Centre for Internet and Society

A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop in Udupi

praskrishna — 2013-04-26T06:29:15Z

The Access to Knowledge team at the Centre for Internet and Society is organizing a Kannada wikipedia workshop at the MGM college in Udupi. Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi is sponsoring the event.The workshop will begin at 10.00 a.m. and end by 5.00 p.m. Dr. U.B.Pavanaja will give a talk on Kannada wikipedia.

The workshop will cover the following topics:

What is Wikipedia?
Who edits Wikipedia?
How does Wikipedia work?
HOW TO EDIT?
What can I edit?
Why to contribute to Wikipedia
Kannada specific topics
Brief on Creative Commons
Hands-on

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-udupi-april-29-2013

A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop in Mysore

pavanaja — 2013-10-04T04:40:46Z

On Tuesday, August 6, 2013, a day-long Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted at the Centre for Proficiency Development and Placement Services (CPDPS), Manasa Gangotri campus, University of Mysore, Karnataka by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team. Dr. U.B.Pavanaja conducted the workshop.

The main objective of this workshop was to acquaint the participants about Wikipedia and get them a hands-on experience of editing Wikipedia and also encourage them to contribute to the Kannada Wikipedia. The participants were also asked to reflect upon their experiences and perceptions of editing and contributing to Wikipedia, and identify areas in which they could add more value to the existing initiatives.

Most of the previous Kannada Wikipedia workshops have been well covered well by the leading Kannada newspapers like Vijaya Karnataka, Prajavani, etc.

This generated quite some interest in many people and we began getting requests to conduct more Kannada Wikipedia workshops. One such request came from Prof. Niranjana Vanalli, Director of CPDPS, to conduct a Kannada Wikipedia workshop at his centre. The date was finalised for August 6, 2013. This was announced in the leading local newspapers. As a result, nearly 50 persons registered for the workshop.

Above: Dr. Pavanaja conducting the workshop in Mysore

The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. P. Nagabhushan, Chairman of Computer Studies, Dept. of Studies in Computer Science, University of Mysore. He said that Wikipedia could facilitate the growth of Kannada language in this digital era. Prof. Niranjana Vanalli welcomed everyone and also did the role of MC for the inaugural program. The workshop was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. started about half an hour late. Initially there were 22 people and as the day progressed we saw more people joining in for the workshop. In the end there were about 60 participants. Dr. Pavanaja spoke briefly and requested Mysore University to re-release their famous Kannada Encyclopaedia under the Creative Commons license so as to facilitate the growth of Kannada Wikipedia.

The inauguration programme was very well covered by media. The Hindu highlighted my request about releasing encyclopaedias under the Creative Commons license.

After the inauguration, all those who were interested in the hands-on session shifted to the computer lab in the same building. Dr. Pavanaja gave a presentation on Wikipedia, then Kannada Wikipedia, and then spoke about its importance. This was followed by some demos on using Wikipedia and editing Wikipedia. The participants created their usernames in Kannada Wikipedia. Very soon the limit of creating 6 new editors per IP address was reached and the remaining people could not create their usernames. Some participants registered using Dr. Pavanaja’s laptop. The rest of the participants watched the demos and promised to go home and register later. Many people did so and have e-mailed their usernames.

Kiran Ravikumar, a young active Wikipedian from Mysore gave a brief presentation about Creative Commons and how to use it with Wikipedia. He demonstrated uploading some image under Wikimedia Commons and linking it from Wikipedia.

Above: Wikipedian Kiran Ravikumar making his presentation

Some new editors have begun doing wiki editing. We may need to monitor, and nurture these new editors till the time they become well versed.

We would like to thank Prof. Niranjana Vanalli for all the local arrangements, publicity and and making the workshop to happen.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/kannada-wikipedia-university-of-mysore

A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Sagara

pavanaja — 2014-03-25T08:51:36Z

On Sunday, July 28, 2013, a day-long Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted at Sagara, Shimoga Dist, Karnataka by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team. In this post, I share with you the happenings from the workshop.

Video

Some months ago, I got a phone call from Chinmaya M Rao from Sagara, Shimoga District requesting me to conduct a Kannada Wikipedia workshop at Sagara. He informed me that there are quite a good number of writers in that area who are interested in adding content to Kannada Wikipedia but don't know how to. Many telephonic discussions followed, many dates were considered, changed, iterated and finally the workshop was organised on Sunday, July 28, 2013. The programme was inaugurated by Shri Kagodu Thimmappa, Speaker of the current Legislative Assembly of Karnataka. Famous Kannada writer Naa D'Souza was the chief guest. Shri G.T. Shridhar Sharma, President of Kannada Times Media World, presided over the function. The programme was jointly organised by CIS and Kannada Times Media World, Sagara.

	Speaking after inaugurating the workshop, Shri Kagodu Thimmappa said "the basic knowledge of technology has become important as one could get ample, accurate information on various topics, and current affairs of the world in a minute all languages, including Kannada. It is the onus of the people of the sate to preserve and promote the use of Kannada language." (Deccan Herald, Shimaga edition, July 30, 2013). Naa D'Souza mentioned how earlier knowledge was the monopoly of some particular sections of the society and how technology has transformed knowledge into an asset of all the people irrespective of caste, race, religion, region and financial status.
Seen above is a picture of Shri Kagodu Thimmappa inagurating the workshop

I then gave a brief introduction to Wikipedia and Kannada Wikipedia. There are many encylopaedias in Kannada but very few are regularly updated. They are seldom digitised. People who add content to Kannada Wikipedia are in search of authentic information. These are available in many encylopaedias brought in by various academies, associations and universities funded by the Government of Karnataka. People of the state have a right on these content. I requested Shri Kagodu Thimmappa to bring them under the Creative Commons License so that the active Kannada Wikipedians can make use of them to add content into Kannada Wikipedia. Shri Kagodu Thimmappa promised to look into this.

