Centre for Internet and Society

The Intellects holds 2nd International Conclave of Odia Language

praskrishna — 2016-02-27T05:35:17Z

The Intellects, a Delhi-based progressive forum of intellectuals, held the 2nd International Conclave of Odia Language at the India International Centre in New Delhi today.

Subhashish Panigrahi participated in the event and won an award. Look for the coverage by Odisha News here.

The seminar had the title of ‘Aamari Bhasha Pathe’. The conclave was inaugurated by eminent Novelist and Writer Dr. Bibhuti Pattnaik and Rajya Sabha MP Baishnab Charan Parida among others. In the inaugural session, the speakers, including Shri Baishnab Parida, Dr. Natabar Satpathy, Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Poet Sankarshan Parida, Dr. Iti Samanta, Smt. Mamata Mohapatra, Mr. Subhasish Panigrahi stressed on the need of promotion of Odia language and its development on the global arena. They highlighted various angles of Odia language, its history and the challenges it faced apart from outlining the modalities to give it a big boost.

In the second leg, a Poets’ Conference was held. Dr. Jagannath Prasad Das, Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Poet Sankarshan Parida, Dr. Anita Panda, Poet Gajanan Mishra, Smt. Yashodhara Mishra, Poet Manas Ranjan Mohapatra and many other recited poems.

In the last leg, Kendra Sahitya Akademi President, Dr. Vishwanath Tiwari and Sir Mark Tully (former Bureau Chief of BBC, New Delhi), graced the occasion among others. Several eminent personalities were honoured and received the awards from The Intellects.

Ama Gourav Samman – Shri Bibhuti Pattnaik

Amari Bhasha Pathe Samman:

Shri Baishnab Parida
Dr. Amarendra Khatua
Smt. Kunu Dash
Dr. Iti Samanta
Dr. Natabar Satpathy
Shri Gajanan Mishra
Shri Sankarshan Parida
Smt. Mamata Mohapatra
Shri Kulamani Biswal

Yuva Prerana Samman:

Shri Subhasish Panigrahi
Shri Manoranjan Mohanty
Shri Subhranshu Panda

Swabhimani Odia Sanghthan Samman:

Biswajit Dash (IPROCH)
Sanjeev Mohanty (Odisha Forum)
Bijaya Kumar Dash (Sukha Dukha Prakashan)

Shri Debendra Rout, Chairman of The Intellects and Parambrahma Tripathy, Secretary (Literature), The Intellects, organised the event successfully with all their hard efforts.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/odisha-news-february-22-2016-intellects-holds-second-international-conclave-of-odia-language

ಪ್ರಶಾಂತವನ

praskrishna — 2016-03-20T04:32:04Z

ಮಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಸಂತ ಅಲೋಷಿಯಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಎರಿಕ್ ಮೆಥಾಯಿಸ್ ಸಭಾಂಗಣದಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ೧೩ನೇ ವರ್ಷಾಚರಣೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಒಂದು ವರದಿ

The blog post was published in Prashasti Prashantavanam on February 21, 2016.

ಲಾಸ್ಯ ಶೆಟ್ಟಿಯವರ ನಿರೂಪಣೆಯ ವರ್ಷಾಚರಣಾ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಶುರುವಾದದ್ದು "ಹೊಸ ಹಾದಿಯನು ಹಿಡಿದು ನಡೆಯಣ್ಣ ಮುಂದೆ.." ಎಂಬ ರೋಹಿತ್ , ಗೋಪಾಲಕೃಷ್ಣ ಮತ್ತು ತಂಡದವರಿಂದ. ಮುಂದುವರಿಯುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ಮುಂಚೆ ವೇದಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ಅಲಂಕರಿಸಿದ ಗಣ್ಯರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಒಂದೆರಡು ನುಡಿಗಳನ್ನಾದರೂ ಹೇಳಲೇಬೇಕಾಗುತ್ತೆ.ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿ ಬಳಸುವವರಿಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ಅದರಲ್ಲಿನ ಕೆ.ಪಿ.ರಾವ್ ಕೀಲಿಮಣೆಯ ಪರಿಚಯವಿದ್ದೇ ಇರುತ್ತೆ. ಕನ್ನಡವೊಂದೇ ಅಲ್ಲದೇ ಅನೇಕ ಭಾರತೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಭಾರತೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಲಿಪಿಗಳನ್ನು ಗಣಕಕ್ಕೆ ಅಳವಡಿಸಿದ ಗಣಕ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿ ನಾಡೋಜ ಕೆ.ಪಿ ರಾವ್ ಅವರು ಇಂದಿನ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿ.ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಮತ್ತೊಬ್ಬ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿ ಶ್ರೀ ವಸಂತಕುಮಾರ ಪೆರ್ಲ. ಇವರು ಮಂಗಳೂರು ಆಕಾಶವಾಣಿ ನಿಲಯ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕರು ಮತ್ತು ಕನ್ನಡ ಪದಗಳ ಸೃಷ್ಠಿಗಾಗಿ ಪದಾರ್ಥಚಿಂತಾಮಣಿಯಂತಹ ಮುಖಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆಯ ಗುಂಪುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡವರು. ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಮೂರನೇ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿ ಪಿಲಿಕುಳ ನಿಸರ್ಗಧಾಮದ ಕಾರ್ಯನಿರ್ವಹಣಾಧಿಕಾರಿ ,ಮಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಹಿಂದಿನ ಪ್ರಭಾರಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲಾಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳಾಗಿದ್ದ S.A ಪ್ರಭಾಕರ ಶರ್ಮ ಅವರು, ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷತೆ ವಹಿಸಿದ್ದು ಸಂತ ಅಲೋಷಿಯಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಪ್ರಾಂಶುಪಾಲರಾದ ರೆ| ಫಾ| ಸ್ವೀಬರ್ಟ್ ಡಿ’ಸಿಲ್ವ ಅವರು. ಇದಲ್ಲದೇ ವೇದಿಕೆಯನ್ನಲಕಂರಿಸಿದ ಗಣ್ಯರೆಂದರೆ ಸಂತ ಅಲೋಷಿಯಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಬಿ.ಸಿ.ಎ ವಿಭಾಗದ ಮುಖ್ಯಸ್ಥರಾದ ಡಾ| ರವೀಂದ್ರಸ್ವಾಮಿ ಅವರು, ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಭಾಗದ ಮುಖ್ಯಸ್ಥರಾದ ಡಾ| ಸರಸ್ವತಿ ಅವರು ಮತ್ತು ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥಾಪಕರಾದ ಡಾ| ಯು.ಬಿ.ಪವನಜ ಮತ್ತು ಹದಿಮೂರನೆಯ ವರ್ಷಾಚರಣೆಯ ಸಂಚಾಲಕರಾದ ಡಾ| ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ ಬದಿಕಾನ ಅವರು.

ಶ್ರೀ ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ ಬದಿಕಾನ ಅವರ ಸ್ವಾಗತ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರಾಸ್ತಾವಿಕ ನಂತರ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಉದ್ಘಾಟನೆಯಾಗಿದ್ದು ನಾಡೋಜ ಕೆ.ಪಿ.ರಾವ್ ಅವರಿಂದ. ನಂತರ ಕೆ.ಪಿ.ರಾವ್ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಸನ್ಮಾನ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ. ಸನ್ಮಾನ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ನಂತರ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದ ರೆವರೆಂಡ್ ಫಾದರ್ ಡಿಸಿಲ್ವ ಅವರು ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಇತಿಹಾಸದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಕೊಡುಗೆಗಳ ನಡೆ, ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿರುವ ಕೆಲಸಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮತ್ತು ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆಯೂ ತಮ್ಮ ಮೆಚ್ಚುಗೆಯ ನುಡಿಗಳನ್ನು ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸಿದರು.

ನಂತರ ಕೆ.ಪಿ.ರಾವ್ ಅವರು ಎರಡು ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಉತ್ತರ ಹುಡುಕುವಂತಹ ಹಾದಿಯಲ್ಲಿನ ಶುಭನುಡಿಗಳು ನೆರೆದವರ ಗಮನ ಸೆಳೆಯುವಂತಿದ್ದವು.

ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಏಕೆ ಬೇಕು ? ಅನ್ನುವ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗೆ ಮೂರು ಉತ್ತರ ಹುಡುಕುವ ಹಾದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಗಿದ ಅವರ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯದಲ್ಲಿ ೧.ಕನ್ನಡ ಲಿಪಿ ಮಾತ್ರ ಬಲ್ಲವರಿಗೆ ಜಗದ ಜ್ಞಾನ ತಿಳಿಸಿಕೊಡಬಲ್ಲ ಸುಲಭದ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ೨. ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದ ವಿಷಯಗಳು ,ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ,ಭಾಷಾ ಸೊಗಡು ಬೇರೆ ಭಾಷೆಯ ವಿಕಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅಷ್ಟು ಸಮಂಜಸವಾಗಿ/ಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಿ ಮೂಡಿಬರಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ.

೩. ಯಾರಿಗಾದರೂ ಗೌರವ ಕೊಡಲು ಬಳಸಬಹುದಾದ ರು,ರಿಗೆ(ರಾಯರು,ರಾಯರಿಗೆ) ಯಂತಹ ಭಾಷಾ ವೈಶಿಷ್ಟ್ಯವನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿದ ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ತನ್ನದೇ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯವಿರಬೇಕಾದ ಅಗತ್ಯವಿದೆ.

ಮುಂದುವರಿಸಿದ ಅವರು ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಭಾಷಾಂತರದ ಬದಲು ರೂಪಾಂತರ ಮಾಡುವ ಅಗತ್ಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಪ್ರಸ್ತಾಪಿಸಿದರು.ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಮೂಲಕವಾದರು ಕನ್ನಡ ಪದಬಳಕೆಯಲ್ಲೊಂದು ಸಮಾನತೆ ಬರಲೆಂಬ ಆಶಯವನ್ನೂ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸಿದರು.

ನಂತರ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿಗಳಾದ ವಸಂತಕುಮಾರ್ ಪೆರ್ಲ ಅವರು ಶಿಲಾಲೇಖ--> ತಾಮ್ರ ಪಟ-->ತಾಳೆಗರಿ-->ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಈಗ Digitial ಅವತರಣಿಕೆಯಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆದು ಬಂದ ಪರಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಕರಾವಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಹವ್ಯಕ, ಬ್ಯಾರಿ,ತುಳು,ಕೊಂಕಣಿ, ಮಲೆಯಾಳಂ,ಮರಾಠ,ಕರಾಡ, ಬೆಸ್ತರ ಹಲವು ಉಪಭಾಷೆಗಳ ರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಭಾಷಾ ಸೊಗಡನ್ನು, ನಮ್ಮ ರೀತಿ ರಿವಾಜುಗಳನ್ನು ದಾಖಲಿಸಿಡುವ,ವಿಕಿ ಮೂಲಕ ಸಂರಕ್ಷಿಸುವ ಅಗತ್ಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು.

