Centre for Internet and Society

Konkani Wikipedia in the making

praskrishna — 2013-09-30T09:11:09Z

Process of uploading the four volumes of Konkani encyclopaedia will be completed in six months’ time.

This article by Prakash Kamat was published in the Hindu on September 29, 2013. T. Vishnu Vardhan is quoted.

The Goa University has re-launched a four-volume Konkani Vishwakosh (Konkani encyclopaedia) and announced its plan to upload the same on Wikipedia so as to build the Konkani Wikipedia.

The project is seen as a major stride in Konkani learning, research and production of books. The project, which will involve 42 students of the Konkani Department of Goa University including four designated as Ambassadors of Konkani, will turn students into producers of knowledge rather than mere consumers of knowledge. The University has signed a three-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) for building up the Konkani Wikipedia.

“Wikipedia is a global phenomenon and a platform to bring people together for making creative activities possible, which in fact, has challenged the monopoly of publishers and created a movement in order to put together knowledge, further making it accessible to public,” said Satish Shetye, Vice-Chancellor of Goa University, speaking at the launch of the project.

Narrating how the project began, Registrar of Goa University V. P. Kamat explained that Mr. Satish Shetye, who took over as Vice-Chancellor over a year ago, happened to notice the huge piles of hardbound volumes of the Konkani encyclopaedia stacked in the Goa University library and wished to digitise the manuscripts and re-launch the encyclopaedia. The idea to upload the whole content on Wikipedia was thus born.

The work for the Konkani encyclopaedia project was commissioned during the tenure of the first Vice-Chancellor B. Sheik Ali. The project was seen as a historical step to document the identity of the State and its people and the history of Goa for posterity. University insiders, however, said that no serious efforts were made to take the invaluable research work undertaken beyond the University. Secondly, because of the lack of human resource and funds, no initiative was taken so far to update these volumes.

Initiative

Prof. Shetye took a proactive initiative and tied up with Access to Knowledge Programme of the CIS. The four volumes of the 3,632 page Konkani encyclopaedia are being released under Creative Commons License CC-BY-SA 3.0 to support the movement of open knowledge and open access.

Programme Director at CIS’s Access to Knowledge Programme Vishnu Vardhan said that the process of uploading the four volumes of Konkani encyclopa edia on Wikipedia would be completed in six months’ time. He also stressed on the need to rewrite some of the articles in the encyclopaedia so as to make the content more relevant.

Students of the University involved in digitisation work and rewriting the content see this as an opportunity to learn about digitisation and to write Konkani of global standard, said Madhavi Sardesai, Professor, Department of Konkani at the University. Mr. Vardhan also disclosed plans for a relevant training programme specially co-designed by the CIS as well as the University to put up the content on Wikipedia.

He said that the Goa University is the first in the country to re-license copyright of its content and hailed the initiative towards open knowledge. Though the MoU signed last month would be initially valid for three years, Mr. Vardhan is optimistic that it would go beyond the launch of the Vishwakosh volumes.

Mr. Halarnkar, associated with the Konkani literary movement, who was present at the launch as the editor of the original volumes, welcomed the process of digitisation as relevant, historical and need of the hour. However, he stressed on supervision over the accuracy and accountability while digitising original data and regular updating of the content in the context of the Konkani language, its history and movement.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-september-29-2013-prakash-kamat-konkani-wikipedia-in-the-making

Konkani Wikipedia from Goa University in 6 months

praskrishna — 2013-09-27T11:53:51Z

Piles of the thick four volumes of Konkani vishwakosh or encyclopedia waiting to be picked up by users at the Goa University (GU) will now attain a modern avatar.

The article was published in the Times of India on September 27, 2013. T. Vishnu Vardhan is quoted.

The volumes, work on which was first started by renowned Goan writer and academician late Manoharrai Sardessai at GU, will not only be available in digitized format, but will form the base for a Konkani Wikipedia.

Goa University has become the first varsity in the country to enter into a creative commons licence that will allow data produced and copyrighted by an Indian university available to internet users and open to modification, making GU a champion of sorts of free knowledge. The Konkani Wikipedia is expected to be ready for use within six months, officials said.

The university has signed a three-year memorandum of understanding with the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge Programme, which represents Wikipedia in India, for the Konkani Wikipedia project.

"Professors, students and anyone with expertise or love for Konkani can come forward to help with the project for which training will be provided. Information in the Konkani vishwakosh will also be updated as per the current developments," Vishnu Vardhan of the centre said.