After the inauguration, the actual presentation by me started at a cybercafe run by Istam Computers. It was raining heavily. Participants walked for 5 minutes in heavy rain to reach the venue. The presentation went on till lunch time. The place was very congested. One participant, B. V. Ravindranath, who is a practicing Chartered Accountant at Sagara, offered his place to conduct the hands-on workshop. Hence, all participants went to the new venue which was quite comfortable. Participants did the hands-on editing of Wikipedia till 7.30 p.m. Eleven persons participated in the workshop and edited actively. Some were seen editing Kannada Wikipedia regularly after the workshop.
Dr. U.B. Pavanaja is seen sharing a light moment with participants from the workshop in the above picture.

After the inauguration, the actual presentation by me started at a cybercafe run by Istam Computers. It was raining heavily. Participants walked for 5 minutes in heavy rain to reach the venue. The presentation went on till lunch time. The place was very congested. One participant, B. V. Ravindranath, who is a practicing Chartered Accountant at Sagara, offered his place to conduct the hands-on workshop. Hence, all participants went to the new venue which was quite comfortable. Participants did the hands-on editing of Wikipedia till 7.30 p.m. Eleven persons participated in the workshop and edited actively. Some were seen editing Kannada Wikipedia regularly after the workshop.

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja is seen sharing a light moment with participants from the workshop in the above picture.

An active Kannada Wikipedian, B S Chandrashekhar from Sagara, who has more than 4500 edits on Kannada Wikipedia to his credit was felicitated during the inauguration function. He is 79 years old. Despite his old age, he actively paticipated in the workshop till the end and learnt many intricacies which he was otherwise unaware of.

In the end, I would like to personally thank Chinmay Rao and G. T. Shridhar Sharma of Kannada Times who toiled a lot in organising the wokrshop. Also thanks to B. V. Ravindranath, CA, who provided the venue for the hands-on workshop.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara

A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Krishnarajapet

pavanaja — 2013-09-05T06:46:39Z

On Sunday, August 11, 2013, a day-long Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted at Shyam Computers, Krishnarajapet, Karnataka. The workshop was co-organized by the CIS-A2K team along with Kannada Sahitya Parishat of KR Pet. This report summarizes the proceedings of that workshop and subsequent research into relevant questions flowing from the discussions.

The CIS-A2K team has been getting requests to conduct Kannada Wikipedia workshops from various parts of Karnataka. One such request came from ISRO technician Akash B., who is originally from Krishnarajapet, popularly known as K R Pet, in Mandya Dist of Karnataka. . Shyamesh of Shyam Computers sponsored the venue by lending his cyber centre. The workshop was scheduled for 10.00 a.m. and began a little late at 10.45 a.m.

About 20 participants came together to learn Wikipedia editing. The inauguration was followed by the hands-on workshop. We had some discussions with Akash about the IP address restrictions for registering new users. Usually only 6 persons can register on a day from one IP address. Fortunately, the cyber centre had a dynamic IP. After 6 registrations, we reset the modem so that the remaining participants could register. Akash helped some participants to register the previous day itself.

The participants were quite enthusiastic. We gave a presentation about Wikipedia and Kannada Wikipedia and then gave a demonstration about editing the Wikipedia. After that the participants tried their hands on editing Kannada Wikipedia. Some of the participants who attended the workshop are now editing the Kannada Wikipedia on a daily basis. We hope that they sustain their interest and enhance the quality of Kannada Wikipedia.


A group picture of the participants from the Krishnarajapet workshop. (Picture by Dr. U.B.Pavanaja, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

A special thanks to Kannada Sahitya Parishat, K R Pet, Akash B and Shyam Computers.

Media Coverage

Prajavani, (August 12, 2013)
Suvarna Times of Karnataka (August 12, 2013)
Vijaya Vani (August 12, 2013)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/a-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-krishnarajapet

A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hubli

pavanaja — 2013-07-31T09:28:26Z

On Sunday, July 21, 2013, a day-long Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted at Hubli by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team. This blog post throws more light on the workshop.

On June 13, 2013, a Kannada news channel, Suvarna News 24x7, telecasted a panel discussion on Kannada Wikipedia. I participated as a panelist in the programme along with M.G. Harish, who is an admin of Kannada Wikipedia. In the panel discussion, the anchor Shetty asked us whether we conduct workshops to help people edit Wikipedia? I said yes, and also confirmed that if people (from whichever place they may hail from) want training on editing Wikipedia then I am willing to travel to that place and do a workshop.

