(Continued from
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2014-May/011390.html )
OK, where were we :)
Ah yes, I was asking about the outcome of CIS's work in general in Kannada
Wikipedia.
I wanted to hear the story from the community as most of the reports by CIS
are unilateral. So, CIS or its partners are under no obligation to answer
here. But, as Pavanaja had mentioned that he had answered my questions, I
would like to clarify that some of my concerns remain unanswered.
* What is the direct impact of numerous Kannada outreach sessions done?
As tabulated at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_J…
you have even exceeded the dream target for number of outreach sessions
even 6 months in advance ! I wonder why this is even set as a target when
it is documented to have negligible value by WMF.
Please also go through Wikimedia evaluation portal
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal
where more such programs are evaluated and best practices are shared.
* Regarding Christ University partnership, I would like to have few
clarifications.
In this mail thread, you have written as follows:
//I have personally interacted with many students. There are quite a good
number of students who are passionate about enriching Kannada language and
bringing latest knowledge into Kannada by way of adding articles to Kannada
Wikipedia. Nurturing those students will help not only Kannada Wikipedia
but also Kannada language and people in general. Again, I would emphasis,
let us be optimistic. //
Whereas at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_J…
it is documented as follows:
"Retaining these as active editors will be a difficult task. Writing
article on Wikipedia was a compulsory activity for the students. Only a
small percentage of these students have realised the importance of writing
on Wikipedia and promised to continue editing Wikipedia."
Both are official statements from CIS and are contradicting each other. At
least, the optimism shared :)
In this context, I have few issues:
* Enrolling students compulsorily is a problem that is documented already
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:India_Education_Program/Analysis/In…
* All the upward pointing graphs at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_J…
can mislead the FDC as they don't take into account the project returning
to natural growth rates afterwards.
* Similar spike and fall is also seen at Hindi Wikipedia
http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediaHI.htm
I assume this could be an effect of the Christ University partnership too
as
http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/cis-a2k-mou-christ-university
says 800 students studying Hindi are also enrolled in this project.
Is the Hindi community kept in loop about this effort?
Please note that engaging the local community in planning is a recommended
best practice as explained at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:India_Education_Program/Analysis/In…
Where it also notes
"A pilot with more than 1,000 students will result in an unmanageable
amount of new material for a finite editor community to monitor"
If 1000 students is a problem for the gigantic English community, how is
the relatively smaller Hindi Wikipedia handling 800 students?
How is Kannada Wikipedia handling 600 students?
This is especially important as unlike Pune education program, we don't
have campus ambassadors, online ambassadors and the entire work load is on
the community or the professors (if they are helping).
* Is there any data available regarding the quality of content added like
the one available at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:India_Education_Program/Analysis/In…
Given that most of the Indic Wiki communities are still reeling from the
work load of Google Translation project,
how equipped are the communities to engage these students, clean up and
nurture them in to active contributors?
* Is CIS engaging in this kind of high volume education program because its
previous outings with voluntary enrollment of students did not produce
sufficient results?
For example,
Here are the reports about Assamese and Odia Wikipedia education programs:
http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-education-program-iimc-dh…
stubs out of a 3 month program)
http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/launch-of-assamese-wikipedia-education-p…
clue about results)
And that's all for now !
Ravi