CIS-A2K/Reports/Newsletter/January 2016
The most active editor on the Odia Wikisource is Pankajmala Sarangi, a native of Odisha who now lives in New Delhi, where she works at a non-profit. As a leader in a broad community that is dominated by males—indeed, she is the most active contributor to the Odia-language Wikisource —we asked her to share her journey and her goals to grow the project and community as part of the “WikipediansSpeak” interview series.
What is the community like on the Odia Wikisource?
Pankajmala feels that the community is like her home. “I can’t tell how happy I am after seeing that this one year-old project has already digitized over 200 books. With more and more youth coming on the internet, the internet won’t disappoint them when the type and search in Odia language.”
What are projects that you would like to start or get help from the existing community to grow?
- Forming expert /resource groups to increase the thematic group structure in the community so that each group could work collaboratively for specific goals.
- We can also create groups through the help of the resident welfare associations in Odisha cities where Odia WikiTungis (in Odia Wikimedia community city based informal groups have been started that actively organize outreach and engage with new Wikimedians) are already working. They can work hand-in-hand. This will help us expand this program to more new places.
- We can tie up with basic computer training institutes where their students and new Wikimedians who do not have access to computer/internet could learn about Odia Wikipedia editing as a vocational training. These institutes remain idle during day time and get busy after 4 pm as schools and college students come to learn about computer basics after their class hours.
- One idea could be involving veterans whose expertise could help improve the quality of the articles which is otherwise going in vain after retirement. Post retirement life is otherwise lonely and many feel worthless who could enjoy the company of many new friends. The senior citizens groups could train new Wikimedians using these institutional facilities.
. . . Read more on Wikimedia blog
Event organized/participated
edit- Kannada Wikipedia edit-a-thon at Mysore, Karnataka (11-13 January): Prior to Kannada Wikipedia's 13th anniversary, four thematic edit-a-thons were planned. The third edit-a-thon of this series was conducted at the Centre for Proficiency Development and Placement Services (CPDPS), Manasa Gangotri, University of Mysore. 30 participants participated and actively edited Kannada Wikipedia during this workshop.
- Telugu Wikipedia Education Program at Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada: In collaboration with the Andhra Loyola College (ALC), Vijayawada, CIS-A2K opened up a Wikipedia Digital Centre in the institution. The aim of opening this center is to help the students and local Wikimedians to grow Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects in Telugu and other Indian languages. As part of this two-day program an edit-a-thon was also organized. 40 undergraduate students (10 each from Botany, Statistics, Physics and Telugu departments) contributing in creating articles in Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil Wikipedias.
- Konkani-language Edit-a-thon and English-Romi Konkani dictionary release: On 14 January a one-day edit-a-thon was organized at Krishnadas Shama Central Library, Goa. Rahmanuddin Shaik on behalf of CIS-A2K participated in this event and helped in mentoring the participants. Almost 100 new articles were created on Konkani Wikipedia on this day. On the same day, an English-Romi (Latin is also known as Romi in Konkani) Konkani dictionary was released. The dictionary contains English equivalent of 21,760 Konkani words.
- Geographical Indications in India Edit-a-thon (25 January-10 February 2016): A multi-lingual online edit-a-thon was organized with the theme of creating or expanding articles related to Geographical Indications of India. More than 80 Wikipedians from 18 different Indic Wikipedia communities participated in this edit-a-thon. More details about the edit-a-thon's impact will be shared in the coming month's newsletter.
Articles, blogs and Learning Patterns
edit- Shaik, Rahmanuddin. Odia Wikipedia progress from July to December, 2015, 1 January 2016:
Analysis of the project's growth/fall trends during July-December 2015 based on statistical point of view. - Shaik, Rahmanuddin. Report of Konkani Wikipedia's progress (July-December 2015), 1 January 2016:
Statistical analysis of the Goan Konkani Wikipedia's growth/fall trends. - Panigrahi, Subhashish. ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର: ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଡିଜିଟାଲ ପାଠାଗାର ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନର ନୂଆ ମୁହଁ, YourStory, 12 January 2016
A column about the journey of Odia Wikisource after it went live out of incubation in 2014. - Panigrahi, Subhashish. ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ କିଛି ଅନ୍ତର୍ଜାତୀୟ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ, YourStory, 14 January 2016
A piece on open knowledge/source online projects like Odia Wikipedia and Wikisource. - Panigrahi, Subhashish. Why It's Essential To Grow Indian-Language Wikipedias, Huffington Post, 25 January 2016
An Opinion piece on the state of Indian language Wikimedia projects and their potential bring digital activism in the respective languages. - Panigrahi, Subhashish. This Multilingual Edit-a-thon wants to Improve Indian Content on Wikipedia, DNA, 26 January 2016
Introducing the Geographical Indications in India edit-a-thon. - Santosh, Pavan. Relicensing encyclopedic work under CC license to grow Wikisource and Wikipedia
Non availability of online reliable resources related to Telugu-language, culture, social and political aspects in Telugu language to improve articles has been a hindrance to good quality articles in Telugu Wikipedia. This Learning Pattern discusses about how such challenges have been addressed by content release partnerships, relicensing content under CC-BY-SA licenses and thematic digitization sprints. - Panigrahi, Subhashish and Ali, Nasim. WikipediansSpeak: Odia Wikisourcer Shares her Journey and Goals, 30 January 2016
Odia Wikisourcer Pankajmala Sarangi shares her experience and future plans to grow the community.
Media coverage
edit- Books at a Click, New Indian Express, 9 January 2016
- Read Bengali, Malayalam classics online as free Wiki libraries grow. The Times of India. 10 January 2016
- Youth is responsible for protecting Telugu, Eenadu, 14 January 2016
- Wikipedia Digital Centre now at Andhra Loyola College, Hans India, 14 January 2016
- 100 Konkani Articles Added to Wikipedia in One Day, The Times of India, 15 January 2016
- Kannada Wikipedia not on top of the charts, The Hindu, 19 January 2016
- GI-tagged products to get Wiki pages, The Hindu, 26 January 2016
- GI-tagged products to get Wiki pages, The Hindu, 26 January 2016
- Wikipedia initiative - Celebrating legacy of Bangalore Blue grapes online, The Times of India, 27 January 2016
We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director at sunil@cis-india.org or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director at sumandro@cis-india.org.
CIS is grateful to its primary donor, Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.
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