One week after the programme was telecasted, one V S Hiremath called me from Hubli and requested me to conduct a Kannada Wikipedia workshop at Hubli. Many rounds of discussions took place. One condition that I had put forward was that participants should come with their own laptops and internet connections like data cards, dongles, etc., for the workshop. Unfortunately, majority of the people willing to participate in the workshop didn't have laptops albeit having desktops and internet connections in their homes. So we had to make alternative arrangements and the workshop was conducted at the computer lab of KLE Society's Institute of Management Studies and Research. The logistics were arranged by V. S. Hiremath of UNV Associates.

Above is a picture of Dr. U.B. Pavanaja at the inauguration of the workshop.

The programme was scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Due to the monsoon season, it was raining heavily. People started to come in a bit late. Hiremath had scheduled an inauguration and media briefing for the workshop. Dr. Prasad B.Roodagi, Director of IMSR, presided over the function. The inauguration was done by Sheelavantar of Hosa Digantha. Since Dr. Prasad B.Roodagi came almost one hour late, the workshop began late.

The actual hands-on workshop started after the tea-break at 11.30 a.m. People were very eager to learn about editing Wikipedia. There were 22 participants.

Wikipedia has a condition that only 6 new editors can register per day for a given IP address. The lab had static IP address. Once, 6 participants had registered, the remaining couldn't register.

So the rest registered using my laptop during lunch break. I taught them the features of Wikipedia, searching for a topic, posting new articles, formatting, inserting links, images, references, etc. Participants got to know all of these by using their respective sandboxes. Towards the end, I also showed them Kannada Wiktionary, Kannada Wikiquote and Kannada Wikisource.


Above is a group picture of the participants from the workshop.

The results have been positive. About 1-2 persons are adding new content to Kannada Wikipedia. Hope that the remaining participants will also add content over a period of time.

A special thanks to V.S. Hiremath for doing all local arrangements and giving wider publicity. Without his active interest and participation, the workshop wouldn't have happened.

Click here for more pictures from the workshop. Press coverage from leading newspapers like Times of India, Deccan Herald, VijayaVani, HosaDiganta, Vijaya Karnataka, Prajavani, and Samyukta Karnataka can be dowloaded from the zip file below:

Press Coverage (Zip folder, 4.5 Mb)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-hubli

A Kannada Wikipedia brochure for newbies

pavanaja — 2015-10-19T10:46:38Z

This brochure has been created keeping readers and new Wikipedia editors in mind. This would come handy to learn editing Kannada Wikipedia and creating/editing articles in Kannada.

What does it contain?

How Wikipedia is world’s largest free and open encyclopaedia?
Did you know that "anyone can edit Wikipedia"?
How Wikipedia helps in preserving the knowledge and taking it to the next generation. For our languages to survive and grow, it is very important to bring world knowledge in our language. Wikipedia helps in expanding that knowledge repository as anyone can contribute to Wikipedia.
There is no financial gain by writing in Wikipedia. It is very easy to start editing Kannada Wikipedia. Open kn.wikipedia.org, check the help file, tutorial file & videos, start editing in your sandbox (learn more about the Wikipedia sandbox).
No poetry, blog, story, criticism, writing about self, advertisements of any sorts, etc are not allowed in Wikipedia

Download this brochure from here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/a-kannada-wikipedia-brochure-for-newbies

A four year, action-packed experience with Wikipedia

Sailesh Patnaik — 2016-06-18T16:20:54Z

I consider myself to be an Odia Wikimedian. I contribute Odia knowledge (the predominant language of the Indian state of Odisha) to many Wikimedia projects, like Wikipedia and Wikisource, by writing articles and correcting mistakes in articles. I also contribute to Hindi and English Wikipedia articles.

The article was published in OpenSource.com on April 15, 2016.

My love for Wikimedia started while I was reading an article about the Bangladesh Liberation war on the English Wikipedia after my 10th board exam (like, an annual exam for 10th grade students in America). By mistake I clicked on a link that took me to an India Wikipedia article, and I started reading. Something was written in Odia on the lefthand side of the article, so I clicked on that, and reached a ଭାରତ/Bhārat article on the Odia Wikipedia. I was excited to find a Wikipedia article in my native language!

A banner inviting readers to be part of the 2nd Bhubaneswar workshop on April 1, 2012 sparked my curiousity. I had never contributed to Wikipedia before, only used it for research, and I wasn't familiar with open source and the community contribution process. Plus, I was only 15 years old. I registered. There were many language enthusiasts at the workshop, and all older than me. My father encouraged me to the participate despite my fear; he has played an important role—he's not a Wikimedian, like me, but his encouragement has helped me change Odia Wikipedia and participate in community activities.

I believe that knowledge about Odia language and literature needs to improve—there are many misconceptions and knowledge gaps—so, I help organize events and workshops for Odia Wikipedia. On my accomplished list at the point, I have:

initiated three major edit-a-thons in Odia Wikipedia: Women's Day 2015, Women's Day 2016, abd Nabakalebara edit-a-thon 2015

initiated a photograph contest to get more Rathyatra images from all over the India

represented Odia Wikipedia during two events by Google (Google I/O extended and Google Dev Fest)

spoke at Perception 2015 and the first Open Access India meetup

I was just an editor to Wikipedia projects until last year, in January 2015, when I attended Bengali Wikipedia's 10th anniversary conference and Vishnu, the director of the Center for Internet and Society at the time, invited me to attend the Train the Trainer Program. I was inspired to start doing outreach for Odia Wikipedia and hosting meetups for GLAM activities and training new Wikimedians. These experience taught me how to work with a community of contributors.

