of Indology, see also
http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/88-beyond-indology.html.
It might be an interesting exercise to google ‘indic’ and then google
‘indian’, and see how the searches throw up quite dramatically different
things, and then add the word ‘languages’ to each search to see what shows
up.
I’m aware that the input format and text editor consoles use the term
“Indic”- so it is up to the team and the extended community to discuss this
and find an acceptable resolution.
Looking forward to the discussions on this topic.
Tejaswini
--
Tejaswini Niranjana, PhD
Lead Researcher - Higher Education Innovation and Research Applications
(HEIRA)
Senior Fellow - Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS)
Visiting Professor - Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)
Visiting Faculty - Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute
of Science (CCS-IISc)
t: 91-80-41202302
f: 91-80-26730722
http://heira.inwww.cscs.res.in
My dear Doctor, it is 26,000,000. That is 2.6 crore, not lakh.
It belongs to CIS, not the Chapter.
CIS is a totally different organization, not related to the Chapter is any way whatsoever.
It consists of interesting (for a psychologist) people like Noopur, Nitika, and Subhashish. They get paid.
Chapter is volunteers, not paid, no pay, no money, gratis, Google Treanslate says मुक्त.
I hope you get my point. It is after all, Elementary, My dear Doctor.
CIS=Money.
Chapter=No Money.
CIS=Rich.
Chapter=Poor.
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2013 04:38:06 -0800
From: nawabhakimdr(a)ymail.com
To: wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] why to donate
i am not talk about 1.5 lakh. i am talk about 2. lak that noobur talk about in old mail.
From: Abhishek Suryawanshi <i.abhishek.suryawanshi(a)gmail.com>
To: Wikimedia India Community list <wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 1:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] why to donate
I am talking about upcoming Board Meeting, Correct me if someone else is funding Travel expenses of Chapter. Its CIS right?
Point is - If expenses are well known like this, other organizations can chip in to support Chapter. And 'in-kind' donations will be helpful.
Its good to see CIS is helping Chapter, and why Chapter wants to keep it as secret? At same time there are dedicated efforts in all mails to keep everyone in dark about Travel support, is there any specific reason behind it??
Regards,
-Abhishek Suryawanshi,
On Behalf of Wikipedia Club Pune
On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 9:15 AM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan <srik.ramk(a)wikimedia.in> wrote:
Abhishek, where are you getting these ideas from? As our Secretary
stated, please stop speaking for us. Substantiate your claim that CIS
is funding us. The Chapter is financially accountable to it's MEMBERS,
and will put up all Grants, and other details in public. Running a
society in India has a thousand formalities with various Government
departments.
On 2/12/13, Abhishek Suryawanshi <i.abhishek.suryawanshi(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> I meant Board Meeting. Sorry for confusion and apologies for same.
>
> Chapter flight tickets and travel expenses are covered by CIS, Correct me
> if I am wrong???
>
>
>
>
> -Abhishek Suryawanshi,
> On Behalf of Wikipedia Club Pune
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 12:30 AM, Dhaval S. Vyas <dsvyas(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> On 11 Feb 2013 17:25, "Abhishek Suryawanshi" <
>> i.abhishek.suryawanshi(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > It will be unfair to call it cheating, however -
>> >
>> > 1)Chapter is having 1.5 Lack+ Rupees in existing account.
>>
>> And what do you think could be done by that HUGE AMOUNT of 1.5+ Indian
>> Rupees?
>>
>> I think chapter has its office in Bangalore and based on my experience, I
>> know that any property requires paying off few bills, e.g. electricity,
>> water, property tax, tel/internet (if it has got) and these things are
>> not
>> so cheap in Today's India as they were in my days of teen (20 years ago).
>>
>> >
>> > 2)Major Chapter Expenses such as Flight Tickets for AGM are covered by
>> CIS.
>> >
>> I qlways thought WMIN and CIS were two seperate entities and their
>> finances are dealt seperately. Will love you elaborating more on this.
>>
>> > I am waiting for someone to answer simple query - How much money is
>> required for next year activities? and Which activities are planned?
