Centre for Internet and Society

Wikipedia boom in Marathi, Malayalam and other desi languages

praskrishna — 2013-08-01T05:28:28Z

A vibrant vernacular Wikipedia seems to be taking root in India. In the last eight months, the number of Wikipedia entries has grown substantially in 20 Indian languages, says a study by the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society (CIS).

The article by Sandhya Soman was published in the Times of India on August 1, 2013. T. Vishnu Vardhan is quoted.

Wiki, the world's largest online encyclopaedia where anyone can write and edit articles, didn't have much content in vernacular till a few years ago. According to the study, Wikis in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi have added thousands of new articles on various subjects from September 2012 to April 2013. A few of these pages were viewed more during this period. Marathi, which had 30 lakh page views per month previously, had another 10 lakh visitors, while Bengali Wikipedia had 14 lakh page views.

While Malayalam Wiki took the top position with an enviable team of 100 plus editors, the number Hindi, Marathi and Sanskrit editors came down. "Marathi has 40,000 articles. But most editors in Mumbai prefer to work on English. Pune has more Marathi editors,' says T Vishnu Vardhan, programme director, Access to Knowledge project at CIS.

"In the last two years, the demand for knowledge in Indian languages has grown as we have moved to the motto of 'roti, kapda and internet'," says Vardhan.

One of the reasons for growth is that many browsers now support Indian language scripts. But this was not the case in early 2000. Though many wanted to read and type in their own language, there was no browser support, says Shiju Alex, blogger and Malayalam Wiki editor. Moreover, many didn't know how to type in their mother tongues.

But once Indian languages were encoded in Unicode, the fonts became accessible. "There was no need to write Malayalam in English and people started blogging in their mother tongues," says Alex. According to Vardhan, communities with better literacy rates seem to have taken the lead online.

"Telugu Wiki is stronger as internet penetration in Andhra Pradesh is higher than in places where Bhojpuri or Assamese is spoken."

As with most online language initiatives, the Wiki movement was also fuelled by the diaspora. Tinu Cherian Abraham, a former board member of the Wikimedia India chapter, talks about how an NRI's love for Malayalam kick-started the project.

But now there are many Wiki foot soldiers in India, including a blind editor of Hindi Wikipedia and an elderly contributor from Kerala whose passion for free knowledge has helped him forget his ailments.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/times-of-india-august-1-2013-sandhya-soman-wikipedia-boom-in-marathi-malayalam-other-desi-languages

ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ:ମେଳଣ/ବୁର୍ଲା (ସମ୍ବଲପୁର)

praskrishna — 2013-08-05T08:04:07Z

There was a news coverage on The Sambad, Sambalpur edition about the Odia Wikipedia workshop organized on July 26 and 27, 2013 at Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla.

The Centre for Internet and Society has been credited for financial support. Click to see the report on the mailing list.

ସମ୍ବଲପୁରର ବୁର୍ଲାଠାରେ ଥିବା "ବୀର ସୁରେନ୍ଦ୍ରସାଏ ବୈଷୟିକ ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟ"ରେ ୨୬ ଓ ୨୭ ଜୁଲାଇ ୨୦୧୩ (ଶୁକ୍ରବାର, ଶନିବାର) ଦିନ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ଏକ କର୍ମଶାଳା ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହୋଇଯାଇଛି ।

କର୍ମଶାଳାର ବିଷୟବସ୍ତୁ

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ଉପ‌ଯୋଗିତା
ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପଡ଼ିଆରେ ସାଧାରଣ ସମ୍ପାଦନା
ମୁକ୍ତ ଜ୍ଞାନ ବିତରଣର ଉପାଦେୟତା
"ଉଇକିପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ଓଡ଼ିଶାର ସ୍ଥାନ" ଗଣ-ସମ୍ପାଦନା