Ravi, the director of Wikimedia India at the time, also played an important role in my journey. He trusted me and made me a part of Wiki Loves Food, a public photo competition on Wikimedia Commons, and the organizing committee of Wikiconference India 2016. During Wiki Loves Food 2015, my team helped add 10,000+ CC BY-SA images on Wikimedia Commons. Ravi further solidified my commitment by sharing a lot of information with me about the Wikimedia movement, and his own journey, during Odia Wikipedia's 13th anniversary.

Less than a year later, in December 2015, I became a Program Associate at the Center for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge program (CIS-A2K). One of my proud moments was at a workshop in Puri, India where we helped bring 20 new Wikimedian editors to the Odia Wikimedia community. Now, I mentor Wikimedians during an informal meetup called WikiTungi Puri. I am working with this group to make Odia Wikiquotes a live project. I am also dedicated to bridging the gender gap in Odia Wikipedia. Eight female editors are now helping to organize meetups and workshops, and participate in the Women's History month edit-a-thon.

During my brief but action-packed journey during the four years since, I have also been involved in the Wikipedia Education Program, the newsletter team, and two global edit-a-thons: Art and Feminsim and Menu Challenge. I look forward to the many more to come!

I would also like to thank Sameer and Anna (both previous members of the Wikipedia Education Program).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-source-april-15-2016-a-four-year-action-packed-experience-with-wikipedia

A Feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians on HMTV

praskrishna — 2013-08-21T04:46:47Z

Based on the Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam, HMTV (one of the leading Telugu News channels in Andhra Pradesh) has produced a half an hour feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians.

This feature gives a concise history of the growth of Wikipedia and the efforts being put in developing Indian Language Wikipedias. Done in collaboration with Telugu Wikipeidans, this feature also showcases some of the key Telugu Wikipedians who have attended Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam — a community event supported by CIS-A2K and WMI Chapter. This feature was broadcast on May 30 and was repeated on May 31.

Video

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/hmtv-may-30-2013-wikipedia-and-telugu-wikipedians

A Feature on Telugu Wikipedia

praskrishna — 2013-12-30T06:01:59Z

Namaste Telangana newspaper has done a Sunday magazine feature on Telugu Wikipedia on the occasion of the 10th anniversary.

Click to download the file.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/feature-on-telugu-wikipedia

A 'Kannada' Wikipedia Workshop for Bloggers

pavanaja — 2013-07-03T10:19:56Z

On Sunday, June 23, 2013, a day-long Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted at Suchitra, Bengaluru for Kannada bloggers by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team. This blog post gives a report on the workshop.

There was a demand from Kannada bloggers that they need some orientation on editing Kannada Wikipedia. There were informal talks on this since the last 2-3 months on when and how the event should be organised. CIS-A2K collaborated with Suchitra Film and Cultural Society, Bengaluru and Avadhi. G N Mohan of Avadhi and Prakash Belavadi of Suchitra helped in getting the conference room of Suchitra available for the workshop.

Announcement was made in the KannadaWikipedia group of Facebook. This group has more than 2000 members. One member even sent a message questioning the wisdom of inviting everyone for the workshop. He asked, "can we accommodate all the people if they turn up?" However, I was quite sure that not more than 25 will turn up. The reason being the condition that participants should come with their own laptops and internet connections. As the workshop date neared, more and more people began registering for participation. The number reached 56 on the previous night. I sent a message requesting people to reconfirm the participation as the conference room could accommodate 25 people only. Few people withdrew and only 13 persons reconfirmed.

June 23, being a Sunday, the personnel at Suchitra came to open the room only at 9.50 a.m. Myself and some participants were there at 9.20 a.m. itself. Once everyone settled down, there was an issue with the projector. My ultrabook has only a mini HDMI port. I keep an HDMI-to-VGA converter and have been using it from the last 2-3 workshops. It worked well at those places. But on June 23, it refused to work. I then exchanged my ultrabook with another participant and the presentation and workshop begun. I had sent some tutorial files to all those who confirmed participation. All of them came and surprisingly, there were two more participants, who hadn't confirmed their participation. That accelerated the participation by them. This itself was very encouraging. That means the participants who came that day were really serious of editing Wikipedia.

The workshop was conducted intermixing presentation and hands-on. By evening everyone had learnt how to edit Wikipedia, how to create headings, sub-headings, bulleted lists, text, numbered text, how to insert Wiki links as well as external links, etc. People picked up inserting reference as well quite quickly. Since majority of them were bloggers, they already knew the concepts but wanted to know the Wiki syntax which they picked up by the end of the workshop.

Harish M G, who is an admin with Kannada Wikipedia joined the workshop and helped in clearing many advanced doubts.

The result of the workshop is quite encouraging. Most of them have added contents and edited some existing pages as well. Thanks are due to Suchitra for sponsoring the venue and to Avadhi for co-organising this event.

Additional photos are here - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Kannada_Wikipedia_workshop_for_bloggers_at_Suchitra

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-bloggers

[OpenGLAM] Nominate an OpenGLAM project today for the 2015 Muse Awards

praskrishna — 2015-05-27T14:08:55Z

It's that time of the year again to nominate projects for the Muse Awards! This is like the Oscar of GLAM awards in the USA and welcomes international submissions.

