CIS-A2K/Work plan July 2020 - June 2021


Executive summary

In this work plan, CIS-A2K will continue to support the Indian Wikimedia communities and act as a catalyst to focus more on the creation of high quality content, editor retention, skill development and capacity-building of active community members, online training, and bridging the gender gap in terms of participation and content on Wikipedia. In this work plan, we have four verticals and research work, with Wikidata and Wikisource as Focused Project Areas (FPAs). The priorities of the 2020–2021 work plan year are:

  • Content re-license: CIS-A2K will focus on bringing content such as books, audio files, videos under Creative Commons and free licenses. In the previous years, we have successfully re-licensed books in different languages and in this upcoming year we will approach authors, publishers, and institutions with proposals on re-licensing content. This helps us to bring more content on Wikisource and later on Wikipedia as reference material. 
  • Support towards Wikidata and Wikisource: CIS-A2K has Project Advisors for Wikidata and Wikisource to understand the specific requirements of the communities in these areas and to work towards fulfilling them. This will help us to organise community-level events in different parts of India and create more awareness among the communities about Wikidata and Wikisource. 
  • Editor retention: Editor retention is important to build strong communities. This will be addressed at the level of bringing in new editors and supporting existing active and hard-working editors. 
  • Online training and workshops: CIS-A2K will focus more on providing online training to the Indic Wikimedians to build the skill sets of the community members who are interested in learning more about different Wikimedia projects and advanced skills.  
  • Bridging gender gap: CIS-A2K will continue to work on activities related to bridging the gender gap, through various initiatives and try to bridge the gender gap in the communities and the content in Indic Wikimedia projects. 


Content Enrichment

Thematic workshops

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What
Content creation workshops will be conducted under Project Jalbodh on Water related issues, Biodiversity, Science and Women's issues with communities of interest in these three areas. Subject experts will be involved to provide guidance. Active as well as new editors will be trained in Wikipedia editing and uploading on Wikimedia Commons to add new content in these three thematic areas.

Why
As the three topics are quite vast and significantly appear in mainstream public discourse, people need reliable and good quality content about various aspects related to them. There is also a paucity of locally relevant knowledge on these sectors on the internet. Hence this is an opportunity to connect local knowledge repositories with Wikimedia projects.

How
The thematic organisations and communities of interest will be identified from at least three language regions. The knowledge gaps in Wikimedia projects would be filled during these workshops. The active citizens and students will be mentored by subject experts and experienced activists at the grassroots in creating quality content. The follow-up programmes will be planned for nurturing and sustaining the editors.

Outcome
The knowledge resources around two broader areas viz., Resources for Sustainable Livelihoods and Women would be developed. This will be achieved through eight workshops in different places with a minimum of 130 participants. From these workshops, around 40 good articles would be produced.

Content donation from authors/copyright holders

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What
With the involvement of community members, a database of notable authors and their heirs holding the copyrights will be developed. The selection of literature and topics of priority will be decided through community consultation. The events for content donation will be conducted on special occasions like language day to promote the concept. The appropriate movement resources will be created for this drive.

Why
There is abundant content in the form of books, training material, manuals etc. which is not being reprinted, making it inaccessible to the society. This valuable reference material is not available offline as well as online. As most of people will be accessing the knowledge digitally, CIS-A2K has planned content donation drives and digitisation projects.

How
In the last two years, CIS-A2K approached authors and copyright holders in Maharashtra state for re-licensing of content which may used as good references. As a result of consistent follow-up, total 130 Marathi books were released in CC-BY-SA. The stepwise manual for OTRS process was developed. As the procedure is well defined, the Marathi community members have also taken initiative. The activity is gaining momentum in the state. This year, the promotional resource material will be developed to expand the activity across the state. The community members will be supported for organising these satellite events. The authors who already donated the content would be involved to provide advice on the project. The resource material will be developed in three other languages also. The process will be replicated in at least three other states. This year CIS-A2K will start a campaign to create awareness among Punjabi authors about uploading their books on Wikisource. Under this campaign, CIS-A2K will approach Punjabi authors and publishers to re-license their books. The books will be scanned and uploaded on Wikimedia Commons.

Outcome
With the help of the different communities in India, we will be able to get the following number of books under the public domain.

Photo documentation

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What
Visual documentation of thematic areas like historic campuses, folk-cultures, production processes of artisans & handicraft communities, natural resource based livelihoods etc. is an important aspect of knowledge creation. These projects will be planned with local communities and subject experts. CIS-A2K will facilitate a series of such thematic photo-walks in different regions of India with the initiative of the local language communities.

