Grants:Project/Rapid/Scanner for Gujarati Wikimedia Projects

Choose one or more of the following goals. You can add or delete goals as needed. You can add details to each goal. For example, if you want to add content on a specific subject.

Add or improve content
Engage existing editors

Project Plan

Activities

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:
1. What content gaps will you be filling with the equipment?

Gujarati is an Indian language chiefly spoken in Gujarat, a western state of India and nearby Mumbai city. The language had strong diaspora community across the world. Apart from Gujarati Wikipedia, Gujarati Wikisource is most active project. Gujarati language community also want to expand and make Gujarati Wiktionary active again when Lexicographic content of Wikidata will be launched.

The one of problems faced by the Gujarati Wikipedia community is lack of useful online content in Gujarati and several editors are not fluent in other languages including English. The same problem is big hindrance in retention of new editors too who do not have grasp of English. There are very few Gujarati books, magazines and scholarly works available online to be used as a citation. Most citations in Gujarati are from offline Gujarati books and other sources. It resulted in low number of citations on Gujarati Wikipedia articles and poor quality of references. Most citations come from other language sources i.e. English. so we have recently started as a resource exchange page on Gujarati Wikipedia. Some of our editors who have access to library. They scan and make relevant pages available to editors via email when they request resource for specific topic or from specific book. They have to use paid scanning services in library to do that. Easy access to Gujarati resources online/via resource exchange will help Wikipedia Community.

Very small but strong Gujarati Wikisource community is making Gujarati Public Domain works available online for the first time because there is no systematic project doing it on the internet except some Gujarati books scanned by Internet Archives. Gujarati Wikisource has made more than 100 books online since its inception. Gujarati Wikisource community frequently needs book scans to type, proofread and make them available online. They are using commercial services to get book scanned. So the availability of scanner will greatly help the Gujarati Wikisource.

Lack of public domain/free licensed photos for people/place from Gujarat is common problem. We have make some photos online by persuading some people and photographers to make their personal albums available to Commons. The most common problem is that they are on film or physical photos and they need to scanned frequently. Currently we need to use commercial services to do that. We will be also able to upload photos from public domain books and resources.

2. What activities will you organize in the next 6 months to create content and use it on Wikimedia projects?

We may organise one citation-thon to improve citations on Gujarati Wikipedia in next six months which will be funded separately. We will make book scans available to Gujarati Wikisource whenever they need. We will also upload public domain book scans on other platforms for editors.

3. How will the equipment be shared/tracked/cared for by members of your community?

We have set up a logbook online to track what equipment we own, who is currently using the equipment, when it was checked out, and when it will be returned. The logbook is available at Gujarati Wikimedia Scanner Exchange Logbook. The equipment will be lent out on a first come-first served basis. When it is not in use, it will be stored at the home of custodian edior User:Gazal world who is most active on resource exchange page. He frequently uploads scanned photos from other people with their OTRS permissions.

4. How long will the equipment be used, and by whom?

We expect the scanner will be used for at least the next 5 years by members of the Gujarati Wikimedia community.

5. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?

Our current focus is on making resources available for Gujarati Wikipedia community and making book scans available for Gujarati Wikisouce community. We want to expand its use to make public domain dictionaries available for Gujarati Wiktionary in future. Apart from that, we will make more public domain scholarly works online on other platforms like Internet Archives so editors can easily access them and use them without waiting for resources at the resource exchange page when these works are already in public domain. As the equipment is stored in western India, we may be able help other Wikimedia language communities like Hindi, Sanskrit and Marathi. We may be helpful to other communities in providing resources accessible to our custodian editor who is also active on English Wikipedia Resource Exchange page.

Impact

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets and feel free to add more:

Number of resources exchanged on Gujarati Wikipedia: 40 over the next 6 months
Number of articles created/improved with help of resources on Gujarati Wikipedia: 50 over the next 6 months
Number of books scanned and made available to Gujarati Wikisource: 6 over next 6 months
Number of photos uploaded on Commons: 100 over next six months

Resources

What resources do you have? Include information on who is organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).

Some of our community members already have access to libraries. Our community member, User:Gazal world works with libraries and is postgraduate student. He will order the scanner, store the scanner when not in use, monitor the Scanner Exchange Log, and coordinate sharing among group members. When he is busy or out of town, Vikas Kaila will store the scanner. We also need a external Hard Disk to store the scanned resource like books and images until they are made available online.

