Centre for Internet and Society

Celebrating Odia Wikipedia's Ninth Anniversary

subha — 2013-02-28T04:32:29Z

Odia Wikipedia saw its first edit on January 29, 2004. After a dormancy of many years it got revived in 2011. To commemorate the effort of many volunteer wikipedians, a celebratory event was organized on January 29, 2013 in Bhubaneswar. Subhashish Panigrahi participated in this event.

Odia Wikipedia recently has celebrated its 9 ^th anniversary. January 29 is considered to be that day when someone made a first edit on it. Communities from Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Nalconagar joined hands to celebrate this event with a panel discussion on "Application of Odia language in e-media". The discussion was coordinated by Nilambar Rath, Director of Academy for Media Learning. The event was organized by the Odia Wiki Community with support from The Centre for Internet and Society in collaboration with Academy for Media Learning. Panelists who took part in the discussion were Prasanna Kumar Mohanty, Director of "Odia Bhasa Pratisthan", Dr. Prafulla Tripathy, Odia linguist and writer, Dr. Dhanada Mishra, Academician and Director-Academics, KMBB College of Engineering, Subhashish Panigrahi, Programme Officer, Centre for Internet and Society, Jatindra Das, Senior journalist and founder, Odisha.com and Subhransu Panda, Senior journalist, Sambad. Wikipedians, students and journalists took active part in the discussion.

To celebrate the success of Odia Wikipedia, wikipedians joined the guest to cut a “Chhenapoda” and light Deepam as an integral part of the Odia culture.

The discussion began with Nilambar Rath speaking briefly about the agenda of the meeting and about the current scenario of the use of Odia language in media especially in the web. Prasanna Kumar Mohanty spoke about how the true form of the language should be taken to public via media. He also emphasized about the need to sacrifice our conventional way of approach and adopt new technologies like Wikipedia. Many such efforts are not rewarded because of the lack of support from the government even though funding is available for such development. Odia linguist Prafulla Tripathy explained about the lack of public interest to pledge for declaring Odia as a classical language even though Odia holds the 31^st position among 6500 world languages. "The language of our personal lives, social interaction and verbal communication never gets documented. The confusion among various linguists is another obstacle to take Odia to a global level. If the script grammar is kept in focus and script and eventually the fonts are simplified then they would be easier to be used online", he expressed. Dr. Tripathy also shared his experience of his interaction with other Indian language experts at places where he worked such as on OCR (Optical character reading) software which could be a great tool to digitize many precious resources. He offered his support for helping with OCR in Odia. Few other aspects of simpler approaches of scripts discussed were glossary, Odia-English and English-Odia lexicon, spell check feature for typing and interactive e-learning which could boost the effort of the wikipedians.

Prof. Dhanada Mishra took the audience through the free and open source culture and Linux and future role of Odia Wikipedia to tackle the problems of primary education. He thanked the wikipedians for their noble effort and showed his interest in promoting it more in academics. Subhashish Panigrahi discussed about the role of Odia Wikipedia in documenting various resources in Odia Wikipedia. He brought various technical problems that common men face while typing, contributing to Wikipedia and how they could be handled. He also proposed a plan for bringing more language experts and museum curators to the community which would increase the spectrum of resource and capacity for the Odia Wikimedia community.

Jatindra Das, founder of the first online Odia newspaper Odisha.com discussed about the hurdles of using Odia Unicode and acceptance level in the society for it. Senior journalist Subhransu Panda discussed about the usage of various fonts and how adopting Unicode could bring a lot of information to the public.

Nilambar Rath, Director, Academy for Media Learning talked about the future efforts of Odia Wikipedia community. He elaborated how media could be used as an essential tool for taking Wikipedia to more people. Mrutyunjaya Kar, one of the very active Wikipedians closed the ceremony with a brief talk about the achievements, education program and impact of Odia Wikipedia in the recent past and community building plans.

There was a press meet in the afternoon. Wikipedians interacted with the media about future prospects of Odia Wikipedia and its current state.


