[Wikimediaindia-l] [Press] : Penn-Olson : "Its Wikipedia Season in India"

[CherianTinu Abraham]

*Penn-Olson : "Its Wikipedia Season in India"*
http://www.penn-olson.com/2011/09/07/wikipedia-indi/

*Wikipedia is now all set for it’s first WikiConference in India which is
scheduled to be held in Mumbai on November 18th, 2011. Delegates from any
country can participate, but the conference will be quite India-centric,
according to the event page on Wikimedia.*
*
*
*Here’s a quick overview of the schedule for the WikiConference which will
act as a platform for Indian Wikimedians and Wikipedians to meet, discuss,
and share their opinions regarding Wikipedia India issues, Indian language
projects on Wikipedia, and discuss affairs in the Wikicommunity in India and
abroad.*
*
*
*Date 18th to 20th November, 2011*
*Venue Convocation Hall, University of Mumbai (Fort Campus) & associated
rooms*
*Accommodation Sea Green Hotel and Chateau Windsor hotel (for those who
receive scholarships)*
*Hosts Mumbai and Pune Wikipedia communitites, Wikimedia India branch*
*Sponsors Wikimedia Foundation, Eregnow.com*
*Social Media Facebook and Linkedin event pages, and official Twitter
account*
*Email conference at wikimedia.in*
*
*
*
*
*We recently spoke with the India program consultant to WikiMedia, Mr.
Hisham Mundol. We discussed the WikiConference, a new Wiki course in the
College of Engineering at Pune (CoEP), and how to be a Wikipedia
contributor.*
*
*
*What is the conference all about? Why is it being held and how do you think
it’s beneficial for Wikipedia?*
*
*
*This conference is going to be the first national conference held by the
Wikimedia community in India. It’ll be fantastic for the existing community
to meet up and share stories and knowledge and have a good time! We also
hope that it will attract newcomers to Wikipedia.*
*
*
*Also, Wikipedia’s activities in India have increased as it has recently
collaborated with College of Engineering, Pune launching a course in which
over 800 students will contribute to the Wikipedia’s page as a part of their
first semester.*
*
*
*Why did Wikipedia choose CoEP over top colleges like the Indian Institute
of Technology (IITs) and National Institute of Technology (NITs)?*
*
*
*The College of Engineering at Pune has a wonderful reputation, student
body, and faculty. We decided to do the pilot in Pune – and we’re honored
the CoEP has agreed to partner with us. Right now, the college has the
highest number of students enrolled in our program, anywhere in the world.*
*
*
*What benefits will this course add to Wikipedia as an organization?*
*
*
*The Wikipedia movement will gain tremendously because of the quality of
content that students are adding, and will be adding.*
*
*
*What is the future plan? Is the organisation planning to launch this course
in other colleges as well?*
*
*
*Our immediate plans are to continue with this pilot at Pune in the short
term. We are looking at a roll-out to other colleges and cities. We’d love
to hear from whoever is interested. For those who want to get involved
immediately, an option is to start a Wikipedia Students’ Club. There are
further details available on our outreach page.*
*
*
*How can one contribute towards the Wiki community?*
*
*
*Anyone and everyone can contribute. You can check the Welcome to Wikipedia
section and the Introduction Page.*
*
*
*The basic process would be to read those two links, create a user account,
go to the edit button on the top right of any article and start editing! You
can also contribute images and other media files to Wikimedia Commons which
is amongst the world’s largest storehouse of free-to-use media files.*
*
*
*Lastly, How many Wikipedia contributors hail from India at the moment?*
*
*
*Right now, there are about 1,500 active editors in India – but that number
keeps growing. We’d like it to become many, many times larger, and we invite
anyone and everyone to join in!*


Regards
Tinu Cherian
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news#Sep_2011
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