>>
>> I don't think this is a simple query Abhishek. Have you seen chapter
>> website? I'll strongly recomend you visit it. There is a link to Grants
>> page in navigation menu. If you visit that page, you'll realise that
>> chapter has funded several activities carried out by communities. Do you
>> think will it be possible for chapter to tell you today that how many
>> grant
>> requests it is going to get this year? How much ammount will it be
>> requested from various communities? Or do you suggest chapter decide a
>> figure today and put a cap on grants and other expenses once that amount
>> is
>> used?
>>
>> This is just one example, don't take it as "the only expense" of chapter.
>>
>> >
>> >
>> > Lets have this clarity and transparency, so together we can make sure
>> India Chapter is also strong (financially) like other Chapters.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Regards,
>> > -Abhishek Suryawanshi,
>> > On Behalf of Wikipedia Club Pune
>> >
>> >
>> Regards,
>> Dhaval
>> (on my own behalf)
>>
>> Disclaimer: I have no formal tie with the chapter nor with CIS. I have no
>> financial inrerest with either of them personally.
>>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 6:52 PM, Rudolph the Rd Nosed Reindeer <
>> rednosedrudy(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Interesting isn't it? That one should have timed that A2K bulletin to
>> come out exactly when the Chapter is having a fundraiser and leave people
>> like the good Doctor here confused about all this? Seems a bit
>> deliberately
>> done, don't you think?
>> >>
>> >> Too bad I ain't an Indian citizen, Else I would have donated a
>> tremendous amount to you guys.
>> >> Will spread the word on donations though.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> For others, please donate (liberally);
>> >> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Donate
>> >>
>> >> ________________________________
>> >> Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:33:02 +0530
>> >> From: srik.ramk(a)wikimedia.in
>> >> To: nawabhakimdr(a)ymail.com; wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>> >> Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] why to donate
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Hi Dr. Nawab Hakim,
>> >> to clarify, the 2lakh that you are referring to was made as a grant to
>> the Centre for Internet and Society, an independent organisation working
>> out of Delhi.
>> >>
>> >> The Wikimedia Chapter (India) is independent society registered in
>> India, under the Karnataka Societies Act. It is a Non-Profit entity
>> comprising of volunteers. We rely on donations to run the Chapter.
>> >>
>> >> I hope this clears it out.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 6:25 PM, Dr. Nawab Hakim <
>> nawabhakimdr(a)ymail.com> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> hai, why to donate to wikipedia chapter when they have 2lakh ruppes.
>> this is cheating.
>> >>>
>> >>> _______________________________________________
>> >>> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
>> >>> Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>> >>> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Srikanth Ramakrishnan
>> >> Member of the Executive Committee
>> >> Wikimedia Chapter [India]
>> >>
>> >> Donate to the Wikimedia India Chapter today
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l
>> mailing list Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the
>> list / change mailing preferences visit
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
>> >> Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>> >> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
>> > Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>> > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
>> >
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
>> Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
>>
>>
>
--
Srikanth Ramakrishnan
Member of the Executive Committee
Wikimedia Chapter [India]
Donate to the Wikimedia India Chapter today<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Donations>
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Hi,
Having tried to leave before, I concur with planemad. Its easier to leave this list than it is to quit Wikipedia :)
Pradeep
Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android
Dear friends,
we, from the Wikimedia India Chapter invite you to take part in the IRC
meet. The IRC meet is scheduled on 11 February 2013 (Monday) from 9:00 pm
to 10:00 pm.
- http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Internet_Relay_Chats/February_11,_2013
The new EC incharge, so far had no communication with the community, and
hence this will be the first meet. Program plan for the year 2013-14 will
be the primary agenda, and so, your plans and suggestions are welcome. Hope
to see you all.
Thanks and regards,
Karthik Nadar,
Secretary, Wikimedia India Chapter.
Hi all,
Here is the most current schedule of Wikipedia Language Engineering Talks
and Workshops accepted at GNUnify 2013 coming up later this week! Talk
session time slots are still being locked in by the organizers though.
