Centre for Internet and Society

Doctors and Translators Are Working Together to Bridge Wikipedia's Medical Language Gap

subha — 2014-08-04T03:29:44Z

I interviewed Wikimedian User:CFCF who is managing the entire project to understand how it is going to work and wrote on Global Voices' Rising Voices about it.

The article was published in GlobalVoices on July 27, 2014. It can be accessed here. It was republished in the Wikimedia Blog on July 30, 2014.

Internet users from around the world often turn to Wikipedia to answer questions of all kinds. The information offered there includes medical subjects, especially important in parts of the world where access to medical professionals may be limited.

However, much of this information can be unreliable and is available only in the most oft-spoken languages.

A group of experienced Wikipedia editors and medical professionals is trying to change that with the Medicine Translation Project, an effort to improve health care-related topics in English Wikipedia and translate them into other languages, including Hindi, Chinese, Persian, Tagalog, Indonesian and Macedonian.

Recently, the Wikimedia Foundation’s Individual Engagement Grant (IEG), a microgrant supporting work on Wikipedia-related activities, granted 10,000 US dollars to the Medicine Translation Project Community Organizing project, which aims to enhance communication and coordination among the team.

Medical student and Wikipedian User:CFCF along with two advisors, Dr. James Heilman (User:Doc James) and Jake Orlowitz (User:Ocaasi) lead the group. We spoke to founder CFCF over email.

Rising Voices (RV): How did the project get started? What inspired it and how did you identify the needs it would fulfill?

CFCF: [...] The project itself started off in 2011 when Dr. James Heilman and a number of translators from Translators Without Borders: Enrique Cavalitto and Ildiko Santana teamed up in an effort to translate medical articles. Since then, the project has exploded into a larger translation forum with hundreds of translators translating articles into almost a hundred different languages. [...]

For Wikimedia projects with a large pool of editors, we have been taking help from editors to assess what is needed, and what should be translated. On smaller projects we have simply set the goal to get anything on World Health Organization (WHO)’s list of essential medicines, as well as anything about neglected tropical diseases, also from a list by the WHO. As for these articles the project is still in an early phase, but we want to cover basically anything that might be relevant to readers, from cancer to emergency medicine.

RV: How is the process of translation going?

CFCF: [...] The problem is that there are so many layers of complications in the translation process. After an article has been written and been subject to review to ensure its quality, the article needs to be prepared and proofed for translation, after which translators need to be found. [...] Many of our translators are medical professionals and have in-depth knowledge in their native languages. On the top of it, they dedicate plenty of time on the content creation and translation. This helps to get good quality translations. What this also means is they they seldom have any knowledge of Wiki markup or Wikipedia. Someone else who knows the language in question has to go through links, templates etc. and fix them, proofread the translated content so it is up to scratch and readable.

CFCF: [...] The problem is that there are so many layers of complications in the translation process. After an article has been written and been subject to review to ensure its quality, the article needs to be prepared and proofed for translation, after which translators need to be found. [...] Many of our translators are medical professionals and have in-depth knowledge in their native languages. On the top of it, they dedicate plenty of time on the content creation and translation. This helps to get good quality translations. What this also means is they they seldom have any knowledge of Wiki markup or Wikipedia. Someone else who knows the language in question has to go through links, templates etc. and fix them, proofread the translated content so it is up to scratch and readable.

RV: How do you address this?

CFCF: To fix all this, it is best to have a local Wikipedian who can integrate the text. Most of the work has already been done. But, getting these things right is very crucial, especially on Wikipedias with vast content, where there already is a lot of content to link in.

I think the resistance we met early in the project's life was not against translation of content. But, because we did not spend enough time getting the translated articles up to shape before sending them live on the target Wikipedia.

What we saw on the Polish Wikipedia was that much of the issues were down to how they used different templates, and after I commissioned a bot to fix this, the articles started going live very quickly. After this, more and more editors became interested in helping out [...]

RV: Are you in conversation with the Wikipedia Zero team — a mobile data project focused on Wikipedia access in the developing world — about popularising this with their partners in the developing nations?

CFCF: Currently we are not in touch with the Wikipedia Zero team specifically, even though our works target the same communities. The difference between us and them is that we target developed countries as well as countries where there barely is any mobile connectivity at all, such as Burma where I do not know if we will be seeing Wikipedia Zero in the foreseeable future [...]

RV: What are your plans to engage with the larger Wikimedia communities that are multilingual and totally diverse?

CFCF: We aim to get high quality content in as many languages as we can. It is difficult to translate such deeply technical content, so we are really looking for professional translators, or individuals with some form of medical background so that information loss and corruption of content in translation is minimal.We recruit translators either off-wiki, or on the medical WikiProjects. We are still looking for translators who feel they are comfortable with such topics, and we especially need them in smaller languages. We are also searching them at Babylon on Meta Wiki.

WikiProject Med Foundation was the first attempt to get a truly global organization of medical Wikipedia editors. Most medical professionals are fluent in English, and we really try to engage in discussion in other languages when we can, so I think there is a real benefit in creating a global community for medical editors.

We are not large enough yet that we have all the relevant people on English Wikipedia, and we will probably never be because there are always specialists in other countries with very specific knowledge that we can leverage. That makes international collaboration really great.

As for the local language integrators, the idea is to have editors who are willing help out and be an intermediary between that community and our translator community. We have a page where all our finished translations are added. An integrator would patrol that page on a regular basis, inform the respective language Wikipedia that the new translation is ready. The language Wikipedia’s reader community share feedback on the translation quality and suggest for improvement. For us, it is really easy to just add articles without going through them thoroughly. But, that would not work at all. For things to work, we need someone who both knows Wiki markup and the target language so that the integration can go smoothly.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/global-voices-subhashish-panigrahi-july-27-2014-doctors-and-translators-are-working-together-to-bridge-wikipedias-medical-language-gap

'Trolled' from US Congress, Wikipedia bans edits

praskrishna — 2014-07-28T10:22:53Z

Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has issued a ten-day ban against an anonymous editor of its website located on the premises of the U.S. Congress, after the latter engaged in “disruptive editing,” on a wide range of subjects, from moon-landing conspiracy theories linked to Cuba to naming former U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as an alien wizard.

The article by Narayan Lakshman was published in the Hindu on July 25, 2014. Pranesh Prakash gave his inputs.

Many of the seemingly humorous edits were tracked by a Twitter ‘bot’ with the handle @CongressEdits, which is driven by a code to automatically monitor Wikipedia for changes to the site made by accounts with a Congressional IP addresses.

Per the Wikipedia ban, only persons editing the site anonymously are barred from making changes, while Congressional staffers who have created named accounts to log into Wikipedia could continue making edits.

Yet some reports noted that the changes “have become almost troll-like,” alluding for example to an edit on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which changed the text to say that alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was acting “on behalf of the regime of Fidel Castro.”

Another entry revised the biography of Mr. Rumsfeld to describe him as an “alien lizard who eats Mexican babies,” and yet another change suggested that moon-landing conspiracy theories were “promoted by the Cuban government.”

Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director at the Centre for Internet and Society, said to The Hindu via Twitter that Wikipedia’s ban affected up to 9000 people, while only a few pranksters seem to be indulging in vandalism.

“Ironically, it is the public nature of @CongressEdits has led to this increase in attention-seeking vandalism,” he said, adding that such bans, if there are more to come, could “effectively kill projects like @CongressEdits.”

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-narayan-lakshman-july-25-2014-trolled-from-us-congress-wikipedia-bans-edits

Open Knowledge Festival 2014

praskrishna — 2014-07-28T10:17:38Z

Subhashish Panigrahi represented India as the India Ambassador of OpenGLAM local in Berlin. The event was organized by Google, Omidyar, et.al., in Berlin from July 15 to 17, 2014.

Click to read the details on the website here. See the official programme here. Download Subhashish's presentation at this page.

Subhashish presented on the following:

Situation in India

Wikimedia India chapter and WMF's India program working on first India GLAM project
Good traction of image contribution through Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest
Mass communication and other media institutes slowly taking interest in open audio library
Digitization is a priority across government departments, with funding available
Majority of GLAMs lack knowledge about open culture, need for outreach
Relicensing and book digitization have gained public interest
Goals of the survey
Data
Mapping the sector
Encourage institutions to think beyond their digital strategy
Show institutions what is there for them

What we have done so far

Started filing Right to Information (RT) asking state government departments for lists of institutions
Reached out to WMIN (Wikimedia India chapter) for help in creating a list
Difficulty with getting people and contact details

Collaborative Presentation

OKFest2014 glam-survey_workshop_20140717 from Beat Estermann

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/ok-festival-2014

Telugu Wikipedia struggles to stay afloat

praskrishna — 2014-07-28T07:46:10Z

For a language that is spoken by 10 crore people, content is sparse.

The article by Renuka Phadnis was published in the Hindu on July 28, 2014. T. Vishnu Vardhan gave his inputs.

Sujatha, a Chennai-based homemaker, has set for herself the task of updating the Telugu Wikipedia with details of all the districts in Andhra Pradesh.

“I asked others but no one joined me in adding ‘edits’. They said they were too busy,” she says.

For a language that is spoken by 10 crore people, including a tech-savvy population, content in the 11-year-old Telugu Wikipedia is sparse and growing slowly with 20,000 articles added in the last one decade.

T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, Access to Knowledge Programme of Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), said Telugu Wikipedia was lagging behind its other Indian-language counterparts despite there being no other content repository in Telugu.

The reason is not lack of writers in the language. There are 1,000 to 2,000 active Telugu bloggers writing on topics ranging from poetry to politics. In fact, the Telugu Wikipedia was started by such bloggers.

But they are reluctant to contribute to the Telugu Wikipedia and prefer blogging because they can see their names after adding the content. Rahimanuddin Shaik, Programme Officer and system operator for Telugu Wikipedia at CIS, said, “You could call it the ‘identity crisis’ of Telugu Wikipedia writers.”