Our esteemed jury comprises of:

Glen Barnes, Founder/CEO of MyTours and co-founder of Open New Zealand
Dominic McDevitt-Parks, Digital Content Specialist, National Archives and Records Administration
Subhashish Panigrahi, Programme Officer, Centre for Internet and Society
Jane Park, Project Manager, Creative Commons
Lieke Ploeger, Community Manager, Open Knowledge Foundation
Merete Sanderhoff, Curator, National Gallery of Denmark

Submissions are due Feb 23.

Please submit your OpenGLAM projects!!! This is a volunteer driven process, and we throw a big award ceremony with lots of champagne at the annual AAM conference.

More details here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/open-glam-nominate-open-glam-project-today-for-2015-muse-awards

तीसरा फ्यूल कॉन्फ्रेंस और मोज़िला हैकाथन संपन्न

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T08:00:16Z

तीसरा फ़्यूल ज़िल्ट कॉन्फ्रेंस 2015, 22 नवंबर को चेन्नई में संपन्न हुआ. भाषाई कंप्यूटिंग के लिए मानक संसाधन बनाने में पिछले सात सालों से जुटी फ़्यूल परियोजना के द्वारा 2013 में आरंभ किए गए इस सम्मेलन के प्रायोजक और आयोजक दुनिया की जानी-मानी कंपनिया मोज़िला, सी-डैक और रेड हैट हैं.

The article was published by Surkhiyan on November 23, 2015.

तीन दिवसीय यह सम्मेलन 20 नवंबर को आरंभ हुआ. इसके उद्घाटन सत्र को मोज़िला के लोकलाइजेशन ड्राइवर एक्सेल हेच्ट, आईआईटी मद्रास की प्रोफ़ेसर हेमा मूर्ति, आईआईटी मद्रास के ही हेमचंद्रण कराह और सीडैक के सहायक निदेशक जसजीत सिंह ने संबोधित किया.

पहले दिन के शाम के पैनल डिसक्शन में मोज़िला की पेइंग मो और आर्की तथा अवाया के जी. करूणाकर और फ्यूल प्रोजेक्ट के संस्थापक राजेश रंजन के मॉडरेशन में खुली परिचर्चा हुई. पहले दिन के कार्यक्रम में कई जाने-माने भाषाई कंप्यूटिंग पर काम करने वाले विद्वानों ने हिस्सा लिया.

तमिलनाडु के स्थानीय भाषाई तकनीक विशेषज्ञों के अलावा इस सम्मेलन में भारत और नेपाल के विभिन्न भाषा-भाषाई हिस्से के करीब पचास से अधिक लोग उपस्थित हुए. तीन दिवसीय इस सम्मेलन का पहला दिन सभी लोगों के लिए खुला था जबकि अगला दो दिन मोज़िला लोकलाइजेशन हैकाथन का कार्यक्रम चला जिसके लिए सहभागी ख़ास तौर पर आमंत्रित किए गए थे.

लोकलाइजेशन किसी स्रोत भाषा से स्थानीय भाषा में किसी उत्पाद को बदलने की पूरी प्रक्रिया को कहा जाता है. इसके अंतर्गत मोज़िला के विभिन्न उत्पादों के लोकलाइजेशन यानी स्थानीयकरण की प्रक्रिया, उसमें सुधार और भविष्य की कार्ययोजना पर विस्तार से चर्चा हुई. पूरे कार्यक्रम का संचालन सी-डैक के तकनीकी अधिकारी चंद्रकांत धूताडमल ने किया.

उद्घाटन सत्र का आरंभ करते हुए फ़्यूल प्रोजेक्ट के संस्थापक राजेश रंजन ने फ़्यूल प्रोजेक्ट के बारे में उपस्थित श्रोताओं को बताया. उन्होंने बताया कि महज सामुदायिक योगदान और कुछ संगठनों की मदद के बदौलत भाषाई संसाधन का यह प्रोजेक्ट दुनिया का सबसे बड़ी खुली परियोजना बन गई है. मानक तकनीकी शब्दावली, स्टाइल गाइड, ट्रांसलेशन एसेसमेंट मैट्रिक्स सहित कई महत्वपूर्ण संसाधनों से लैस यह प्रोजेक्ट विश्वव्यापी भाषाई संदर्भ का बड़ा अभिलेख बन गया है.

गौरतलब है कि दुनिया की क़रीब 60 भाषाओं के भाषा समुदाय अभी इस परिजोयना से जुड़ी हुई है. मोज़िला के एक्सेल ने भारत में बढ़ रहे इंटरनेट उपयोगकर्ताओं के महत्व को रेखांकित करते हुए बताया कि मोज़िला और इसके खुले मूल्यों की उपस्थिति कितनी महत्वपूर्ण है. हेमा मू्र्ति ने कहा कि अभी भी भाषाई कंप्यूटिंग की स्थिति काफी अच्छी नहीं हुई है और इस क्षेत्र में काफी काम किए जाने बाकी हैं.

जसजीत सिंह ने कहा कि कुछ और बड़ी कंपनियों के साथ फ़्यूल का जुड़ाव होना जरूरी है और उन कंपनियों को सामुदायिक रूप से तैयार किए गए संसाधन के महत्व को समझना चाहिए. समानता के चिह्न और डिजिटल मानविकी का विकास पर हेमचंद्रण का वक्तव्य बेहद उम्दा रहा. उन्होंने कहा कि डिजिटल मानविकी ने पारंपरिक मानविकी को हैक कर लिया है. उन्होंने कहा कि हमें महज इंटरफेस स्तरीय लोकलाइजेशन से ऊपर उठना चाहिए.

