*DNA : "Wiki, in your own tongue "*
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If information empowers, then Wikipedia must be a powerhouse. The world's
largest data repository has gone from being an online encyclopaedia to
becoming a cornucopia of global and local knowledge.
If you use a computer in your day-to-day live, chances are you have used
Wikipedia on more than several occasions to find countless bits of
information. From history of personalities to the geography of a town, and
everything in between, Wikipedia has it all.
A fine example of a crowd-sourced information bank, it has grown
exponentially over the years. It has become increasingly hyper local and
expanded its database to accommodate micro nuggets of information. So,
whether it is the history of an old temple down your street, or the heroics
of a local genius you may not have otherwise heard of, or even information
made available in your mother tongue, the editors on Wikipedia work
relentlessly to gather and digitise every piece of information, in several
languages.
“When I started contributing to Wikipedia in 2005-06, it was predominantly
in English,” recounts Tinu Cherian, a veteran Wikipedia editor,
administrator and former Wikimedia India chapter board member. Cherian has
started over 2,000 articles and has 50,000 edits to his credit. “But over
the last few years, the trend has changed. There is a marked increase in
local language enthusiasts, who regularly contribute in their native
languages.”
Wikipedia is currently available in 20 Indian languages, including in Pali;
the resource is in incubation stages for another 20 languages. The
Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil Wikipedias have tens of thousands of
articles — respective wiki communities recently celebrated their 10th
anniversaries — while pages in Hindi are close to over a lakh. “To keep
language sections updated is a challenging task, and it is to the credit of
our volunteers who dedicate hours ensuring accurate information is
accessible,” explains Cherian.
Wikipedia volunteers also organise regular meetings and academic sessions
to train new volunteers. “The very first regular wiki meet-up in India was
held at my place years ago,” recalls Cherian. “Since then, we've had
hundreds of meet ups around the country, with a growing network of hundreds
of volunteers.”
The volunteer base itself is extremely diverse. Editors are as young as
14-year-olds and as senior as those in their late 70s. “They represent
varied backgrounds and some even work despite limited Internet access.
Their dedication is awe inspiring,” says Cherian.
“Now everyone can create and incubate pages in their local languages. Apart
from making information accessible, I also see this as an opportunity to
preserve local languages that seem to be getting replaced by languages with
commercial significance,” says Moksh Juneja, president, Wikimedia India.
Talking about the growing popularity of local wiki pages, Juneja says,
“Konkani is the most recent addition to the local language pages and the
Konkani University in Goa is donating articles to Wikipedia. It is also
remarkable to note that many local language articles are contributed and
edited by non-residents Indians.”
But Wikipedia's inclusivity goes beyond local languages. Wiki editor
Aniruddha Kumar explains this best on his page. He says: “Wikipedia is one
of the most beautiful things in the world. It takes the concept that
everyone has a basic right to information and makes it into something real
— a tool that’s free for anyone to access.” Aniruddha Kumar is among the
most active editors on Wikipedia and he is blind.
Regards
Tinu Cherian
press(a)wikimedia.in
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