ನಂತರದ ಶುಭನುಡಿಗಳು ಪಿಲಿಕುಳದ ಶಿವರಾಮಕಾರಂತ ನಿಸರ್ಗಧಾಮದ ಕಾರ್ಯನಿರ್ವಹಣಾಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳಾದ S.Aಪ್ರಭಾಕರ ಶರ್ಮ ಅವರಿಂದ. ತದನಂತರ ಡಾ| ಯು.ಬಿ ಪವನಜ ತಮ್ಮ ತೈವಾನ್ ಪ್ರವಾಸದ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಪೂರ್ಣ ಚೈನೀಸಿನ windows ನೋಡಿ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲೂ ಈ ರೀತಿ ಮಾಡಬಾರದೇಕೆ ಎಂದು ಆಲೋಚಿಸಿದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ೧೯೫೨ರಲ್ಲಿ ೧೬೦೨ರಷ್ಟಿದ್ದ ಭಾಷೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಈಗ ಉಳಿದಿರುವುದು ೭೦೫ ಮಾತ್ರ ! ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಇಷ್ಟು ಚಿಂತಾಜನಕವಾಗಿರೋ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ "ಮಾಹಿತಿಯ ಆಗರ" ಎಂಬಂತಾಗಿರೋ ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ವಿಕಿ ಏಕೆ ಮತ್ತು ಹೇಗೆ ನೆರವಾಗಬಹುದು,ಅದರ ಸದ್ಯದ ಸ್ಥಿತಿಗತಿಗಳೇನು ಎಂಬುದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು.

ವಿಕಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ:

ಜನವರಿ ೧೫ ರಂದು ಶುರುವಾದ ವಿಕಿ ಈಗ ೩೦೦ ಭಾಷೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಲಭ್ಯವಿದೆ. ೨೦೦೩ ಜೂನ್ ಮೂರರಂದು ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಯ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭ. ಇಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು, ಮೈಸೂರು, ಮಂಗಳೂರು, ಸಾಗರದಲ್ಲಿ ಆದ ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ರಚನೆಯಾದ ಪುಟಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಜನರ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುವಿಕೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಮಾತನಾಡುವವರ ಲೆಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲಿ ೩೫ ನೇ ಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿರೋ ಕನ್ನಡದ ವಿಕಿಗೆ ಪ್ರತೀ ಘಂಟೆಗೆ ೮೯೨ ಭೇಟಿಗಳು ಸಿಗುತ್ತಿವೆ. ೧೫ ವರ್ಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್ ವಿಕಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸೃಷ್ಠಿಯಾಗಿರೋ ಲೇಖನಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ೫೦ ಲಕ್ಷ ದಾಟಿದ್ದರೆ ೧೩ ವರ್ಷದ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿ ಲೇಖನಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ೧೯,೬೦೦. ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಪಟ್ಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ೧೦೭ನೇ ಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿರೋ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿ ಭಾರತೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಪಟ್ಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹತ್ತನೇ ಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿದೆ ಎಂಬ ವಿಕಿಯ ಬಗೆಗಿನ ಅಂಕಿಅಂಶಗಳು ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲಿ ನೆರೆದವರಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲ್ಪಟ್ಟವು. ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಕ್ಕೆ ನೆರೆದಿದ್ದವರಿಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳನ್ನು ಸಮರ್ಪಿಸಿದ್ದು ಡಾ| ಸರಸ್ವತಿ ಅವರು.

೧೧:೪೦ ಕ್ಕೆ ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆಗಳ ಎರಡನೇ session ಆರಂಭವಾಯಿತು. ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಲೇಖನಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಅದರ ಸಂಪಾದನೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಖಾತೆ ತೆರೆಯುವುದೇ ಮೊದಲಾದ ಮಾಹಿತಿಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಯೋಜನೆಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಪವನಜ ಅವರು ನೆರೆದವರಿಗೆ ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ನೀಡಿದರು

೧೨:೪೦ ಕ್ಕೆ Creative common, license ಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕರಲ್ಲೊಬ್ಬರಾದ ರೆಹಮಾನುದ್ದೀನ್ ಶೇಖ್ ಅವರಿಂದ ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆ ಇತ್ತು.
ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ನ Attribution, no derivative, non commercia, sharealike ಎಂಬ ಅಂಶಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದ ರೆಹಮಾನುದ್ದೀನ್ ಅವರು ೬ ತರದ ಲೈಸನ್ಸುಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಅವುಗಳೆಂದರೆ
೧) cc by A --> attribute
2) cc by S --> share alike
3)cc by ND --> no derivative
4)cc by NC --> non commercial
5)non commerical, share alike(CC by SA)
6)non commercial, no derivative
ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಫೋಟೊಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಬೇಕಾದರೆ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಬೇಕಾದ creativecommonsತಾಣದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದ ಅವರು ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಯಾವ ತರಹದ ಫೋಟೋಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಬಹುದು, ಯಾವುದನ್ನು ಬಳಸಬಾರದು ಎಂಬ ನಿಯಮಗಳನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದಲ್ಲಿರೋ ಫೋಟೋಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವಾಗ ಫೋಟೋ ಬಳಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬಹುದು, ಆದರೆ ವಿಕಿಯಿಂದ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡದ್ದು, ಇಂಥವರ ಫೋಟೋ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಬೇಕು ಎಂಬುದೇ ಮೊದಲಾದ ಲೈಸನ್ಸ್ ಗೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಪಟ್ಟ ನಿಯಮಗಳನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು.

ಬೆಳಗಿನ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಕೊನೆಯ ಅಂಕದಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಕ್ರಿಯವಾಗಿ ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ರಾಧಾತನಯ, ವಸಂತಕುಮಾರ್,ಬಿ.ಎಸ್.ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ್, ಓಂ ಶಿವಪ್ರಕಾಶ್,ಹರೀಶ್ , ತೇಜಸ್ ಮುಂತಾದ ಸಂಪಾದಕರಿಗೆ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳನ್ನು ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಹೊರ ಊರಿನಿಂದ ಬಂದ ಸಂಪಾದಕರಾದ ಅನಂತ್ ಸುಬ್ರಾಯ್ ,ಚಿರಾಗ್ ಸಾರ್ಥಿ ಮತ್ತಿತರರಿಗೆ ಪ್ರೇಮಿಗಳ ದಿನದ ಸಂಕೇತವಾದ ಗುಲಾಬಿಯನ್ನಿತ್ತು ಅಭಿನಂದಿಸಲಾಯಿತು :-)
ನಂತರದ ಭಾಗ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯನ್ನರ ನುಡಿಗಳು. ಇದರ ಅಂಗವಾಗಿ ಕೆಳಕಂಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯನ್ನರು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದ ಬಗೆಗಿನ ತಮ್ಮ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯಗಳನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು
೧)ಕ್ರೈಸ್ಟ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಯೋಜನೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ಡಾ| ಶಿವಪ್ರಸಾದ್
೨)ಮೈಸೂರು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯದ, ಮೈಸೂರು ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವದ ಸಂಚಾಲಕರಾಗಿದ್ದ ಡಾ| ಸೌಭಾಗ್ಯವತಿ
೩)ಸಾಗರದ ಸಂಜಯ ಗಾಂಧಿ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ, ಸಾಗರ ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವದ ಸಂಚಾಲಕರಾಗಿದ್ದ ವಿದ್ಯಾಧರ ಚಿಪ್ಳಿ
೪)ಸಂತ ಆಗ್ನೆಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಉಪನ್ಯಾಸಕರಾದ ಶ್ರೀಮತಿ ಕವಿತಾ
೫)ಭಾರತೀಯ ಗೋತಳಿಗಳ ವಿಕಿ ಯೋಜನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ, ಸಾಗರ ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವದ ಸಹಸಂಚಾಲಕರಾಗಿದ್ದ ವಿಕಾಸ್ ಹೆಗಡೆ
೬)ಕ್ರೈಸ್ಟ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿನಿ ತ್ರಿವೇಣಿ
೭)ಸಂತ ಅಲೋಷಿಯಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿನಿ ಮಮತಾ ಅವರು
೮)ಸಂತ ಆಗ್ನೆಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿನಿ ಧನಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ
೯)ಉಜಿರಿಯ SDM ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳಾದ ಆಂಜನೇಯ ಮತ್ತು ಮಂಜುನಾಥ
೧೦)ಮಂಗಳೂರಿನ ರಾಮಕೃಷ್ಣ ಪಿ.ಯು ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಉಪನ್ಯಾಸಕ ನಟೇಶ್ ಆಳ್ವ
೧೧)ಮುಕ್ತ ತಂತ್ರಾಶಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತಮ್ಮನ್ನು ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ, it for change,openstreetmap NGO ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ಶ್ರೀ ಯೋಗೀಶ್
೧೨)openstreetmapನಲ್ಲಿ ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ಶ್ರೀವಿದ್ಯಾ ಅವರು
೧೩)ಕೊನೆಯದಾಗಿ ನನಗೂ ಒಂದಿಷ್ಟು ಮಾತನಾಡೋ ಅವಕಾಶ !

ಮಧ್ಯಾಹ್ನ ಭೋಜನಾನಂತರ ಸಂತ ಅಲೋಶಿಯಸ್ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಐಟಿ ಲ್ಯಾಬಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವ ನಡೆಯಬೇಕಿತ್ತು. ಆದರೆ ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲ ಸಂಪರ್ಕ ವ್ಯತ್ಯಯದ ಕಾರಣದಿಂದ ಅದರ ಬದಲಿ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಸಭಾಂಗಣಕ್ಕೆ ಸ್ಥಳಾಂತರಗೊಂಡಿತು. ರೆಹಮಾನುದ್ದೀನ್ ಅವರಿಂದ ಉತ್ತಮ ವಿಕಿ ಲೇಖನ ಹೇಗಿರಬೇಕು, ಇರುವ ಲೇಖನವನ್ನು ಬಾಹ್ಯ ಕೊಂಡಿ, info document ,ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಹಾಕುವ ಮೂಲಕ ಹೇಗೆ ಉತ್ತಮಪಡಿಸುವುದು ಎಂಬ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆ ನಡೆಯಿತು. ನೆರೆದಿದ್ದ ಕಾಲೇಜು ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಪಿಲಿಕುಳದಲ್ಲಿ ತೆಗೆದಿದ್ದ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಪಿಲಿಕುಳ ಎಂಬ ವರ್ಗಕ್ಕೆ ಸೇರಿಸಿ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಹೇಗೆ ತಯಾರಿಸಬಹುದು ಎಂಬುದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆಯೂ ವೇದಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ತಿಳಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಪಾಲ್ಗೊಂಡವರಿಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುವಿಕೆಯ ಪ್ರಮಾಣಪತ್ರ , ಕಾಲೇಜುಗಳಿಗೆ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದ ಪೆನ್ ಡ್ರೈವ್ ನೀಡಲಾಯಿತು. ಸಂಜೆ ನಾಲ್ಕರ ಸುಮಾರಿಗೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಮುಗಿಸಿ ಹೊರಬಂದರೂ ಇನ್ನೂ ಆ ವೇದಿಕೆಯ ನೆನಪು ಮನದಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಳಿಯುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದೆ. ನೂರಕ್ಕೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನೆರೆದಿದ್ದ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯನ್ನರ ನುಡಿಗಳು ಕಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅನುರಣಿಸುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದೆ.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/caaccdcb0cb6cbec82ca4cb5ca8

Why aren’t Indians using Wikipedia to hold the government to account?

praskrishna — 2016-02-14T11:07:49Z

Despite its popularity, the site's benefits are going unutilised.