Odia wikipedians being felicitated by the guests

Few glimpses of the event Audio Podcast

Press coverage:

ଓଡ଼ିଶାନ୍: ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ନବମ ଜନ୍ମତିଥି ଅବସରରେ କର୍ମଶାଳା : ଇମିଡ଼ିଆରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ପ୍ର‌ୟୋଗ.
ସମ୍ବାଦ: ଲିପି ବ୍ୟାକରଣ ଓ ମାନକ ଭାଷାର ପ୍ରୟୋଗ ଜରୁରୀ.
eindiadiary.com:Odisha: Workshop organized on 9th Anniversary of Odia language: Application of Odia language in e-media.
Fullorissa.com: Odia Wikipedia’s 9th anniversary. Fullorissa.com
orissadiary.com:Odisha: Workshop organized on 9th Anniversary of Odia language: Application of Odia language in e-media.
Indiaeducationdiary.in:Odisha: Workshop organized on 9th Anniversary of Odia language: Application of Odia language in e-media.
Odishaviews.com:Odia language workshop organized on 9th Anniversary of Odia Wikipedia: Application of Odia language in e-media. Subhashish Panigrahi is quoted.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/celebrating-odia-wikipedias-ninth-anniversary

Knowledge Sharing through GLAM at Bangalore

praskrishna — 2013-02-18T05:37:46Z

A seminar for GLAM institutions (GLAM stands for Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) will be held in Bangalore on February 25, 2013, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The program is supported by Wikimedia, Creative Commons and the Centre for Internet & Society.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables users to share their knowledge and creativity through free legal tools. They develop, support, and steward legal and technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing, and innovation.

Copyright laws were developed in a previous era where in protection was given to artists, authors, and other creators as a default. In this situation sharing requires a deliberate prior permission. In the internet era, so much of sharing of digital media is happening online, and these require tools that ensure prior permission, and control the level of use. The legal tools of Creative Commons enable controlled sharing.

Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright and enable users to modify their copyright terms to best suit their needs.

What will users learn?

In this part of the seminar users will learn about:

Creative Commons as an organization
How the Creative Commons licenses work
How they relate to Open GLAM, and Wikimedia
What are the tools? How to choose them and use them
How can people selectively retain rights, while releasing some of it for free public use
Examples of how GLAM institutions are using CC
New business models and online communities
Other applications of CC

The speakers from Creative Commons have a long experience of discussing CC with GLAM institutions.

CC licensing also works for many other applications such as music, video, writing, and many other creative works. Open Education Resources, and Public Data are also some of the domains. The focus of the presentation will be on GLAM. However, people interested in other applications may also be able to take the opportunity to have discussions after the main presentation.

Who should attend the seminar?

The seminar would be of interests to:

Administrators of Public policy
Administrators of GLAM institutions
Art historians, Artists, Photographers, and Sculptors
Legal professionals
Bloggers, Authors, Editors, and Publishers.

Admission:

Admission is free to the public who register. Please bring a print copy of this registration page for admission.

Please visit the link to register: http://bit.ly/VZ8yIE

Location map of venue: http://goo.gl/maps/sYsxI

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/events/knowledge-sharing-through-glam

Wikimedia Bangalore Meetup @ Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

praskrishna — 2013-02-14T06:01:28Z

The Access to Knowledge team of the Centre for Internet & Society in partnership with Wikispeed and NASSCOM is organizing meetup at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore on February 25, 2013 at 2.00 p.m. Vishnu Vardhan will speak on the Access to Knowledge program.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikimedia-bangalore-meetup-at-iimb

Wiki Meet-up in Bangalore: Talk by Vishnu Vardhan

praskrishna — 2013-02-11T06:22:56Z

Vishnu Vardhan, Director of Access to Knowledge team at CIS has been invited by the Bangalore SIG Chair. Vishnu will speak on the Access to Knowledge (Wikipedia) project. The talk is scheduled for February 25, 2013 at 2.00 p.m. in Bangalore.

