Greetings from CIS-A2K!

CIS-A2K is happy to announce the first of its projects for the new grant year 2017- 2018.[1]

We are kick-starting our year with the Technical Wishes project this July.[2] We aim to receive and attempt to resolve technical requests from Indic language Wikimedians.

What is the Technical Wishes project?

This project draws inspiration from the Technical Wishes project of Wikimedia Deutschland that has set an example in handling technical requests from the community and acts as an idea exchange platform for technical projects and experts.[3] CIS-A2K aims to document the technical wishes/ requests of community members and begin the process of resolving them.

How do we plan to go about the project?

Given the relatively small size of our organization, we aim to reach out to technically experienced Wikipedians around the world and in India for helping us run this project. These Wikipedians will be our go-to panel of technical experts who help us address the requests we receive. Regular emails summarizing the requests will be sent to these panelists who will then suggest/ offer their solutions.

Why is this important?

Indic Wikipedias have long been plagued by technical glitches that have hampered the ability of Wikimedians to contribute effectively across various projects. Despite the extent of these technical issues, they have remained largely unresolved due to a variety of reasons including the absence of concentrated efforts to do so. CIS-A2K would like to be able to enable such an effort, leveraging our network of community members and individuals who are technical experts in their their own right. Apart from resolving these issues, it is our hope that bringing to light the variety of these technical problems would lead to discussion and idea exchanges among Indic Wikipedians regardless of language and region.

Where do I submit my wish/ request?

Beginning Sunday 2 July, 2017, Indic Wikimedians can submit their Technical Wishes here:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:CIS-A2K/Requests/Technical

There is no exhaustive list of the type of request you can submit. They may range from tool/ gadget issues to script issues, bot errors to any bugs, etc.

Can I be a part of the Technical Wishes panel?

Yes. Apart from the initial list of Wikipedians we have identified, we invite volunteers who would like to be a part of resolving these technical requests. In addition to Wikipedians, we also look forward to inviting members of the larger free knowledge movement to be a part of these efforts. To add yourself to the panel, please write to us at tito@cis-india.org with the subject line "CIS-A2K Technical Wishes Panel”

What is the expected outcome?

We hope to collate these requests over the course of this month and attempt to resolve them through this network of panellists as part of our work plan for 2017- 2018.[4] We also aim to hold a community led panel to discuss the technical problems, challenges and solutions in the context of Indic Wikimedia communities.

Contact

For queries, please write to us at tito@cis-india.org with the subject line "CIS-A2K Technical Wishes"

Important links

[1] CIS-A2K’s APG Proposal for the year 2017- 2018:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2016-2017_round_2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form

[2] CIS-A2K’s Technical Wishes project:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Work_plan_July_2017_-_June_2018/Global_Engagement#Technical_Wishes

[3] Technical Wishes project of Wikimedia Deutschland:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMDE_Technical_Wishes

[4] CIS-A2K Work Plan for 2017- 2018:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Work_plan_July_2017_-_June_2018

Thanks and regards,

Team CIS-A2K