Friday February 15, 2013
------------------------------------
* Talk: Localization Needs and Ideas - REBOOT! by Runa Bhattacharjee
* Talk: Translations for Wikipedia made easy by Siebrand Mazeland, Niklas
Laxström
Saturday February 16, 2013
---------------------------------------
* Talk: How to contribute to Wikipedia in your favorite language by Alolita
Sharma
* Talk: Internationalizing your code with Milkshake by Santhosh Thottingal
* Talk: jQuery.IME - Contributing an input method for your preferred
language for the Web and Mobile by Amir Aharoni, Yuvi Panda
* Workshop: Building input methods for your own language - A Hands-on
Workshop by Amir Aharoni
* Talk: Right-to-left: Making your websites and application usable for
speakers of Arabic, Hebrew and Urdu by Amir Aharoni
Sunday February 17, 2013
---------------------------------------
* Workshop: Translation sprint for Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap and more by
Siebrand Mazeland, Niklas Laxström
* Workshop: Building Wikipedia Gadgets Made Easy by Yuvi Panda, Sucheta
Ghoshal, Kothari Harsh
If you are attending any of the talks, do add your name at
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Events/GNUnify
You may also want to register on the GNUnify website -
http://gnunify.in/2013/register/delegate
Thanks. See you at GNUnify!
--
Warm Regards,
*Pratik Lahoti*
User:BPositive <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:BPositive>
Wikipedia Club Pune
The Republic Day Workshop
26th January 2013
Theme/ Agenda: Creating & Editing existing articles on the Indian War Heroes
(post Independence) in Marathi, as a homage to them.
The Workshop was carried out successfully on the 64th Republic Day of India.
Keeping in mind the theme/ agenda as to pay homage to these great men who
gave their lives serving the motherland.
The workshop was organized in Pune’s most sought after & leading learning
institution Janana Prabodini, with the consent of the principal of the
institution Mr. Milind Naik. A seminar hall “Prabodh” and two computer labs
were engaged. Volunteers from the institution in coordination with the
members of the club assisted and helped for the smooth execution of the
workshop.
Volunteer Coordinators from the institution Miss Priyanka Bhalerao & Mr.
Hrushikesh Pathak were of great help as they helped with the permissions for
the workshop and the bookings of the seminar hall and the computer labs
which were needed prior to the workshop and were in constant touch of the
Wikipedia Club Pune’s members. We thank them for their enthusiasm and
dedication for the same.
The club members on the day of the seminar helped in setting up the venue,
giving a very comfortable yet professional outlook to the seminar & seminar
venue. The Introductory Seminar was conducted by Mr. Abhishek Suryawanshi
wherein the students were given information regarding Wikimedia & its sister
project Wikipedia, precisely concentrating on Marathi Wikipedia. Knowledge
about creating and editing the articles was given through a live
demonstration over the projector projections. The students enjoyed the
presentation which was followed by a very interactive session where Mr.
Suryawanshi was able to solve the queries upto the mark.
The attendees specially belonged to student category, besides these the
principal himself and many other teaches were present for the same. A very
special attendee Mrs. Sulabha Marathe was present who works for the blind
and is engaged in recording audios, so that the blind could gain knowledge
through audible medium. She is currently on a project wherein the audio
recordings of the syllabus is done and is provided to the blind for learning
purposes.
After the informative seminar the students with the special attendees were
escorted to the respective labs for the creation and edition of the
articles. The workshop started with creation of the User Accounts and then
creation/editing. We the members of the club were overwhelmed with the
response of the budding Wikipedia Editors of the future!
Many articles on martyrs were undertaken the list is as follows:
Major Rajesh Singh Adhikari, Cap. Vikram batra, Manoj Kumar Pandey, Ashok
Kamte, Constable Tukaram Omble, Hemant Karkare, Lalit Rai etc.
The workshop ended with an interactive feedback session where basic queries
and complex questions were solved.
Following is the list of the club members and volunteer coordinators
Abhishek Suryawanshi, Nikhil Kawale, Sanket Oswal, Abhinav Garule, Laskhy
Gontla, Ravati Joshi, Saylai Borade, Niraj Suryawanshi, Priyanka Bhalerao,
Hrushikesh Pathak.