Agenda

Wikimedia Projects
Access to Knowledge by Mr.Vishnu Vardhan, Director A2K, CIS
Guest Talk by Mr.Joe Justice, Founder WikiSpeed & Mr.Vibhu Srinivasan, MD, Solutions IQ
Audience address by Chief Guest, Mr.KS Viswanath, Vice President, Industry Initiatives, NASSCOM
Networking

KS Viswanath

Mr. K.S. Viswanathan, Vice President, Industry Initiatives, NASSCOM, has around 32 years of general management and leadership experience in the Indian business context, building key executive relationships and a strong customer capital in diverse business environment. His extensive work experience in the IT industry and social sector comprises of developing and executing operational strategies, managing customer engagement programs, and establishing models for customer acquisition and retention. Over the span of his career, Mr. Viswanathan has held strategic & leadership positions at Wipro, Dell, Azim Premji Foundation and Hilleman Laboratories. As the Head for India geography at Wipro Infotech (2003-2008), he led the positive transformation of and business landscape for Wipro in India. He was the first country manager for Dell in India in 2000 and was instrumental in establishing Dell’s direct business model in India. Mr. Viswanathan is a graduate from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (1979 batch). He holds a MBA in marketing from PSG College of Technology (1981 batch).

Vishnu Vardhan

Vishnu Vardhan is the Programme Director-Access to Knowledge at CIS since February 2013. His experience spans across academics, industry (media) and not-for-profit sectors. Over the last 11 years he has worked in various capacities as researcher, grant manager, teacher, project consultant, information architect and translator. Prior to joining CIS, Vishnu managed the Art, Crafts and Culture portfolio of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT); where had spent 5 years in project conceptualization, management and assessment of quality and impact in the not-for-profit sector. Vishnu managed more than 30 projects and funds to the tune of Rs. 160 million. He also anchored SRTT’s automation and knowledge management activities. Vishnu worked as Research Coordinator at Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore where he a) coordinated the online M.A. in Cultural Studies; b) managed the Library Fellowship programme; c) conceptualized and coordinated national and international workshops and short-term courses in Media and Cultural Studies; and d) helped in building academic institutional partnerships. Vishnu is a superannuated doctoral candidate at the Centre for Media Research, University of Ulster and CSCS, Bangalore.

Joe Justice

Joe Justice (@WIKISPEED) Founder, CEO, WikiSpeed Joe's team tied for 10th place in the mainstream class of the 2010 Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, a $10 million challenge for 100+ MPG automobiles. WIKISPEED now uses agile processes to solve problems for social good. Joe has spoken to audiences at TEDx, Denver University, University of California Berkley, Google, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary International, and others about social web application development, project methodology, and agile best practices. He is CEO of WIKISPEED and works at SolutionsIQ, a leading provider of Agile consulting, certified training, coaching, development, and Agile talent services, where he helps clients leverage Agile project management and team development methods to deliver solutions more reliably.

Vibhu Srinivasan

Vibhu Srinivasan (@vibhu_s) Managing Director, SolutionsIQ India Vibhu Srinivasan is an Entrepreneur, Agile Coach, Technologist and currently heads SolutionsIQ India. Vibhu has an extensive technology, process, and consulting background allowing him to work with a diverse set of clients and teams. Vibhu has been practicing agile practices since 1997 (officially called Agile only in 2001).He brings to his consulting, deep rooted passion and practices gained by working in the trenches with hundreds of developers on real projects. He is very passionate about software development and can code in multiple languages. He has helped many teams in their quest for agility. He is a CTO of a early stage start up in Seattle and has an MBA in strategic management from school of business Madison. He has a very solid understanding of building large scale scalable systems having participated in various roles over the years, most recently chief architect for a game, Lead for virtualization product at Microsoft and CTO of his own start-up. He has worked in financial, gaming, visualization domains to name a few. An entrepreneur by choice he is always busy building a company/product and is currently in India heading Solutions IQ a premier provider of Agile consulting and development services in the US.

Participants

Intended Audience

Anyone interested in Wikipedia (user, contributor or curious about it). Wikipedians from any part of India or the world and anyone who is interested in Wikipedia! Meetup is open to members of all Wikimedia projects and Wikipedians from all languages. All are welcome, and we are especially interested in seeing newcomers to join the experienced Wikipedians/Wikimedians. If you are interested in coming, please add your name below.

The full details can be accessed on the Wikipedia page

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/wiki-meet-up-bangalore

Sanskrit Wikiquote — Now Available!

praskrishna — 2013-03-01T05:07:38Z

The Access to Knowledge team at the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is happy to celebrate the availability of Sanskrit wikiquote.