The Wikipedia is the fourth most used property on the internet after Google, Facebook and Yahoo, which acts as an internet based encyclopedia where any of the users can upload new information or update or modify an existing chapter. The Konkani Wikipedia too will offer similar privileges to users and GU's Konkani department and the centre will oversee the process from the university campus.

"The Konkani vishwakosh covers all realms of knowledge like any other encyclopedia. The Konkani Wikipedia will act as a digitized repository of knowledge for future generations and Konkani speakers across the world. I look forward to the pleasure of going to the internet and clicking away to access a Konkani Wikipedia," GU vice-chancellor Satish Shetye said.

Shetye said that GU is glad to associate with Wikipedia which has become a global phenomenon and broken the monopoly of publishers and converted distribution of knowledge into a democratic process.

"At present, it takes time for a page with information in a regional language to download because they are usually found in the form of scanned pages, which are accessible as images and not text. The Konkani Wikipedia will make the text accessible as is the case of any English text on the internet," GU registrar Vijayendra Kamat said. tnn

The Konkani vishwakosh was created over a period of 14 years.

Edited by late Manoharrai Sardessai and later Tanaji Halarnkar. GU staffers Ranjan Naik, Kalpana Naik, Kanchan Mordekar, Surekha Naik, Mukesh Thali and Shailendra Mehta contributed to the compilation process.

Contains four large volumes of 3,632 of total pages.

Konkani vishwakosh or encyclopedia encompasses world information in a nutshell with special emphasis on Goa, Konkani, Goan culture, folklore, history, geography etc.

Wikipedia is available in 20 Indian languages including Telugu, Assamese, Marathi, but not in Konkani so far.

Students, professors and anyone interested in contributing to the project can do so by enrolling online at bit.ly/konkanivishwakosh before October 5.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-times-of-india-september-27-2013-konkani-wikipedia-from-goa-university-in-six-months

Konkani Wikipedia Editors

praskrishna — 2013-12-31T12:33:31Z

Konkani Wikipedia Editors

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/KonkaniWikipediaEditors.png

Konkani Wikipedia

praskrishna — 2016-02-12T15:07:09Z

Konkani Wikipedia

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/Konkani.png

Konkani Wiki Learning

praskrishna — 2013-09-02T07:40:24Z

Konkani Wiki Learning

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/KonkaniWikiLearning.png

Konkani Wiki Editing

praskrishna — 2013-09-02T06:54:48Z

Konkani Wiki Editing

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/KonkaniWikiEditing.png

Konkani Wiki Briefing

praskrishna — 2013-09-02T06:41:40Z

Konkani Wiki Briefing

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/KonkaniWikiBriefing.png

Konkani voice to guide the blind

praskrishna — 2015-10-04T06:53:52Z

Those visually-impaired and well-versed only with the language of Konkani, now need not worry. Neither their blindness nor the language barrier will come between them and the use of mobile phones, computers and other technology.

The article by Gauree Malkarnekar was published in the Times of India on August 9, 2015.

Konkani will soon join 50-odd languages from across the globe, whose text will be recognized by the online engines for the visually impaired that converts text on mobile phone and computer screens into speech, enabling the blind to use the devices. The bank of sounds of Konkani alphabets for this purpose has been developed by Delhi-based NGO Saksham with the help of staffers of Goa's state central library at Patto, Panaji.

Users will be able to take the benefit of the initiative and have Konkani texts read out to them by making use of the open source or free for use text to speech engine eSpeak.

"Saksham, under Centre for Internet Society in Bangalore, is on the quest to enable text in all Indian languages to be converted into speech for the visually-impaired. We approached them to begin work on Konkani as we realized that while Romi Konkani can be read out because of its Roman alphabets, there was no correct pronunciation of the Devanagri Konkani sounds. The Marathi and Hindi alphabets have a different sound," said Taha Haaziq, incharge of the resource room for the disabled at Goa's central library.

A staffer of the library spoke out the entire range of sounds of Devanagri Konkani alphabets, which was recorded and sent by the library to the NGO in Delhi in January, based on which the sounds for use on eSpeak were developed.

"Work is nearly complete and Konkani speaking visually-impaired the world over will be able to benefit from this initiative. Regular Konkani speakers who prefer to use the text to speech option on their mobile phones instead of reading can also make use of Konkani version of eSpeak," said Haaziq.

