*The Hindu : "Experimenting with oral citations on Wikipedia"*
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article2330212.ece
*In a little-known forest temple near Kannur, Neeliyar Bhagavathi, a unique
form of Theyyam is performed. But if you want to document this folk
dance-ritual, its costume and the folklore associated with it on Wikipedia –
yes, everybody's own encyclopedia – then the chances are that you can't;
simply because it hasn't been put down in print.*
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*The Wikipedia, in its current form, mandates that every entry be backed by
citations that are printed. So in essence, if it doesn't exist in print, it
can't exist on Wikipedia. For a hugely democratic and powerful concept like
Wikipedia, this is a huge limitation, believes Achal Prabhala, a Wikimedia
fellow and a member of the Foundation's advisory board.*
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*This led Mr. Prabhala to embark on a project that explores alternative
methods of citation on Wikipedia. The current policy on citation, he points
out, assumes that people who come from cultures where little is documented
or published do not know anything. If that is so, then how can we document
aspects of everyday life, and that which is common knowledge in our culture
or country, he asks. Indeed, the sum of human knowledge is far greater than
the sum of printed knowledge. The problem becomes even more critical when it
comes to non-English language Wikipedias. Volunteers and contributors to
Indic language wikipedias have often found that the non-existaence of
citeable sources a huge impediment in writing articles, or enriching them.*
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*What Mr. Prabhala, and his team-mates Shiju Alex, Mayur and Mohau Monaledi,
wanted to prove is that a feasible system can be evolved to cater to
geographies that publish less, such as India, Africa and many other emerging
markets where Wikipedia hopes to expand in coming years. Interestingly, this
problem surfaces in two different markets. Mr. Prabhala found that in some
sense there was an equivalence between languages with large media markets –
Hindi, for instance, where a vibrant media exists but there are no
peer-reviewed academic journals that can be cited – and languages in
Sub-saharan Africa where the media market is indeed miniscule.*
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*The project, which has been documented in a film titled 'People are
knowledge', dealt with three languages: Malayalam, Hindi (both Indian
languages with a relatively-wide volunteer and article base) and Sepedi, one
of the official languages of South Africa. The film is useful for it
documents some articles, and the ground-work that goes into creating an oral
citation. It documents a variety of examples, such as creating articles on
traditional games that children play, a folk art and how a traditional wine
is made in Africa. Given that Wikipedia is a volunteer-driven project, and
investing time and resources to travel for research may not be feasible,
oral citation interviews are generally conducted over the phone or via
video-chat.*
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*“The experience has been positive, and there is a lot of discussion on this
project on mailing lists,” says Mr. Prabhala. Though not close to becoming
policy yet, this pilot does not reflect a problem that is unique to
non-English speaking markets. In English too, Wikipedia often fails to
capture that which is not documented, and publishing, like everything in the
world, is a reflection of power. “While the symptoms are what we've observed
in India, the problem is a universal one... in every society, there's a gap
between what's printed and what's known. So the fact is that there are
things lost in transition from oral to print cultures. In the US, for
instance, native American cultures are not documented in print adequately,”
points out Mr. Prabhala.*
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*But making oral citations a universal option across Wikipedias could pose
its own challenges. Will this take a toll on quality and how will Wikipedia
ensure that what goes into the world's largest encyclopedia is indeed fact,
one may ask. Mr. Prabhala believes any kind of change is always both
exciting and de-stabilising. Yet, there are issues that this can throw up,
as this would contradict the conditions of 'verifiability' and 'no original
research' that lie at the core of Wikipedia policy. “Yes, these are issues
we will have to work around. If the project is to be adopted and
implemented, there's a lot of discussion that will have to happen. Rules
will have to be evolved," he explains. *
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*The Neeliyar Bhagavathi article, which is part of the pilot project in
Malayalam, is a good example of how this could work. Yes, the written word
is missing; but the article is nonetheless richer for it draws from a
variety of sources: an onlooker of the performance, a priest and a scholar
of folklore. Perhaps, this diversity in perspective can make up for the
absence of the hallowed printed word.*
Regards
Tinu Cherian