कार्यक्रम में लिब्रेऑफिस के इटालो विग्नोली, हमारा लिनक्स के विकास तारा, इतिहासकार रविकांत और जाने-माने ब्लॉगर रवि रतलामी ने भी अपना वक्तव्य दिया. भाषाई तकनीक विशेषज्ञ बिराज कर्माकर, प्रवीण ए, शुभाशीष पाणिग्रही, वीथिका मिश्रा, प्रवीण सतपुते, चंदन कुमार, राजू विंदाने सहित कई लोगों ने अपना वक्तव्य दिया.

मोज़िला के एक्सेल हेच्ट, पेइंग मो और आर्की के दिशा-निर्देश में अंतिम दो दिनों तक विभिन्न भाषाओं में काम करने वाले लोगों ने व्यापक परिचर्चा के दौरान कई विषयों पर बातें की और उपस्थित लोगों ने मोज़िला की स्वयंसेवी गतिविधियों के भविष्य की कार्ययोजना बनाई.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/surkhiyan-november-23-2015-fuel-gilt-conference

तीसरा फ्यूल जिल्ट कॉन्फ्रेंस और मोज़िला हैकाथन चेन्नई में संपन्न

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T07:51:39Z

तीसरा फ्यूल जिल्ट कॉन्फ्रेंस 2015 आज चेन्नई में संपन्न हुआ. भाषाई कंप्यूटिंग के लिए मानक भाषाई संसाधन और औज़ार बनाने में पिछले सात सालों से जुटी फ्यूल परियोजना के द्वारा 2013 में आरंभ किए गए इस सम्मेलन के प्रायोजक और आयोजक दुनिया की जानी-मानी कंपनियां मोज़िला, सी-डैक और रेड हैट हैं.

तीन दिवसीय यह सम्मेलन 20 नवंबर को चेन्नई के अन्ना विश्वविद्यालय के टैग ऑडिटोरियम में आरंभ हुआ. इसके उद्घाटन सत्र को मोज़िला के लोकलाइजेशन ड्राइवर एक्सेल हेच्ट, आईआईटी मद्रास की प्रोफ़ेसर हेमा मूर्ति, आईआईटी मद्रास के ही हेमचंद्रण कराह और सीडैक के सहायक निदेशक जसजीत सिंह ने संबोधित किया. पहले दिन के शाम के पैनल डिसक्शन में मोज़िला की पेइंग मो और आर्की तथा अवाया के जी. करूणाकर और फ्यूल प्रोजेक्ट के संस्थापक राजेश रंजन के मॉडरेशन में खुली परिचर्चा हुई. पहले दिन के कार्यक्रम में भाषाई कंप्यूटिंग पर काम करने वाले कई जाने-माने विद्वानों ने हिस्सा लिया.

तमिलनाडु के स्थानीय भाषाई तकनीक विशेषज्ञों के अलावा इस सम्मेलन में भारत और नेपाल के विभिन्न भाषा-भाषाई करीब पचास से अधिक लोग उपस्थित हुए. तीन दिवसीय इस सम्मेलन का पहला दिन सभी लोगों के लिए खुला था जबकि अगला दो दिन मोज़िला लोकलाइजेशन हैकाथन का कार्यक्रम चला जिसके लिए सहभागी ख़ास तौर पर आमंत्रित किए गए थे.

लोकलाइजेशन स्रोत भाषा से स्थानीय भाषा में किसी उत्पाद को बदलने की पूरी तकनीकी प्रक्रिया को कहा जाता है. इसके अंतर्गत मोज़िला के विभिन्न उत्पादों के लोकलाइजेशन यानी स्थानीयकरण की प्रक्रिया, उसमें सुधार और भविष्य की कार्ययोजना पर विस्तार से चर्चा हुई. पूरे कार्यक्रम का संचालन सी-डैक के तकनीकी अधिकारी चंद्रकांत धूताडमल ने किया.

उद्घाटन सत्र का आरंभ करते हुए फ़्यूल प्रोजेक्ट के संस्थापक राजेश रंजन ने फ़्यूल प्रोजेक्ट के बारे में उपस्थित श्रोताओं को बताया. उन्होंने बताया कि महज सामुदायिक योगदान और कुछ संगठनों की मदद के बदौलत भाषाई संसाधन का यह प्रोजेक्ट दुनिया की भाषाई संसाधन जैसे तकनीकी शब्दावली, स्टाइल गाइड आदि की सबसे बड़ी खुली परियोजना बन गई है. मानक तकनीकी शब्दावली, स्टाइल गाइड, ट्रांसलेशन एसेसमेंट मैट्रिक्स सहित कई महत्वपूर्ण संसाधनों से लैस यह प्रोजेक्ट विश्वव्यापी भाषाई संदर्भ का बड़ा अभिलेख बन गया है.