Why
Images and videos are an important aspect of Wikipedia articles. They help readers to get a better understanding of the given topic. The systematic documentation of some areas, processes and cultures is also important from historical perspective. Some such unique things are being deteriorated in the course of time. Therefore, the visuals along with subject data needs to be documented.

How
This will be done with the help of users who are interested in photography as well as documentation. The respective local communities and subject experts will be involved in the planning process. These photos will be uploaded on Wikimedia Commons with proper categorization along with Wikidata linkage. The edit-a-thons will also be conducted to add these photos in Wikipedia articles.

Outcome
Around 600 photos on Wikimedia Commons will be uploaded with the help of community members.

Digitisation with libraries

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What
The digitization drive would be undertaken to bring copyright free reference material in Wikimedia projects. The activity will be conducted with four libraries in two states.

Why
Several copyright-free books available in these libraries more than 60 years old and are getting damaged with time. There are very few copies left of these rare books in some libraries. The authorities here are also facing problems in the preservation of these treasures. Hence there is an urgent need to digitize these books and make it accessible in searchable form.

How
CIS-A2K facilitated the digitisation and uploading of 25 rare books published before the year 1900 from Public Library, Rajgurunagar in Maharashtra. The process was completed at Vigyan Ashram, Pabal. CIS-A2K will work with four more libraries to prepare the list of copyright-free books from various authors and sorting them according to the priority of digitisation. The methodology for updating the database of authors' birth and death details will be introduced with the language communities on Wikisource and Wikidata projects. In Punjab, CIS-A2K will acquire books from local libraries, Bhai Kahn Singh Library of Punjabi University Patiala and by using local contacts.

Outcome
A total two libraries each in Maharashtra & other states (200 books scanned & uploaded) will be covered.

GLAM projects

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What
The process of developing a free digital archive initiated with Shetkari Sanghatana Trust in the the last year will be continued. Similar projects will be executed with the following organisations -

Why
Various organisations are working with dedication to create knowledge repositories for more than three decades. Such repositories should be made digitally accessible in this era. There is also a need to integrate their databases, catalogues, audio & video files, books etc. with existing content on Wikimedia projects.

How
Several organisations have done some previous work towards archiving valuable content under different thematics. An understanding of their work, the nature of content and difficulties faced in archiving the same will be developed through a series of initial visits. The content will be categorized and sorted according to appropriate Wikimedia projects. The partners for digitization and further processing will be identified and trained. The content thus created will be promoted through relevant websites in academics, research and social sectors.

Outcome
The four archives will contain knowledge in the form of texts, images, audio files of speeches and music, videos, databases, manuscripts etc.<be>

Wikisource workshops

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Basic Wikisource Workshops

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CIS-A2K focused on Wikisource communities in India for the previous year. The needs of the communities were identified through consultations, help-desk and meet-ups. After analysis of the status of the projects and dialogue with active community members, CIS-A2K has planned basic editing workshops for Odia, Malayalam and Hindi Wikisource communities.

Advanced Wikisource workshops

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In the previous year, CIS-A2K worked closely with a few communities through basic skill-building workshops and individual support to some members. Some of the members are now editing regularly and aspire to learn advanced skills. An assessment of the exact requirements of each project will be conducted in order to design the workshops on advanced skills. It is proposed to conduct such workshops for Assamese, Gujarati, Marathi, Sanskrit, Tamil and Kannada Wikisource communities.

Outcome
At least 2 basic and 2 advance level Wikisource will be conducted.

Wikidata

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Wikidata+Wikisource Edit-a-thon

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What
CIS-A2K will organize a Wikidata+Wikisource edit-a-thon to improve the data related to books on Wikidata.

Why
Wikisource works are linked with Wikidata as per WikiProject Books data modelling. But, Indic Wikisource communities usually do not work on book metadata. This workshop will help Wikisource communities learn about this important area.
How
Along with the Wikisource workshops for different language communities, Wikidata sessions will also be conducted to offer a comprehensive and holistic training on metadata curation of books. Outcome
Around 1000 new items will be created with the involvement of the language communities in this activity.

Datathons and Labelathons

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What
CIS-A2K will organise one datathon and labelathon each on Wikidata.

How
They will be organized on topics of priority. The active participants will be later requested to take part in an advanced Wikidata workshop or an offline datathon.

Outcome
Around 20 participants are expected.


Skill-development

Advanced Wikidata workshop &/or offline datathon

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What
An Advanced Wikidata workshop &/or offline datathon will be organised.
How
Participants from previous online datathons and label-a-thons will be selected and requested to take part in an offline Wikidata workshop &/or datathon later. The resource persons will be selected from very active contributors of Wikidata or previous participants of Wikidata Advanced training, 2018.