କର୍ମଶାଳା ବିବରଣୀ

ସମ୍ବଲପୁରର ବୁର୍ଲାଠାରେ ଥିବା ‘ବୀର ସୁରେନ୍ଦ୍ରସାଏ ବୈଷୟିକ ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟ(ଭିସୁଟ)’ ର ଗୋଲ୍ଡ଼େନ ଜୁବୁଲୀ ସେମିନାର ହଲ ପରିସରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ଏକ କର୍ମଶାଳା ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହୋଇଯାଇଛି । ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟର ୧୦୦ରୁ ଉର୍ଦ୍ଧ୍ୱ ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀ ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳାରେ ଭାଗ ନେଇ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ବ୍ୟବହାର ସଂପର୍କରେ ଜ୍ଞାନ ଅର୍ଜନ କରିଥିଲେ । ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟର ପୁରାତନ ଛାତ୍ର ତଥା ସକ୍ରିୟ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିଆଳି ଗୋର୍ବାଚୋଭ ପୋଥାଳଙ୍କ ତତ୍ୱାବଧାନରେ ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳା ଆୟୋଜିତ ହୋଇଥିଲା ଏବଂ ଉପସ୍ଥିତ ସମସ୍ତଙ୍କୁ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ସଂପର୍କରେ ସବିଶେଷ ବିବରଣୀ ପ୍ରଦାନ କରାଯାଇଥିଲା । ସେ କହିଥିଲେ ଯେ, ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାରେ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ୍‌ରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଏକ ଖୋଲା ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷ । ଏହାକୁ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରି ଜଣେ କିପରି ନିଜର ଗବେଷଣା ଦକ୍ଷତା ବିକାଶ ଓ ମାଗଣା ଜ୍ଞାନର ବିତରଣ କରିପାରିବ, ସେହି ବିଷୟରେ ଆଲୋଚନା କରିଥିଲେ । ଏହା ବ୍ୟତୀତ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ଇତିହାସ, ଆଭିମୁଖ୍ୟ, ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆରେ ବର୍ତ୍ତମାନ ଚାଲୁଥିବା ବିଭିନ୍ନ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ବିଷୟରେ ସବିଶେଷ ଆଲୋଚନା କରିଥିଲେ ଓ କହିଥିଲେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରୁ ଦୂରେଇ ଯାଉଥିବା ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ଓଡ଼ିଆମୁଖୀ କରାଇବାର ଏହା ଅନ୍ୟତମ ପ୍ରଚେଷ୍ଟା । ଶ୍ରୀ ପୋଥାଳ ନିଜର ବକ୍ତବ୍ୟ ଦେଇ ସାରିବା ପରେ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀଙ୍କର ବିଭିନ୍ନ ପ୍ରଶ୍ନର ଉତ୍ତର ଦେଇଥିଲେ । ଏହା ପରେ କର୍ମଶାଳରେ ସେ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆରେ ନୂତନ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ ଲେଖିବା, ସମ୍ପାଦନା କରିବା, ଆଧାର ଦେବା ଇତ୍ୟାଦିର ପ୍ରଶିକ୍ଷଣ ଦେଇ ଏକ ଗଣ-ସମ୍ପାଦନା ଆୟୋଜନ କରିଥିଲେ । କର୍ମଶାଳାରେ ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟର ପ୍ରାଧ୍ୟାପକ ଡ. ଅମରନାଥ ନାୟକ, ଡ଼ ବିଭୂତି ଭୂଷଣ ପାଣି, ଡ଼. ଅକ୍ଷୟ କୁମାର ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ, ଡ. ଜ୍ୟୋତି ରଞ୍ଜନ ମହାନ୍ତି ପ୍ରମୁଖ ଉପସ୍ଥିତ ଥିଲେ । କର୍ମଶାଳାର ସଫଳ ପରିଚାଳନା ପାଇଁ ଛାତ୍ର ପ୍ରତିନିଧି ଅବିନାଶ କୁମାର ପୁହାଣ, ସୁପ୍ରଜ୍ଞାନ ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ, ସୁଭମ ସାହୁ, ସୋମ୍ୟଶ୍ରୀ ଋତୁପର୍ଣ୍ଣୋ ସାହୁ, ଅନନ୍ୟା ସୃଷ୍ଟି ଶତପଥୀ ସାହାଯ୍ୟ କରିଥିଲେ ।