In 2006-07, an attempt was made to induce content in the Telugu Wikipedia by injecting 30,000 ‘articles’ by a bot, a Python-based script. They were one-liners about villages in Andhra Pradesh, introduced with the expectation that people would add more content. That effort did trigger 5,000 articles.

Later, in 2013, the Telugu Wikipedia became more collaborative and Hyderabad University associated itself with it by hosting Telugu Wikipedia events on its Golden Threshold campus.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-july-27-2014-renuka-phadnis-telugu-wikipedia-struggles-to-stay-afloat

Classical Odia Language in the Digital Age

subha — 2014-07-28T07:41:51Z

The essay was published in the June edition of Odisha Review, a magazine published by Government of Odisha's Department of Information and Public Relations.

Click to read the original article published in Odisha Review here.

Odisha’s documentation and archival history dates back to the pre-Kalinga civilization that existed more than 5,000 years back in which today’s Odisha was a major part of it. It, later was more vibrant when Kalinga kingdom and was widespread from Ganga to Godavari, geographically consisting of modern day Odisha entirely and partly Bangladesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chattishgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and part of Tamilnadu and Kerala. The epigraphs of cave painting in Gudahandi and stone inscriptions of Hatigumpha in Udayagiri complex are a few examples of the early documentations that the ancestral Kalingan tribes had made. Furthermore, the early Buddhist poets of Kalinga (popularly known as 64 Sidhapada) wrote “ doha ” (spiritual verses) in Pali language. Pali is the language of all of the Buddhist literature and predecessor of modern Odia, Maithili, Bangla and Assamese language and has deep impact on many other Indic languages. Odia has travelled through a long journey of “Tambapata ” (bronze plate inscription), “Talapatra” (palm leaf manuscripts), printed books since early 18th century and e-books in the modern days. Years of history that have perished during invasions by foreign invaders could have told more about this civilization. Modern Odisha state, so far has been able to uphold the pride of having the largest number of palm leaf manuscripts (over 20,000 manuscripts) in the world. Odia printing and publication industry is spread across all the 30 administrative districts of Odisha and other Indian cities like Kolkata and New Delhi and to some extent in some parts of Surat. A few million books would have been printed starting from the first book “New Testament ” that got printed in 1809.[1]

In this chronology there comes the new age reading tools “e-books” or electronic books less formally initiated in the eighties by students of Regional Engineering College, Rourkela (Now National Institute of Rourkela) and now crossed a decade.[2]

Odia got classical status on 20 February this year after 5 other Indian languages on the basis of its literary heritage of over three millennia. Interestingly, it is older than most of the most spoken languages in the world. Like many other mighty civilizations, traders of this region conquered places and took their language and culture to their occupied colonies. Early traders of Kalingan Sadhabas were trading silk and spices with South Asian countries. With them travelled Kalinga’s language and culture. When all of the other language’s have been able to have a strong presence on the Internet, online content available in Odia is way limited compared to even other Indic languages. It has been almost a decade since Odia support is available in most computers across operating systems. But, the digital desktop publishing (DTP) published resources are still not available in a searchable manner – not on internet or in a computer locally. Currently, the Odia publication industry uses proprietary standard fonts for Odia typing. Akruti, LEAP office, Shreelipi are name to few. All of these were the only means for printing books using desktop publishing at one point of time. But, these encoding systems are out-of-date. The major drawback of these fonts is, they have regular Latin characters replaced by Odia characters. If a document is typed using one such fonts is sent to someone it is difficult to even read or reuse if the person in the receiving end does not have the exact font used for typing. As already mentioned the fonts are commercial and proprietary and it is mandatory to buy them to use. In reality most of the users do not buy and use pirated versions of the software for work.

The printed documents typed in one standard is not compatible with the other one. To avoid this problems, an advanced universal standard called “Unicode” was released in early 2000. Unicode has both Odia and Latin characters in a font that allows both the scripts to be displayed correctly at the same time. It is universally compatible and all the operating systems have Unicode fonts installed in the computers. This takes the pain of installing multiple fonts to access any typed text. Searching any text typed in Unicode is as simple as googling something in English. Moreover, documents typed using one Unicode font could be read using another Unicode font. Unfortunately, none of the Odia newspapers have their publications in Unicode at this moment.

This, practically does not allow any reader to search, access, reuse and quote any content. Same is the case for all other published resources like books and magazines. More than 80 per cent of the published content are not even released online and also not archived.

Many publishers, intimidated of online content plagiarism have been protecting their publications. Unfortunately, copyright laws in India are not stringently practiced unlike the west. This has given rise to a parallel piracy market for the movies and music over the years. Interestingly, books are not of that much demand as music and movies are. As a result of the lingua-cultural shift to English from native languages regional language publications are not widely sold in the post-colonial Indian book market as compared to the English publications. The case of the use of Odia language as a language of governance is still not put in place. Odia is still to be used as a medium for official communication in all of the government offices. English medium educational Boards have been domineering over the Odisha state Board. Despite of these challenges, number of Odia dailies is slowly growing. There are around 100 newspapers published daily from various regions of Odisha. It is essential to note that news archives, unlike literary writings have much of any kind of high commercial value. So is in the case of scholarly and research publications. If all of these publications could be made available online in digital form that will take Odia literature to the global audience. This triggers the need of A) making sure the forthcoming publications are not just typed in Unicode but made available online, B) digitization of published books and making them available free on internet.

It is essential to take measures to ascertain the forthcoming publications use Unicode standard and digitizing published matter and publishing them online. Online content could be made available in Unicode and has trillion times reach than printed matter. As a vast number of the users use Microsoft’s Windows XP they could either upgrade their operating system or move to completely free and open source and Linux based operating systems like Ubuntu. At this moment, Odia has far less content on internet.

Odia Wikipedia tops the list of Odia Unicode content websites and is the largest Odia online encyclopaedia with over 8,000 articles. Available for free on or.wikipedia.org, Odia Wikipedia is a community project where any user could create, edit and modify content. The articles being encyclopaedic and referenced from other reliable sources has some level of authenticity. As this is a small project and is developing it needs more voluntary contribution to grow to a larger project that could serve the purpose of an Open Educational Resources (OER) for students. There are a handful of web and news portals maintained by individuals and organizations that have Odia content in Unicode. The other upcoming project is Odia Wikisource which is an online library. Odia books that are useful for the Odia speaking community like classical literature, religious scriptures, dictionaries and lexicons, journals and research papers and manuscripts could go online on this platform. The most important thing about these two projects is that they both have only volunteers as contributors and anyone and everyone could contribute. Any individual or organization who is interested could add a lot of value to Odia language by contributing the process of digitizing content and making them available for free. These projects, additionally are released under Creative Commons Share-Alike licenses that allows free reuse, modification and commercial reproduction of content. Many valuable books could also be part of Odia Wikisource.

Srujanika, a Bhubaneswar based organization in collaboration with National Institute of Technology, Rourkela and Pragati Utkal Sangh, Rourkela has scanned over 760 Odia books. Out of these, over 200 books are hosted in a non-profit project “Open Access to Oriya Books (OAOB)” and hosted at: oaob.nitrkl.ac.in. Organizations like Manik-Smrutinyas and Institute of Odia Studies and Research have re-licensed books of noted author Dr. Jagannath Mohanty and Dr. Debi Prasanna Pattanayak and Subrat Prusty respectively to Creative Commons licenses for free, commercial distribution. Majority of the resourceful magazines like The Utkal Prasanga could be also made available in Unicode standard by changing its copyright terms to Creative Commons licenses. Larger debates are also needed to convince authors and knowledge and information producing organizations/departments like universities and government’s departments (e.g.Information and Public Relations, Department of Mass Education and Department of Statistics.) to migrate from proprietary copyright restrictions to reusable licenses like Creative Commons licenses. This will not only will help for more public-private collaboration and knowledge production but also taking language resources to masses which is discontinued because of lack of updated technological advancement like use of Unicode font and digitizing valuable content. Government portals need Odia localization in Unicode standard so public get access to information in Odia language and this could make e-governance much more easier. Government notifications that often are released publicly are found to be released in image formats. Many such public and private information could just be released in plain text that will increase the searchability, accessibility and reusability million times.

Footnotes:

[1].Pattnaik, Pushpashree. Presentation on digitization of Odia books in Utkal University (21 February 2014).

[2].Mohanty, Jagadish, eSabada. eOdissa.com (2009 - 2010).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/odisha-review-june-2014-classical-odia-language-in-digital-age

Indian Govt looks to provide free access to publicly-funded research works

praskrishna — 2014-07-28T05:34:37Z

Sunil Abraham gave his inputs to the blog entry published in Medianama on July 23, 2014.

Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Department of Science and Technology (DST), under the Ministry of Science and Technology recently released (pdf) the draft of what is termed as Open Access Policy and has invited comments from the public until July 25, reports The Times of India. Comments can be submitted to madhan@dbt.nic.in.

The objective of this policy is to provide unrestricted access to research work funded by the departments. The draft states that since all funds disbursed by DBT and DST are public funds, it is important that the information and knowledge generated through the use of these funds are made publicly available as soon as possible.

As per the draft, DBT/DST will be creating a central repository wherein grantees can either publish their papers in an open-access journal or post the final accepted manuscript to an online repository. This includes papers funded by the two departments in 2012-13 as well as review articles invited by DBT/DST or author initiated that received funding from these departments.

The draft suggests that the full text of the research paper and metadata of all research projects fully or partially funded by DBT/DST or the projects that utilised infrastructure built with the support of DBT/DST will have to be made publicly available, failing which they wouldn’t be considered for future grants or fellowship opportunities among others.