गौरतलब है कि दुनिया की क़रीब 60 भाषाओं के भाषा समुदाय अभी इस परिजोयना से जुड़ी हुई है. मोज़िला के एक्सेल हेच्ट ने भारत में बढ़ रहे इंटरनेट उपयोगकर्ताओं के महत्व को रेखांकित करते हुए बताया कि मोज़िला और इसके खुले मूल्यों की उपस्थिति कितनी इनके लिए कितनी महत्वपूर्ण है. हेमा मूर्ति ने कहा कि अभी भी भाषाई कंप्यूटिंग की स्थिति काफी अच्छी नहीं हुई है और इस क्षेत्र में काफी काम होना बाकी हैं. जसजीत सिंह ने कहा कि कुछ और बड़ी कंपनियों के साथ फ़्यूल का जुड़ाव होना जरूरी है और उन कंपनियों को सामुदायिक रूप से तैयार किए गए संसाधन के महत्व को समझना चाहिए. ‘समानता के चिह्न और डिजिटल मानविकी का विकास’ विषय पर हेमचंद्रण का वक्तव्य बेहद उम्दा रहा. उन्होंने कहा कि डिजिटल मानविकी ने पारंपरिक मानविकी को हैक कर लिया है. उन्होंने कहा कि हमें महज इंटरफेस स्तरीय लोकलाइजेशन से ऊपर उठना चाहिए.

कार्यक्रम में लिब्रेऑफिस के इटालो विग्नोली, हमारा लिनक्स के विकास तारा, इतिहासकार रविकांत और जाने-माने ब्लॉगर रवि रतलामी ने भी अपना वक्तव्य दिया. भाषाई तकनीक विशेषज्ञ बिराज कर्माकर, प्रवीण ए, शुभाशीष पाणिग्रही, वीथिका मिश्रा, प्रवीण सतपुते, चंदन कुमार, राजू विंदाने सहित कई लोगों ने अपना वक्तव्य दिया. मोज़िला के एक्सेल हेच्ट, पेइंग मो और आर्की के दिशा-निर्देश में अंतिम दो दिन विभिन्न भाषाओं में काम करने वाले लोगों ने व्यापक परिचर्चा के दौरान कई विषयों पर बातें की और उपस्थित लोगों ने मोज़िला की स्वयंसेवी गतिविधियों के भविष्य की कार्ययोजना बनाई.

Read the original published by Aaj Tak on November 24, 2015.

और भी... http://aajtak.intoday.in/story/third-fuel-conference-completed-in-chennai-1-843428.html

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/92494093893093e-92b94d92f942932-91c93f93294d91f-91594992894d92b94d930947902938-914930-92e94b91c93c93f93293e-93994891593e925928-91a94792894d928908-92e947902-93890292a92894d928

कोंकणी विश्‍वकोश ‘विकिपीडिया’वर

praskrishna — 2013-10-23T05:11:54Z

News about digitalization of Konkani Vishwakosh, appeared in Navprabha daily on October 22, 2013 on front page.

Click to read the original published in Navprabha on October 22, 2013.

गोवा विद्यापीठाचा प्रकल्प असलेला कोंकणी विश्‍वकोश हा लवकरच विकिपीडिया या ऑनलाइन विश्‍वकोशावर संपूर्ण जगासाठी विनामूल्य उपलब्ध होणार आहे. कोंकणी विश्‍वकोशाच्या डिजिटलायझेशनची प्रक्रिया सुरू झाली असून ती येत्या दोन महिन्यात पूर्ण करण्याची योजना आहे.

क्रिएटिव्ह कॉमन्स लायसन्सखाली कोंकणी विश्‍वकोशाचे पुन:प्रकाशन करण्याचे हल्लीच गोवा विद्यापीठातर्फे जाहीर करण्यात आले होते. अशाप्रकारचा हा देशातील अनोखा प्रयोग ठरेल. यामुळे विश्‍वकोशाचा अभ्यासकांना अधिक मुक्तपणे वापर करता येईल. क्रिएटिव्ह कॉमन्स लायसन्सखाली मूळ मालकाला हक्क राखता येतातच पण वापरकर्त्यांनाही माहितीत भर टाकण्याची, ती अधिक विकसित करण्याची मुभा मिळते.

आता बंगळूरस्थित सीआयएस ही संस्था गोवा विद्यापीठाच्यावतीने कोंकणी विश्‍वकोशाचे चारही खंड डिजिटल माध्यमात परिवर्तीत करून विकिपीडियाद्वारे संपूर्ण विश्‍वात नेण्याचे काम करणार आहे. एकदा हा विश्‍वकोश डिजिटल होऊन विकिपीडिया या ऑनलाईन ज्ञानकोशावर गेल्यानंतर या विकिपीडियावर जगातील इतर भाषांप्रमाणेच कोंकणीतून ज्ञानात्मक मजकूर निर्माण करणे तसेच चटकन संदर्भ उपलब्ध करून देणे अधिक सोपे होणार आहे.

गोवा विद्यापीठासाठी डिजिटलायझेशनचे काम करत असलेल्या सेंटर फॉर इंटरनेट ऍन्ड सोसायटीच्या नितीका टंडन यांनी माहिती देताना सांगितले की, येत्या दोन महिन्यांत विश्‍वकोशाच्या चारही खंडांचे डिजिटलायझेशन पूर्ण करण्याची योजना आहे. त्यासाठी गोवा विद्यापीठातील कोंकणी विभागाच्या विद्यार्थ्यांची तसेच अन्य इच्छुकांची मदत घेतली जाणार आहे.