Madhav Gadgil's post was published by Scroll.in on February 6, 2016. CIS work was quoted.

Thanks to modern science and technology, the treasury of human material as well as intellectual and cultural wealth is overflowing. Enormous quantities of information are exchanged today at lightning speed, and incredible numbers of people separated by great distances are in constant touch with one another. Two contrasts characterise this world: on the one hand, disparities are growing in material wealth, and on the other, there is growing equality in access to informational and cultural resources.

The inequities in material wealth has accelerated the rate of degradation of the natural world, but at the same time progressive laws flowing from equality in intellectual wealth are helping people combat the degradation. This is one reason why, as much as ever, a well-informed citizenry is the lifeblood of social progress. Ensuring that citizens have ready access to reliable information is the prime responsibility of all of us, including obviously of our governments.

Wayward rulers

Regrettably, the government machinery is failing to discharge its responsibility.

Consider, for instance, Maharashtra’s irrigation scam, in which thousands of crores were siphoned off or wasted on dud irrigation projects. The statistics provided at various times by the state’s agriculture and irrigation departments are inconsistent. It is probable that none of them reflect the ground reality. Most rivers in Maharashtra are polluted well beyond legally permissible levels, yet the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board hardly acknowledges this sorry state of affairs. Such pollution often results in mass deaths of fish, but neither the fisheries department nor the Pollution Control Board maintains reliable records.

Or consider these two examples. After the people of Kerala succeeded in moving the government machinery, a committee of the legislature reported that 90% of the stone crushers in the state were operating without permission from local panchayats or without registering with district collectors. Another time, when the Central government-appointed Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel revealed similar irregularities with solid evidence, the Centre first suppressed its report and then, pushed by a Delhi High Court order, made only an English version available. To top it all, the Maharashtra government uploaded on its website a Marathi summary full of distortions.

Clearly then, with the government machinery failing, people must work on their own to bring to light the true state of affairs. Fortunately, our media provides a good deal of reliable information on issues of public interest. For instance, it was newspaper reports that forced the Goa Forest Department to accept the presence of tigers in the state. It is again the media that often records large-scale fish deaths in our rivers.

Such information gets recorded on social media too, but this remains scattered, barring systematic efforts like as the one launched by the Hyderabad-based “Save Our Urban Lakes” coalition. Besides, much of the material on social media like Facebook is often self-centred and prejudiced, making it difficult to ascertain the veracity. On the other hand, newspapers and TV channels are continually exposed to sceptical public scrutiny, ensuring that, by and large, they deliver reliable information.

On balance then, people at large can wean genuine, reliable information only by carefully collating it from newspapers and TV channels, official documents and scientific studies and systematically organising it through some responsible social media.

Starting a discussion

Wikipedia is just such a reliable social medium. It is an entirely voluntary, cooperative, web-based enterprise aimed at freely and readily delivering all the knowledge in the world to all the citizens of the world in their own languages. The platform started off in 2000 with a call to experts to contribute articles on the pattern of Encyclopaedia Britannica, but without any remuneration. When experts showed little interested, Wikipedia was thrown open to citizens in 2001, converting it into an anyone-can-edit enterprise. After all, experts too acquire much of their knowledge reading what others have written.

Wikipedia operates on the understanding that laypeople may make mistakes, but these can be eliminated by ensuring open scrutiny and giving full scope for additions, deletions and corrections. That this system has resulted in material of a quality on a par with expert-written encyclopaedias has been established by studies by respected scientific journals. Moreover, not being constrained by the page limits of a printed encyclopaedia, it has generated greater amount of material with a broader scope.

All this has been achieved due to the dedication of 50,000-odd voluntary editors improving existing and writing new articles. This community of editors follow a set of conventions arrived at over the years through consensus. It has been decided that Wikipedia will not include material based on original observations, but instead verifiable information compiled from published studies or reports. Wikipedia believes in a “neutral point of view” presenting the different perspectives, provided these are supported by good evidence. Besides reliability, Wikipedia articles aim for speed (Wiki means quick). For instance, the article on the December 2004 tsunami was composed in two days through contributions of some 1,000 editors largely relying on newspaper and TV reports.

Every Wikipedia article is accompanied by a “discussion” page, on which a variety of issues can be explored without the strict constraints of neutrality and verifiability. This is in addition to the “discussion” page accompanying the “User” page that automatically gets assigned to anyone who registers on the website as a user. On all these debating platforms the site imposes only one major discipline – that they will not be used for self-promotion or abusing others.

Because of these noteworthy conventions, the information on Wikipedia has acquired a special significance. For instance, in Europe and the United States, it has served to subject the performance of political leaders to careful scrutiny. Biographical articles on leaders often include documentation of the promises made before election and the extent to which these were fulfilled. In the past, whenever agents of these leaders tried to delete unfavourable content, they were caught out quickly because Wikipedia preserves all versions of any article, including a record of the IP address of the computer employed to make changes.

The grassroots

Since Wikipedia is unconstrained by governmental control and cannot be subjected to commercial pressures because of its donation-based ad-free model, it is an outstanding medium to document what is happening on the ground. This information can be accumulated through incremental, asynchronous micro-contributions. In India, it presents an excellent instrument for common citizens to document their experiences and issues of concern on the English and the 21 Indian language editions.

The articles could deal with specific geographical localities such as cities (e.g. Pune), wards in a city (e.g. Kothrud in Pune), villages (e.g. Warkhand in Pedne taluka of Goa), talukas (e.g. Dodoamarg in Maharashtra), districts (e.g. Kolhapur or North Goa), rivers (e.g. Panchaganga, Mula-Mutha, Zuari). All we need is some official information source to initiate such articles. The 2011 Census of India is one such excellent database. Every census locality in this database is assigned a unique Census Location Code.

To explain with an example: each of the many villages named Loni, Wadgaon or Mendha in Maharashtra has a different Census Location Code. Similarly, there is a district and a city in Madhya Pradesh as also a town and a taluka in Karnataka, all sharing the name Sagar. Again, these are assigned four different Census Location Codes. This facility permits us to refer unambiguously to any geographical locality at various spatial scales such as district, taluka or city or village. In addition, on their Wikipedia entries, one could readily add the latitude, longitude and altitude off Google Earth.

As it happens, there exists a code – developed by Prashant Pawar – to automatically generate base articles on census localities. Three such Marathi articles, on villages Haladi (Karavir), Rukadi (Hatkangale) and Parite in the Panchaganga basin of Kolhapur district, have been uploaded on the Marathi Wikipedia.

No less than 40,000 such articles were automatically uploaded on the English Wikipedia around 2003-’04 and were then quickly developed further by other interested citizens. However, that was not the norm. While Bollywood celebrates Wikipedia with Shah Rukh Khan singing Mere bareme Wikipediape padh lo, Indians participate little in editing or creating new Wikipedia articles. For instance, an article on the Pune Bus Rapid Transit System on the English Wikipedia is merely based on an official pamphlet. It ignores the vigorous discussion on the subject, including the many news reports in the past several years. The discussion page accompanying the article is almost blank. Surely, the more aware citizens of Pune could put the powerful medium to good use to provide a more detailed and balanced account of their city’s Rapid Transit System.

Bonding across languages

We could, of course, follow the American pattern of automatically generating articles on all Indian localities covered in the 2011 Census. But Wikipedia is not just an encyclopaedia – it is a community, and in the absence of awareness about the enterprise, this approach might not be fruitful. The communal effort was visible when the residents of Haladi in Maharashtra initiated a base article on their locality.

Besides creating base articles, interested citizens can upload photographs, audio and video clips on Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons license, permitting anybody to freely use or modify the material after giving due credit to the original creator. Aside from this, citizens can also augment information on issues of their concern through Right to Information queries or enquiries from forums like zilla parishads, municipalities, state legislatures or the Parliament. The Centre for Internet and Society has developed excellent resource material to support citizens taking up Wikipedia-related activities. A group of volunteers led by Subodh Kulkarni is also promoting this participation, as is Goa University.

Much could be accomplished if Indians become active participants on Wikipedia. People could use their articles and their discussion pages to draw the attention of journalists or scholars to their concerns. For instance, people in the command area of a dam could call attention to the fact that no canals have been constructed to bring water to them. A journalist could then investigate the issue and develop a news story, which in turn could provide a verifiable reference for a Wikipedia article. Such interaction could constitute an effective and transparent social audit. One can visualise an array of topics for a social audit, ranging from the status of wage payments in rural employment guarantee works, pending forest rights claims, encroachment of real estate on river beds, privatisation of public beaches, and availability of public toilets for women.

The newly emerging facility of Wikidata can strengthen this social audit. Wikidata permits integration of data not only from English but from multiple languages, such as Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam and Kannada. For instance, sacred groves – forest fragments that are communally protected – constitute a traditional conservation practice not only in India, but also in Bhutan, Myanmar and even Nigeria. This tradition is still relevant – indeed, new sacred groves have recently been constituted in villages granted Community Forest Rights such as Pachgaon in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra.

Using Wikidata and keywords such as Devari (Marathi), Devpan (Konkani), Nagarbana or Devarakadu (Kannada), Sarpakavu (Malayalam), Oran (Hindi), one can quickly compile quantitative information on this practice, helping bring together people from across the country. Similarly, using keywords in different languages for a phenomenon such as mass fish mortalities, one may compile systematic information on this phenomenon that Pollution Control Boards deliberately ignore.

Of course, the objective of the Wikipedia enterprise is to compile objective, verifiable information from a neutral point of view and the Wikipedia community will not be involved in any activism. Nevertheless, such an exercise of putting together information could serve a useful function of organising a social audit. This could help, say, scattered members of fishing communities that are adversely affected by pollution-related fish mortalities to organise themselves.

Democratic approach

This is a golden age for those fascinated by knowledge. And Wikipedia is a triumphant manifestation of the age, a progressive enterprise of good-faith collaboration with the noble objective of making all knowledge available to people all over the world. The English Wikipedia has taken giant strides towards such a goal. The key to this success of science has been the rejection of all authority other than empirical facts and logical inferences, and its aim is to engage all those interested in knowledge regardless of their social, economic or educational background. It is this democratic approach that has facilitated the rapid accumulation of knowledge. Yet there are continual attempts by so-called experts to monopolise knowledge.