ଆର୍ଥିକ ସହାୟତା

କାର୍ଯ୍ୟକ୍ରମର ସଫଳ ପରିଚାଳନା ନିମନ୍ତେ "ସେଣ୍ଟର ଫର ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଏଣ୍ଡ ସୋସାଇଟି - ଆକ୍ସେସ ଟୁ ନଲେଜ" ତରଫରୁ ଟ.୨,୦୦୦/- ର ଆର୍ଥିକ ସହାୟତା ପ୍ରଦାନ କରାଯାଇଥିଲା ।

ଯୋଗଦେଇଥିବା ପୁରୁଖା ଉଇକିଆଳି

ଗୋର୍ବାଚୋଭ ପୋଥାଳ

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/coverage-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop-in-sambad-july-26-27-2013

Telugu Wikipedia Meet-up @ CIS

praskrishna — 2013-08-19T06:53:03Z

The Centre for Internet and Society is hosting a meet-up on June 2, 2013 in its office in Bangalore, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. All are cordially invited.

Click to read the full details on Wikipedia

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/telugu-wikipedia-meetup-at-cis

8th IBA International Conference

praskrishna — 2016-04-04T15:32:54Z

The 8th IBA International Conference was organized by Indus Business Academy in Bengaluru from March 24 to 26, 2016. The theme of the conference was Taking India to Greater Heights. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a talk on Democratizing of Knowledge Access- Case of Regional Language Wikipedia.

India’s journey since independence has been eventful. The long struggle against colonialism left Indian private capital in a poor state. The Government intervention was essential and hence there was a need for the public sector. Experiments with socialism and national planning turned out to be a mixed success. The 1991 crisis propelled India towards a market driven economy. Politically, its unpopularity reverted India to a state of socialism once again. The 2014 elections have renewed interest in a market driven economy.

Indian achievements have been sizable. The successful Mars Mission, Agni mission, Green Revolution, White Revolution, IT industry growth all demonstrate the positive achievements that India has made in the last 60 odd years. In recent months, across the world, there is a renewed interest in India.

Yet we can hardly be complacent. The lowering oil prices, conflict in the Middle East, slowdown in Chinese economy, fears of Russian expansionism, decline in European growth, concerns about the state of US economy and rising trends in terrorism have created turbulence across different parts of the world. India cannot be immune to these changes.

India’s response can manifest itself in multiple forms. There could be rapid expansion of defence procurement and preparedness both on external as well as internal fronts. It could involve building alliances with countries aligned strategically to Indi’s interests.

It could manifest through the rapid growth of manufacturing sector. The services sector could move higher in the value chain. The spillovers generated by the establishment of industries could spawn a major entrepreneurial ecosystem.

With the UN approval to celebrate International Yoga Day, India’s soft spiritual power is also rising in the horizon. Indian philosophical and ideological thoughts are getting renewed interest across different parts of the world. Indian talent, youth demographics etc. have literally placed India on the centre stage. No doubt, exciting times are ahead.

This Conference aims to deliberate on such changes and suggest ways and means to leverage this growing interest in India and identify the new perspectives emerging in Business, Management, Leadership and Consciousness as a result of these changes.

The schedule for 8th IBA International Conference can be accessed here. More info on the event here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/8th-iba-international-conference

Free Software

praskrishna — 2013-07-31T08:50:41Z

To spread awareness on free software and its philosophy, Free Software Movement of Karnataka (FSMK) in partnership with Jnana Vikas Institute of Technology, Bidadi, organized a 9-days workshop between July 20 and 28 at the Institute campus near Bidadi to focus on free software is real freedom to compute.

Click to read the news by M.K. Madhusoodan published in the Times of India on July 20, 2013. For more pictures, click here

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in the workshop and made a presentation about Wikipedia for the participants on July 24, 2013.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/free-software

Stress on posting articles on Kannada Wikipedia

praskrishna — 2013-08-02T06:27:52Z

A workshop to be held on CPDPS premises on August 6.