The department believes that providing free access to these publications through gratis open access repository will enable increasing the distribution of these publications and will ensure that these research can be read and built upon.

Copyright of research papers: The draft also sheds light on copyright issues. It states that research work produced by a scientist as an employee of a government body or private institution the copyright would remain with the respective government body or private institution. However, following the final acceptance of the paper by any journal, it has to be deposited in an open access repository within a period of one week.

The author of the research paper will retain the right to reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, and publicly display the article in any medium for non-commercial purposes. They can also prepare derivative works from the article, and authorise others to make any non-commercial use of the article with credit.

Implications: This is a godsend for students, teachers and institutions that don’t have the means to purchase expensive academic journals. Sunil Abraham, executive director of Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) told TOI that the idea is that taxpayers shouldn’t pay twice to access research funded by taxpayers’ money.

Earlier developments in Open Data

In August 2013 the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, the Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) had launched an initiative called National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER). The objective was to provide free educational resources to school students under the Creative Common license.

The Union Cabinet had cleared the DST formulated National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NPDSA) back in February 2012. NPDSA was supposed to increase accessibility and ease sharing of non-sensitive data amongst the registered users and their availability for scientific, economic and social developmental purposes. However, very little has been reported on how NPDSA was utilised since then.

Click to read the article published in Medianama here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/medianama-july-23-2014-riddhi-mukherjee-indian-govt-looks-to-provide-free-access-to-public-funded-research-works

Wiki Loves Pride 2014 and Adding Diversity to Wikipedia

dorothy — 2014-07-25T10:56:38Z

Since Wikipedia’s gender gap first came to light in late 2010, Wikipedians have taken the issue to heart, developing projects with a focus on inclusivity in content, editorship and the learning environments relevant to new editors.

Click to read the original published on Wikimedia blog here.

Wiki Loves Pride started from conversations among Wikipedians editing LGBT topics in a variety of fields, including history, popular culture, politics and medicine, and supporters of Wikimedia LGBT - a proposed user group which promotes the development of LGBT-related content on Wikimedia projects in all languages and encourages LGBT organizations to adopt the values of free culture and open access. The group has slowly been building momentum for the past few years, but had not yet executed a major outreach initiative. Wiki Loves Pride helped kickstart the group’s efforts to gather international supporters and expand its language coverage.

Pride Edit-a-Thons and Photo Campaigns Held Internationally

We decided to run a campaign in June (LGBT Pride Month in the United States), culminating with a multi-city edit-a-thon on June 21. We first committed to hosting events in New York City and Portland, Oregon (our cities of residence), hoping others would follow. We also gave individuals the option to contribute remotely, either by improving articles online or by uploading images related to LGBT culture and history. This was of particular importance for users who live in regions of the world less tolerant of LGBT communities, or where it may be dangerous to organize LGBT meetups.

We decided to run a campaign in June (LGBT Pride Month in the United States), culminating with a multi-city edit-a-thon on June 21. We first committed to hosting events in New York City and Portland, Oregon (our cities of residence), hoping others would follow. We also gave individuals the option to contribute remotely, either by improving articles online or by uploading images related to LGBT culture and history. This was of particular importance for users who live in regions of the world less tolerant of LGBT communities, or where it may be dangerous to organize LGBT meetups.

In addition to New York City and Portland, offline events were held in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., with online activities in Houston, Seattle, Seoul, South Africa, Vancouver, Vienna and Warsaw. Events will be held in Bangalore and New Delhi later this month as part of the Centre for Internet and Society’s (CIS) Access to Knowledge (A2K) program. Other Wikimedia chapters have expressed interest in hosting LGBT edit-a-thons in the future.

Campaign Results

The campaign’s “Results” page lists 90 LGBT-related articles which were created on English Wikipedia and links to more than 750 images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. Also listed are new categories, templates and article drafts, along with “Did you know” (DYK) hooks that appeared on the Main Page and policy proposals which may be of interest to the global LGBT community.

The campaign also attracted participation from Wikimedia projects other than Wikipedia. Wikimedia Commons hosted an LGBT photo challenge, which received more than 50 entries and an LGBT task force was created at Wikidata. So far the group, which also seeks to improve LGBT-related content, has gathered 10 supporters and has adopted a rainbow-colored variation of the Wikidata logo as its symbol.

	Continuing Efforts Our hope is that the campaign will continue to grow and evolve, galvanizing participation in more locations and in different languages. Wiki Loves Pride organizers will continue to provide logistical support to those interested in hosting events and collaborating with cultural institutions. Contiguous with the events of Wiki Loves Pride, Wikimedia LGBT has an open application to achieve user group status from the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee and looks forward to expanding its members and efforts on all fronts.

Continuing Efforts

Our hope is that the campaign will continue to grow and evolve, galvanizing participation in more locations and in different languages. Wiki Loves Pride organizers will continue to provide logistical support to those interested in hosting events and collaborating with cultural institutions.

Contiguous with the events of Wiki Loves Pride, Wikimedia LGBT has an open application to achieve user group status from the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee and looks forward to expanding its members and efforts on all fronts.

Jason Moore, Wikipedian

Dorothy Howard, Wikipedian

Copyright notes: "SF Pride 2014 - Stierch 6.jpg" by SarahStierch , under CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported, from Wikimedia Commons, "Portland Pride 2014 - 036.JPG" by Another Believer , under CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported, from Wikimedia Commons

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikimedia-blog-dorothy-howard-wiki-loves-pride-2014-and-adding-diversity-to-wikipedia

Font problem hits Odia

praskrishna — 2014-07-25T08:04:20Z

Focus on search for solution to lack of compatibility.

The article by Bibhuti Barik was published in the Telegraph on July 7, 2014. Subhashish Panigrahi gave his inputs.

The available Odia fonts that could be used for digital publications have compatibility problems. The fonts, which number around 10, have been developed for specific purposes and cannot be used in all applications.

Computer application researchers, linguistics, information technology experts and educationists, who met at a workshop here today, urged the state government and the IT industry to ensure the smooth use of Odia fonts.

These fonts are available on different software tools, but if one purchases one of them to install on his or her computer, it fails to open in another system. Since this happens due to lack of compatibility, it also discourages users to use Odia fonts in official work and day-to-day life.

“I think the use of Odia language in computers is restricted only to desktop publication (DTP). As the compatibility factor has come as a major handicap, the use is becoming more restricted in day-to-day life. The state government should come forward to facilitate a software so that the fonts can be used through a uniform system,’’ said linguist and founding director of the Mysore-based Central Institute of Indian Languages, Debi Prasanna Pattanayak.

Subhashish Panigrahi, a Bangalore-based IT professional who is now working on a project for Wikipedia Foundation, said: “Different fonts in Odia came to existence quite late and all were based on the skeleton of Latin fonts so that when one types an English font on the keyboard, the screen shows an Odia font. Later, unicode fonts were developed, which were not only compatible to the Internet, but had elements common with other Indian languages as well.”

Odia publishers did not agree to use the unicode fonts as they were using customised softwares. For this reason, the published books and literature fails to reach the Internet.

In 2011, Srujanika, a city-based organisation, developed a converter to use fonts from other categories to unicode type.

Sujata Patel, chief operating officer of Pune -based Tech Z Solution, said: “The affordability of Odia tools and fonts is a major concern. As they are developed by non-Odia professionals, the aesthetic aspect of Odia fonts and characters are not being taken into consideration.”

Subrat Prusty, member secretary Institute of Odia Studies and Research, said: “Odia is yet to come to the computer screen on different software tools which are used for tables, Internet applications, medical, engineering and business applications.”

“Despite having hundreds of engineering colleges, two technical universities and 10 universities we are yet to use Odia in computers,” Prusty added.

Researchers from US, Singapore, IITs, central universities, IT professionals, linguists, artistes, educationists and students of computer applications took part in the workshop that was organised at the computer science department of the Institute of Technical and Education and Research of Sikhya O Anusandhan University.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-telegraph-july-7-2014-bibhuti-barik-font-problem-hits-odia

Plan for open access to science research

praskrishna — 2014-07-25T07:07:15Z

The policy is open to comments from the public till July 25.

The article by Renuka Phadnis was published in the Hindu on July 22, 2014. T. Vishnu Vardhan gave his inputs.

Ever felt frustrated while reading a science research journal online, only to see the message “to continue reading, subscribe now”? That may soon change.

The Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Biotechnology (DBt) under the Ministry of Science and Technology have drafted a policy that says publicly-funded scientific work published in science journals must adhere to open access (OA) norms, enabling anyone to read online content on science research for free.

OA is an initiative of Open Archives Initiative (OAI), an organisation which works for greater reach and free access to online science research funded by public money.

T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, Access to Knowledge, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, which assisted DST in drawing up the draft policy, said that in the absence of OA norms, commercial publishers were making money with content generated by scientists who used public funds for research.

However, those sceptical of the DST initiative are asking whether availability on the Net is equivalent to “public domain”. Concerns have also been raised about the quality of content provided through OA, as honing raw research material into scholarly journals requires rigour that commands a cost. Ramakrishna Ramaswamy, Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Hyderabad, said it was much more important to make reliable information available to the public, at a reasonable charge, because “the price of keeping it free has a cost”. The draft of the DBT-DST Open Access Policy is open to comments from the public till July 25.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-july-22-2014-renuka-phadnis-plan-for-open-access-to-science-research

#NAMA: The Future of Indic Languages

praskrishna — 2014-07-24T07:40:36Z

Medianama is hosting an open house session on "The Digital Future of Indic Languages" at the Oberoi in Bangalore on Thursday, July 24, 2014. The event will begin at 4.30pm and be followed by cocktails and dinner. Subhashish Panigrahi will participate in the event.