It is the duty of true lovers of knowledge to resist such attempts. Knowledge has a vast canvas. Our environment, our social settings are legitimate subject matters of knowledge and every citizen can be involved in nurturing it. Wikipedia is an important step in the direction of bringing on board all citizens in the pursuit of knowledge. The ability of the Wikidata facility to bring together knowledge scattered in multiple Indian languages is one manifestation of this progressive development. All of us Indians should join hands in developing a reliable understanding of the nature around us and of our society, polity and economy. This enterprise of taking Wikipedia to the grassroots would be a worthy contribution to the cause of nation building.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/scroll.in-february-6-2016-madhav-gadgil-why-arent-indians-using-wikipedia-to-hold-the-government-to-account

Digitisation sprint at Andhra Loyola College Vijayawada to bring more books on Telugu Wikisource

Pavan Santhosh — 2016-02-12T11:29:10Z

This 12th, A digitisation sprint is being organised for student Wikipedians of Andhra Loyola College Vijayawada. Students will learn about scanning books, will use OCR engine and digitise books on Telugu Wikisource. The event is organised by CIS-A2K where Telugu Wikimedian Viswanadh will be participating to mentor the new Wikimedians.

Telugu Wikisource, a free online library in Telugu-language. Currently there are about 8 volunteers, known as Wikisourcers, who find Telugu-language text that are available under free licenses like Public Domain or Creative Commons licenses, digitise them and make the books available on the project. Their effort has brought about 29,680 pages of digitised text from old and new published works of different genres ranging from popular science and religious literature to literary contributions of notable authors of the states of Andhra and Telengana.

35 student Wikipedians of the Andhra Loyola College will be participating in this event and will learn about scanning of books, converting text from scanned images using OCR engine and digitising books on Telugu Wikisource by typing and proof-reading. At least 150-200 folios are expected to be digitized on Telugu Wikisource. Most importantly, this activity will also help bring 5-10 new Wikisourcers to Telugu Wikisource. As this is just a two-day long event, more follow up sessions will be conducted over time with the same set of students to help them learn better about the technical process involved and overall digitisation.This is the first of its kind in the institution where the students will not just learn about digitisation of books but will participate in a live contribution and make more Telugu books available online.

"Introducing Student Wikisourcers to Telugu Wikisource will help in developing the project. Also this is a very timely activity because even few days delay might result in really low participation as exams are coming up. "
— Viswanadh (User:విశ్వనాధ్.బి.కె.) ,Telugu Wikipedian (comment from Telugu Wikipedia Village Pump)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/events/digitisation-sprint-at-andhra-loyola-college-vijayawada-to-bring-more-books-on-telugu-wikisource

This little innovation is bringing a revolution in the Odia language

subha — 2016-02-27T07:33:06Z

Depicting human language within computing environments has always been a challenge: a given language's script and alphabet needs to be mapped to a coding system that a computer can process digitally. This is done by way of an encoding system that basically maps each character to a unique numeric code.

The article was published by DNA on February 3, 2016.

This was a standard approach for dealing with languages in the computing context. However, over time, many such encoding systems mushroomed. In 2012, Odisha-based non-profit Srujanika, with help from colleagues, created two text encoding converters that could convert two different legacy non-Unicode based script encoding systems to the universally accepted Unicode. I personally tested and found a lot of typos. It seemed to me that one would take more time to convert and proofread than just typing the text.

Unicode is a computing industry standard that provides a unique number for every character of the alphabet irrespective of the platform, program or script. Before the onset of Unicode there existed several other standards—such as American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) and Indian Script Code for Information Interchange (ISCII)—that defined the manner in which letters of a particular language were depicted on a computer. The text encoding converters generally are used to convert them from one encoding systems to another.

However, as proprietary and legacy encoding systems were so popular among the desktop publishing (DTP) operators, most Indian language media houses remained tied to their existing encoding systems even after Unicode was introduced. This led to editors, journalists, writers and many native language users having to reliable and intuitive way to input in their own language. For example, Unicode Odia resulted in a huge gap of Odia-language content online with users that depended on earlier, disjointed standards.

The converters I explained before could solve this problem partially as they could convert only two encoding systems with about 80% linguistic accuracy. While seeking help to enhance and scale up these existing converters, three Wikimedian-developers came forward to work on the available converters and create more foolproof ones. We worked together for hours spanning over a few months to make the converters better. When I asked my writer and journalist friends to test it, the result literally thrilled me as they all had started writing in Odia on Facebook the very next day.

More blogs started coming in Odia and more social media interaction in Odia. Interestingly, popular newspaper Sarbasadharana.com and an online portal Odisha.com used it. Many even started contributing to blogs and online portals. It became much easier for Wikimedians to use existing resources from portals, newspapers and magazines to enrich Wikipedia. Some of the available soft copies of public domain books acquired and books that were relicensed to CC licenses could easily be used on Wikisource.

Though it is difficult to measure the exact percentage of growth for online Odia-language content on the Internet, a significant change is seen today as compared to the state of the Odia language on the internet six months ago. Almost all the federal entities that were stuck with two non-Unicode encoding systems finally moved to Unicode, with official portal odia.odisha.gov.in including adoption of Unicode in their core policy. As a gesture of support to the development, the federal department has included Odia Wikipedia on the top of their resources page.

Recently, Jnanaranjan Sahu, one of core contributors to the project combined all the converters into a standalone on-wiki converter that is available both on Wikipedia and Wikisource. Many of the larger Odia language community have contributed in finding errors which were fixed. Jyanaranjan has made available a free online responsive converter that not just works from a computer but also seamlessly work from any smartphone. The converter has indeed helped to widely use Odia on the Internet. The bigger dream of an Odia version of Google is closer to becoming real.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/dna-february-3-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-little-innovation-is-bringing-revolution-in-odia-language

Youth is responsible for protecting Telugu

praskrishna — 2016-02-05T20:49:00Z

G. Umamaheshwara Rao, head of linguist research at Hyderabad Central university observed that there is every possibility for Telugu to be extinct soon. Its responsibility of youth to protect and preserve the language. And it is Wikipedia which would help in doing so.

A program was arranged to inaugurate Telugu Wkipedia digital resource center at Andhra Loyola College. Others who were present were Dr. Samala Ramesh Babu, Editor Ammanudi magazine, Fr. GAP Kishore, Principal, Rahmanuddin, Program officer, CIS-A2K, Prof B. Sivakumari, Botany dept, N Srinivas, Statistics dept, Kola Sekhara, Telugu dept, Pavan Santhosh, PA, CIS-A2K.A workshop for 40 students (10 each from Botany, Telugu, Physics and Statistics) took place from 11 to 13 January in the college campus.

Scanned version of article published by Eenaudu on January 14, 2016

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/eenadu-telugu-wikipedia-january-14-2016-youth-responsible-for-protecting-telugu

Wikipedia Digital Centre now at Andhra Loyola College

praskrishna — 2016-02-05T20:49:22Z

Access to Knowledge programme (CIS-A2K) of the Centre for Internet and Society has opened up a Wikipedia Digital Centre at Andhra Loyola College in the city on Wednesday. The centre, which has trained a couple of students in contributing to Wikipedia earlier, has now set up a lab called ‘Wikipedia Digital Centre’ to continue the activity.

Under the programme, organisers of Access to Knowledge train the students from each department such as botany, statistics, physics and Telugu to become Wikimedians so that they offer content in Telugu and other regional languages.

A two-day-long programme trained nearly 40 students from the college to enable them update the information. The students, as a part of training would work on their respective subjects in languages and will update their works on articles in Wikipedia.

The lab is equipped with 10 computers and will be managed by Andhra Loyola College and CIS together, said one of the organisers Rahmanuddin Shaik. College management and respective faculty were present during the programme.

Read the article published by Hans India on January 14, 2016 here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/the-hans-india-january-14-2016-wikipedia-digital-centre-now-at-andhra-loyola-college

WikipediansSpeak: Odia Wikisourcer Shares her Journey and Goals

Subhashish Panigrahi and Nasim Ali — 2016-02-05T20:49:36Z

The most active editor on the Odia Wikisource is Pankajmala Sarangi, a native of Odisha who now lives in New Delhi, where she works at a non-profit. As a leader in a broad community that is dominated by males—indeed, she is the most active contributor to the Odia-language Wikisource—we asked her to share her journey and her goals to grow the project and community as part of the “WikipediansSpeWell, I think I would work on creating a database of all the Odia speakers living in New Delhi and the city organizations that work in propagating Odia language and culture, and plan Wikisource outreach programs for them.k” interview series.

Odia Wikisourcer Pankajmala Sarangi shares her experience and future plans to grow the community. Video by Pankajmala Sarangi (original video) and Subhashish Panigrahi (post production), freely licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 license. The video can be viewed here.

What is the community like on the Odia Wikisource?

Pankajmala feels that the community is like her home. “I can’t tell how happy I am after seeing that this one year-old project has already digitized over 200 books. With more and more youth coming on the internet, the internet won’t disappoint them when the type and search in Odia language.”

What are projects that you would like to start or get help from the existing community to grow?

Forming expert /resource groups to increase the thematic group structure in the community so that each group could work collaboratively for specific goals.
We can also create groups through the help of the resident welfare associations in Odisha cities where Odia WikiTungis (in Odia Wikimedia community city based informal groups have been started that actively organize outreach and engage with new Wikimedians) are already working. They can work hand-in-hand. This will help us expand this program to more new places.
We can tie up with basic computer training institutes where their students and new Wikimedians who do not have access to computer/internet could learn about Odia Wikipedia editing as a vocational training. These institutes remain idle during day time and get busy after 4 pm as schools and college students come to learn about computer basics after their class hours.
One idea could be involving veterans whose expertise could help improve the quality of the articles which is otherwise going in vain after retirement. Post retirement life is otherwise lonely and many feel worthless who could enjoy the company of many new friends. The senior citizens groups could train new Wikimedians using these institutional facilities.
Summer vacation Wikipedia outreach for school/college students:
- It has became mandatory in all private schools and colleges to do voluntary work for a few hours every day for six months to finish up a program. We can ask these private institutions to include editing and contributing to Odia Wikipedia and other Odia Wikimedia projects in their syllabus. They would not only get Wikipedians as facilitators without spending any money but will become part of such a global and multilingual group. We can involve students for both editing Wikipedia articles, and digitizing and correcting typos and other mistakes on Odia Wikisource. If a manual with the above details is available then it would be better to refer it while working. When we are discussing something in our community then the users (who are eligible for giving suggestions) should automatically get a message saying your suggestion/input is required on this (with that link to the page).
According to a 2011 survey, Wikipedia editors are only about nine percent female. The Wikisource statistics is not yet known, but I would theorize that it is similar. How do you think we could bridge this gap in Odia?