This article by R Krishna Kumar was published in the Hindu on August 2, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja is quoted.

For those with knowledge of Kannada and basic computer skills, here is an opportunity for posting articles in Kannada on the collaborative and free Wikipedia and facilitate the growth of Kannada online.

To help interested people learn the process of posting their articles on Wikipedia, the Centre for Proficiency Development Placement Service (CPDPS) of the University of Mysore will conduct a one-day workshop on August 6 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The workshop will be conducted on the CPDPS premises, Manasagangotri, and is being conducted by U.B. Pavanaja of the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore.

Niranjana Vanalli, Director, CPDPS, told The Hindu that though Kannada has got the classical language tag and several Kannada writers have got the Jnanpith, Kannada is among the least represented language on Wikipedia in terms of articles in Indian languages, and this workshop is a small step towards correcting these lacunae.

According to Mr. Pavanaja of CIS, Bangalore, though Kannada Wikipedia was launched in June 2003 and this year marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of the website, there are only 14,500 articles in Kannada.

This is in contrast to nearly 1,00,000 Hindi articles, 52,000 Telugu articles about 52,000 articles in Tamil, 25,000 in Bengali and 30,000 articles in Malayalam in the Wikipedia. There are over 4.6 million articles in English. German and French are close to English and so it is not merely Kannada but all Indian languages that are lagging behind, said Mr. Pavanaja.

However, there is scope for improvement as 13 lakh people visit the Kannada Wikipedia website every month. It definitely means that many people are interested in reading articles in Kannada online, so there is scope for posting more articles for their benefit.

Interestingly Wikipedia, which was launched in January 2001, has articles in 22 Indian languages and 256 languages around the world. There are over 3 crore articles and the number is growing by the day.

There are other significant aspects to the contribution of Indians to the development of Wikipedia. While Kannadigas have taken to the enrichment of Wikipedia in English their contribution to the enrichment of the Kannada section has been abysmal. Incidentally, there are nearly 16 lakh editors of Wikipedia all over the world of which about 5,500 are Indians and of them 3,300 edit and contribute regularly in English. The remaining 2,200 contribute in Indian languages.

According to Mr. Pavanaja, roughly 2 crore Indians regularly visit the Wikipedia site but very few are either contributing or editing.

“Indians were definitely taking advantage of Wikipedia as it gets more than 2 crore hits every year. But the number of Indians contributing to enrich the content is less, more so for Kannada”, he added. Mr. Vanalli, who is a professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Mysore, pointed out that it was ironical that the Kannada was the only Indian language to have an encyclopaedia of its own – Kannada Vishwakosha – published by the University of Mysore. But when it comes to the online collaborative project of Wikipedia, Kannada is lagging behind and this should be reversed.

The workshop will introduce to the participants the features of Wikipedia, and give hands-on demonstration on how to edit and contribute articles. Participants can bring articles of their choice for editing and posting on Wikipedia. For details, contact Director of CPDPS on 0821-2419337/405 or email omegauom@gmail.com for registration.

The workshop will introduce participants to features of Wikipedia, and give demonstration on how to edit and contribute articles

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/hindu-r-krishna-kumar-august-2-2013-stress-on-posting-articles-on-kannada-wikipedia

ଓଡିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର କର୍ମଶାଳା ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହୋଇଯାଇଛି ବୀର ସୁରେନ୍ଦ୍ର ସାଏ ବୈଷୟିକ ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟ, ବୁର୍ଲାରେ

praskrishna — 2013-08-05T08:25:47Z

Odishan.com covered the Wikipedia event organized at Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla on July 26 and 27, 2013.

Click to read the original published in Odishan.com.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/odishan-july-27-2013-coverage-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop

Wikipedia boom in vernacular languages

praskrishna — 2013-08-12T04:29:28Z

The number of Wikipedia entries in vernacular languages has grown substantially in the last eight months

This article by Divya Saboo was published in DNA on August 1, 2013. The Centre for Internet and Society is mentioned.