The following will be discussed in the event:

Growth of consumption of content in Indic languages in India.
Impact of mobile on Indic languages consumption.
Challenges of discovery of Indic language content: role of social and search.
Defining standards and the role of tools and translation.
Driving user generated Indic language content creation.
Video versus Text in Indic languages.
The role of government policy in supporting Indic language content.
The role of mobile devices and touch screens.
Beyond content: service delivery in Indic languages.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/nama-the-future-of-indic-languages

University of Mysore Re-releases Kannada Vishwakosha (Encyclopaedia) under Creative Commons Free License

pavanaja — 2014-07-24T07:03:45Z

The University of Mysore and the Centre for Internet and Society co-organized the Open Knowledge Day in Mysore on July 15, 2014. On this occasion Mysore University released six volumes of Kannada Vishwakosha under the Creative Commons (CC) license.

Kannada Vishwakosha brought out by the University of Mysore can easily be termed as the best encyclopaedia in Kannada. It has been modelled after the famous Britannica encyclopaedia. Mysore University Vishwakosha has 14 volumes having a total of 13802 pages. The very first volume was brought out in the year 1969 and the final volume was released in 2004. Many famous Kannada authors, scientists, academicians and stalwarts from other fields have worked on creating this encyclopaedia. The print volumes of the first version of the encyclopaedia are out of stock now. Recently UoM has started revising and reprinting the encyclopaedia. So far 4 volumes have been revised, enhanced and published.

UoM believes in Open Access to Knowledge. It has put up the research outputs from its departments online for free access to the public. UoM has done these as a subscriber to the idea of Budapest Open Access Initiative. The Open Access Institutional Repository, of UoM, covers scholarly publications covering journal articles, conference papers, books, book reviews, presentations, reports and patents ever since UoM was established in 1916. Extending the philosophy of open knowledge to the Kannada encyclopaedia published by UoM becomes a natural extension. UoM is in the verge of celebrating its centenary soon and has taken many initiatives in that direction.

CIS-A2K has been in negotiations with UoM towards releasing of its high quality Kannada Vishwakosha (Kannada Encyclopaedia) under Creative Commons license. CIS and UoM signed a MoU on February 22, 2014. Here is the relevant extract from the MoU: "They will work together to digitize all encyclopaedic publications for which the copyright is owned by UoM, and re-release them under the Creative Common license (CC-BY-SA 3.0). The digitized content will be made available for everyone through free content distribution platforms like Wikipedia and Wikisource. The digitization will be done employing the global standard Unicode so that the content has longevity, is universally portable and is easily searchable. Both parties have joined hands to undertake the above in order to enhance digital literacy in the Kannada language and facilitate collaborative production and free dissemination of knowledge in Kannada to the students, academics, researchers and the wider public. The parties also believe that by reintroducing the knowledge in digital and openly accessible formats could significantly enhance the production of knowledge in Kannada and give a new lease of life to Kannada language in the digital era. The parties will co-design and jointly implement relevant programmes to achieve this objective." As part of this MoU, UoM agreed to release the first six volumes of Kannada Vishwakosha under CC.

Volume numbers 1, 2, 4 and 6 of Kannada Vishwakosha of UoM have been revised and published recently. A project page has been created in Kannada Wikipedia for this project. Kannada Wikipedians joined hands in the project. The project involved extracting the text from the soft copies of the files, converting them into Unicode, extracting articles from these files and uploading them to Kannada Wikisource.

A team of interns from Christ University had a major role to play in this development. These were students from the Wikipedia in Education Program that was conducted in Christ University during the academic period of 2013-14. These students took active part in the current project and uploaded about 1200 articles so far (till July 21, 2014).

Media Coverage

The event attracted very good media coverage. Leading English and Kannada dailies like Andolana Kannada, City Today, Deccan Herald, Hosa Diganta, Kannada Jana Mana, Kannada Prabha, Rajya Dharma, Samyukta Karnataka, The Hindu, The New Indian Express, Udayavani, Vijaya Karnataka, and Vijaya Vani published about this. Scanned versions of the published articles can be downloaded here.

Other Links:

UoM Kannada Vishwakosha conversion project page in Kannada Wikipedia - http://bit.ly/mysoreunivwp
Articles from UoM Kannada Vishwakosha in Kannada Wikisource - http://bit.ly/mysoreuniv
Category UoM Kannada Vishwakosha in Kannada Wikisource - http://bit.ly/mysoreunivws
For pictures from the Open Knowledge Day event in Mysore - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Mysore_University_Open_Knowledge_Day

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/university-of-mysore-releases-kannada-vishwakosha-under-cc-license

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ବିକାଶର ରାସ୍ତା

subha — 2014-07-23T14:46:26Z

The column was published in Odia newspaper The Sambad's editorial. It shows a comparative analysis of Odia language with other languages — both linguistic and usability in digital platforms. The article also emphasizes on various aspects that need advancements.

The text below is the unedited version which was submitted for publication. For an edited version published by the Sambad on July 21, 2014, click here. Download the PDF here.

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ତାହାର ୨,୫୦୦ ବର୍ଷର ଭାଷାଭିତ୍ତିକ ନଥିକରଣ ଓ ଆହୁରି କେଇ ହଜାର ବର୍ଷର ନଥିକରଣ ହୋଇନଥିବା ଇତିହାସ, ବାକି ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କଠାରୁ ଖୁବ କମ ପ୍ରଭାବିତ ହୋଇ ଏକ ନିଆରା ଭାଷା ଭାବେ ନିଜେ କେତେ ହଜାର ବର୍ଷ ଧରି ବଢ଼ିଥିବାର ପ୍ରମାଣକୁ ଆଧାର କରି, ଏହି ବର୍ଷ ଫେବ୍ରୁଆରି ୨୦ ତାରିଖରେ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ମାନ୍ୟତା ପାଇଲା । ଏଠାରେ ଗୋଟିଏ ବିଷୟ ବାରିହୋଇପଡ଼େ, ତାହା ହେଲା ଓଡ଼ିଆ ନିଶ୍ଚିତ ଭାବେ ବାକି ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କ ଠାରୁ ପୁରୁଣା ଓ ଅଧିକ ସମୃଦ୍ଧ । ଅଧିକନ୍ତୁ ଅନେକ ଭାଷାରେ ଯେଉଁଠି କାଳ୍ପନିକ କବିମାନଙ୍କ ରଚନାର ଆଧାର ଅତୀତରେ ରାଜନୈତିକ ଚାପ ବଳରେ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ମାନ୍ୟତା ହାସଲ କରାଯାଇଥିଲା ସେଠାରେ ଓଡ଼ିଶାରେ ରାଜ୍ୟ ଓ କେନ୍ଦ୍ରରେ ଭିନ୍ନ ଭିନ୍ନ ରାଜନୈତିକ ଦଳ ଥିବା ସତ୍ତ୍ବେ ମଧ୍ୟ ଓଡ଼ିଆକୁ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ବୋଲି ମାନିବାକୁ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ଭାଷା କମିଟି ବାଧ୍ୟ ହେଲା । ତେବେ ଅନ୍ୟଭାଷାକୁ ଆଢ଼ୁଆଳ କରି ନିଜ ଭାଷା ଆଡ଼େ ଆମେ ନିରେଖି ଦେଖିଲେ ଏହାର ଏହି ଲମ୍ବା ଇତିହାସକୁ ଆଗକୁ ବଢ଼ାଇବା ପାଇଁ ବର୍ତମାନ ପାଇଁ କିଛି ବିରାଟ ଆବଶ୍ୟକତା ମଧ୍ୟ ଆମେ ଆଖିରେ ପଡ଼ୁଛି । ଭାଷାଟିଏ କେବଳ ପୁରାତନ ହେଲେ ଚଳିବ ନାହିଁ । ଯେଉଁ ଭାଷାର ବ୍ୟବହାର ଯେତେ ଅଧିକ, ଯେଉଁ ଭାଷା ଯେତେ ଜନାଦୃତ, ଯେଉଁ ଭାଷା ଜଗତରେ ବାକି ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କ ସହ କାନ୍ଧରେ କାନ୍ଧ ମିଳାଇ ଚାଲିଛି, ଯେଉଁ ଭାଷା କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟରରେ ଯେତେ ବ୍ୟବହାରଯୋଗ୍ୟ, ସେ ଭାଷା ସେତେ ଉନ୍ନତ । ଯଦି ମାଣ୍ଡାରିନ ଭାଷାଭାଷୀ ଲୋକେ ନିଜ ଭୂମିର ସବୁତକ ଥାନରେ ନିଜ ଭାଷା ଆଉ ଲିପିର ବ୍ୟବହାରକୁ କଡ଼ାକଡ଼ି କରିନଥାନ୍ତେ, ଯଦି ଜର୍ମାନଭାଷୀଏ "ୟେସ ସାର" କରି ଇଂରାଜୀକୁ ସହଜରେ ଗ୍ରହଣ କରିନେଇଥାନ୍ତେ, ତେବେ ସେ ଭାଷାସବୁ ଯେତେ ପୁରାତନ ହୋଇଥିଲେ ବି, କଦାପି ସେ ଭାଷାରେ ଆଜି 'ସି' ଆଉ 'ଜାଭା' ଆଦି କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟର ଲାଙ୍ଗୁଏଜ ତିଆରି ହୋଇନଥାନ୍ତା । ଥୋକେ ଯେଉଁ କେଇ ବର୍ଷ ତଳେ ପ୍ରଚାର ଆରମ୍ଭ କଲେ ସଂସ୍କୃତ ହେଉଛି କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟରରେ ସବୁଠାରୁ ଅଧିକ ବ୍ୟବହାରଯୋଗ୍ୟ ସେ ଫସର ଫାଟିଗଲା କେବଳ ତାହାର ସାଧାରଣ ଜନଜୀବନରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର ନ ଥିବାରୁ । ଭାଷାଟିର ବ୍ୟବହାର ନ ହୋଇ ଏହା ଯେ କେବଳ ସାଂସ୍କ୍ରିଟ ଟୁଲ ଆଉ କିଛି ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟ ଏବଂ ପୂଜାପଟଳ କରି ଜୀବିକା ବଞ୍ଚାଉଥିବା ଯଜମାନଙ୍କ ପାଇଁ ଅଧୁନା ବଞ୍ଚିଛି ତାହା ଜଳ ଜଳ ଦିଶୁଛି । ଏଇ ନିକଟରେ, ୨୦୧୦ରେ, ଆଣ୍ଡାମାନର "ବୋ" ଭାଷାଟି ସମାଧି ନେଲା ସେ ଭାଷା କହୁଥିବା ଶେଷ ମାନବୀ ବୋଆ ସିନିଅରଙ୍କ ଦେହାନ୍ତ ସାଙ୍ଗରେ । ଭାଷା ବ୍ୟବହାର ଅଭାବର ଗରଳ ଧୀରେ ଧୀରେ ଏମିତି ଅନେକ ଭାଷାକୁ ମାରୁଛି ଯେଉଁଠି ସେ ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କର ବିଶାଳ ଇତିହାସ କିମ୍ବା ପୁରାତନପଣ ତାହାକୁ ବଞ୍ଚାଇ ପାରୁନାହିଁ । ତେବେ ରାଜନୈତିକ ଇଚ୍ଛାଶକ୍ତିର ଇନ୍ଧନରେ ଅନେକ ଭାଷା ନାହିଁରୁ ଯେ କାହିଁ ହୋଇଛନ୍ତି ତାହା ଆମେ ଅସ୍ୱୀକାର କରିପାରିବା ନାହିଁ । ତେବେ ଏବେ ବେଳ ଆସିଛି ଅନୁଶୀଳନ କରିବାର କି, ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ବିକାଶ ଓ ଜଗତର ବାକି ଅଧିକ ବ୍ୟବହୃତ ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କ ସମକକ୍ଷ ହେବା ପାଇଁ ପ୍ରତିବନ୍ଧକ କଣ ରହିଛି ।

