Centre for Internet and Society

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

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର: ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଡିଜିଟାଲ ପାଠାଗାର ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନର ନୂଆ ମୁହଁ

subha — 2016-01-28T07:25:34Z

Many would be searching for Odia-language books on the internet. Many would feel like correcting typos and other mistakes when found while reading a book, even online. Odia Wikisource is as a platform all those book lovers who want to read Odia books online and want to make more books available online.

The article by Subhashish Panigrahi was published in Your Story on January 12, 2016.

ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଅନେକେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ବହି ଖୋଜୁଥିବେ । ପୁରୁଣା ବହିରେ ପ୍ରକାଶନ ବା ଛାପା-ଜନିତ ଭୁଲ ଭଟକା ଆଖିରେ ପଡ଼ିଲେ ଯେମିତି ଆମେ ବହିରେ କଲମରେ ଗାର ମାରିଦେଉ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ସେମିତି ଭୁଲଟିଏ ଦେଖିଲେ ଭୁଲଟି ସୁଧାରିବାକୁ ହାତ ବଳିବ । ଏ ସବୁ ପ୍ରକାର ଦ୍ୱନ୍ଦର ସମାଧାନ ଏଣିକି ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପାଠାଗାର "ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର" ଦ୍ୱାରା ସମ୍ଭବ ।

ଭାଷାଟିଏ ବଢ଼ିଲେ ବଢ଼ନ୍ତି ବ୍ୟବହାରୀ । ବଢ଼େ ସେ ଭାଷାର ଅଭିଲେଖ । ଆଉ ଆମ ଭାଷାଟି କେଇ ଶହ-ହଜାର ବର୍ଷ ଭିତରେ ଶାଖା ପ୍ରଶାଖା ମେଲି ଯେ କେଡ଼େ ବିଶାଳ ହୋଇଛି ତାହା ଆମେ ଜାଣୁ । ଭାଷା ନଈଟି ବହୁ ଜାଗା ଦେଇ ବହୁ ବହୁ ଅନେକ ବହି ମଧ୍ୟ ଉତୁରିଉଠିଛି । ସେ ବହିମାନଙ୍କ ଭିତରୁ ଜଣାଶୁଣା ଲେଖକଙ୍କ ବହିଗୁଡ଼ିକ ଭଲ ଭାବେ ସଂରକ୍ଷିତ ହୋଇ ପୁନଃମୁଦ୍ରଣ ହେବା ସହିତ ପିଢ଼ି ପିଢ଼ି ଧରି ପଢ଼ାହେଉଛି । ହେଲେ ଗୁରୁତ୍ତ୍ୱପୂର୍ଣ ତଥ୍ୟ ଥାଇ ମଧ୍ୟ ଅନେକ ବଣମଲ୍ଲୀ ସମ ଉପାଦେୟ ବହି ପ୍ରଚାର ପ୍ରସାର ଅଭାବରୁ ଲୋକଲୋଚନକୁ ଆସିପାରିନାହିଁ । ତା ଛଡ଼ା ଅନେକ ବହି ପ୍ରକାଶକ ଓ ଲେଖକଙ୍କ ସମ୍ବଳ ଅଭାବ ହେତୁ ବା ପାଠକଙ୍କ ଅନାଗ୍ରହ ଯୋଗୁ ସାରା ଓଡ଼ିଶା ବା ଓଡ଼ିଶା ବାହାରକୁ ଯାଇପାରନ୍ତି ନାହିଁ । ଏମିତି ଅବସ୍ଥାରେ ଆମ ଭବିଷ୍ୟତ ପିଢ଼ି ସବୁଯାକ ବହି ନ ହେଲେ ମଧ୍ୟ କିଛି ବହି ପାଇବେ ତ?