Outcome
Around 10 participants are expected from the Indian Wikidata community to attend this workshop, where advanced tools will be taught.

Intensive Personalized Wiki Training

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What
An Intensive Personalized Wiki Training (IPWT) sessions will be organised to enhance the skills of the Wikimedians.
Why
Intensive Personalised Training Program is a project where CIS-A2K attempts to provide focussed support to community members. We believe that community members can work better and more effectively if the training session is designed as per their specific needs.
How
To enhance the skills of very active Wikimedians and student community members, an Intensive Personalised Wiki Training Sessions will be conducted. All the participants selected should be consistently active for one year in any of the Wiki projects. Before the actual workshop, a needs assessment will be circulated to understand the requirements of the participants and interests. Then the agenda will be prepared accordingly.
Outcome

  • Around five IPWT sessions will be conducted with 20 Active Wikimedians.

Indic Wikisource Helpdesk

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What?
Support to Wikimedians will be provided through Indic Wikisource Helpdesk regularly.
Why?
In cases where there is a complex page layout, sometimes Wiki-librarians may feel ill-equipped to fix or edit the page and may leave these pages. Timely support may be provided in such cases by using the Indic Wikisource Helpdesk.
How?
CIS-A2K will continue the support at Indic Wikisource Helpdesk for Wiki-librarians.

Regional TTT

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What
Mini TTT or Regional TTT are regional (smaller/mini) edition of the TTT programme conducted in different cities of India. The mini versions of the workshop are conducted to offer more training in the local communities.
Why
These regional events will help increase the expertise of the current community members, to resolve some of the technical issues and develop a strong cross-cultural relationship among the community members.
How
A needs assessment will be conducted. The place and dates will be decided through the discussions with community members.
Outcome

  • This year we will conduct or support two regional TTTs.
  • There will be at least 60 participants in these programmes.

Regional MWT

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What
Mini MWT is a smaller, regional version of MediaWiki Training. Local participants in specific cities will take part in this training. While MediaWiki Training is a national level training program; CIS-A2k will conduct Mini MWT in Punjab, India and one more place in India.

Why
The number of Indian language community members associated with the technical aspects of Wikimedia projects is very small. This event is an effort to get more volunteers on board so that the community will be strengthened in terms of technical skills and expertise.

How
A needs assessment will be done with the existing Wikimedia community to understand the exact place where support is required and students' skills will be analysed with a small discussion, and then the MediaWiki training sessions and agenda will be prepared. This will be of 2-3 day event, mostly students will be trained in basics of MediaWiki, creation of simple extensions and fixing the bugs on phabicator.


Expected outcome

  • This year we will conduct or support two regional MWT events.


Partnerships
What

Institutional partnership is essential for the development of the Wikimedia movement in India. When we talk about growth, we mean being able to produce new editors who can improve Wikimedia’s projects. In the case of CIS-A2K work, the way to incorporate new editors is by promoting Wikimedia movement in different educational Institutions.  

How

CIS-A2K will be working in the following ways with different institutions to enrich the content on Wikimedia platforms.
Christ University

  • Wikimedia platform will be introduced to students with Continuous Internal Assessment (CIA) for undergraduate students in Hindi, Kannada & Sanskrit. This initiative is an effort to bridge inequality and bring in a greater contribution from various languages. This platform creates and builds students' skills in editing and typing.
  • Certificate course on Wikipedia and Wikisource.
  • Internship programmes for the students to enhance the quality of the content with the community support and suggestions.

Alva's college

  • Wiki Awareness Session(s) will be conducted to increase awareness among the students at college so that we can get more number of students on board and contribute to Wikimedia movement. Awareness will be created among the students with the help of posters describing the Wikimedia movement and its benefits circulated on campus, the college website and in other areas, along with a short welcoming video about Wikimedia movement and its benefits.
  • Wikisource training will be organized for 30 students in three stages to teach the students about the importance of Wikisource and the workflow. Students will be monitored closely and at the 3rd stage, they will be given training about the advanced topics in Wikisource.
  • Wikidata Training will be conducted to create awareness of storing data in the structure and format and Wikidata.

Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara (SDM) college

  • Wikipedia and & Wikisource training will be conducted.
  • Internship programmes will be offered for students to enhance the quality of the content with the community support and suggestions.
Outcome
  • Year-long Wiki-educational events at Christ University, where at least 1,300 students will participate in Wikipedia Education Program, certificate course & internship. The students will be working on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikisource, and Wikidata.
  • Year-long activities in Alva's college where at least 120 students will be introduced to Wikimedia platform and develop/create more than 400 articles and proofread 400 pages on Wikisource.
  • Year-long activities in SDM college where at least 100 students will be introduced to the Wikimedia platform and will develop/create more than 200 articles and proofread 200 pages on Wikisource.