In the last eight months, the number of Wikipedia entries in vernacular languages has grown substantially, says a Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society.

Wikipedia, the world's largest encyclopedia, where anyone can write and publish, was mainly written in the English language until a few years ago. There is a sudden boom of interest in regional languages on the internet because browsers now support Indian language scripts. Thus, people are now more interested in typing in their mother-tongues. Interestingly, this initiative is fueled by diaspora.

Mahit Gar, who has been working with the Marathi Language Wikipedia, said, “Since the last one year, we have concentrated on improving the quality of the content more. We are ranked #20. There are also some new editing facilities that are being introduced by the Wikimedia Foundation (WMS). We can now write in Marathi as well. 40 per cent of the people can type Marathi well but the rest still find it difficult to do so. The rural people interact mostly with Marathi."

He adds, "We have had this sudden boom because in 2011, we had some conferences with the English Wikipedia team and we talked about how people are not able to communicate without their mother tongues in place. Also, we don't spam. Most people love their mother tongue so they don't touch the content inappropriately (this is not the case with the English Wikipedia).”

Tinu Cherian Abraham who was on the Wikimedia India Chapter talks about how an NRI's love for Malyalam kick-started the project. There are people from all walks of life involved in this project. The collective passion for knowledge of a visually challenged editor of Hindi Wikipedia along with an elderly contributor from Kerala, has aided him in forgetting his ailments.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/dna-august-1-2013-divya-saboo-wikipedia-boom-in-vernacular-languages

Institutional Partnership with Tribal Research & Training Institute

subodh — 2018-05-07T16:29:02Z

CIS-A2K has been building partnerships with major state government departments in Maharashtra to promote free & open knowledge resources. One such effort resulted into official Govt.Resolution of Tribal Research & Training Institute under State Tribal Development department on Expert's Study Group Formation for developing Open Knowledge Platforms.

Community Advocate for Marathi Language is representing CIS-A2K in this group. The mandate of the group is given in GR. We will be facilitating primarily No.1 & 2, which says - Developing new and utilising existing Open & free platforms like Wikimedia Projects to build knowledge resources on Community Forest Management, Development of training modules in Unicode & make it accessible by common man, Digitisation of reference books, training booklets, govt docs, archives,images etc and making it accessible.

Plan

The Tribal Research & Training Institute(TRTI), Pune was established on 1st May, 1962.The Institute undertakes research studies on various aspects of tribals. It has Tribal Cultural Museum located in its premises. All facets of life of tribals of Maharashtra are displayed in the Museum.The Institute has got a rich Library which serves as reference library on tribals. This is a very good opportunity to explore various aspects of open knowledge with research organisation like TRTI.

After extensive discussions, the project proposal on Van Bodh (a free & open knowledge repository on Biodiversity, Forest Management for Tribal communities) is prepared. The implementing agency is Vrikshamitra under leadership of Prof. Madhav Gadgil. Three other organisations - Mumbai University's Economics department, Vigyan Ashram, Dataspect, Datameet are other partners in this project. The content generation on free & open source platforms & Wikimedia Projects would be facilitated by A2K.

Impact

Many tribal communities have started managing their Community forests vested under Forest Rights Act 2006. All the information pertaining to this field is not easily available in local language. The online content is also not available. Under this project, the knowledge resource would be created in collaboration with grass-root communities in tribal areas. The youth will be trained in unicode, open source applications and content generation in Wikimedia projects. The knowledge resource thus created would be accessed by people in 2500 villages active in community forest management.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/institutional-partnership-with-tribal-research-training-institute

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop, Mysore — Coverage in Prajavani

praskrishna — 2013-03-25T08:49:20Z

A Kannada Wikipedia workshop was organized by the Centre for Internet and Society in Mysore on March 24, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in the event. Prajavani has published a report of the event on March 25, 2013.