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ଯେଉଁ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ମାନ୍ୟତା ପାଇବା ପଛରେ ତାହାର ସବୁଠାରୁ ଦମ୍ଭିଲା କାରଣଟି ହେଉଛି ଏହାର ନିଆରାପଣ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ଏ ଦୀର୍ଘ କେଇ ବର୍ଷର ଇତିହାସରେ ଯେ ଆଉ ଭାଷାଠାରୁ ପ୍ରଭାବିତ ହୋଇନାହିଁ ତା' ନୁହେଁ । ହେଲେ, ସେ ପ୍ରଭାବ ନଗଣ୍ୟ । ବରଂ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ନିଜର ପଡ଼ୋଶୀ ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କୁ ତାଠାରୁ କେଇଗୁଣା ଅଧିକ ପ୍ରଭାବିତ କରିଛି ଯାହା ବୋଧେ ଆମ ଇତିହାସରେ ଲିଖିତ ହୋଇନାହିଁ ସ୍ପଷ୍ଟ ଭାବରେ । ହେଲେ ଓଡ଼ିଆର ସୂତା ଲମ୍ବିଛି କଳିଙ୍ଗର ସେଇ କାଳକୁ ଯେଉଁକାଳେ ଏହାର ସାଧବ ପୁଅ ସମଗ୍ର ଦକ୍ଷିଣ ଏସିଆରେ ନିଜର ପତିଆରା ଜାରି ରଖିବାରେ ସଫଳ ହୋଇଥିଲେ ଏକ ବଣିକ ଜାତି ଭାବରେ । କେବଳ ପାଟଲୁଗା ନୁହେଁ, ଏଠାର ଭାଷା, ଚଳଣି, ପାର୍ବଣଠାରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ମନ୍ଦିର ଓ ସଉଧ ନିର୍ମାଣ ଶୈଳୀଯାଏ ଦରିଆପାରି ଦେଶମାନଙ୍କୁ ଯାଇଥିଲା । ଆଜି ଦକ୍ଷିଣ ଏସିଆର ଲୋକଙ୍କ ମୁଣ୍ଡିଆ ମାରିବା ହେଉ କି ସେମାନଙ୍କ ଖାଦ୍ୟର ଚାଉଳ ବହୁଳ ବ୍ୟବହାର ହେଉ କିମ୍ବା ଜଗତର ବିଶାଳତମ ମନ୍ଦିର ଆଙ୍ଗକ ଓରର ସ୍ଥାପତ୍ୟରେ କଳିଙ୍ଗ ମନ୍ଦିରର ପରିପାଟୀ ହେଉ, ଏସବୁ ଆମକୁ ନିଜର ନିଜର ଲାଗିବା ପଛରେ ରହିଛି ଆମ ବଡ଼ବଡ଼ୁଆଙ୍କ ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧଟି । ଅନେକ ଦକ୍ଷିଣ ଏସିଆର ଭାଷାରେ କ୍ଳିଙ୍ଗ, କେଲିଙ୍ଗ ଆଦି ଶବ୍ଦର ବ୍ୟବହାର ତ ଆମ ଭୂଖଣ୍ଡର ଏ ଦେଶସମୂହଙ୍କ ପାଇଁ ଅବଦାନର ଆଉ ଏକ ନମୂନା । ତେବେ ଆମର ପୂର୍ବପୁରୁଷ ଯେଉଁ ସବୁ ଦେଶରେ ନିଜର ଉପନିବେଶମାନ ଗଢ଼ିଥିଲେ, ସେଠାର ଭାଷାସବୁ ନିଜ ଭାଷାକୁ ପିନ୍ଧାଲୁଗା କରି ଜଡ଼ାଇ ଧରିବା ବଳରେ ଆଜିର ଯୁବସମାଜ ସେଠାରେ ମୋବାଇଲରେ ନିଜ ଭାଷାରେ ଗେମ ଖେଳୁଛନ୍ତି । ଆଜି ବି ଇଉରୋପ ଆଉ ଆମେରିକା ସେମାନଙ୍କୁ ଭେଦ କରିବାରେ ବିଫଳ ହୋଇଛନ୍ତି ସେମାନଙ୍କର ଏହି ଭାଷା ଆଉ ନିଜ ଚଳଣିର ଦମ୍ଭିଲା ନିଅଁଟି ଲାଗି । ଭାଷା ଯେ କେବଳ କଥା ବାର୍ତ୍ତାର ଏକ ମାଧ୍ୟମ ଆଉ ତାର ଆମ ଜୀବନର ଆଉ କିଛି ଅବଦାନ ନାହିଁ ଏ କଥା ଭାବିବାଠୁ ବଳି ଆଉ ଭୁଲ ନାହିଁ । ପର୍ତ୍ତୁଗୀଜ ପାଦ୍ରିଏ ଗୋଆରେ ପାଦ ଥାପୁ ଥାପୁ ପ୍ରଥମେ ଯାହା ଶିଖିଲେ ତାହା ହେଲା କୋଙ୍କଣୀ ଭାଷା । ସେଥିଲାଗି ସେ ଭାଷାର ପ୍ରଥମ ଛପା ଗ୍ରନ୍ଥଟି ହେଲା ବାଇବେଲର ଟେଷ୍ଟାମେଣ୍ଟ । ଏପରିକି ଆମ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ଆଉ ଅନେକ ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାର ପ୍ରଥମ ଛପା ବହି ବାଇବେଲ । କାରଣ ହେଉଛି ଭାଷା ହେଉଛି ଏକ ଜନଜାତିର ଦାଣ୍ଡଦୁଆର । ସେ କବାଟ ଫିଟିଲେ ଯାଇ ଘର ଭିତରକୁ ଯିବା ସମ୍ଭବ । ଏ କଥାଟି ଭଲା ଆମ ନେତାଗଣ ଥରେ ଚେତିଥାନ୍ତେ! ରାଜନୈତିକ ପୃଷ୍ଠପୋଷକତାରେ ଆମ ଭାଷା କାହିଁ କେତେ ଉଚ୍ଚକୁ ଉଠିଥାନ୍ତା! ତେବେ ଓଡ଼ିଆକୁ ଦମ୍ଭିଲା କରିବାକୁ ଯେଉଁ ମୂଳ କେତୋଟି ରୂହ ନିହାତି ଲୋଡ଼ା ସେ ଯଥାକ୍ରମେ ହେବେ ଭାଷାକୁ ସରକାରୀ ସ୍ତରରେ ବାଧ୍ୟତାମୂଳକ କରି ସରକାରୀ ନଥିକରଣରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର, ଭାଷାର ବହୁଳ ବ୍ୟବହାରକୁ ବ୍ୟାପକ କରିବାର ସାଧନ ତିଆରି ଓ ଶେଷରେ ଭାଷା ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ଅଧିକ ଗବେଷଣା ଓ ଭାଷା ଶିକ୍ଷା ନିମନ୍ତେ ଅଧ୍ୟୟନ କେନ୍ଦ୍ରର ପ୍ରତିଷ୍ଠା ସହିତ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ସ୍ନାତକମାନଙ୍କ ଲାଗି ଅଧିକ ସ୍ୱଚ୍ଛଳ ଚାକିରୀ ।

