Times of India : "Malayalam Wikipedia chugs on as more contributions pour in "
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After two successful attempts to expand its database, the Malayalam Wikipedia’s third edition of Malayalam Loves Wikipedia project is also gaining strength.

    The project aims at uploading copyright-free images to Wikimedia Commons, an online repository of free-use images, sound and other media files. More than 10,000 pictures have been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, since the project was launched on July 25.

    One of the biggest language wiki communities, Malayalam Wikipedia has got overwhelming response for its first and second edition of Malayalam Loves Wikipedia project in the past two years. In 2011, the duration was two weeks and as many as 2,155 images were uploaded.

    Last year, the number had risen to 11,159. This edition will conclude on August 15. Images ranging from Malayali’s favourite snack, kumbilappam, to rare birds have been uploaded.

    “We are not free to use all images available in Google. Malayalam Loves Wikipedia is a platform to share copyright-free images, videos, audio clips, books, PDF files etc., to Wikimedia Commons for the benefit of users. Wikimedia Commons has more than one crore media files and images. But images related to Kerala are limited. Our aim is to persuade people to contribute more,” said K Manoj, an active Wikimedian.

    A similar programme, Wiki Loves Monument, was launched last year, where copyright-free images of monuments were uploaded to Wikipedia. The project witnessed huge participation from India and the prize winning picture, Tomb of Safdarjung, was uploaded from the country.

    Malayalam Wikipedia is active with other interesting projects such as wiki nikhandu (wiktionary), wiki chollukal (wikiquotes), wiki grandasala (wikisource), wiki padasala (wikibooks) and wiki sarvakalasala (wikiversity) as well. Many people including school students are active wikimedians in grandasala, where copyright-free books are being uploaded.


Regards
Tinu Cherian
press@wikimedia.in

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