Other Institutions

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Institution Skills enhancement Content enrichment in Wikimedia projects Impact on free knowledge movement
Vigyan Ashram, Pabal Editing in Wikipedia, Wikisource & Wikimedia Commons Science & technology related content Dissemination of knowledge about appropriate technologies and sustainable livelihoods
PAH Solapur University, Solapur Editing in Wikipedia, Wikisource & Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata, Copyright policies Documentation of local history Integration of Academic assignments and Wikimedia projects
Gokhale Institute of Politics & Economics, Pune Wikidata, Copyright policies Copyright free digitised content, database of books/reports Reference value rare & unique content will be made accessible, the catalogs & databases will be linked globally
Ramkrishna Mission, Belur Editing in Wikipedia & Wikimedia Commons, Copyright policies, Re-licensing process Sanskrit books OERs on Sanskrit learning
Tarun Bharat Sangh, Rajasthan Editing in Wikipedia & Wikimedia Commons, Copyright policies, Re-licensing process Content related to Water and Rivers of India Reliable database of rivers in India and their present status
Visva-Bharati University Editing in Wikipedia & Wikimedia Commons, Copyright policies, Re-licensing process Content from Santiniketan museum and Sangit Bhavana The visitors will have access to in-depth knowledge through QR codes to be installed
School of Cultural Texts & Records, Jadavpur University Editing in Wikipedia & Wikimedia Commons, Copyright policies, Re-licensing process Cultural texts, music archive, database of library & archives High quality, reliable and unique content on cultural history and traditional music will be available to the community
RIWATCH, Arunachal Pradesh Editing in Wikipedia & Wikimedia Commons, Copyright policies, Re-licensing process Cultural content about North-East region of India Identification of knowledge gaps about North-east region
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What:
There are several organisations in India, which have been actively working in the areas of gender, sexuality, women and LGBTQIA+ rights etc. These include resource centres, publications and research institutions. We will map such resource centres and explore possibilities of collaboration for better visibility and access to this content.
Why:
Collaborations with these organisations may offer valuable resources, inputs and expertise for enriching content related to the gender on Wikimedia in Indian languages. It may also help bring these resources into the mainstream to facilitate public discourse around bridging the gender gap.
How:
In the pilot phase, a set of institutions will be identified through desk research, community networks and by reaching out to organisations, to develop a good understanding of their work, resources and challenges etc. We will actively work with the centres to explore possible areas of collaboration, including an introduction to Wikimedia and activities such as edit-a-thons, workshops on key areas such as open licenses etc.
Outcome:
Around 10 resource centres will be identified and a series of activities ( workshops, training sessions, consultation on research and collaborations etc. )will be conducted to understand the resources, work and content available, and how they may be better access to a wider public in Indian languages through Wikipedia. Movement resources on gender-related content may also be created with the help and expertise of the individuals and organisations involved.


Leadership

Meetups for capacity building

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What
CIS-A2K will conduct and facilitate meetups of various language communities.
Why
Meetups are necessary to enrich and foster community collaborations through skill sharing, discussing issues, innovative ideas and future plans. This also strengthens the community spirit among the editors.
  How
CIS-A2K will have initial discussions over the mailing list, village pump and IRCs to decide on the agenda, date, time and venue for the events. CIS-A2K will co-organise and facilitate the meetups with the communities.
Outcome

  • These efforts in community building will strengthen and enhance the communities and help them be more active. The meetups may also yield some project ideas. Around 10 such meetups are planned.

Capacity building modules

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What
To improve the quality of work, capacity building sessions will be designed for active Wikimedians on the following topics. Specific Community Movement Resources (CMRs) will be created on these topics. The sessions will be conducted online as well as offline.

Why
During the revolving cafe sessions in training programmes, the Wikimedians have shown their interest in acquiring more knowledge & skills in the above-mentioned topics. These inputs are necessary to expand the area of work and diversity of skills within the communities.

How
An analysis of interests expressed in needs assessment forms, training programme applications, request pages and requirements posted in Wikimedia projects of different language communities will be done to prepare the list of participants. The schedule of sessions will be finalised in the first quarter as per mutual convenience. Expert trainers will be selected from the community and CIS-A2K team. The sessions will be one-to-one or in a small group of 2-3 persons. The training will be offline or online as per the requirement.