Prajavani published a report of the Kannada Wikipedia workshop held at Mysore on March 25, 2013.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-report-in-prajavani

Krishnarajapet Wikipedia Workshop (Coverage in Vijaya Vani)

praskrishna — 2013-09-05T06:45:12Z

Prajavani covered the Kannada Wikipedia workshop organised by the CIS-A2K team and the Kannada Sahitya Parishat of KR Pet., on August 12, 2013. A scanned version of the report is produced below.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/vijaya-vani-august-12-2013-krishnarajapet-wikipedia-workshop

Konkani Wikipedia workshop at AIMIT, St Aloysius College

praskrishna — 2013-09-12T06:09:42Z

St. Aloysius College is organizing a Konkani Wikipedia workshop at AIMIT, St Aloysius College (Autonomous), Beeri, Mangalore on September 13, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja from the CIS-A2K team will participate in the event.

The workshop is aimed at people who want to edit Konkani Wikipedia using Kannada script. Konkani Wikipedia is in incubator at present. Konkani speaking people want to bring this out of incubator. Adding enough content to the Konkani Wikipedia will enable that. Those interested in adding content to Konkani Wikipedia will be trained in the workshop. This will be a full day event.

Click to read about St.Aloysius Institute of Management

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/konkani-wiki-workshop-aimit-september-13-2013

'Help Konkani Wikipedia come out of incubation'

praskrishna — 2013-09-17T10:10:38Z

The functioning of the free online encyclopedia, ‘Wikipedia,’ is like a true democracy. It is for the people and by the people, said The Centre for Internet and Society Programme Officer (Indian Languages) Pavanaja U B.

The article was published in the Deccan Herald on September 13, 2013. Dr. U.B.Pavanaja was quoted.

He was speaking after inaugurating, "Wikipedia Editing Workshop," organised by Aloysius Institute of Management and Information Technology (AIMIT) in association with The Centre for Internet and Society in Mangalore on Friday.

Stressing on the need for more Wikipedia contributors and editors from India, he explained to students the simplicity of creating a account in Wikipedia and editing articles.

Wikipedia has 50 crore unique visitors and three crore are from India. There are 6,000 editors registered from India, of which, around 2000 people edit in Indian vernacular languages, and only 450 are very active, he said.

There are around 98,000 odd articles in Hindi, 14,600 odd articles in Kannada. However, Konkani Wikipedia is in incubation for the last seven years, as there are only 133 articles and very few registered editors. “To get it out of incubation, many should write Konkani articles for Wikipedia,” he said and added that out of 133 Konkani articles in Wikipedia, over 100 are in Devnagari script, 31 in Roman and just two in Kannada script and none in Malayalam.

Pavanaja added that being a contributor and editor of Wikipedia, will be a positive add on to ones resume. "Today's IT companies need logical thinkers and problem solvers. Writing for Wikipedia, enables one to think and research, hence benefiting one’s personally," he said.

He also regretted that some people try to vandalise Wikipedia, with disruptive editing and deleting articles. Though, this will be corrected by other Wikipedia users instantly, it wastes precious time. Everyone benefits from Wikipedia, hence the contributor should have a positive outlook with regard to helping people and sharing knowledge, he said

He further added, that maintaining a neutral point of view, giving significant coverage and writing on notable topics is important. One should give opposing views and no personal views should be reflected, he added.

St Aloysius College Rector Fr Denzil Lobo said that the present generation is lucky to have knowledge at their finger tips, and they should make the best use of it.

AIMIT Director Rev Fr Pradeep Sequeira, Wikpedia Volunteer Harriet Vidhyasagar among others were present.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/deccan-herald-september-13-2013-help-konkani-wikipedia-come-out-of-incubation

Loyola Faculty Enlightened About Open Edn Resources

praskrishna — 2014-07-02T04:50:48Z

“The tremendous changes in the digital technology have introduced the newage faculty to certain open and collaborative tools like Wiki, termed as open educational resources (OER),” Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) progarmme director T Vishnu Vardhan has said.

The article published in the New Indian Express on June 25, 2014 can be read here. T. Vishnu Vardhan gave his inputs.