We appreciate and are very much thankful to the volunteer coordinators and
the staff of the Janana Prabodini for the help provided. Also we are
thankful to the club members who gave their precious time for the workshop,
who helped it become a grand success.
-----
Regards & Thanks,
Niraj Suryawanshi
on behalf of Wikipedia Club Pune
+91 8149920120 | niraj.suryawanshi(a)gmail.com
--
View this message in context: http://wikimedia.7.n6.nabble.com/Republic-Day-Marathi-Wikipedia-Workshop-Re…
Sent from the WikiMedia India mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
Hi All,
I would like to share a news with you. Recently Narmadanagar Community
Science Centre, Bharuch, Gujarat organised a science fair for the schools
of Bharuch District. Three of our active Gujarati Wiki community members
participated in the science fair and demonstrate to the teachers and school
children how Gujarati Wikipedia and Wikisource could be utilised by them.
These three users are Satishchandra, Devendrasinh Gohil and Jayam Patel.
Satishchandra is one of the wikimedians recognised for his noteworthy
contributions last year by WMIN.
They participated in the science fair without any external help, and
without any publicity. They talked to shool teachers and students about
what is Wikipedia and wikisource, how can they contribute, how to type in
Gujarati, how wikipedia and wikisource could be useful to them, etc. Also,
they brifed them lightly about the principles of wikis and showed them few
pages as well to provide hands-on experience.
Regards,
Dhaval
*Dear all,*
*
*
*On the second anniversary of the Chapter, we made public our intention of
running our first fundraiser. Going ahead with the first phase of this
plan, we will be running a central site notice on the chapter website for a
period of two calendar months starting 1 February, 2013. In the second
phase of this plan, we aim to approach high networth individuals and
corporates in the month of March 2013. This will be done using personal and
professional networks of current and past EC members, staff, volunteers
among others.*
*
Suggestions, help and support from the community on what we can do to
ensure success of this fundraiser are welcome. Every drop counts :)
Donations can be made by Online Bank Transfer (NEFT/RTGS) or by sending us
a Cheque through snail mail. We are unable to accept card payments at this
current time. Link to the donation page on our website:
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Donate
Thanking you,
Executive Committee,
Wikimedia India.
*Reasoning* (From our public statement on 4 January, 2013)
A lot of people may ask why the chapter needs a fundraiser when it has
access to WMF funding. The answer is, we are still ineligible for FDC of
WMF (we hope to be eligible for the second round of funding in 2013) and
would need to rely on grants, spending of which is restricted by the WMF.
Since formation, the chapter has relied heavily on the Executive Committee
to take on the burden of running the show. In an ideal world, the EC would
like to take on the role of guiding the chapter rather than actually be
responsible for operations after two years of incorporation, which should
be best done by professionals rather than volunteers in their spare time.
The chapter has hired an employee (Sowmyan Tirumurti, our Executive
Manager) as well as plans to lease its own office premises in Bangalore. We
will need the help of those volunteers who are in a position to support us.
It could be a small individual donation or in the form of a corporate
donation from an institution. A small token of support from you could go a
long way in helping us achieving our goals of furthering the movement in
India.*
*
*
*
*
--
Thanks and regards,
Karthik Nadar,
Secretary, Wikimedia India Chapter.
All,
We are happy to announce that we are going to organize Wikipedia Takes
Kolkata 2 on 3rd March 2013.
We are planning to cover the following -
1. Bow Barracks
2. Kapalitola Kali temple
3. Chinese temples
4. Magen David synagogue
5. Armenian Church
6. Greek Orthodox Church
7. Beth El synagogue
8. Portuguese Church
9. Any suggestions are welcome..
Last but not the least, we'll have Chinese breakfast at Tirettabazar after
taking snaps of the Chinese temples.
Anybody who would be in Kolkata around that time please don't forget to
join the fun.
Thanks and regards,
Kalyan Sarkar
9836063920