Due to fluctuations in the exchange rate (USD to INR), we will be requesting some more amount as the buffer. We will organize a citation-thon where we will utilize whatever money is left as the prizes for the top performers.

Exchange Rate: 1 USD = 67.28 INR (10 May 2018)

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.

Resources
Item	Brand	Quantity	Online store	Amount in INR	in USD	Notes
Scanner	Fujitsu ScanSnap SV600 Scanner	1	Amazon India (Nisarga Information Technology Solutions)	Rs. 47,500	$706.02	42% (Rs. 42,292) discount, 1 year manufacturer warranty, book scanner
Shipping charge (Scanner)	-	-	-	Rs. 150	$2.23
External Hard Disk (HDD)	Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB Portable External Hard Drive with Mobile Device Backup	1	Amazon India (Appario Retail Private Ltd)	Rs.3999	$59.44	50% (Rs. 4000) discount, 3 years manufacturer warranty, 1 TB
Shipping charge (HDD)	-	-	-	Free	Free
			Total:	Rs.51649	$767.69
			Exchange Rate Buffer	Rs.1351	$20.06	Buffer till 1 USD = 69 INR
			Requested Amount Total:	Rs.53000	$787.75

Endorsements

Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!

Support -- I have been a mentor of Gazal world and he is very active and enthusiastic Wikimedian. He has access to resources and will be immensely helpful to Wikimedia community as the custodian. I have helped him in formatting the grant request. As a member of Gujarati Wikimedian community member, this scanner will be boon for us and will help in making Gujarati resources and books available to us at Gujarati Wikipedia. It will also help the editors of Gujarati Wikisource with book scans.-Nizil Shah (talk) 13:19, 10 May 2018 (UTC)
Support -- User:Gazal world is doing great work in Gujarati and English Wikipedia and has access to large number of resources which can be very useful to small Wikipedia like Gujarati and other Wikipedias. --KartikMistry (talk) 14:37, 10 May 2018 (UTC)
Support -- I have been beneficiary of resource exchange project ran by User:Gazal world. I can say he is doing an excellent job and this support in terms of scanner will be a gap filler in capabilities and overall development of Gujarati language based project. It will also result in wider audience for at lease copy right free Gujarati texts and books as the users are planning to put eligible books on internet archives. Gujarati wikisource has faced many hurdles along the way and it is the personal initiative with utmost dedication by a few users which has kept the project alive. Any support they receive is welcome and this is the major boost at the core of the project as it will enable the users to focus more on working online rather then chase books and scanners. Overall very useful project. I have 100% surety of its success and achievements of its goals. --Vyom25 (talk) 15:25, 10 May 2018 (UTC)
Support The scanner will be useful for scanning of books for gujarati Wikisource also.--Sushant savla (talk) 15:36, 10 May 2018 (UTC)
Support The scanner will be useful for scanning of books for gujarati Wikisource, besides other useful purposes. --Muzammil (talk) 18:23, 10 May 2018 (UTC)
Support I wholeheartedly endorse Gazal world's request. I have found his rapid attention and prompt delivery of resources a great help in my own wiki narticle projects, and am looking forward also to assisting him in translating key articles on the English encyuclopedia into Gujarati. A scanner would onbviously be of great assistance in ratcheting up the Productivity level and source availability for users ofd Gujarati. Nishidani (talk) 14:20, 12 May 2018 (UTC)
Support The scanner will be useful for scanning of documents for all Wiki projects. --Satish Patel 09:47, 13 May 2018 (UTC)
Support Will be useful for the community. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk — mail) 16:25, 15 May 2018 (UTC)
Support Please allow me to heartilly endorse this proposal. This will be of catholic use around the Wikepedia projects, and the Resource Exchange is the epitome of the esprit de corps that exists when volunteers on the ground are assisting each other in furthering the aims of their Wikipedias. Sharing our resources enables us to share our encyclopaedia; I think the Foundation should be allowed to demonstrate their appreciation of these energies—in the form of hard cash. Cheers! Serial Number 54129 (talk) 17:30, 15 May 2018 (UTC)