Hi

Someone should help create a template to keep congratulating ml wikimedians :)

Ravi

On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 7:06 AM, CherianTinu Abraham <tinucherian@gmail.com> wrote:
The Hindu : "Malayalam Wiki all set to expand database"
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/article1611002.ece

The Malayalam Wiki is on a roll. After winning accolades for its innovative endeavours, the Malayalam Wiki continues to hog the limelight with its latest project titled, ‘Malayalam Wikimediayaye Snehikkunnu' (Malayalam loves Wikimedia).

Inspired by the resounding success of Wiki projects elsewhere—like ‘London loves Wikimedia'—the new Malayalam Wiki project seeks to expand the Malayalam Wiki repositories of free-to-access and use knowledge by adding copyright-free news and feature photographs concerning Malayalam users. “During the two-week project period between April 2 and April 17, we intend to sensitise Malayalam Wiki contributors and users to enrich Malayalam Wiki ventures by contributing free-to-use photographs. Despite boasting over 17,000 articles on a variety of topics, the Malayalam Wiki can't claim to have many copyright-free pictures. Hence the project,” maintains Shiju Alex, Malayalam Wiki activist and coordinator.

The timing of the project couldn't have been any better, given the forthcoming assembly polls. “This is the time you get to photograph the State's prominent political personalities. We have articles on many of them, but most of their available photographs are copyrighted,” he says. Four days into the project, over 400 free-to-use photographs have been generated by Malayalam Wiki users across the globe and uploaded into http://commons.wikimedia.org and http://ml.wikipedia.org.

Besides political leaders, the project seeks to obtain copyright-free photographs of places of historical significance; monuments; institutions of governance including local bodies; noted personalities in the State's social and cultural spheres as part of the project. “The two-week project period is just a token observance. The exercise is sure to stay on further,” says Mr. Alex. Contributors are encouraged to provide material besides additional information pertaining to the photographs they upload. They have also been asked to give, if possible, the geo-coding (on-map location coordinates) of the photographs. An FAQ on the objectives and mode of implementation of the project is available on the Malayalam Wiki page announcing it. A help mail, help@mlwiki.in, has also been set up to field queries. Wiki activists Rajesh Odayanchal and Ajay Kuyiloor have designed a unique logo and advertisement for the project.


Regards
Tinu Cherian 
http://wikimedia.in/wiki/In_the_news

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