"The project is a store house of Subhashitas extracted from different scriptures like the Vedas, Upanishads Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharatam, etc., categorised and based on the topics with explanations. It contains idioms and phrases, witty puzzles, sayings of great people, Chitrakaavyam, etc., everything in Samskrit. It is to be noted that all these, in a single webpage is not available anywhere else in such an easily available form." says Dr. Sumana, Wikipedia Wing, Samskrita Bharati.

Shiju Alex, an ex-team member of CIS played an active role in bringing this out. It has about 1260 pages under various categories, for a ready review.

For more information, visit http://bit.ly/Y9OY9R

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/sanskrit-wikiquote

Digital Literacy Workshop at Department of Arts, Delhi University

nitika — 2013-03-05T01:03:05Z

A digital literacy workshop was organised at the Department of Arts, Delhi University for students pursuing their masters in Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies on February 5, 2013. Nitika Tandon shares the developments.

About 30 students and 4 faculty members attended the three hour long workshop. Surprisingly most participants had a clear understanding of how Wikipedia works, who writes the content, who are the Wikipedia editors, where do these editors come from, availability of Wikipedia in different Indian languages and many other aspects that participants are usually not aware of before most wikipedia outreach sessions. I was stunned and pleasantly surprised at the same time. I was then told that many of their fellow colleagues from Hindi department had already attended a session sometime last year and had briefed them about workings with Wikipedia. The main reason to organise this particular session was the curiosity to understand how does one actually 'edit' Wikipedia.

Mid way into the session we moved to the computer lab where all participants had access to computers, laptops and internet. A computer was shared by 2-3 participants because there were'nt enough machines. To begin with students were taught how to do basic and minor editing such as correcting spelling, grammar, punctuations, the importance of show preview button and writing an edit summary. Participants were then taught wiki mark up, adding references, adding inter-wiki links.

Towards the end of the session students filled in feedback forms with their contact information so that we could keep them updated on upcoming events and meetups that are being organised in the city. Many participants had questions about how to add table of contents, pictures and info box but there wasn't enough time to cover it all.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/digital-literacy-workshop

Access to Knowledge Report — September to December 2012

noopur — 2013-01-31T10:14:26Z

This post provides an overview of the activities done by the Access to Knowledge team under the grant provided by the Wikimedia Foundation from September 2012 to December 2012.

The information provided in this post can also be viewed in form of a presentation here.

The activities done by the Access to Knowledge team have been listed under events, meetups and programs. Here, events indicate workshops conducted and outreach activities supported for people outside the existing community while meetups indicate the meetings with existing community members and programs refer to education programs and competitions across different language Wikipedias. A detailed list of these events and meetups can be found in the presentation.

During this period of four months, a total of 22 events were conducted in 7 languages across 14 cities reaching out to a total of 2,250 participants between the ages of 15 and 52. There were 27 meetups where approximately 150 community members participated. To list briefly, these were in the cities of Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Anugul, Dhenkanal, Hyderabad, Panjim, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Karkala and Delhi.

The focus of the Access to Knowledge team has significantly shifted in terms of concentrating on Indian language projects as well as limiting the scale of initiatives to ensure more engagement. We conducted and supported 5 programs including the Malayalam education program, Gujarati Wikipedia article competition, Assamese education program, Odia education program, supporting Konkani Wikipedia incubator project and Wikipedia takes Pune. In line with the Wikimedia Foundation’s narrowed focus which includes promoting technical volunteer initiatives, the Access to Knowledge team has been helping with filing bugs for Punjabi, Assamese, Odiya, Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi communities. We conducted two hackathons at BITS-Pilani Hyderabad and in Delhi and have been helping connect interested volunteers across the country including initiatives like MediaWiki groups.

Including all the activities listed above, we reached out to a total of approximately 2,050 people and have connected with about 49 per cent of them who continue to receive updates on Wikipedia activities in India through our newsletters, mails, etc. Of these, approximately 387 participants (37.9 per cent) created usernames and made edits. The total number of female participants were 288 approximately which is about 28.2 per cent of the total people engaged. However, we are yet to generate a list of articles edited and the list of current active users. One useful way of tracking active editors on different Wikipedia projects is being developed by WMF Labs. Here is an example of the increase/decrease in editor count on Gujarati Wikipedia. We feel that more work needs to be done around studying editor retention.