The text to speech will also help the blind in the use of refreshable Braille display, which enables the visually-impaired to use computers as the display text on their screens are read out to them, in this case, now in Konkani said Central library curator Carlos Fernandes.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/the-times-of-india-garuee-malkarnekar-august-9-2015-konkani-voice-to-guide-the-blind

Konkani Vishwakosh relaunch tomorrow

praskrishna — 2013-09-25T05:53:33Z

The Goa University in collaboration with Centre for Internet and Societies Access to Knowledge Programme (CIS-A2K) will relaunch its four-volume 3,632-page Konkani Vishwakosh (encyclopaedia) under Creative Commons License CC-BY-SA 3.0. to support the movement of open knowledge and open access on Thursday at 10 a.m. at a function at the conference hall of its administrative building at Taleigao plateau.

The re-release is an initiative by the Goa University to strengthen the Konkani community and language. Information from the Vishwakosh will be used to write the articles on Konkani Wikipedia.

This was originally published in the Hindu on September 25, 2013.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-september-25-2013-konkani-vishwakosh-relaunch-tomorrow

Konkani Vishwakosh Event Poster

praskrishna — 2013-12-31T12:27:58Z

Konkani Vishwakosh Event Poster

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/KonkaniVishwakoshPoster.png

Konkani Vishwakosh (PDF)

praskrishna — 2013-10-01T12:04:41Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/konkani-vishwakosh-digitization.pdf

Konkan Corridor Project — A Lecture by Vasant Gangavane

praskrishna — 2012-04-13T13:49:32Z

Well known social worker Vasant Gangavane will be giving a public lecture on the Konkan Corridor Project at Ashoka Innovators for the Public in Bangalore on April 16, 2012. The lecture will focus on the role of Information & Communication Technology for total rural transformation by inclusive integrated development with no change of land ownerships. The event is co-organized by Ashoka Innovators for the Public and the Centre for Internet and Society.

Citing examples from the 117 village clusters in the regions of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurga districts of Maharashtra the lecture hopes to throw light on questions like what is a village cluster, what does it mean to urbanize one village cluster and what do we need to do to urbanize one village cluster, how will we organize and coordinate the project. This apart the vision, status and action plans of the Konkan Corridor Project, the skills development in each cluster, intensive agriculture in each cluster, farm produce processing, water conservation in the project area, rivers in the project area, energy, transportation, industry, science communication, and self administration in each clusters will also be discussed.

Vasant Gangavane

In the 1970s Vasant Gangavane, a management graduate from Indian Institute of Management and Wharton, returned to his village in Konkan, Maharashtra, to give his people what he felt they needed most — the knowledge to manage their natural resources. In the process, he set up several models of rural development. Gangavane found that the rate at which people migrated out of the Konkan was very high, despite the fact that the area was rich in natural resources. He studied the area and realised that land improvement and watershed development were key issues. He conducted a series of experiments in agriculture, dairy and poultry farming before setting up the Gokul Prakalp Pratishthan (GPP) in 1978. With the Maharashtra government's comprehensive watershed management programme (COWDEP), Gangavane's Pratishthan afforested 400 hectares of land in Vilye village with mango and cashew trees. Gangavane then acquired 40 acres of wasteland in the village and built water conservation structures called Gokul bandharas. This resulted in the wells in the area being recharged and ensured enough drinking water for 25 families.This model was later adopted by the Indo-German Watershed Programme.

When Gangavane's project began, the village of Vilye was bereft of young people. Its young had migrated. Now there is reverse migration and 3,000 people have benefited from the programme. The village has been transformed — water runoff has been arrested and afforestation has changed the look of the village.

After the watershed programme, Gangavane formulated a theoretical plan for model villages called the Gokul project. The aim was communication and knowledgesharing. A participatory rural appraisal is also done to explore natural resource availability, potential and use. The awareness is meant to empower people and convince them that watershed programmes can address problems of poverty and inequity. Gangavane believes that with this knowledge, and with the resources available, a small family in the area can live sustainably.

Gangavane's Pratishthan has set up an Ashramshaala at Laanja, Ratnagiri district, which is a tribal residential school, where 300 children are provided free boarding and lodging up to the secondary level. GPP has also introduced computer education in schools. For his work Gangavane was awarded the Vanashree award, Vasantrao Naik Pratisthan award and the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra award.