ଆଗରୁ ଆମର କୋଠକାଠିଆ ସମାଜ ଥିଲା । ଏକାଠି ବହୁଲୋକ ବସି ଆଳାପ ଆଲୋଚନା କରୁଥିଲେ । ବହି ପଢ଼ାଠୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରି ନ୍ୟାୟ ବିଚାର ଯାଏ ସବୁ ହେଉଥିଲା ସେଇଠି । ଆମ ବଡ଼ବଡ଼ୁଆମାନେ ସବୁ ଗୁରୁତ୍ତ୍ୱପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ ସିଦ୍ଧାନ୍ତ ସେଇଠି ନେଉଥିଲେ । ଅନେକ ସ୍ଥାନରେ ବୁଦ୍ଧଙ୍କ ଛବି ଖୋଜିଲେ ଏବେ ବି ଗଛ ତଳେ ଚଉକିପରେ ଏକାଠି ହୋଇ ଲୋକେ ବିଚାର କରୁଥିବା ଦେଖିବାକୁ ମିଳେ । ପରେ ଭାଗବତ ଟୁଙ୍ଗିରେ ଆମର ଭାଗବତ ପଢ଼ାହେଲା । ସେ ଥିଲା କେଇଘଣ୍ଟା ପାଇଁ ପାଠାଗାର ଆଉ ବାକି ବେଳ ପାଇଁ ଚଳଣି ଆଉ ନ୍ୟାୟଘର । ପରେ ବହିର ଆଲୋଚନାଠାରୁ ସଂଗ୍ରହ ଓ ସଂରକ୍ଷଣ ଲୋଡ଼ା ପଡ଼ିବାରୁ ପାଠାଗାର ଆରମ୍ଭ ହେଲା । ତେବେ ଧୀରେ ଧୀରେ ଲୋକେ ବହି ପଢ଼ାଠାରୁ ଦୂରେଇ ଯିବାରୁ ପାଠାଗାର ବଣମଲ୍ଲୀ ସମାନ ହୋଇପଡ଼ିଲାଣି ।

ଆଜିର ପିଢ଼ି ଯେବେ ପୂରାପୂରି ଡିଜିଟାଲ ମୁହାଁ ହୋଇସାରିଲେଣି ଆମକୁ ବିଚାରିବାକୁ ହେବ ଏ ରାଶି ରାଶି ପୋଥି କାହା ପାଇଁ । ସମାଜଟିଏ ତା'ର ଆଗାମୀ ଭବିଷ୍ୟତର ଆଖିରେ ସପନ ଦେଖେ । ତେଣୁ ଅଧୁନାତନ ପିଢ଼ିର ଆବଶ୍ୟକତାକୁ ଅଣଦେଖା କରି କେବଳ ବହି ଛାପିଲେ ପାଠାଗାର ଯେ ଅଳିଆଗଦାରେ ପରିଣତ ନ ହେବ କିଏ କହିବ?

ଆଗାମୀ ପିଢ଼ି ପାଇଁ କଣ ଲେଖା ହେବ କଣ ଲେଖା ନ ହେବ ଆଉ କିପରି ଲେଖା ହେବ ତାହା ଏକ ଜଟିଳ ବିଷୟ । ଭାଷା କହିଲେ ଖାଲି ସାହିତ୍ୟକୁ ବୁଝାଏ ନାହିଁ ବରଂ ସାହିତ୍ୟ ଭାଷାର ଏକ ଅଂଶ ବୋଲି ଅନେକଙ୍କୁ ବୁଝିବାକୁ ପଡ଼ିବ । ବିଭିନ୍ନ ଧରଣର ରଚନା ଓ ସେସବୁ ସାଇତା ହେବାର ଆବଶ୍ୟକତା ବହୁ ଭାବେ ରହିଛି । ଆମେ ଆଗକୁ ବଢ଼ିବା ବେଳେ ଆଉ ନୂଆ ଭାବିବା ବେଳେ ଆଗରୁ ଘଟିଥିବା ଘଟଣା ଆମ ପାଦ ତଳର ନିଅଁ ଭଳି କାମ କରେ । ତେଣୁ ନୂଆ ପିଢ଼ି ବହିଠାରୁ ଦୂରେଇ ଯାଉଛନ୍ତି ବୋଲି ଚୋରକୁ ମାନ ମାରି ଖପରାରେ ଖାଇବା ବୋକାମି ହେବ । ବେଳେବେଳେ ତାଙ୍କୁ ଅଣଦେଖା କରି କେବଳ ଛପା ବହି ପଢ଼ୁଥିବା ଲୋକଙ୍କ ପାଇଁ ବହି ଛପାହେଉଛି ବୋଲି ବୋଧହୁଏ । କାଗଜ ପରେ ଛପା ବହି ଯେତେ ନିଜର ଲାଗିଲେ ମଧ୍ୟ ଦିନେ ନା ଦିନେ ଚିରିବ କି ଉଇଙ୍କ ଆହାର ହେବ । ଆଉ ଆଗତ ଦିନ ପାଇଁ ତାକୁ ସାଇତି ରଖିବାର ସଳଖ ବାଟଟିଏ ହେଲା ତା'ର ଡିଜିଟାଲ କପି ତିଆରିବା । ଇଂରାଜୀ, ଫ୍ରେଞ୍ଚ, ସ୍ପାନିସ, ଜର୍ମାନ, ଜାପାନୀ ଆଦି ଭାଷାରେ ଲେଖା ପୋଥିପତର ସବୁ ସେଠାର ପାଠକ ଆଜି ବି ଆମ ଭଳି ବହି ଧରି ପଢ଼ିବାକୁ ଭଲ ପାଆନ୍ତି ।