From the team’s experience with outreach in these months, I want to share a few qualitative insights. For instance, we do think that there is great enthusiasm and potential among engineering students to contribute to MediaWiki and more initiatives need to be planned in order to welcome them and utilize their potential to the benefit of Indian language Wikipedias. Similarly, in terms of gender gap, while the initial barrier of participation can be overcome with outreach, a systematic strategy needs to be developed in order to make female editors feel a part of the existing community and ensure they continue contributing to topics that interest them. Also, right now the team conducts outreach sessions and workshops in all institutions that invite us with no specific approach based on subjects, gender or other parameters. Currently, the Access to Knowledge team has been sharing reports and blog posts with the community via mail, newsletters, tweets and social media fora. We hope to start monthly IRC meets with the community to improve communication and brainstorm together on what challenges each community faces.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/access-2-knowledge-report-2012

Access to Knowledge Bulletin — January 2013

praskrishna — 2013-04-05T06:58:56Z

In the first issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are glad to introduce you to our new programme director, Vishnu Vardhan, provide you an update of the Access to Knowledge (September to December 2012) Report, the Indic Languages Wikipedia Statistical Report 2012 and reports of the events organised in Goa in the month of December 2012.

Wikimedia Foundation, beginning from September 1, 2012, awarded the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. Consequently, Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program became the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program of CIS.

Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at http://bit.ly/TOcXId.

CIS Office in Delhi

The A2K team consists of four members: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Nitika Tandon, Subhashish Panigrahi and Noopur Raval.

New Project Director for Wikipedia Project

T. Vishnu Vardhan is the new Programme Director-Access to Knowledge at CIS. Vishnu has over the last 11 years worked in various capacities as researcher, grant manager, teacher, project consultant, information architect and translator. Vishnu managed the Art, Crafts and Culture portfolio of Sir Ratan Tata Trust and also worked as Research Coordinator at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society in Bangalore.

Distinguished Fellow

Tejaswini Niranjana, a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore, and Visiting Professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai is joining our team as an Adviser to the 'Access to Knowledge' programme. She will guide the A2K team in expanding the Indian language Wikipedias and in increasing the number of active editors through strategic partnerships with Higher Education institutions across India.

Events Organised by CIS:

Note: The events in Goa were organized in the month of December 2012. However, reports were published the following month.

Two-day Wiki Workshop in Goa University: An Introduction (by Nitika Tandon, January 15, 2013).
Wikipedia in St. Xavier's College, Mapusa, Goa (by Nitika Tandon, January 19, 2013).
Promoting GLAM in Goa (by Nitika Tandon, January 24, 2013).
Konkani in Wikipedia Incubator — Taking it to the Next Level (by Nitika Tandon, January 25, 2013).
A Wiki Workshop at Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad (RKGIT, Ghaziabad, January 17, 2013).
Odia Education Program (Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, Orissa, January 26, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia 9th Anniversary Celebration (Academy of Media Learning, Samantha Vihar, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, January 29, 2013).

Meeting

Bringing Konkani Encyclopedia in Public Domain (by Nitika Tandon, January 22, 2013).

Event Participated

Celebrating the success of Wikipedia in Wikipedia Summit Pune 2013 (organized by Wikipedia Club, Pune, January 12 – 13, 2013).

Media Coverage

First Odia Wikipedia Education Program concludes at IIMC, Dhenkanal (Odisha Diary Bureau, Dhenkanal, January 27, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia's 9th Anniversary and Workshop on Application of Odia in Media (Sambad, January 30, 2013).

About CIS

CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities with ITU and G3ict, and Digital Alternatives with a Cause?, Thinkathon Position Papers and the Digital Natives with a Cause? Report with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on WIPO Treaties, Copyright Bill, NIA Bill, etc.

CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India and also received the NIVH Excellence Award.

Follow us elsewhere

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Support Us
Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.

Request for Collaboration
We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant@cis-india.org

CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-january-2013

Odia Wikipedia's 9th Anniversary and Workshop on Application of Odia in Media

praskrishna — 2013-01-31T03:10:05Z

The Centre for Internet & Society in collaboration with Odia-Wikipedia and Academy for Media Learning organized a workshop on January 29, 2013. This was covered in Sambad on January 30, 2013.