सीआयएस संस्था विकिपिडीयावर भारतीय भाषांतील मजकूर वाढविण्यासाठी काम करते, अशी माहितीही टंडन यांनी दिली. दिल्ली, पुणे, बेंगलोर येथे असे गट कार्यरत असल्याचे त्या म्हणाल्या. कोंकणी भाषेतून विकिपीडियावर फारच कमी मजकूर उपलब्ध असल्याचे त्यांनी सांगितले. तो वाढविण्यासाठी प्रयत्न करण्यात येत असल्याची माहिती त्यांनी दिली. त्यासाठी हल्लीच गोवा विद्यापीठाच्या कोंकणी विभागातील विद्यार्थ्यांना एक खास कार्यशाळाही घेण्यात आली होती. कोंकणी विश्‍वकोश एकुण चार छापील खंडांत असून या खंडांचे प्रकाशन गोवा विद्यापीठातर्फे ग्रंथरूपात १९९१,१९९७,१९९९ व २००० साली याप्रमाणे झाले होते. पहिल्या दोन खंडांचे संपादन मनोहरराय सरदेसाय यांनी तर खंड तीन व चारचे संपादन डॉ. तानाजी हळर्णकर यांनी केले होते. या चार छापील ग्रंथरूपातील खंडांची पृष्ठसंख्या ८६३, ९३४, ८२४ व १०११ अशी आहे.

दरम्यान, विकिपीडिया संकेतस्थळ हे इंटरनेटवर सर्वाधिक भेट दिले जाणारे चौथ्या क्रमांकाचे संकेतस्थळ आहे.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/navprabha-sameer-janty-october-22-2013-konkani-vishwakosh-wikipedia

‘With Internet in every pocket, power to the people’

praskrishna — 2014-02-03T06:05:48Z

Social media is set to grow in India in a big way with Google and Facebook gearing up to tap the regional languages market.

The interview was published in the Tribune on January 12, 2014.

The programme director of Access to Knowledge at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, T Vishnu Vardhan is leading the growth of Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects in Indian languages as part of grant from the Wikimedia Foundation. His experience spans across academics, industry (media) and not-for-profit sectors. He talks about the spread of the Internet and social media in India and their impact on the traditional media. Excerpts:

How powerful are the Internet and social media today?

One way to answer the question is to throw some data. There is 83 per cent of mobile connectivity, so and so per cent of Internet connectivity over computer in India, and so on. The data is important to understand the extent of penetration of digital technology in India, particularly through the mobile telephone rather than the PC-based or laptop-based access to the Internet.

When you say mobile phones, are you talking about smartphones?

These could be smartphones or feature-phones also. So many feature-phones are available in the market now. These phones do not cost much. Hardware, therefore, is not going to be anymore a deterrent for access to Internet. I have seen the elderly also getting accustomed to using computers so they can keep in touch with their children who live abroad.

What about social media and its power in India?

It is very powerful. At least it is believed to be powerful because right from political parties and politicians to small vendors, all are trying to leverage it. During the last five years, there has been a tectonic shift in this regard. It will be very interesting to see how the story unfolds in India.

What is unique about India?

Social media is set to become bigger and bigger in India with companies like Google and Facebook gearing up to tap the regional languages market.

Is English increasingly becoming strong and all pervasive in India?

I would believe it and get worried on that score. But the Internet is bringing in a lot of changes. Font problem has been solved too. The ramification of what takes place when this new regional language enabled market comes on board in social media platforms is still not very clear. But it is certainly going to be huge.

Whatever is happening in India now must be an old story in developed countries?

In the US and Europe, Internet penetration took place in the PC age. But we have bypassed the PC. Internet access in India through phone is growing rapidly. India is taking a completely new path for this.

Some social media websites are also trying to get into the news domain. Have you come across instances where news has been first broken in the social media?

There are many such instances. One of the Wikipedians, Kartik Naga, took some pictures of the Mumbai terror attack and posted on commons. These were available to the world much before the traditional journalists could capture images of the incident. Real-time information about tsunami also came from people.

In the West, some print publications — newspapers and magazines — have closed down because people have apparently switched over to the Internet.

The real issue here is whether traditional media wants to stick to a particular technology or it is ready to embrace a new technology for the production and dissemination of news, which is its core activity. If traditional media is averse to embracing the new technology, there will be all kinds of problems like the paper will shut down or some completely new random players will come and corner an old veteran and so on. But if the new technology is embraced, there will be new ways and means of benefiting from it. It depends on how a traditional media entity is looking at Internet and social media. In the last two or three years, we have also seen so many news stories that got made by social media. There is a buzz about social media, and traditional media picks it up and makes it even a bigger story. I do not agree with this drawing of lines between social and traditional media. I think it is a mixed media.

You mean to say there is no threat to traditional media from social media in the long run?

There is no threat. At the end of the day, production of news is not the business of people active on social media portals. Traditional media could actually thrive by the clever use of Internet and social media.

What about news that breaks in social media and is imaginary or based on rumours. What happens then?

These things do happen. People are working on finding out ways to verify news contents on social media. There are already people whose mission in life is to prevent rumour mongering on the Internet.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-tribune-january-12-2014-shubhadeep-chaudhary-with-internet-in-every-pocket-power-to-the-people