We surely have less women. We could reorient our current work to bring in a few other aspects like more focused outreach in women’s college and schools, creating a network of women who are interested to contribute to Wikimedia projects, making Twitter lists and Facebook groups for women for more friendly conversation and support, inviting and involving more women participants in Wikimedia outreach. I also wonder how we can gift the top contributors some gifts as a token of appreciation. We could also organize field trips for them to a public library, museum or art gallery so that they get to see how Wikimedia projects could grow by imbibing available resources.

What are your personal plans to build a community for Odia Wikisource in New Delhi?

Well, I think I would work on creating a database of all the Odia speakers living in New Delhi and the city organizations that work in propagating Odia language and culture, and plan Wikisource outreach programs for them.

This post is part of the WikipediansSpeak series, which aims to chronicle the voices of the Wikipedia community. You can find more of these posts on the Wikimedia Commons.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikipediansspeak-odia-wikisourcer-shares-her-journey-and-goals

Books at a Click

praskrishna — 2016-06-18T17:52:06Z

The OdiaWikimedia community and Bhubaneswar-based Srujanika have come together to make rare science books available online for readers, students & science educators.

The article by Diana Sahu was published in the New Indian Express on January 9, 2016.

Readers can now access rare science books in Odia language at Odia Wikisource, an online library of popular books in the language. The Odia Wikimedia community and Bhubaneswar-based Srujanika have come together to make these books available online for readers, students and science educators. This apart, books of Sahitya Akademi award winning writer Jagannath Prasad Das have been added to the library. Srujanika's co-founder Puspashree Pattnaik recently provided 700 popular science books that were published by the organisation to the Wikimedia community for digitisation. “These books were appreciated by many and even in demand after going out of print. Hence, we thought if these can be shared under free licence then they can reach a wider population. Wikipedia contributors can use these as resources and enhance science content in Odia Wikipedia as well", says Puspashree, a former teacher. She along with her husband Nikhil Pattnaik, a former scientist with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, had published several science books as part of their project to popularise the subject among children. With support from Vigyan Prasar in New Delhi, the couple had also documented rare works of science published in books, magazines, periodicals and newspapers from 1850 to 1950 in electronic format, a few years back. Around science 765 articles written over a century have been put on CDs and DVDs according to the names of authors and year of publication. The science books have been digitised by volunteers of the Odia Wikimedia community and the Centre for Internet and Society, a non-profit working for supporting Indian language Wikipedia projects and the communities.

Pushpashree Pattnaik

Similarly, the Wikimedia community has re-licensed 30 books of Das under a free license CC-by-SA 4.0. His books can now be accessed at https://orwikisource.org and anyone can use them for academic or research work. “My tryst with internet started very late. I was introduced to digital books through Srujanika's online version of Purnachandra Odia Bhashakosha - comprising 9,500 pages in seven volumes- which was impossible to handle on the writing table. That made me think how convenient it would be to have Odia books avail. able on the internet. As a beginning. I decided to put my own writings on the internet", said Das. Prior to Das, eminent writers and litterateurs Debi Prasanna Pattanayak, Manoj Panda, Subrat Prusty, Bharat Majhi and organisations like 'Manik Biswanath Smrutinyasa' and Aama Odisha' had come forward to make their books available online for free using Odia Wikisource as a platform. At present, Odia Wikisource has 280 Odia books and all are either under Public Domain or Creative Commons Share Alike licences. A team of 10 active contributors, known as "Uikiali' in Odia, are digitising books of various genres ranging from science writing, fiction to 0dia classics. “Apart from the science writ. ings, we are also working on digitising the biography of Nandini Satpathy which has been published by Ashisa Ranjan Mohapatra of Srimati Nandini Satpathy Memorial Trust,” says Mrutyunjaya Kar, administrator of Odia Wikisource and Odia Wikipedia who has been contributing to the Wikimedia projects in Odia, Hindi, Sanskrit and English for the last four years. Odia Wikisource is a sister project of Odia Wikipedia.

These books were appreciated by many and going out of print. If these can be shared under free licence then they can reach a wider population.
Pushpashree Pattnaik

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/new-indian-express-january-9-2016-diana-sahu-books-at-a-click

Wikipedia initiative - Celebrating legacy of Bangalore Blue grapes online

praskrishna — 2016-01-29T15:44:36Z

Black is beautiful, and it can go places if it is well researched. When HL Omshivaprakash wrote a Wikipedia article about Karnataka's bidriware, the metal handicraft where gleaming black bowls and hookahs are dotted with delicate silver strips, he didn't expect it to be picked up by the French and Swedes.

Read the article published in the Times of India here. Subhashish Panigrahi gave inputs.

His article has now been translated into their languages. Though it might not lead to more money for the struggling artists of Bidar, they might get an edge while marketing their wares, says Omshivaprakash. This is the advantage that a week-long editathon hopes to achieve. Editors of the online encyclopaedia are celebrating Republic Day by encouraging people to upgrade and contribute articles on those arts, crafts and goods unique to various parts of India. "People are already working on 15 products from Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal," says Subhashish Panigrahi, Wikipedian and language activist.

India has 213 goods and crafts with geographical indication (GIs) tags. The GI mark is a kind of trademark, which indicates that a product's reputation is linked to its origins in a particular area. Of 213 GI tags, only 70 have English entries. So while intricacies of Muga silk-making in Assam and cultivating Bangalore Blue grapes are explained in detail in English, Alleppey coir has only a sketchy Malayalam entry.

"People should know the history of each item. For example, they should know how Kondapalli toys from near Vijayawada are made,"says Nageswara Rao Gullapalli.

Omshivaprakash, who created a signboard outside Bidar Fort last year, with a QR code that allows users to read the relevant wiki entry on their mobile phones, says a change in design can make a difference."The QR code was etched in bidri to create a socio-economic link between readers and artisans. Though the art is expensive, the artists are not paid well,"he says.

It is this desire to unearth new facts that will see Santosh Shinga, an IIT-B researcher, delving deep into Nagpur oranges, Nashik grapes and Mahabaleshwar strawberries. "I am from Nagpur and interested in fruits,"says Shinga, who knows a bit of orange farming.The only exception in his list is Puneri pagadi, the elaborate headgear recently spotted on actor Ranveer Singh in Bollywood movie 'Bajirao Mastani'.

Panigrahi hopes to finish the edits in English by January 30, right in time when the event wraps up by January 31. Karnataka, which tops the list with 30 GI goods, has only a handful of articles and images, says Panigrahi.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/times-of-india-january-27-2016-wikipedia-initiative

Kannada Wikipedia not on top of the charts

praskrishna — 2016-06-18T16:23:37Z

It occupies the 10th place among Indian languages.

The article by Muralidhara Khajane was published in the Hindu on January 19, 2016. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja was quoted.

Bengaluru being the IT capital of the country has made little difference to Kannada’s presence in the cyber world. Compare any major Indian language on Wikipedia with the 13-year-old Kannada language pages, and you are in for a surprise: Kannada occupies the 10th place among Indian languages, while Urdu occupies the first slot in terms of number of articles.

As on January 2016, the number of articles in Kannada Wikipedia is just 19,070, while Tamil (83,432), Telugu (64,451), and Malayalam (41,334) are way ahead. Urdu version occupies the first place with 1,10,367 articles and Hindi version follows with 1,00,912 articles.

As far as the world ranking of languages is concerned, Kannada stands 107th. It is interesting to note that Cebuano spoken by 21 million people and second most spoken language in the Philippines stands fourth in the list of global languages with 18,65,033 articles after English, Swedish, and German.

It has been 13 years since a small group of tech-savvy Kannadigas got together to create the first few article stubs on Kannada. This resulted in starting the Kannada language edition of Wikipedia in 2003.

Though the articles in Wikipedia pages drew flak for their lack of depth and quality initially, the site showed signs of improvement only to fall back again. Initially, it was the issue of fonts that came in the way of developing Kannada pages and interestingly very few people knew that Wikipedia could be written in a regional language.

Omshivaprakash, one of the five administrators of Wikipedia’s Kannada version, blames laxity in community participation for Kannada version’s poor show. “Authors, publishers, government bodies don’t seem to be confident enough to use Wikipedia platform. Not many show interest to learn and contribute,” he says.

Awareness of Kannada Wikipedia, lack of awareness about Kannada typing tools, Internet accessibility issues, and lack of self-motivated volunteers who can drive the Wiki learning activities are reasons for the slowdown, he says.

Admitting that Kannada Wikipedia is lagging behind in terms of quantity (number of articles), U.B. Pavanaja, another administrator, argued that it was however good in terms of quality.

Attributing the rise in number of articles in other Indian language versions, especially in Tamil and Telugu, to uploading government data, he said, “But we have not done that. Our focus was mainly on quality, rather than quantity and the intention is to make the page more theme-based. We have deleted some 2,000 articles to provide the content in Encyclopaedia format.”

According to him, things are now moving in a positive direction with more people showing interest in this community attempt.

Kannada Development Authority chairperson L. Hanumanthaiah said he would immediately convene a meeting of administrators of the Kannada version of Wikipedia and discuss the mode of support Kannada bodies could expend in enriching Kannada pages.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/the-hindu-january-19-muralidhara-khajane-kannada-wikipedia-not-on-top-of-the-charts

GI-tagged products to get Wiki pages

praskrishna — 2016-01-27T16:33:47Z

Ever realised that the famous, red hot Naga Mirchi (a special variety of chilli from Nagaland) doesn’t have a Wikipedia page?

The article by S. Anandan was published in the Hindu on January 26, 2016.

And that Cannanore Home Furnishings — textile home furnishings from Kannur — is a brand with geographical indication (GI) registration? Wiki, which is an open and free repository of knowledge on the Internet, does not have pages, in English and other recognised Indian languages, on most GI-tagged Indian products.

The Centre for Internet and Society-Access to Knowledge — popular as CIS-A2K— which is a not-for-profit movement to promote the fundamental principles of justice, freedom, and economic development, launched an India Edit-a-thon for seven days from January 25 to generate Wikimedia pages in English and Indian languages on Indian products recognised by the GI Registry of India.

“Kerala alone boasts 23 products, mostly agricultural, with the GI tag. But Malayalam Wiki doesn’t have information on all of them. Besides the Aranmula Kannadi, none of the other GI-tagged products from Kerala have Wiki pages in English. Nationally, there are about 213 GI-tagged products and we know nothing of most of them. There isn’t a single article on many of them even in English. It’s in this context that the Edit-a-thon becomes extremely relevant. It’s being held to celebrate the Republic Day,” says Wiki activist Manoj Karingamadathil.

13 pages already

The campaign, launched on Monday, has evoked enthusiastic response from Wiki activists who have begun to create pages on most of these products. At the time of going to press, 13 GI-tagged Kerala products have got Wiki pages and editors are at work to generate content for these products in English.

Apart from existing Wiki editors, freshers may also be part of the campaign. “All they have to do is to create a Wiki account before sending in researched content,” points out Mr. Manoj. The campaign will be on till January 31.

