My two cents worth
*On Arthapedia *
- Attempting to use wikis is a commendable effort on the part of government officers. Lack of competence shouldn't be confused for poor intentions. - The site does mention any license (copyleft/right) at all. They have clear contact details of some officers so I am bringing it to their attention. Lets see if they respond. - I will suggest to them that the Wikimedia community may be able to offer a training session in Delhi. Possibility of experts (ala GLAM) editing Wikipedia is a good thing.
*On Wikipedia vs Wiki*
- Increasingly, and especially in India, all wiki sites will be termed as 'Wikipedia-like' sites by the media even though they may differ entirely in their modus operandi (licensing, content, etc). The community needs to take a call whether they want to keep emphasizing on how Wikipedia is different or let the lines blur. So for insance, should Kaushik Basu (very notable economist and the brain behind the site) of Arthapedia be invited as a speaker for WikiConference India (possibly yes if community is ok with the lines blurring, possibly no if they want to keep it distinct). My concern with the name WikiConference India was on similar lines during the voting for the name. - Irrespective of the above, the community also should have a point of view on whether they should have academies and such for other wiki sites run by particular groups (IES economists for instance). Pro - Increases the base of wiki editors (and in this case experts). The wiki site in question could extensively end up using Wikimedia Commons. Con - Spreading already very thin resources of the community.
Best regards,
Sohel.
------------------------------
Message: 5 Date: Sat, 3 Sep 2011 11:43:25 +0530 From: Srikanth Lakshmanan srik.lak@gmail.com Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Arthapedia - Indian Gov Site on the lines of Wikipedia To: Wikimedia India Community list wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Message-ID: < CA+30aUN0pcc7or7rUXXjfpCE1W9+jzgMjCv8PTkckW3+z1cKZw@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
On Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 22:20, Gautam John gautam@prathambooks.org wrote:
> Not really a Wikipedia model, what? > > Crying shame about the license. > Only valid concern is about license, but then if its about bridging the gap between policymakers and general public, I feel it will be yet another "tam-tam" site from govt and will have no encyclopedia content. We could still use the content as RS since it comes from govt.
> Wondering if the Chapter and the Office can do anything? > FYI: Arthapedia is available at arthapedia.in
I dont think there is a room for involvement since the goals are not even intersecting except that they use Mediawiki. Looking at the site, an academy about how to put Wiki texts(syntax), making successful Interlinked content can be given a shot, but then it will help only their project and public over all and may be a fraction of them editing Wikipedia. Currently they are just copy pasting documents without interlinking. Some Mediawiki help(tips/advice) too can be given.
-- Regards Srikanth.L