Download the presentation here [PDF, 228 KB]

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/talk-by-vasant-gangavane

Konkan Corridor Project

praskrishna — 2012-04-10T07:17:15Z

A lecture by Vasant Gangawane.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/konkan-corridor-project

Konferencia az internetes szólásszabadságról Budapesten

praskrishna — 2010-10-13T11:03:16Z

Az internet és szólásszabadság viszonyát vitatják meg Budapesten, a Közép-Európai Egyetem és a Google szervezte, háromnapos konferencián

Az internet és a szólásszabadság viszonyát, az internetes tartalmak korlátozásának nemzetközileg egyre elterjedtebb gyakorlatát vitatják meg a Közép-Európai Egyetem (CEU) és a Google által közösen szervezett háromnapos budapesti konferencián.

A hétfői előkészítő műhelybeszélgetések után a konferenciát hivatalosan kedden nyitotta meg John Shattuck, a CEU rektora. Köszöntőjében úgy fogalmazott, hogy egyeteme "a szabad kifejezés laboratóriuma", melyet egy elnyomó rendszer romjain hoztak létre. Mint mondta, akár az internet, a CEU is határokon átnyúlik, diákjai a világ minden részéről érkeznek. Kifejtette, hogy az internetes szólásszabadságért folytatott küzdelem rendkívül összetett és állandó érdekellentétektől - így a biztonság, a privát szférához való jog és a kifejezés szabadsága gyakori ütküzésétől - terhes.

"Az internet az emberi szabadságért vívott küzdelem fontos eszköze lehet egy olyan korban, melyben a jövő rendkívül bizonytalan" - zárta bevezetőjét Shattuck. A CEU rektora után David Drummond, a Google alelnöke köszöntötte a résztvevőket. Drummond arról beszélt, hogy az internetes tartalmakat egyre több ország korlátozza valamilyen mértékben: míg 2002-ben még csak négy ilyen állam volt a világon, addig ma már negyven. Törökország, Kína, Oroszország és mások eközben saját, államilag támogatott keresőmotort terveznek kifejleszteni - tette hozzá.

Drummond hangsúlyozta: a Google célja a szabad önkifejezés és az információhoz való hozzáférés lehetőségeinek lehető legnagyobb mértékű kiterjesztése, a "szabad, nyitott és biztonságos internet" megvalósítása. Az első tematikus blokk egyik résztvevője, Sunil Abraham, az indiai Centre for Internet and Society (Internetért és Társadalomért Központ) munkatársa élesen bírálta a fejlett országokat: úgy vélte, csak addig támogatják a nyitott, korlátozásoktól mentes internetet, ameddig nem sérülnek a szellemi tulajdonjogaik és az azok utáni bevételek. Emlékeztetett arra, hogy a szabad internet és az online szólásszabadság nemcsak emberi jogi, de súlyosan gazdasági kérdés is.

Rob Faris, az amerikai Open Net Initiative (Nyitott Hálózat Kezdeményezés) munkatársa szerint nyilvánvaló, hogy az interneten megtalálhatók illegális, illetve sértő, bántó, de még legális tartalmak is; a kérdés, hogy hol lehet meghúzni ezek között a határt, és kinek van ehhez joga - tette fel a kérdést. Az Egyesült Államokban - említette példaként - a kongresszus kétszer is megpróbálkozott az pornóoldalak betiltásával, a legfelsőbb bíróság azonban mind a kétszer visszadobta a tervezetet - a kompromisszumos megoldás végül az lett, hogy iskolákban, könyvtárakban és hasonló helyeken letiltották ezeket az oldalakat, máshol viszont nem.

Rob Faris is kiemelte, hogy a szabad internetezés korszaka végérvényesen lezárult, a hatóságok ma már a címek letiltásától a tiltott tartalmakat megjelentetők fizikai zaklatásáig számtalan eszközzel korlátozzák a világhálót. A rohamosan terjedő kép- és videomegosztó, illetve közösségi oldalak ellen egy másik - például Kína által követett - stratégia az alternatív, helyi szoftverek kifejlesztése - magyarázta Faris. Az amerikai szakember kifejtette azt is: a szabályozási kérdéseket bonyolítja, hogy a közösségi oldalak saját - sokszor az általános hatóságinál szigorúbb - szabályzatot alkotnak felhasználóik részére.

A felszólalók egyetértettek abban, hogy az internet szabályozása terén nagyon sok a megválaszolatlan kérdés, ezért a konferencia után létrehoznak majd egy honlapot, ahol folytatódhat az eszmecsere.

See the original in Hirado Online

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/konferencia-az-internetes

Kolhapur workshop

praskrishna — 2019-02-26T16:13:54Z

Kolhapur workshop

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/KolhapurWorkshop.png