ପ୍ରଥମ କଥାଟି ବିଚାରିବା । ଏକ ବିଡ଼ମ୍ବିତ ବେଳାରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ବଦଳରେ ଇଂରାଜୀରେ ନଥିକରଣ କରାଯିବାର ଏକ ସିଦ୍ଧାନ୍ତ ଓଡ଼ିଶା ସରକାରଙ୍କ ତରଫରୁ ନିଆଯାଇଥିଲା । ଏତେସଂଖ୍ୟକ ସଭ୍ୟଙ୍କ ଉପସ୍ଥିତିରେ କିପରି ଯେ ସେତେବେଳେ ଏହା ବିଧାନସଭାରେ ଗୃହୀତ ହୋଇଥିଲା ତାହା ନିଶ୍ଚେ ଆଲୋଚନାର ବିଷୟ, କିନ୍ତୁ ତା' ଠାରୁ ଆହୁରି ଗୁରୁ ବିଷୟ ହେଉଛି ସେଇ ନିୟମର ସଂଶୋଧନ କରି ଓଡ଼ିଶାରେ ସମସ୍ତ ସରକାରୀ ନଥିକରଣ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାରେ ଓ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଲିପିରେ କରିବା ବାଧ୍ୟତାମୂଳକ କରିବା । ଆମ ଦେଶର ଅନେକ ରାଜ୍ୟରେ ସରକାରୀ କାମ ପାଇଁ ସ୍ଥାନୀୟ ଭାଷାର ବ୍ୟବହାର ସମ୍ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ ଭାବେ ବାଧ୍ୟତାମୂଳକ । ତାମିଲନାଡ଼ୁ ଭଳି ରାଜ୍ୟରେ ଏହା ଏତେ ଅଧିକ କଡ଼ାକଡ଼ି ଯେ ଅଣ-ତାମିଳ ଆଇଏସ ଅଫିସରମାନେ ମଧ୍ୟ ତାମିଳ ବୁଝିବା, ପଢ଼ିବା ଓ ଲେଖିବାକୁ ବାଧ୍ୟ । ସରକାରୀ ଭାବେ ନିୟମଟିଏ ପ୍ରଣୟନ ହେଲେ ତାହା ଭାଷାର ବ୍ୟବହାରରେ କେତେ ଯେ ସାହାଯ୍ୟ କରେ ତାହା ଏଥିରେ ସହଜରେ ଅନୁମିତ ହେବ । ସରକାରୀ କଳର ନଥିକରଣ ଯଥା: ଅଫିସରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାରେ ଲେଖାପଢ଼ା, କିରାଣୀମାନଙ୍କ ଖାତାଆଦିରେ ଲେଖାରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆର ବ୍ୟବହାର, କୋର୍ଟ-କଚେରିରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ବିଚାର-କାରବାର, ସ୍କୁଲ କଲେଜରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ରଚନାଲେଖାଠାରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ନିୟମିତ ନାନାଦି ଭାଷା ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧିତ ପ୍ରତିଯୋଗିତା ଆଦିର ଆୟୋଜନ କଲେ ଧୀରେ ଧୀରେ ସମସ୍ତ ସ୍ତରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆର ବ୍ୟବହାର ବଢ଼ିବ । ସାଇନବୋର୍ଡ଼ରେ ଲିପିର ବ୍ୟବହାର ବାବଦରେ କର୍ଣ୍ଣାଟକର ଉଦାହରଣ ନିଆଯାଇପାରେ । ଏହା ବାଧ୍ୟତାମୂଳକ କରାଯିବା ଫଳରେ ଜଣେ ସାଧାରଣ ଅଣ-କର୍ଣ୍ଣାଟକର ଲୋକକୁ କନ୍ନଡ଼ ପଦେ ଶିଖିବାକୁ ପଡ଼ୁଛି । କିନ୍ତୁ ଓଡ଼ିଶାରେ ବାଧ୍ୟତାମୂଳକ ନଥିବା ହେତୁ ବାହାରୁ ଲୋକଟିଏ ଆସିଲେ ହିନ୍ଦୀରେ କହିଲେ ଚଳିଯାଉଛି । ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ସଚେନତତା ତିଆରି କରି ଯାହା ପୁରୁଷେରେ ହୁଏତ ସମ୍ଭବ ହେବନାହିଁ ତାହା ବରଷେରୁ ଉଣା ସମୟରେ ସରକାରୀ ନିୟମଟିଏ ତିଆରି କରି ହୋଇପାରିବ । ଯଦି ବେଙ୍ଗାଳୁରୁର ମିଠାଦୋକାନୀଟିଏ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଲିପିରେ "ଓଡ଼ିଶା ପ୍ରସିଦ୍ଧ ପାହାଳ ରସଗୋଲା" ଲେଖିପାରୁଛି ତାହେଲେ ନାମୀ ଦାମୀ ବ୍ରାଣ୍ଡର ଦୋକାନରେ ବଡ଼ ବଡ଼ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ସାଇନ ବୋର୍ଡ଼ କାହିଁକି ରହିବ ନାହିଁ? ଅଧିକନ୍ତୁ ସରକାରୀ ୱେବସାଇଟର ତଥ୍ୟସମୂହ ମଧ୍ୟ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ରଖିବା ଜରୁରୀ । ଯଦି ସରକାର ଏଥିରେ କିଛି ଅର୍ଥ ଖର୍ଚ୍ଚ କରି କରନ୍ତି ତାହେଲେ ମଧ୍ୟ ତାହାର ମୂଲ୍ୟ ଅଛି, କାରଣ ଯଦି ସାଧାରଣ ନାଗରିକ ବାପୁଡ଼ାଟି ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ତଥ୍ୟ ପାଇପାରିଲା ତାହାଠାରୁ ବଳି ବଡ଼ ଜିନିଷ ଆଉ କିଛି ଅଛି? ଯେଉଁ ଇ-ଗଭର୍ଣ୍ଣାସ ବାବଦରେ କୋଟି କୋଟି ଖର୍ଚ୍ଚ ହୋଇଛି ଆଉ ହେଉଛି ତାହାର ମୂଳ ସୋପାନ ହେଉ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ସମସ୍ତ ଅନୁବାଦ ଆଦି କରି ୱେବସାଇଟ ଓ ତଥ୍ୟ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ କରାଇବା ।

ଗଳିକନ୍ଦିରେ ସ୍ଥାନୀୟ ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ନେଇ ନାଟକ ଆଦିର ପରିବେଷଣ ଏକ ବିଷୟକୁ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ସାମନାକୁ ଆଣିବାର ଆଉ ଏକ ବିରାଟ ମାଧ୍ୟମ । ଦିଲ୍ଲୀ ଗଣଧର୍ଷଣ ପରେ ସେଠାରେ ସଙ୍ଗଠନ ଓ ଜନସାଧାରଣ ଏତେ ସଂଖ୍ୟାରେ ସଚେତନତାମୂଳକ ନାଟକମାନ ପରିବେଷଣ କରିଥିଲେ ଯେ ତାହା ସ୍ଥାନୀୟ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ମନରେ ଲମ୍ବା ସମୟ ପାଇଁ ଗଭୀର ପ୍ରଭାବ ପକାଇବାରେ ସାହାଯ୍ୟ କରିଥିଲା । ଜନଗଣଙ୍କ ପାଖରେ ଆଉ ଏକ ଜିନିଷ ବହୁ ଅଧିକ ପ୍ରଭାବ ପକାଇଥାଏ । ତାହା ହେଲା ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ବା ଆଡ଼ । ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ଦେଖି କେତେଜଣ ସାବୁନ ବା ସାମ୍ପୁ କିଣନ୍ତି ତାହା ମାର୍କେଟ ସର୍ଭେ କରୁଥିବା କମ୍ପାନି କହିପାରିବେ । ହେଲେ ସେଥିରେ ଯୁବକଯୁବତୀଙ୍କ ଭଳି ହରେକ ରକମର ପୋଷାକ ପିନ୍ଧିବା କିବା ସେମାନଙ୍କ ଭଳି ଚଷମାଟେ ମୁଣ୍ଡରେ ଟେକି ଲଗାଇବା ଯେ ଆମ ଅଜାଣତରେ ଆମ ଭିତରକୁ ଆସୁଛି ଏ କଥା ଲେଖକ ହଲପ କରି କହିପାରେ । ଆମ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ଯାହା ଟିଭିରେ ଦେଖିବାକୁ ମିଳୁଛି ସେସବୁର ଭାଷାର ନିମ୍ନ ମାନ ଦେଖିଲେ ଲାଗେ ଯେ ଏ ଚାଲୁ ଭାଷା ଆଉ କିଛି କାଳ ଚାଲିଲେ ଆମ ଭାଷାର ଥାଳରୁ ଅକ୍ଷରମାନ ବି ଚଳୁ ହେଇଯିବ । ଓଡ଼ିଶା ସରକାରଙ୍କ ସଂସ୍କୃତି ବିଭାଗ ତରଫରୁ କିଛି ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ତିଆରି କରାଯାଇପାରନ୍ତା ଆଉ ଭାଷା ଶିକ୍ଷାରେ ଯୁଗଟିଏ ଆଣନ୍ତା ଗଣଶିକ୍ଷା ବିଭାଗ ତରଫରୁ କିଛି ମାଗଣା ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଶିକ୍ଷା ଲାଭ ପାଇଁ ସହଜ ଶିକ୍ଷଣ ଓ ତା'ର ମାଗଣା ବିତରଣ । ଚତୁର ବିନୋଦଠାରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ଅବୋଲକରା କାହାଣୀ ଯାଏ ଆମ ସାହିତ୍ୟର ନାନାଦି ଜଣାଶୁଣା ସାହିତ୍ୟକୁ ଆନିମେସନ ଫିଲ୍ମ, ଗ୍ରାଫିକ ନଭେଲ, କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟର ଗେମ ଆଦି ତିଆରି କରାଗଲେ ଆଜିର ପିଲାଠୁ ବୁଢ଼ାଙ୍କର ଅବଚେତନରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ଓ ବିଶେଷ କରି ଶୁଦ୍ଧ ଭାଷା ଆବୋରି ବସିବ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ହେଉଛି ସେହି ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କ ଭିତରୁ ଗୋଟିଏ ଯେଉଁଥିରେ ଖୁବ କମ ଲେଖାଲେଖି ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ । କାରଣ ହେଉଛି ଓଡ଼ିଶାରେ ଖବରକାଗଜଠାରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ସରକାରୀ ପ୍ରକାଶନ ପର୍ଯ୍ୟନ୍ତ ଶହେରୁ ଶହେ ପ୍ରକାଶନ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିବା ପାଇଁ ଏକ ଅଣ-ଇଉନିକୋଡ଼ରେ ଫଣ୍ଟ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିଥାନ୍ତି । ଇଉନିକୋଡ଼ ଏକ ବିଶ୍ୱଶ୍ରେଣୀର ମାନକ ଯାହା ଉଣାଅଧିକେ ସମସ୍ତ କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟରରେ ଫଣ୍ଟଟିଏ ଡାଉନଲୋଡ଼ ନ କରି ବି ପଢ଼ିହୁଏ । କିନ୍ତୁ ଅଣ-ଇଉନୋକୋଡ଼ରେ ଲେଖା ହୋଇଥିବା ପାଠ ପଢ଼ିବା ପାଇଁ ଫଣ୍ଟଟିଏ ଡାଉନଲୋଡ଼ କରିବାକୁ ପଡ଼େ ଯାହା ଏକ ପାଠକ ପାଇଁ କେବଳ କଷ୍ଟକର ନୁହେଁ ବରଂ କପିରାଇଟର ମଧ୍ୟ ଉଲ୍ଲଙ୍ଘନ । ଇଉନିକୋଡ଼ ଫଣ୍ଟରେ କମ୍ପୁଟରରେ ଆଗରୁ ଇନଷ୍ଟଲ ହୋଇ ଆସୁଥିବାରୁ ସେଥିରେ ସହଜରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଲେଖାପଢ଼ା ହୋଇପାରେ । ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଅଧୁନା ସବୁଠାରୁ ଅଧିକ କଣ୍ଟେଣ୍ଟ ଥିବା ୱେବସାଇଟ ହେଉଛି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ । ଏକ ଖୋଲା ଲାଇସେନ୍ସରେ or.wikipedia.org ରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଏହି ଅନଲାଇନ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷରେ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗମାନ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ଦ୍ୱାରା ତିଆରି ହୋଇ ସମ୍ପାଦିତ ହୋଇଥାଏ । ଯେଉଁ ସ୍ଥାନରେ ଅନେକେ ପ୍ରଶ୍ନ ଉଠାନ୍ତି କାହିଁକି ଜଣେ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକକୁ ସମ୍ପାଦନାର ଗୁରୁଭାର ଦିଆଯିବ ସେଠାରେ ଏକ ବ୍ୟବସ୍ଥିତ ପରିବେଶରେ ଆଗରୁ ପ୍ରକାଶିତ ଲେଖାମାନଙ୍କର ଆଧାରରେ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆରେ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ ଲେଖା ହେଉଛି ଓ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ନଥିବାର ଯେଉଁ ବିଶାଳ ଫାଙ୍କଟି ରହିଛି ତାହା କିଛି ପରିମାଣରେ ଭରୁଛି । ଏହା ପାଖାପାଖି ସମସ୍ତ ଭୁଲଭଟକା ଓ ବ୍ୟକ୍ତିଗତ ମତରୁ ଲେଖାଗୁଡ଼ିକୁ ଦୂରରେ ରଖିଥାଏ । ତେବେ ଏହି ଭଳି ସାମୁହିକ ଉଦ୍ୟମ କେବଳ ଅଧିକ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ସକ୍ରିୟ ଅବଦାନ ବଳରେ ହିଁ ଆଗକୁ ବଢ଼ିବ, ତୁଚ୍ଛା ସମାଲୋଚନାରୁ ନୁହେଁ ।