This was published in Sambad on January 30, 2013.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/sambad-e-paper-january-30-2013-odia-wikipedia-workshop-coverage

First Odia Wikipedia Education Program concludes at IIMC, Dhenkanal

praskrishna — 2013-01-29T06:42:53Z

The first Odia Wikipedia Education program ended yesterday at Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Dhenkanal with distribution of certificates to the participants.

This report by OdishaDiary bureau, Dhenkanal was published on Sunday, January 27, 2013.

Odia Wikipedia (or.wikipedia.org) is a free online encyclopedia in Odia language which everyone can edit. It is an open source project and the content is available online for free. This three month education program included three workshops to educate students of IIMC about typing in Odia, collecting sources to write articles, writing the articles on Odia Wikipedia and then geting them evaluated by faculty members and wikipedians.

The program was initiated in November and run until January end. During this time 16 students took part and wrote about 12 articles on various topics, starting from the articles of local importance to eminent personalities.

We are very keen on getting more students on board to edit Wikipedia which they read and use everyday. This could be one opportunity for them to showcase their writing abilities and documentation skill. I'd like to invite the Wikipedia team to help us install Odia Unicode fonts and continue such a program for the students again”, says Professor Mrinal Chatterjee.

This program was supported by Centre for Internet and Society, a grantee of Wikimedia Foundation.

“This was the first pilot Education Program ever done for Odia Wikipedia and I'm overwhelmed with the kind of support from the college faculty and the enthusiasm of the students will bring us back soon,” expresses Subhashish Panigrahi, Programme Officer , Centre for Internet and Society. “This was a great learning experience for us and I'd surely continue contributing to Odia Wikipedia. Had it been little longer I could have contributed more on Mass Communication and Journalism.

Odia Wikipedian Mrutyunjya Kar who took a central part in organizing the project and conducting workshops in the institute calls it a great start and a stepping stone for a long term program. Odia Wikipedians Manoranjan Behera, Srikant Kedia and Dr. Subas Rout were part of the education programme as resource persons.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/orissa-diary-january-27-2013-first-odia-wikipedia-education-program-concludes-at-iimc

Konkani in Wikipedia Incubator — Taking it to the Next Level

nitika — 2013-01-25T07:34:34Z

An introductory session on Konkani in Wikipedia was organized by the Centre for Internet and Society, Delhi in the Konkani Department at Goa University on December 12, 2012. About 30 participants took part in the event.

The Konkani staff and students were exhilarated to learn about Konkani in the Wikipedia incubation. They showed a keen interest to kick-start the project and get the translations done from all the following scripts: Devanagari, Roman, Kannada, Malayalam and Perso-Arabic for Konkani Wikipedia.

We are in touch with Ms. Madhavi Sardesai, Director of Konkani Department and are also examining the possibility of organising a follow up meeting sometime in January or February, 2013.

Frederick Noronha, one of the Wikimedia incubator members contributing to Konkani Wikipedia, has been helpful in introducing us with more Konkani writers and in organizing a common meeting sometime in early 2013 to take this project to the next level.

Also see:

Konkani in Wikipedia incubator (http://bit.ly/14bTwAi)
Some pages contributed already - much work needs to be done to improve quality (http://bit.ly/Tv5iUh)
List of tasks as viewed by volunteers (http://bit.ly/10Vxwus)
An example of a well-translated article, on the "Pinto's Revolt" by Isidore Dantas (http://bit.ly/XAmliz)


Above is a picture of the faculty and students at the inaugural talk in Goa University.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/konkani-in-wikipedia-incubator

Odia Education Program at IIMC, Dhenkanal

praskrishna — 2013-01-24T10:23:05Z

The Centre for Internet & Society, Delhi is organizing a workshop on the Odia Education Program on January 26, 2013, from 3.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m.

This is the first Odia Education Program which ran for three months and 16 students took active part in contributing on various articles on Odia Wikipedia. Subhashish Panigrahi will be supporting for the closing ceremony of the program.

ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ:ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଶିକ୍ଷା ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ/ଭାରତୀୟ ଜନସଂଚାର ସଂସ୍ଥାନ, ଢେଙ୍କାନାଳ/୩ୟ କର୍ମଶାଳା

ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ରୁ

< ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ:ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଶିକ୍ଷା ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ‎ | ଭାରତୀୟ ଜନସଂଚାର ସଂସ୍ଥାନ, ଢେଙ୍କାନାଳ

ଡେଇଁଯିବେ ଦିଗବାରେଣିକୁ, ଖୋଜିବେ

ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳା ଭାରତୀୟ ଜନସଂଚାର ସଂସ୍ଥାନ, ଢେଙ୍କାନାଳରେ ଚାଲିଥିବା ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଶିକ୍ଷା ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପର ଉଦଯାପନ କର୍ମଶାଳା । ଏହା୨୬ ଜାନୁଆରୀ ୨୦୧୩, ଅପରାହ୍ଣ ଘ୩.୦୦ମି. ରେ ହେବାକୁ ଅଛି । ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳାରେ ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀମାନେ ଲେଖିଥିବା ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ ସବୁ ବିଷୟରେ ଉଇକିଆଳିମାନେ ମତାମତ ଦେବେ ଓ ଆଗକୁ କଣ କଣ କରିବେ ତାହା ବତାଇବେ । ଏକ ଉଦଯାପନ କାର୍ଯ୍ୟକ୍ରମ ସହିତ ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀମାନଙ୍କୁ ମାନପତ୍ର ପ୍ରଦାନ କରାଯିବ

ଆଲୋଚନାର ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ପ୍ରଥମ ଶିକ୍ଷା ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପର ସ୍ଥିତି ଓ ଫଳାଫଳ
ଏଯାବତ ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀମାନେ ଲେଖିଥିବା ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗର ମୂଲ୍ୟାୟନ ଓ ମତାମତ
ଉପସ୍ଥିତ ସାହିତ୍ୟିକ ଓ ଭଦ୍ରମଣ୍ଡଳୀଙ୍କୁ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ବାବଦରେ ସମ୍ୟକ ସୂଚନା
ମାନପତ୍ର ବିତରଣ

ଏଥିରେ ଭାଗନେଉଥିବା ଉଇକିଆଳିଗଣ

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/events/odia-education-program-at-iimc-dhenkanal

Odia Wikipedia 9th Anniversary Celebration

praskrishna — 2013-01-24T09:52:13Z

The Centre for Internet & Society, New Delhi is celebrating the ninth anniversary of Odia Wikipedia. The event is being held at Academy of Media Learning, M-6, Samanta Vihar in Bhubaneswar from 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ, ଅନଲାଇନରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ଏକ ମୁକ୍ତ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷର ୯ମ ବାର୍ଷିକ ଜନ୍ମତିଥି ୨୯ ଜାନୁଆରୀରେ ଭୁବନେଶ୍ଵରର ଏକାଡେମି ଅଫ ମିଡ଼ିଆ ଲର୍ଣ୍ଣିଙ୍ଗରେ ଅପରାହ୍ଣ ୪ ଘଟିକା ସମୟରେ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହେବାକୁ ଯାଉଛି । ଏହି ଅବସରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ପରିବାର ଆପଣମାନଙ୍କୁ ଏହି କାର୍ଯ୍ୟକ୍ରମରେ ଭାଗ ନେଇ ଏହାକୁ ସାଫଲ୍ୟମଣ୍ଡିତ କରିବାକୁ ଅନୁରୋଧ କରୁଛି ।

ଏଥିରେ ଆମେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ଉପଯୋଗୀତା, ଏହାର ବ୍ୟବହାର ଓ ଆପଣ କିପରି ଏଥିରେ ଭାଗ ନେଇପାରିବେ ଓ ଜ୍ଞାନ ବିତରଣର ଏହି ମହାପ୍ରବାହ ସାମିଲ ହୋଇପାରିବେ ସେ ବାବଦରେ ଜାଣିପାରିବେ । ଏଥିରେ ଭାଗ ନେବା ପାଇଁ ଏହି ଅନଲାଇନ ଫର୍ମଟିକୁ ଭରନ୍ତୁ: http://goo.gl/q5vnA

Agenda

Introducing Wikipedia
Celebrating Odia Wikipedia's 9th birthday!
Current status of Odia Wikipedia and WikiProjects
Press meet

Organizers

ମନୋରଞ୍ଜନ ବେହେରା
ଶ୍ରୀକାନ୍ତ କେଡ଼ିଆ
ସୁଭାସିସପାଣିଗାହି

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/events/odia-wikipedia-9th-anniversary-celebration

Promoting GLAM in Goa

nitika — 2013-07-26T11:27:22Z

We organised an introductory Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums (GLAM) session at Goa State Central Library on December 13, 2012. It was well attended by about 45 interested people coming from over 10 different GLAM institutes in Goa.