Outcome
At least 2 persons from 5 language communities will be involved in these sessions. There will be two sessions for each person, an initial session and a follow-up session. In total 20 sessions will be conducted.

CIS-A2K request page

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What
CIS-A2K regularly provides support to Indic-language Wikimedia communities. A2K feels that this is an important task and such support is essential to conduct Wiki-related workshops, edit-a-thons and events to improve their projects. These requests can be seen at CIS-A2K request page.
How
The requests received undergo the following steps before it is approved: event page creation, community discussion and endorsement, and review by CIS-A2K team members, in alignment with WMF strategy and Global Metrics and then the required support will be provided to the community member.

Language Count
Santali 1
Tamil 3
Punjabi 2
Telugu 1
Kannada 2
Tulu 2
Bengali 1
Others 2



Research work

In 2020-21 CIS-A2K will continue to build upon some of the work from the previous year and attempt to engage with specific project areas, with a focus on topics/thematic areas of priority. 

Support towards Content Enrichment and Outreach

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  • In continuation with the work undertaken on mapping GLAM institutions in Maharashtra this year, CIS-A2K will extend this work across 2 states to map offline and digitized collections, technical infrastructure and human capacities, in collaboration with volunteers and paid interns. Collaboration with projects such as Wikimedia Commons, Wikisource and Wikidata, and possibilities of replication across other languages if possible will be explored. The work will be a pilot towards developing a broader GLAM strategy for Indian language Wikimedia projects.
  • In continuation with work on Bridging Gender Gap on Wikimedia, with a focus on Indian language communities, a mapping of knowledge repositories available with institutions working on gender, with a focus on women and LGBTQIA+ related content and resources will be undertaken, and possibilities of bringing this content on Wikimedia will be explored. These efforts will be led by collaboration with and active participation of individuals and organisations working in the field.

Community Engagement and Capacity Building

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  • A consultation on Wikimedia, free and open knowledge research in India, its prospects and potential strategy will be conducted with key stakeholders to identify what are priority areas of research in the community and the Community Movement Resources (CMR) required for the same.
  • As with the previous year, capacity building for team/community members will be undertaken through short sessions/evening group discussions conducted during main team events. These will focus on thematics such as introduction to Wikimedia, free and open knowledge research, methodologies and documentation practices, research ethics and privacy, design of outputs and outreach. These sessions will be conducted based on the needs and interests of the community.


Metrics and evaluation


Shared metrics

  • Participants: The number of people who attend your events, programmes or activities, either in person or virtually. This definition does not include people organizing activities, social media followers, donors, or others not participating directly.
  • Newly registered: The number of participants that create new accounts on a Wikimedia project. These include users who register up to two weeks before the start of the event.
  • Content pages: A content page is an article on Wikipedia, an item on Wikidata, a content page on Wikisource, an entry on Wiktionary, and a media file on Commons, etc. This metric captures the total number of content pages created or improved across all Wikimedia projects.

Grantee-defined metrics

  • Footprint tracker: CIS-A2K team would like to continue with the "Footprint tracker" metric. This metric is useful to understand active Wiki-communities, locations with frequent Wiki-engagements, and identify institutional partners for supporting active Wiki-communities. It has helped CIS-A2K understand its reach over the current plan period, and address concerns of not engaging non-FLA communities. This metric will track the number of outreach events that are organised by Indian Wikimedians with our support. This metric will be able to provide insights to support Wikimedia projects by local bodies and through the interest shown by communities. Further, this metric will help in devising efficient follow-up mechanisms and will avoid 'reinventing the wheel' regarding social events and needs assessment. A2K team would only count one footprint per city per project, irrespective of the frequency of follow-up events or multiple venues for the event. This metric would utilise the geographical distribution of Wikimedians in India and also provide an excellent opportunity for participants of TTT to expand the reach of Wikimedia projects in their communities.
  • Gender ratio: CIS-A2K would like to continue with the metric on Gender ratio. This metric will help us to understand the ratio and diversity of participation in the events conducted by CIS-A2K on the basis of gender identity, as self-identified by participants. In keeping with broader efforts in the Wikimedia movement and in the Indian language communities to bridge the gender gap, we will do our best to ensure that events are diverse and inclusive, with the participation of at least 25% women in activities conducted by CIS-A2K.
Programme Participants Newly registered Content pages Footprint tracker Gender ratio or Diversity
Content Enrichment 1,200 500 8,700 9 25%
Skill Development 500 50 1,200 9
Partnerships Development 1,950 800 12,200 8
Leadership Development 600 100 2,000 3
Total 4,350 1,450 24,100 29