ଆମ ଭାଷାର ସାହିତ୍ୟ ଆଉ ଭାଷା ଦିଓଟି ଯାକ ଅଙ୍ଗାଙ୍ଗୀ ଭାବେ ଜଡ଼ିତ । ଏ ଉଭୟ ପୁଣି ସମାଜ ଓ ଆମର ପରିବେଶ ଉପରେ ପ୍ରଭାବ ପକାଇଥାନ୍ତି । କେବଳ ଗପ, କବିତା ଓ ଉପନ୍ୟାସ ନୁହେଁ, ଭାଷାର ଗବେଷଣା, ଲିପିର ଗବେଷଣା ଓ ଭାଷା ଯେଉଁ ଯେଉଁ ସ୍ଥାନରେ ଯେଉଁ ଯେଉଁ ଭାବରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର ହୁଏ ସେ ସବୁର ସନ୍ତୁଳନ ନିତାନ୍ତ ଆବଶ୍ୟକ । ଅନେକ କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟର ସଫ୍ଟୱାର ଓ ୱେବସାଇଟର ବାହାର ଆବରଣ ବା ଯାହାକୁ ଜଣେ ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରି କାମ କରେ, ତାହାର ଟେକନିକାଲ ଶବ୍ଦରାଜି "ଫ୍ରିକୁଏଣ୍ଟଲି ଇଉଜ୍‌ଡ ଏସେନସିଆଲ ଲାଙ୍ଗୁଏଜ (FUEL)" ନାମରେ ଜଣା । ଏହାର ମାନକ ଆଉ ପାଠ୍ୟପୁସ୍ତକରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର ହେଉଥିବା ଭାଷାର ମାନକ ଏକ ହେବା ନିହାତି ଜରୁରୀ । ସେହିଭଳି ଖବରକାଗଜ, ଟିଭି ଓ ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ଆଦି ସାଧାରଣ ଗଣମାଧ୍ୟମ ଯାହା ପ୍ରତି ନିମିଷରେ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ପାଖରେ ପହଞ୍ଚୁଛି ତାହାର ଭାଷାରେ ତାଳମେଳ ରହୁନାହିଁ । ଏ ବାବଦରେ ସରକାରଙ୍କ ଶିକ୍ଷା ବିଭାଗ, ଶିକ୍ଷାବିଦ, ବିଭିନ୍ନ ବୟସ-ଜୀବିକା ବର୍ଗର ସାଧାରଣ ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀ, ଭାଷାବିଦ ଓ ବୈଷୟିକ ଗବେଷକମାନେ ଏକାଠି ମିଶି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ଔପଚାରିକ ଓ ଅନୌପଚାରିକ ବ୍ୟବହାର ତଥା ଶବ୍ଦର ବନାନ ବାବଦରେ ଏକ ସୂଚନା ପୁସ୍ତିକା ତିଆରି କରିପାରିଲେ ତାହା ଉଭୟ ଶିକ୍ଷାନୁଷ୍ଠାନ ତଥା ଗଣମାଧ୍ୟମ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠାନମାନଙ୍କ ବ୍ୟବହାରରେ ଲାଗିବ । ଏହା କେବଳ ଯେ ଭାଷାର ବିକାଶର ଧାରାକୁ ବଞ୍ଚାଇ ରଖିବ ନାହିଁ ବରଞ୍ଚ ଭାଷାର କାନ୍ଧରେ ଯେଉଁ କୁରାଢ଼ୀ ବାରମ୍ବାର ବାଜୁଛି ମିଡ଼ିଆଠାରୁ, ତାହା ସୁଧୁରୁଯିବ ।

ଶେଷରେ ଗୋଟେ ବିଷୟକୁ ଗଣ୍ଠି କରି ଧରିବାକୁ ପଡ଼ିବ । କେଇଜଣ ଓଡ଼ିଆଙ୍କ ଭାଷା ବିମୁଖତାକୁ ଆଧାର କରି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଜାତିକୁ କଙ୍କଡ଼ା କହିବାର ଅବସାନ ହେଉ । ନିଜ ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ଆଡ଼ ଆଖିରେ ଦେଖି କେଉଁ ଜାତି କେବେ ଉପରକୁ ଉଠିନାହିଁ କି ଉଠିବ ନାହିଁ । ତେବେ ଜଣେ ମୁଖ୍ୟମନ୍ତ୍ରୀର ଓଡ଼ିଆ ନ ଶିଖିବା ପାଇଁ ସଭାସମିତିରେ ଚିତ୍କାର ନ କରି ରାଜନୈତିକ ଦଳକୁ ଗୋଟିଏ ଭାଷାର ବିକାଶ ପାଇଁ ନୂଆ ନୂଆ ଯୋଜନା ନ କରି ତା ଭିତରେ ବିଭେଦ ତିଆରି କରିବାର ବାଟ ତିଆରି ଉପରେ ସମାଲୋଚନା କଲେ, ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ନୂତନ ଆଶାର ସଂଚାର ହେବ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ବିଭବ ତାର କଥିତ ଭାଷାମାନ । ଅଞ୍ଚଳ ଭେଦରେ ଯଦି ଭାଷାର କଥନ ବଦଳୁଛି ତାହା ଏକ ଭାଷାର ବହୁମୁଖୀତାକୁ ଦେଖାଉ ନାହିଁ କି? ଯେଉଁ ଆଣ୍ଟରେ ଗୋପାଳ ପ୍ରହରାଜେ ଓଡ଼ିଶାର ସବୁ ଅଞ୍ଚଳର ଲୋକକଥିତ ଶବ୍ଦସମ୍ଭାରକୁ ନିଜ ଭାଷାକୋଷରେ ସାଇତିଥିଲେ ଯଦି ସେସବୁକୁ ଆମ ଖବରକାଗଜ, ଟିଭି, ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ଆଦିରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରାଯାଆନ୍ତା, ଖାସ କରି ଅଯଥା ହିନ୍ଦୀ ଶବ୍ଦର ବହୁଳ ବ୍ୟବହାରକୁ ରୋକି ଓଡ଼ିଶାବାସୀ ନିଜ ଅଞ୍ଚଳ ତଥା ବାକି ଅଞ୍ଚଳର ଲୋପ ପାଇଯାଉଥିବା ଅନେକ ଶବ୍ଦର ପରିଚିତି ଜାଣନ୍ତେ । ତେବେ ଭାଷା ସଭିଙ୍କର । ଯେମିତି ଆମ ଘରଲୋକଙ୍କୁ କିଏ ଗାଳିପଦେ ଦେଲେ ଆମ ହିଆକୁ ବାଧୁଛି, ହାତରୁ କଟୁରୀ ଖସୁଛି ସେମିତି ଆମ ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ଦରଦଟି ପିଲାଙ୍କ ମନରେ ରୋପିଲେ ଆମ ପର ପିଢ଼ି ଯେ ଆଉ ଏକ ଭାଷା ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନ କରି ଜଗତର ବାକି ପାଞ୍ଚ ଭାଷା ଭିତରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆକୁ ଏକ ନ କରିବେ ତାହା କିଏ କହିବ? ଏ ଗୁରୁଦାୟୀତ୍ୱଟି ଅଭିଭାବକମାନଙ୍କର, ଆଉ ଆମ ସଭିଙ୍କର ।