Adressing a two-day national workshop on ‘“Openness of Knowledge in Digital Era’ at Andhra Loyola College here Tuesday, Vishnu Vardhan stressed that within this context of digital era, openness and transparency gained newer significance, which creates a pre-condition for the transformation of society into knowledge society.

Pointing out that many of the websites were offering opportunity to access the information in almost all Indian languages and with everyone making use of Wikipedia as an OER tool, he explained the changes in the digital technology and also introduced the faculty to certain open and collaborative tools like Wikipedia.

Besides to giving a historical overview of the free and open source software movement, mass collaboration on the internet, details about Wikipedia authors and users, the participants were educated about using the simple technological tools like QR code to create increased and seamless access to knowledge using pervasive technologies like mobile phones.

Graduate and postgraduate teaching faculty from various streams partcipated in the workshop meant to discuss and learn new development in the fields of knowledge sharing and access in digital era.

CIS programme officer Rahimanuddin Shaik, jounalist Malladi Kameswara Rao, ALC principal Fr Kishore, college vice-principal Fr Anil kumaralso participated.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-new-indian-express-june-25-2014-loyola-faculty-enlightened-about-open-edn-resources

Four volumes of Kannada Encyclopaedia digitised

praskrishna — 2014-07-14T05:49:48Z

The content is available online under Creative Commons License.

The article by R. Krishna Kumar was published in the Hindu on July 12, 2014, Dr. U.B.Pavanaja is quoted.

Articles from the Kannada Encyclopaedia (Kannada Vishwakosha) of the University of Mysore can now be accessed online under the Creative Commons License. The move to make content of the Kannada Vishwakosha accessible is part of the ongoing effort to enrich Kannada content on Internet.

The University of Mysore is working with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) to digitise encyclopaedic publications for which the copyrights are owned by the varsity, and to re-release them under the Creative Common License.

U.B. Pavanaja of the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, who is promoting Kannada content on the Internet, told The Hindu that of the 14 volumes, digitised content of the first four volumes has been uploaded.

And, the CIS is awaiting the release of the revised edition of the other two volumes. “Each volume has about 900 pages and hence over 3,600 pages of the Kannada Vishwakosha can now be accessed. What is significant is that people seeking quality information in Kannada can now access reliable content. It is also subject to editing in real time and hence will remain updated,” according to Mr. Pavanaja. The content was digitised and uploaded with the help of students who were interning with the CIS and included three boys and five girls, said Mr. Pavanaja.

The permission for digitising the content has been accorded for the first six volumes. However, the CIS has sought permission from the varsity for digitising the content of the other volumes, including Subject Encyclopaedia.

The Centre for Internet and Society signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the University of Mysore in February. The varsity issued a certificate to publish the work under the Creative Common License in May.

As per the plan, the digitised content will be made available for everyone through free content distribution platforms like Wikipedia, Wikisource and this is expected to enhance digital literacy in Kannada language while helping in free dissemination of knowledge in Kannada to students, academics, researchers and the general public. As of now, the articles have been uploaded on Wikisource and will shortly be migrated to Wikipedia also.

Besides, the CIS is trying to hold talks with Kannada University, Hampi, on digitising the Janapada Vishwakosha and make it available under the Creative Common License, said Mr. Pavanaja.

Niranjan Vanalli, Director of EMMRC of the University of Mysore, said digitisation of Kannada Vishwakosha has given a new lease of life to publications. “The 14-volume Kannada Vishwakosha was not available to everyone earlier and was confined to research institutions or libraries. But now that the content is available online, it is accessible to all those who are interested. And, what it is more is that most articles, especially those pertaining to history, art and culture, will be of reference quality and that will act as a major boost to the cause of Kannada language,” he added.

Meanwhile, the University of Mysore and CIS will celebrate World Open Knowledge Festival on July 15 at the Kuvempu Institute of Kannada Studies from 11 a.m. to commemorate the event.

Those interested to access the Kannada Vishwakosha online can log on to: http://bit.ly/mysoreuniv

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-july-12-2014-r-krishna-kumar-four-volumes-of-kannada-encyclopaedia-digitised