Seven-day India Edit-a-thon begins; Wiki activists begin creating pages.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/the-hindu-s-anandan-january-26-2016-gi-tagged-products-to-get-wiki-pages

This Multilingual Edit-a-thon wants to Improve Indian Content on Wikipedia

subha — 2016-01-28T07:23:09Z

Ever wondered how many articles the Kannada Wikipedia or the Hindi Wikipedia have relating to India, its social history, literary and cultural heritage and the journey of over 1600 languages?

The article was published in DNA on January 26, 2016.

India has over 235 Geographical Indications (GI) spread over the length and breadth of the 29 states and 7 union territories. GI identifies goods or products as originating in a region or locality and indicates the unique characteristic or particular qualities it has as a result of being made in that area. Out of India's 235 GI, as identified by the Geographical Indications Registry of the Government of India, there exist only about 70 English Wikipedia entries. The state of many Indian language Wikipedias is even worse where a vast majority of the identified GIs and other important topics related to art, craft, cuisine, culture, attire and tradition are missing from Wikipedia. Even Karnataka, which has the maximum number of GIs at 30, has only a handful of articles and a few images on Wikipedia.

This Republic Day, 75 Wikipedia editors who are volunteers and represent 18 Indic languages are coming together online to show their patriotism in a unique way. It is not by hoisting the tri-colour and talking about India's glorious past, but by enhancing Wikipedia content related to the GIs of India in their own languages. Those who are multilingual are even going to create Wikipedia articles in two or three different languages. The multilingual edit-a-thon started on January 25 and will go on until January 31. The event is focused on improving existing Wikipedia content related to GIs of India, translating them into Indic languages and also creating new articles. Being an online event, it has also opened up the door to many contributors outside India. A few participants from Nepal and Bangladesh have signed up for the event.

So little of the great journey of our products with unique quality is available in the public domain. The saddest part is that there is literally a bottom level existence for content related to Indian GIs on Wikipedia, the world's largest online encyclopedia, which is often the first link a web search throws up. This sort of lack of access to knowledge related to India is not new. Even outside of Wikipedia, there is very less that exists about the many stories worth telling from our country. However, crying over the low access to knowledge would never solve the real problem.

This edit-a-thon is just a digital experiment but can be a great way of doing digital activism for the preservation of languages and taking the uniqueness of India to millions of people in their own languages.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/this-multilingual-edit-a-thon-wants-to-improve-indian-content-on-wikipedia

କେତେ ମାଗଣା ଫେସବୁକର ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସ?

subha — 2016-01-28T07:23:37Z

This opinion piece in Odia on Facebook's Free Basics App was published in Odisha.com. The post highlights several user security and privacy that Free Basics is violating apart from violating net neutrality. It also brings the parallel of Airtel Zero and Free Basics with the Grameenphone project by Mozilla in Bangladesh and the worldwide Wikipedia Zero projects.

Read the original article published in Odisha.com here.

ଗତ ଦୁଇ ସପ୍ତାହ ସାରା ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ନିଆଁ ଲାଗିଛି । ସାରା ଦେଶରୁ ଲୋକେ ନିଆଁରେ ପତଙ୍ଗ ଝାସ ଦେଲା ଭଳି ଫେସବୁକର ନୂଆ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ (Free Basics) ବିରୋଧରେ ଭିନ୍ନ ଭିନ୍ନ ଧରଣର ମତ ଦେଇଚାଲିଛନ୍ତି।

ପ୍ରଧାନମନ୍ତ୍ରୀ ମୋଦିଙ୍କ ଆମେରିକା ଗସ୍ତ କାଳରେ ସେଠାରେ ଜୁକରବର୍ଗଙ୍କ ସାଙ୍ଗେ ଭେଟି ଫେସବୁକର ମିଳିତ ସହଯୋଗରେ ଭାରତରେ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ପାଇଁ ଜ୍ଞାନ ବିତରଣ ଓ ସୂଚନା ପହଞ୍ଚାଇବା ବାବଦରେ ଆଲୋଚନ କରିଥିଲେ।

ଫେସବୁକ ଏହାକୁ ଭାରତରେ ନିଜର ଚେର ମୋଟା କରିବାର ଏକ ସୁଯୋଗ ଭାବେ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିବାକୁ ଉଦ୍ୟମ କଲା । ଫେସବୁକର ପ୍ରତିଷ୍ଠାତା ମାର୍କ ଜୁକରବର୍ଗ ଏହି ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସ ସମ୍ପର୍କରେ ଘୋଷଣା କରିବାର ଦୁଇ ସପ୍ତାହ ନ ପୁରୁଣୁ ଟେଲିକମ ରେଗୁଲେଟରି ଅଥରିଟି ଅଫ ଇଣ୍ଡିଆ (ଟ୍ରାଇ) ପାଖରେ ସାଢ଼େ ଚାରି ଲକ୍ଷ ପାଖାପାଖି ଇମେଲ ଏହାକୁ ରୋକିବା ଲାଗି ପହଞ୍ଚି ସାରିଲାଣି ।

ଜନନେତା ଓ ଇନଫୋସିସର ସହ ପ୍ରତିଷ୍ଠାତା ନନ୍ଦନ ନୀଳକେଣିଙ୍କ ଠାରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ମିଡ଼ିଆନାମାର ପ୍ରତିଷ୍ଠାତା ନିଖିଳ ପାଉଆ, ଭେଞ୍ଚର କ୍ୟାପିଟାଲିଷ୍ଟ ମହେଶ ମୂର୍ତ୍ତି, ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଆକ୍ଟିଭିଷ୍ଟ ସୁନୀଳ ଆବ୍ରାହାମ, ପ୍ରଣେଶ ପ୍ରକାଶଙ୍କ ଯାଏ ସଭିଏଁ ଏହା ପଛରେ ଫେସବୁକ ଲାଭକାରୀ ମନୋଭାବ ନିହିତ ଅଛି ବୋଲି ଦର୍ଶାଇ ଏହି ଉଦ୍ୟମକୁ କଡ଼ା ନିନ୍ଦା କରିଛନ୍ତି।

ତେବେ କଣ ଏ ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସ? କାହିଁକି ଏତେ ବିବାଦ ?

ଫେସବୁକ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରୁଥିବା ଉଣାଅଧିକେ ସଭିଏଁ ଜାଣୁଥିବେ ସେ କେଡ଼େ ଅଠାକାଠି! ଫେସବୁକର ପ୍ରାୟ ବ୍ୟବହାକାରୀ ହେଲେ ଯୁବବର୍ଗର । ତେବେ ଅନ୍ୟ ବଯସର ଲୋକେ ମଧ୍ୟ ଫେସବୁକ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିଥାନ୍ତି । ଖୁବ କମ ସମୟରେ ଅଧିକ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ସଙ୍ଗେ ମିଶିବା, ଗପିବା ଆଦି ସୁବିଧା ପାଇବା ଯୋଗୁଁ ଅନେକେ ଫେସବୁକ ପ୍ରେମରେ ପଡ଼ିଯାଆନ୍ତି ।

ସରଳ ଭାଷାରେ କହିଲେ ଫେସବୁକ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଏକ ହାଟ ବଜାର । ଲୋକେ ସେଠି କିଛି ସମୟ କାଟିବା ପାଇଁ, ଚିହ୍ନା-ଅଚିହ୍ନା ଲୋକଙ୍କ ସହ ମିଶିବା ପାଇଁ, ଆଳାପ-ଆଲୋଚନା ପାଇଁ ଏକାଠି ହୁଅନ୍ତି । ଅଧିକାଂଶ ଆଲୋଚନା କେବଳ ମଜା ମଉଜ ପାଇଁ ହେଲା ବେଳେ କିଛି ଉପଯୋଗୀ ଆଲୋଚନା ମଧ୍ୟ ହୋଇଥାଏ ।

ଫେସବୁକ ଏକ ବିଶାଳ ଲାଭକାରୀ କମ୍ପାନି । ଏହାର ଆଉ ଏକ ସହ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ହେଲା ହୁଆଟ୍ସ ଅପ । ଏହା ଅନଲାଇନ ଚାଟିଂ ପାଇଁ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରାଯାଏ । ଫଟୋ ଭିଡ଼ିଓରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ସାଧାରଣ ଚାଟିଂ ନିମନ୍ତେ ଏହା ଖୁବ ଜଣା । ନିକଟରେ ଫେସବୁକ internet.org ନାମକ ଏକ ସହ-ସଙ୍ଗଠନ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରିଛି ।

ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସ ହେଲା ଏ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଡଟ ଅର୍ଗ ଅଧୀନରେ ଏକ ଯୋଜନା । ତେବେ ଫେସବୁକ ଓ ଫେସବୁକର ସହ-ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପସବୁକୁ ଅଭାବୀ ଦେଶମାନଙ୍କରେ ଅଧିକ ଲୋକପ୍ରିୟ କରିବା ଲାଗି ସେସବୁକୁ ବିନାମୂଲ୍ୟରେ ପହଞ୍ଚାଇବା ପାଇଁ ଏ ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସ । ଭାରତ ସମେତ ଜଗତର ୩୦ଟି ଦେଶରେ ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସ ଜରିଆରେ ମାଗଣା ସୀମିତ ଫେସବୁକ ସୁବିଧା ଦେବା ଏହାର ଉଦ୍ଦେଶ୍ୟ ।

ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସ ଜରିଆରେ ଆଉ କିଛି ମାଗଣା ୱେବସାଇଟ ମଧ୍ୟ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ହେବ । ତେବେ ଏଠାରେ ଅନେକ ପ୍ରଶ୍ନ ମନରେ ଉଙ୍କିମାରେ? ଏ ମାଗଣା ୱେବସାଇଟସବୁ ବ୍ୟବହାର ପାଇଁ ଲୋଡ଼ା କି ନାଁ ତା’ର ସିଦ୍ଧାନ୍ତ କିଏ ନେବ, ଫେସବୁକ ନାଁ ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀ ?

ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସ ଅଧୁନା କିଛି ଦେଶରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ହୋଇଥିବା ବେଳେ ଫିଲିପାଇନ୍ସରେ ରହୁଥିବା ଜଣେ ଭାରତୀୟ ଜିତେଶ ଗୋସ୍ୱାମୀ ନିକଟରେ ନିଜେ ନିଜ ମୋବାଇଲରେ ସେଠାର ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସ ଇନଷ୍ଟଲ କରି ଯାହା ମତ ଦେଇଛନ୍ତି ତା’ ଭାରୀ ଚିନ୍ତାର ବିଷୟ । ସାଧାରଣ ଫେସବୁକର ଅଧାରୁ ଅଧିକ ସୁବିଧା ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସରେ ନାହିଁ ।

ଏଥିରେ ଫେସବୁକ ବାହାରେ ଥିବା ଭିଡ଼ିଓ ମାଗଣାରେ ଦେଖିହେବନି କି ଖବର ଆଦି ସମ୍ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ ପଢ଼ିହେବନି । ପୁଣି ମାଗଣାରେ ମିଳିବାକୁ ଥିବା ବାକି ୱେବସାଇଟସବୁ ବାଛିବାରେ ଫେସବୁକର ଏକଚାଟିଆ ଅଧିକାର ରହିବ । ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀ କଣ ଚାହାନ୍ତି ନ ଚାହାନ୍ତି ତାହା ଫେସବୁକ ନିର୍ଣ୍ଣୟ କରିବ ।

ଆଉ ଗରୀବ ମାଇପ ସବୁରି ଶାଳୀ ନ୍ୟାୟରେ ଗରୀବଙ୍କୁ ମାଗଣା ତିଅଣର ସୁଆଦ ଚଖାଇ ଫେସବୁକ ସେମାନଙ୍କୁ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଯୋଗାଇବା ଆଳରେ କେବଳ ଫେସବୁକର ପରିଧି ଭିତରେ ବାନ୍ଧି ରଖିବ ।

ଫେସବୁକ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ Mozilla ଭଳି ଖୋଲା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ବ୍ୟବହାର କରେନାହିଁ କି ଲୋକଙ୍କ ଉଦ୍ୟମରେ ତିଆରି ନୁହେଁ । ଏହା ସମ୍ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ ଭାବେ ଏକ ଲାଭକାରୀ କମ୍ପାନି । ତେଣୁ ଫେସବୁକର ସବୁ କାମ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ସ୍ୱାର୍ଥ ନୁହେଁ ବରଂ ନିଜ ସ୍ୱାର୍ଥ ହାସଲ ପାଇଁ ।

ଅଭାବୀ ଦେଶର ଲୋକଙ୍କ ମନ ଜିଣିବା ପାଇଁ ଓ ନିଜର ବ୍ୟବହାର କାରୀଙ୍କ ସଂଖ୍ୟା ବଢ଼ାଇବା ପାଇଁ ଏହା ଫେସବୁକର ଏକ ମସୁଧା ବୋଲି ଅନେକ ଚିନ୍ତାଶୀଳ ଲୋକେ ମତ ଦେଇଛନ୍ତି । ଫେସବୁକର ଏହି ଏକ ଚାଟିଆ କାମ ନେଟ ନିଉଟ୍ରାଲିଟି ବା ନେଟ ସମାନତାର ପକ୍ଷପାତୀ ।

ପକ୍ଷପାତ ନ କରି ସବୁ ୱେବସାଇଟକୁ ସମାନ ଭାବେ ଗଣିବା ନେଟ ସମାନତା ନାମରେ ଜଣା । ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସରେ ଥିବା ନାନାଦି ଭୁଲ ବିଷୟକୁ ଭଲ ଭାବେ ତନଖି କରିବା ପାଇଁ ନିକଟରେ ଟେଲିକମ ରେଗୁଲେଟରି ଅଥରିଟି ଅଫ ଇଣ୍ଡିଆ (ଟ୍ରାଇ) ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସକୁ କିଛି ସମୟ ପାଇଁ ବାସନ୍ଦ କରିଛି ।

ଚତୁର ଫେସବୁକ କେବେ ଚାଷୀମାନଙ୍କୁ ପାଣିପାଗ ଜାଣିବାରେ ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସ ସାହାଯ୍ୟ କରିବ ତ କେବେ ଅଭାବୀ ଭାରତୀୟଙ୍କୁ ପରସ୍ପର ସହ ଯୋଡ଼ିବାରେ ସାହାଯ୍ୟ କରିବ ବୋଲି ଦେଶସାରା ସହର ବଜାର ସବୁଠି ଜୋରଦାର ପ୍ରଚାର ଚଳାଇଥିଲା ।

ସବୁ ଖବରକାଗଜରେ ପୂରା ଫର୍ଦ ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ଆଉ ସବୁ ବସ ରହିବା ସ୍ଥାନରେ ବଡ଼ ବଡ଼ ହୋର୍ଡ଼ିଂ । ଆଉ ଏଥିରେ ସଭିଙ୍କୁ ଅନୁରୋଧ ଥିଲା ଏକ ନମ୍ବରକୁ ମିସ କଲ ଦେଇ ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସକୁ ସମର୍ଥନ କରିବା ପାଇଁ । ଏ ପ୍ରଚାର ପ୍ରସାରରେ ୧୦୦ କୋଟିରୁ ଅଧିକ ବୋଧେ ଖର୍ଚ୍ଚ ହୋଇଥିବ! କେଉଁଠୁ ଆଦାୟ ହେବ ଏ ପଇସା? ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସର ମାଗଣା ଫେସବୁକ ଓ ବାକି ୱେବସାଇଟକୁ ସୁବିଧା ଦେବାର ଏ ଆଳ ବିରୋଧରେ ଝଡ଼ ଉଠିଛି ।

Savetheinternet.in ନାମରେ ଏକ ୱେବସାଇଟ ତିଆରି କରି ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ସମାନତା ପାଇଁ ଲଢ଼ୁଥିବା କର୍ମୀଏ ଏକରକମ ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରିଛନ୍ତି ।

ଫେସବୁକର ମିସ କଲ ଅଭିଯାନର କଡ଼ା ଜବାବ ଦେବାପାଇଁ Savetheinternet.in ଓ fsmi.in ନାମକ ଦୁଇଟି ୱେବସାଇଟ ପକ୍ଷରୁ ଜନସାଧାରଣଙ୍କୁ ସଚେତନ କରାଯାଇ ଟ୍ରାଇ ପାଖକୁ ଇମେଲ ପଠାଇବା ଅନୁରୋଧ କରାଯାଇଥିଲା । ଫେସବୁକର କୋଟି କୋଟି ଟଙ୍କା ଖର୍ଚର ମିସ କଲ ଅଭିଯାନରୁ ୧୦ ଲକ୍ଷ ସମର୍ଥନ ମିଳିଥିବା ବେଳେ ବିନା ପଇସାରେ ସାଢ଼େ ଚାରି ଲକ୍ଷରୁ ଅଧିକ ଲୋକ ଇମେଲ ଜରିଆରେ ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସକୁ ବିରୋଧ କରି ଟ୍ରାଇକୁ ଇମେଲ କରିଛନ୍ତି ।

ତେବେ ଫେସବୁକର ଏହି ସମର୍ଥନ ସଂଗ୍ରହକୁ ଟ୍ରାଇର ସଭାପତି ଆରଏସ ଶର୍ମା ଘୋର ନିନ୍ଦା କରି କହିଛନ୍ତି ଏଯାବତ ଫେସବୁକ ଯେଉଁ ୧୪ ଲକ୍ଷ ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ପ୍ରଭାବିତ କରି ସେମାନଙ୍କୁ ମିସ କଲ ଜରିଆରେ ସମର୍ଥନ ଆଣିଛି ତା’ ମୂଲ୍ୟହୀନ ।

୧୦୦ କୋଟି ଟଙ୍କାର କି ଅପଚୟ! ସେତିକି ପଇସାରେ ଶହେ ହଜାର ଲୋକଙ୍କ ମାଗଣାରେ କିଛି ଉପଯୋଗୀ ସାଇଟ ଦେଖିବା ସୁଯୋଗ ଦେଇଥିଲେ ଆହୁରି ଭଲ ହୋଇଥାନ୍ତା ।

ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସରେ ଲୁଚି ରହିଥିବା ସବୁଠୁ ବଡ଼ ବିପଦଟି ହେଲା ଫେସବୁକର ତଥ୍ୟ ସଂଗ୍ରହ କାରସାଦି । ବ୍ୟବହାର୍ରକାରୀ କି କି ସାଇଟ ଦେଖିଲେ, କାହା ସଙ୍ଗେ ଗପିଲେ ସେସବୁ ଏହା ତାଙ୍କ ଅଗୋଚରେ ଟିକିନିଖି କରି ହିସାବ ରଖିଥାଏ । ସଳଖେ କହିଲେ ଫେସବୁକରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର କାରୀ ବାପୁଡ଼ାର ବ୍ୟକ୍ତିଗତ ବୋଲି କିଛି ରହିବ ନାହିଁ ।

ଫେସବୁକ ଆରମ୍ଭରୁ ଶବ୍ଦସମ୍ଭାରରେ ଭରା ଏକ ଲମ୍ବା ବିବରଣୀରେ ତଥ୍ୟ ସଂଗ୍ରହରେ ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀଙ୍କ କୌଣସି ଅଭିଯୋଗ ନାହିଁ ବୋଲି ଖୁବ ଚତୁର ଭାବେ ତାଙ୍କଠୁ ଅନୁମତି ନେଇଯାଏ । ଅନଭିଜ୍ଞ ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀ ପାଠ ଘର ଯାହା ସେଥିରେ ସେ ଏ ଫିକର ବୁଝିବ ବା କିପରି?

ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଓକିଲ ଇବେନ ମଗଲେନ ଓ ମିସି ଚୌଧୁରୀ ଏକ ଲେଖାରେ ଦୁହେଁ ତନ୍ନ ତନ୍ନ କରି ବିଶ୍ଳେଷଣ କରିଛନ୍ତି ଏ କଥା । ପ୍ରଶ୍ନ ଉଠେ ଯେ ଫେସବୁକ ଧନୀ ଦେଶରେ ଏଭଳି ବେପରୁଆ ଅପସାହସ କରିବକି?

ଏହି ଭଳି ଆଉ ଏକ କୁଟିଳ ବିଷୟ ଥିଲା ଏଆରଟେଲ ଜିରୋ । ଏଆରଟେଲ ଜିରୋ ଆଉ ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ ଭିତରେ ବଡ଼ ସମାନତା ହେଉଛି ଉଭୟ କମ୍ପାନି କିଛି ୱେବସାଇଟଙ୍କଠାରୁ ବିପୁଳ ପରିମାଣରେ ପଇସା ନେଇ ସେ ୱେବସାଇଟସବୁକୁ ବ୍ୟବହାର କାରୀଙ୍କ ପାଇଁ ମାଗଣାରେ ଯୋଗାଇଥାନ୍ତି ।

ଏଥିରେ ସେବା ଯୋଗାଣକାରୀ ଓ ମାଗଣାରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର କାରୀଙ୍କ ପାଖେ ପହଞ୍ଚୁଥିବା ୱେବସାଇଟସବୁଙ୍କ ସିଧାସଳଖ ସ୍ୱାର୍ଥ ନିହିତ ଥାଏ । ପାଠକଙ୍କୁ ଜ୍ଞାନ ବିତରଣ କରିବାର ତୁଚ୍ଛା ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ତଳେ ଯେ ଏତେ ଫନ୍ଦି ରହିଛି ତାହା ପାଠକ ବାପୁଡ଼ା ବା ଜାଣିବ କେମନ୍ତେ? ଆଉ ଧନୀ ଦେଶରେ ଏଭଳି ଫିକର ସହଜେ ଧରାପଡ଼ିବ ବୋଲି ଫେସବୁକ ଭଳି କମ୍ପାନି ୩୦ଟି ଅଭାବୀ ଦେଶକୁ ଥୋପ କରିଛି ।

