*Times of India : "Malayalam community to organize Wikisangamotsavam"*
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/social-media/Malayalam-community-to…
*If you have an entry on Wikipedia, you have arrived, almost.
If regional flavor is the true measure a knowledge collective's cultural
roots and authenticity, Malayalam Wikipedia, driven by over 130 active
participants, has made its presence felt among those who live by internet.
Now, these knowledge bees are coming together for the first time.
WikiSangamotsavam, a two-day annual conference for Malayalam Wikipedia
members and the general public, will be held in Kollam on April 28 and 29.
It's going to be an event with a lot of buzz. Experts will discuss topics
such as copyrights of government documents and freedom of knowledge. There
would be Wiki-workshops for the public and a parallel WikiConference for
schoolchildren. Paper presentations on e-malayalam, free and open
knowledge, copyright and cyber-freedom are the other highlights.
The online section which began in 2003 boasts of volunteers who diligently
contribute information on a daily basis.
Contributors such as Neha Hussain, a medical student from Kozhikode, are
waiting for WikiSangamotsavam.
Hussain is a testimony to that fact in Kerala, women give equal competition
to men in all spheres.
The community has an equal number of women contributors. "While the rest of
our data signifies a majority of men as online contributors, the Malayalam
community sets a different trend that equals out the ratio. Our youngest
member, Neha Hussain, in addition to contributing information as a
volunteer, also translates articles from English to Malayalam for the
benefit of regional readers," says Noopur Raval, who works with Wikipedia
in Delhi.
Raval is quite upbeat about WikiSangamotsavam. "This is an initiative by
community members such as Ramesh N G and Anoop Narayan. Our statistics show
that the highest level of participation on Wikipedia comes in from the
Malayalam community. I believe it is the love for knowledge and the
satisfaction each of the volunteers gets, knowing that the public accesses
information that is put up by them. It keeps the members going. The high
level of general awareness among Malayalis ensures transparency of reports
that are of relevance to the public," says Raval.
The Malayalam Wikipedia is the only community that has also had adequate
co-operation from the government too - so much so that they have worked on
and put of translations of some of the rarest files, Vignana Kosham for
example, to ensure everybody has access to it.
WikiSangamotsavam will be inaugurated by the vice-chairman of Council for
Science and Technology-Kerala, Dr V N Rajashekhara Pillai on April 28, at
the District Panchayat Hall, Kollam.*
Regards
Tinu Cherian
press(a)wikimedia.in
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news
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