ଲେଖକ ପରିଚିତି
ଶୁଭାଶିଷ ପାଣିଗ୍ରାହୀ ଜଣେ ଶିକ୍ଷାନୁସନ୍ଧାନୀ ଓ ଖୋଲା ଜ୍ଞାନ ବିତରଣ ଗବେଷକ । ସେ ଅଧୁନା ବେଙ୍ଗାଳୁରୁସ୍ଥିତ ସେଣ୍ଟର ଫର ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଏଣ୍ଡ ସୋସାଇଟିର ପ୍ରୋଗ୍ରାମ ଅଫିସର ଭାବେ ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାରେ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର ଓ ବିକାଶ ଉପରେ କାର୍ଯ୍ୟରତ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଓ ବହିର ଡିଜିଟାଲ ସଂସ୍କରଣ ରୂପ ନିମନ୍ତେ ସେ ଅଧୁନା ଆକସେସ ଟୁ ନଲେଜ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପରେ କଲେଜ ଓ ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟ ସ୍ତରରେ ଅଧ୍ୟାପକ ଓ ଛାତ୍ରମାନଙ୍କୁ ନେଇ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟର ଯୋଗେ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଓ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାରର ବିକାଶ ନିମନ୍ତେ କାର୍ଯ୍ୟ କରୁଛନ୍ତି ।ସେ ବହୁକାଳ ଧରି ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ, ମୋଜିଲା ଭଳି ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନ ତଥା ଓପନଗ୍ଲାମ ଓ ଓପନ ଏଜୁକେସନ ଭଳି ବିଶ୍ୱସ୍ତରୀୟ ସାଙ୍ଗଠନିକ ସମ୍ମିଳନୀର ଭାଗ ନେଇ ଭାଷା ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ଆଲୋଚନାରେ ଭାଗ ନେଇଛନ୍ତି । ଭାଷା ଗବେଷଣା ଓ ବ୍ୟବହାର ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ତାଙ୍କ ରଚିତ ପ୍ରବନ୍ଧମାନ ଅନେକ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଖବରକାଗଜ, ପତ୍ରପତ୍ରିକା ଓ ବିଶ୍ୱସ୍ତରୀୟ ବ୍ଲଗମାନଙ୍କରେ ପ୍ରକାଶିତ ।

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/sambad-july-21-2014-paths-for-development-of-odia-language

Mozilla Brings Indian Communities Together

subha — 2014-07-23T07:30:06Z

I took part in two major events, Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014 and MozCamp Beta – India organized by Mozilla in India as a voluntary contributor. In this blog post I am sharing with you my experience of the events.

The article was published on the website of Opensource.com on July 13, 2014. It can be read here.

Mozilla organized two national events in India during the month of June this year: Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014 and Mozcamp Beta 2014.

Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014 was more of an implementation-based sprint with the goal to motivate Indic language localization teams to translate strings for its upcoming Firefox OS based $25 phone. Mozcamp India Beta was an event for meeting mentors, planning for the future, and strategizing Mozilla’s mission in India.

Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014

The Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014 was held at Red Hat’s Pune office, June 7 and 8, 2014. This was the first time 13 Indic language communities came under one roof to translate interface strings together, commented Mozilla Community Manager, Arky. During the two day sprint, most language groups (2 - 4 members strong) completed more than 40% of the localizations that will appear as interface strings for Firefox OS, an upcoming operating system for mobile and tablet devices. Mozilla released its developer test phones, starting with GeeksPhone Keon in April of last year, started thinking of the mobile users from the emerging nations leaving the west for Android, iOS, and Windows 8. Bringing cheaper phones to people with an interface in their own language could help to make phones smarter for common users. Assamese, Bangla, Hindi, Gujarati, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Kannada, Odia, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, and Urdu are the 13 language communities that took part in the event.


Photo by Subhashish Panigrahi (CC-BY-SA 3.0 License)

Mozcamp Beta 2014

The Mozcamp India beta event aimed to bring core contributors from multiple communities housed under the Mozilla umbrella and engage with them in a participatory and learning way. Staffers from Mozilla who are responsible for various projects and products worked with these contributors over three days (June 20 - 22) building strategies for best practices for recruiting new contributors, mentoring them, and sustaining the communities in a long run. The project page says, "MozCamp Beta is an experiment. This is the first time Mozilla is testing how to train contributors to bring in more contributors across the project."

Mozilla’s core product, the Firefox browser's expanding wing, Firefox OS, was the center of attention. Mozilla is working with two Indian brands, Spice and Intex, to produce phones that are expected to be around $25, thus revolutionizing the smartphone world. Some of the sessions during the event focused on breaking the notion that app making so technical that it can only be done by some. New projects like Mozilla's Appmaker give users the option to create a web app and flash it into the Firefox OS device without knowing any code. Similarly, a session covered the User Centered Design process, a new way for users to create an app by drawing it on paper and brainstorming on paper about useful functionalities.

These two events were a grand display of user contribution and what makes Mozilla a creativity-seeking organization. "Mozilla is committed to make the web free and fun. We aim to have the maximum number of Maker parties in India this year to promote web literacy and having students to create and curate Open Educational Resources," says Mozilla’s Global Strategist and Manager of the Webmaker mentor team, Michelle Thorne.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/mozilla-brings-indian-communities-together

Mozilla brings Indian Communities together Twice in One Month

subha — 2014-07-23T07:06:58Z

The guest post was published on Mozilla' website on July 8, 2014. It can be read here.

Mozilla, in the process of putting its best effort on people that make it, has organized two larger and national events in India: Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014 and MozCamp Beta – India. The first is being a more implementation based sprint with the goal to motivate Indic language localization teams to translate strings for its upcoming Firefox OS based $25 phone where the second one was an event for meeting mentors, planning for the future and strategizing Mozilla’s mission in India.

Indic FirefoxOS L10n Sprint 2014 was held at Redhat’s Pune office during 7 – 8 June. This was the first time 13 Indic language communities came under one roof to translate interface strings together, says Mozilla’s Community Manager Arky. During the two day sprint most language communities with the strength of 2 – 4 members each completed more than 40% of the localizations that will appear as interface strings for Firefox OS, an upcoming operating system for mobiles and tablets. Mozilla, after releasing its developer test phones starting with GeeksPhone Keon in April last year also started thinking of the mobile users from the emerging nations leaving the west for Android, iOS and Windows 8. Bringing cheaper phones to people with an interface of their own language could help to make phones more smarter for common users. Assamese, Bangla, Hindi, Gujarati, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Kannada, Odia, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil and Urdu are the 13 language communities that took part in the event.

The other event, MozCamp Beta – India was aimed to bring core contributors form the multiple communities housed under the Mozilla umbrella and engage with them in a participatory and learning mode. Staffers from Mozilla who are responsible for various projects and products together with these contributors spent three days (20 – 22 June) building strategies for best practices for recruiting new contributors, mentoring them and sustaining the communities in a long run. The project page says, “MozCamp Beta is an experiment. This is the first time Mozilla is testing how to train contributors to bring in more contributors across the project.” Mozilla’s core product Firefox browser’s expanding wing Firefox OS was the center of attention. Mozilla has tied up with two Indian brands Spice and Intex to produce these phones that are expected to be around $25 revolutionizing the smartphone world and breaking the stereotype of having smartphones in the hands of them who could afford them. Some of the sessions during the event were also aimed to break the notion of app making process being too technical. The newest web innovation Appmaker gives a user the option to create a web app and flash it into the Firefox OS device without even learning any coding. Similarly the User Centered Design process was helping users to go creating with creating their app by drawing them on papers and brainstorming about having useful functionalities in them. Three of the days ended with celebrating the success of the grand user contribution that makes Mozilla a creativity-seeking organization. “Mozilla is committed to make the web free and fun. We aim to have the maximum number of Maker parties in India this year to promote web literacy and having students to create and curate Open Educational Resources,” says Mozilla’s Global Strategist and Manager of Webmake mentor team Michelle Thorne.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/mozilla-brings-indian-communities-together-twice-in-one-month

Information & Communication Technology in Making a Healthy Information Society with special reference to use of ICTS in Educational Technology

praskrishna — 2014-07-18T09:06:20Z

The Department of Computer Science, Andhra Loyola College in collaboration with the Department of Computer Science, Krishna University will be organizing a UGC-sponsored National Seminar on August 11 and 12, 2014 at Andhra Loyola College in Vijayawada.

T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, Access to Knowledge from the Centre for Internet and Society will be giving a key note address at this event.

See the invitation below:

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/information-communication-technology-in-making-a-healthy-information-society-with-special-reference-to-use-of-icts-in-educational-technology