Nitika Tandon from CIS and Debanjan from Pune community led the session about Wikipedia and GLAM activities that have been undertaken by our global community since 2010. The talk instilled a lot of enthusiasm in librarians and curators in Goa to start similar programs in their associated institutes.

Some of the institutes attending the session were: Museum of Christian Art, Goa Chitra, Bookworm Library, K.S. Goa State Library, GTL Bicholini, and DFLG District Library. Participants had a lot of interesting questions about starting GLAM projects in English, Marathi and Konkani, starting point of the project, logistical/financial support required to run a GLAM project, etc.

To begin with we'll be meeting Victor Hugos Gomes from Goa Chitra who has shown keen interest to start a GLAM project. Goa Chitra showcases the rich tradition of implements, tools, arts and crafts. Goa Chitra has archived Goa's cultural heritage through documents, books, photographs, handicrafts, electronic recordings, costumes, musical instruments, and artifacts. In the coming weeks we'll be following up with Goa Chitra and more institutions to figure out the possibility of starting new projects in 2013.

Audio

Here's an audio recording of the entire event: http://bit.ly/XEmylE


A GLAM lecture at Goa Central Library

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/promoting-glam-in-goa

Bringing Konkani Encyclopedia in Public Domain

nitika — 2013-07-26T11:35:29Z

On December 14, 2012, a meeting was scheduled with the Vice Chancellor Dr. Satish R Shetye to discuss the possibility of bringing Konkani Encyclopedia in public domain. Nitika Tandon shares the development in this blog post.

As for now the four volume Konkani Encyclopedia is under the copyright of the University of Goa. Dr. Shetye has gifted one whole set of Konkani Encyclopedia to the Centre for Internet and Society and is interested to relinquish the copyright to release it under creative common license and digitize it on Wikipedia. In the coming weeks we'll be working closely with Dr. Shetye and his team to bring this free encyclopedia on Wikipedia.

A Special thanks to Goa State Library, Goa University, Dr. Shetye, Prof. Alito Siqueira, and Prof. Gopakumar for such a wonderful gift. And a big thanks to Harriet Vidyasagar and Debanjan and all those who helped to pull this through.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/bringing-konkani-encyclopedia-in-public-domain

Centre for Internet and Society

Celebrating Odia Wikipedia's Ninth Anniversary

Knowledge Sharing through GLAM at Bangalore

Sponsors

What is GLAM and what does it have to do with Wikimedia and Creative Commons?

Why contribute?

How to contribute?

How does it help the GLAM institution?

Creative Commons

What will users learn?

Who should attend the seminar?

Admission:

Wikimedia Bangalore Meetup @ Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

Wiki Meet-up in Bangalore: Talk by Vishnu Vardhan

Agenda

KS Viswanath

Vishnu Vardhan

Joe Justice

Vibhu Srinivasan

Participants

Intended Audience

Sanskrit Wikiquote — Now Available!

Digital Literacy Workshop at Department of Arts, Delhi University

Access to Knowledge Report — September to December 2012

Access to Knowledge Bulletin — January 2013

Odia Wikipedia's 9th Anniversary and Workshop on Application of Odia in Media

First Odia Wikipedia Education Program concludes at IIMC, Dhenkanal

Konkani in Wikipedia Incubator — Taking it to the Next Level

Odia Education Program at IIMC, Dhenkanal

ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ:ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଶିକ୍ଷା ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ/ଭାରତୀୟ ଜନସଂଚାର ସଂସ୍ଥାନ, ଢେଙ୍କାନାଳ/୩ୟ କର୍ମଶାଳା

ଆଲୋଚନାର ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ

ଏଥିରେ ଭାଗନେଉଥିବା ଉଇକିଆଳିଗଣ

Odia Wikipedia 9th Anniversary Celebration

Agenda

Organizers

Promoting GLAM in Goa

Audio

Bringing Konkani Encyclopedia in Public Domain