ତେବେ ମାଗଣାରେ କିଛି ୱେବସାଇଟ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ କରାଇବା କିଛି ନୂଆ ନୁହେଁ । ଅତୀତରେ ବଙ୍ଗଳାଦେଶରେ Mozilla (ଫାୟାରଫକ୍ସ ଭଳି ନାନାଦି ଖୋଲା ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ପରିଚାଳନା କରୁଥିବା ସଙ୍ଗଠନ) ଗ୍ରାମୀଣଫୋନ ନାମକ ଯୋଜନା ଜରିଆରେ ୫ ଲକ୍ଷରୁ ଅଧିକ ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ଦିନକୁ ୨୦ MBର ଡାଟା ଦେବା ସାରା ଜଗତରେ ଆଲୋଚନା ବିଷୟ ହୋଇଥିଲା ।

ମୋଜିଲା ଓ ମୋବାଇଲ ସେବା ଯୋଗାଣକାରୀ ଟେଲିନର ଏଥି ପାଇଁ ପ୍ରଶଂସାର ପାତ୍ର ହୋଇଥିଲେ । ଅନେକ ଦେଶରେ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକେ ବିଭିନ୍ନ ବିଷୟରେ ଜାଣିବାକୁ ପାଉନଥିବାରୁ ଏସଏସମେସ ଓ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଯୋଗେ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ଦ୍ୱାରା ସମ୍ପାଦିତ ଅନଲାଇନ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ, ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଜିରୋ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ଜରିଆରେ ମାଗଣାରେ ଯୋଗାଇଦିଆଯାଉଛି ।

ଭାରତରେ ମଧ୍ୟ ପରୀକ୍ଷାମୂଳକ ଭାବେ କିଛି ସ୍ଥାନରେ ଏହି ସୁବିଧା ଦିଆଯାଇଛି । ତେବେ ଜ୍ଞାନ ବିତରଣ ପାଇଁ ଏହି ଭଳି ଉଦ୍ୟମ ସବୁରି ଆଦର ପାଆନ୍ତି । କିନ୍ତୁ ନିଜ ସ୍ୱାର୍ଥ ହାସଲ ନିମନ୍ତେ ଜଗତର ହିତ ନାମରେ ଗରୀବଙ୍କ ଗରିବୀକୁ ଥୋପ କରି ଫେସବୁକର ଫ୍ରି ବେସିକ୍ସ କେବଳ ନିନ୍ଦା ପାଇଛି । ଲୋକଙ୍କ ସମର୍ଥନ ପାଇବାକୁ ହେଲେ କିଛି ପରିମାଣରେ ସଚ୍ଚା ହେବାକୁ ଯେ ପଡ଼ିବ ଏ କଥାଟି ଫେସବୁକ ଏବେଠୁ ହେଜିଲେ ଆଗକୁ ମଙ୍ଗଳ ହେବ ।

ଲେଖକ ପରିଚୟ:

ଶୁଭାଶିଷ ପାଣିଗ୍ରାହୀ ବେଙ୍ଗାଳୁରର ସେଣ୍ଟର ଫର ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଆଣ୍ଡ ସୋସାଇଟିରେ ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାରେ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଓ ଉଇକିମିଡ଼ିଆ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ତଥା ସ୍ୱେଚ୍ଛାସେବୀ ସମୂହର ବିକାଶ ନିମନ୍ତେ ବିଗତ କିଛି ବର୍ଷ ଧରି କାମ କରୁଛନ୍ତି ।

ଆଗରୁ ଇଂରାଜୀ ସମେତ ବିଭିନ୍ନ ଦକ୍ଷିଣ ଏସୀୟ ଭାଷାରେ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ବିକାଶ ପାଇଁ ସେ ଉଇକିମିଡ଼ିଆ ଫାଉଣ୍ଡେସନରେ ସକ୍ରିୟ ଥିଲେ । ଉଇକିମାନିଆ ହଂକଂ, ଲଣ୍ଡନ ଓ ମେକ୍ସିକୋ ସିଟି, ଓପନ ନଲେଜ ଡେ ବର୍ଲିନ, ଗ୍ଲୋବାଲ ଭଏସେସ ସମିଟ ଫିଲିପାଇନ୍ସ ଆଦି ଦେଶବିଦେଶରେ ଭାଷାର କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟରୀକରଣ ଓ ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ଟେକନୋଲୋଜି ବିକାଶ ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ସେ ବିଭିନ୍ନ ସମ୍ମିଳନୀରେ ନିଜର ବକ୍ତବ୍ୟ ପ୍ରଦାନ କରିଛନ୍ତି ।

ଦୀର୍ଘ ଦିନ ଧରି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ସହିତ ମୋଜିଲା, ଓପନ ଗ୍ଲାମ, ଗ୍ଲୋବାଲ ଭଏସେସ, ଓପନସୋର୍ସ ଡଟ କମ ଆଦି ବିଶ୍ୱସ୍ତରୀୟ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ସହ ସକ୍ରିୟ ଭାବେ ଜଡ଼ିତ । ଜଣେ ନିୟମିତ ସ୍ତମ୍ଭକାର ଭାବେ ସେ ବିଭିନ୍ନ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଓ ଇଂରାଜୀ ଖବରକାଗଜ, ବ୍ଲଗ ଆଦିରେ ଓ ନିଜ ବ୍ଲଗ http://psubhashish.comରେ ନିଜର ନିବନ୍ଧ ଲେଖନ୍ତି ।ଟୁଇଟରରେ ଶୁଭାଶିଷଙ୍କ ସହ @subhapa ରେ ଯୋଗାଯୋଗ କରିହେବ ।

ସେଣ୍ଟର ଫର ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଆଣ୍ଡ ସୋସାଇଟି, ବେଙ୍ଗାଳୁର
psubhashish@gmail.com

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/b15b47b24b47-b2eb3eb17b23b3e-b2bb47b38b2cb41b15b30-b2bb4db30b3f-b2cb47b38b3fb15b4db38

Why It's Essential To Grow Indian-Language Wikipedias

subha — 2016-05-28T06:52:53Z

On 15 January, Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia celebrated its 15th birthday, meeting this milestone with 36 million articles in more than 290 languages (the English-language Wikipedia alone has crossed the 5-million article mark). But here I want to address some major questions that we need to ask as Indians.

This was published by Huffington Post on January 25, 2016. Also mirrored on Global Voices on February 26, 2016. The post was translated into Greek by Maria Souli. It was translated into Spanish by Daniela Diaz and into Russian by GV Russian

First, what is the state of Indian-language Wikipedia projects? What does India have to take from and give to Wikipedia?

With the growth of free and open source software in India, people are equipped with more freedom than ever. Especially with the recent federal policy-level changes, the nation is enjoying better collaboration with people of different cultures speaking different languages.

According to UNESCO, 197 of the total of 1652 Indian languages are dying despite having a long literary and linguistic heritage.

However, there is a huge gap in the access to knowledge on the internet domain. Of a population of about 1.26 billion only about 15-18% people are connected online, largely from mobile devices. A tiny fraction of this population comprises the technical community. It would be useful to have a metric on the percentage of this community's contribution to grow the languages of this country and its cultural heritage.

Wikipedia as a family

Wikipedia is not just an encyclopaedia. It is also a "family" of several other Open Knowledge members. Wikipedia itself is available in over 290 languages, but it also has other multilingual sister projects such as Wikisource (an online library of many public domain and other important texts), Wikimedia Commons (the world's largest repository of media files and documents), Wikibooks (a free library of educational textbooks), Wikivoyage (a free and open travel guide) and Wiktionary (a database of various languages).

These projects don't just house millions of images, videos, documents and texts, but allow anyone to contribute their knowledge to this ever deepening pool of information. Four Indian languages made an early entry to the Wiki-world back in 2002 -- Assamese, Malayalam, Odia and Punjabi.

Language neutrality

According to UNESCO, 197 of the total of 1652 Indian languages are dying despite having a long literary and linguistic heritage. It's quite shocking. In a blog post on content localisation, social entrepreneur Rajesh Ranjan asks if free and open source software can help save these dying languages. In the context of Wikipedia, there are already 23 South Asian-language projects. Out of these 20 are languages listed in the 8th schedule of the Constitution of India. Many might not have noticed that the "en" in the URL of Wikipedia that denotes the language code of English could be altered with "or" for Odia Wikipedia or "pa" for Punjabi Wikipedia.

Most Wikipedia projects in Indian language projects are relatively small compared to their counterparts. But the Wikimedia communities are thriving.

There are a fairly large number of native speakers waiting out there to access knowledge in their own languages.

When only parts of government websites are available in Hindi, the Hindi Wikipedia has crossed 10 million articles already. The Tamil and Malayalam Wikipedia communities have played a central part in implementing Wikipedia basics learning in the state-run school syllabus. Needless to say that these communities have played a significant role in implementing several free and open source software by pushing for policy-level change. Many Indian languages are in the pipeline to become active Wikipedia projects under the scope of the Wikimedia Incubator.

Maithili Wikipedia and Goan Konkani Wikipedia are the two Indian-language Wikipedias that have gone live in recent years. The world has seen how digital activism has brought a new life to the Hebrew language. There are a fairly large number of native speakers waiting out there to access knowledge in their own languages. Wikipedia could be a great tool for digital activism with openness and sharing.

Addressing gender bias in Wikipedia: Implications for India

India tops South Asia in the gender inequality index in the entire South Asia. The female literacy rate is an alarmingly low 65.46% as compared to 82.14% for men. This disparity is evident in many other sectors as well as in politics.

Digital India aims at digital literacy and availability of digital resources/services in Indian languages. This is closely aligned with the Wikimedia movement's goal....

But gender bias is not just a problem in India. The global free and open source software (FOSS) community has always been worried about the low presence of women contributors -- in the range of 2-5% range. Wikimedia Foundation's former executive director admitted that Wikipedia, like many other collaborative and open projects, does not have a conducive environment for women. But the Wikimedia community and Wikimedia Foundation are both working on improving this state of affairs. Indian-language Wikipedia projects are directly impacted by this global drive, be it the Women's History Month edit-a-thon where Wikipedia content largely related to women are improved every year or the Lilavati's Daughters project where biographies of Indian women scientists were created and enriched in Wikipedia projects.

Complementing Digital India

With a population of over 354 million netizens India still has a long way to go in increasing Indian language content on the web. The Government of India's new campaign Digital India aims at digital literacy and availability of digital resources/services in Indian languages. This is closely aligned with the Wikimedia movement's goal to provide free access to the sum of all human knowledge. In addition to Wikipedia, many other open educational resources and free knowledge projects that are not already a part of the Digital India campaign signal the need for the federal-run campaign to be more collaborative and open. Community-government collaborations like the NROER project to make NCERT books under Creative Commons licenses and IT@School project in the state of Kerala to provide education using free and open tools have gained massive traction and helped more Indian language content come online.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/huffington-post-subhashish-panigrahi-january-25-2016-why-its-essential-to-grow-indian-language-wikipedias