ଲଣ୍ଡନରେ କିଛି ଦିନର ରହଣି କାଳରେ ଦେଖି ଅଭିଭୂତ ହେଲି ସେଠା ଲୋକଙ୍କ ବହି ପଢ଼ାର ସଉକ । ଟ୍ରେନ ଷ୍ଟେସନ ବାଡ଼ାକୁ ଆଉଜି କିଏ ପଢ଼ୁଛି ତ କିଏ ଜନଗହଳି ଥାନରେ କଣଟିଏ ବାଛି ଫରଦ ପରେ ଫରଦ ଲେଉଟଉଛି । କିନ୍ତୁ ସେଠାର ପାଖାପାଖି ସବୁ ନୂଆ ବହି ଉଭୟ ଛପା ଓ ଇ-ବହି ବିକ୍ରୀ ହେଉଛି ।

ନୂଆ ଟେକନୋଲୋଜି ଆସିଗଲା ବୋଲି ପୁରୁଣା ପୂରା ଫୋପାଡ଼ିଦେବା କେବଳ ମଝିମଝିଆ ସମାଜର ଲକ୍ଷଣ । ହେଲେ ଉଚ୍ଚତର ସମାଜରେ ପୁରୁଣା ଓ ନୂଆର ବିଭା ସବୁଠି ଦେଖିବାକୁ ମିଳେ । ତେଣୁ ଆମ ବହିମାନଙ୍କ ବିକ୍ରି କମିଯିବ ବୋଲି ହାଉଳି ଖାଇ ଆମେ ଏକ ପିଢ଼ିକୁ ଆମ ବହିର ବାସନାପାଣିରୁ ବଞ୍ଚିତ କରୁନୁ ତ? ଯଦି ସତରେ ଆମ ପର ପିଢ଼ି ଅମା ବହିଯାକ ନ ପଢ଼ନ୍ତି ତାହେଲେ ଏ ଜାତିର ଇତିହାସରେ ଆମେ ଲାଙ୍ଗୁଡ଼ଜକା ଆଉ ଚିରକାଳ ଦୋଷୀ ହୋଇ ରହିହେବୁ ।

ଆଉ ବହି କିଣି ହାତରେ ଧରି ପଢ଼ୁଥିବା ଲୋକଟି କେବେ ହେଁ ମୋବାଇଲ-ଟ୍ୟାବଲେଟ-କିଣ୍ଡିଲ-କମ୍ପୁଟରରେ ପଢ଼ିବାକୁ ସୁଖ ମଣିବ ନାହିଁ । କିନ୍ତୁ ଫ୍ଲାଇଟରେ ଯିବା ବେଳେ ଲୋଡ଼ା ପଡ଼ିଲେ ଡିଜିଟାଲ ମାଧ୍ୟମରେ ପଢ଼ିବ । ଆଉ ବିଶାଳ ଗ୍ରନ୍ଥର କେଉଁ କୋଣରେ ଲେଖାଟିଏ ଖୋଜିବାକୁ ଚାହିଁଲେ ସବୁ ପୃଷ୍ଠା ନ ଖୋଜି ପାଠକଟିଏ ସଳଖେ ସଳଖେ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଖୋଜିପାରିବ ।

ବହିର ଡିଜିଟାଲ ରୂପ ତିଆରିବାରେ ସୃଜନିକା ନାମକ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠାନର ଅବଦାନ କାହିଁରେ କେତେ । ପାଖାପାଖି ଦେଢ଼ ଲକ୍ଷ ପୃଷ୍ଠା ସ୍କାନ କରି ସେମାନେ ଅନେକ ଇ-ବହି ତିଆରି କରିସାରିଲେଣି । ୧୮୫୦-୧୯୫୦ ଭିତରେ ଛପା ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପତ୍ରପତ୍ରିକାସବୁ ପ୍ରାୟ ଏଥିରେ ସାମିଲ । odia.org ନାମକ ଆଉ ଏକ ୱେବସାଇଟ କିଛି ନିଜ ଉଦ୍ୟମରେ ଆଉ କିଛି ବାକିମାନଙ୍କ ସହଯୋଗରେ କିଛି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ବହି ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ କରାଇଛନ୍ତି । ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଆରକାଇଭ (archive.org) ସାଇଟରେ ବହିସବୁ ପିଡ଼ିଏଫ ଭାବେ ଅପଲୋଡ଼ କଲେ ତାହା ମୋବାଇଲ ଓ ଅନ୍ୟାନ୍ୟ ଆକାରରେ ଦେଖିବାକୁ ସୁବିଧା । ହେଲେ ଲୋଡ଼ାଥିଲା ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ପାଠାଗାରଟିଏ । ହେଲେ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଯେତେବେଳେ ଖାଲି ପାଠକ ରହିଲେ କି ମଉଜ? ଦିଆନିଆ ନଥାଇ ସେ କି ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ? ପାଠକ ଯଦି କେଉଁଠି ଭୁଲଟିଏ ଦେଖିଲେ ତାକୁ ବଦଳାଇ ପାରୁଥିବେ ତାହେଲେ ସିନା । ଅନେକେ ହୁଏତ ଜାଣିନଥିବେ ଏ ସମାଧାନର ବାଟଟିଏ ରହିଛି ।

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/b13b21b3cb3fb06-b09b07b15b3fb2ab3eb20b3eb17b3eb30-b13b21b3cb3fb06b30b47-b21b3fb1cb3fb1fb3eb32-b2ab3eb20b3eb17b3eb30-b06b28b4db26b33b28b30-b28b42b06-b2eb41b39b01

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

Read Bengali, Malayalam classics online as free Wiki libraries grow

praskrishna — 2016-01-29T15:51:09Z

Content Includes Classics In Malayalam, Bengali.

The article by Sandhya Soman was published in the Times of India on January 10, 2016.

It was a hunt that took Shiju Alex to many places. Finally, his quest ended at Dharmaram College library in Bengaluru as Alex got hold of a copy of the firstever printed book in Malayalam. He scanned it promptly and volunteers uploaded the text on to Malayalam Wikisource, one of the free online libraries run by Wikipedia. Nasim Ali returned to Wikipedia editing only because fellow Odias were reaching out on social media to help upload the 13-volume Bhagavata Mahapuranam.Now, the entire work is available for free at Odia Wikisource.

Actions speak louder than words when it comes to preserving books in regional languages. Indian versions of Wikisource have more than 1 lakh pages of classic epics, philosophical tracts, and novels and poems in 10 languages. And the num bers are growing. “These are the books that we grow up with and connect emo tionally. Most of us would like to see them online,“ said Subhashish Panigrahi, Wikipedian and programme officer at the Centre for Internet and Society .

As Wikipedians come together in Bengaluru on Sunday to celebrate 15 years of editing and curating the encyclopedia in India, more such stories will be told. The growth has been tremendous in Indian language content creation, especially when it comes to setting up Wikisources, said A Ravishankar, programme director at the Wikimedia India chapter. Malayalam has 26,332 pages, including around 200 of the seminal books in the language. While Telugu has 29,039 pages, Bengali has around 11,000. Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada, Oriya, Marathi, Gujarati and Assamese libraries are also getting bigger. The content ranges from religious texts such as Ramayan and Bible to first-ever printed literary works.

“Most of these are books in the public domain or the ones relicensed with Creative Commons licences. This allows anyone to edit or make a copy of the work, making it reusable,“ said Panigrahi. Some of the relicensed works include the Kannada Vishwakosha brought out by University of Mysore.

It isn't easy to get works online. Alex finds it difficult to procure the original texts to create their PDF versions. “Every time I go to Kerala, I look for old books,“ said Alex, who uploads the PDFs on a public domain for others to upload them. Editors are also not easy to come by . Panigrahi took to social media to find a new set of editors when he was trying to upload the Bhagavatha volumes. “Wiki's volunteer-editors have their hands full. So we appealed on social media and many people signed up,“ he said.

But the effort is worth it, said Alex. Every time he unearths an old book and posts the link on his Facebook page, the reactions are full of surprise. “Many from the younger generation don't know that Samkshepa Vedartham (the first printed work in Malayalam) was printed in Rome. Also, researchers write to me saying they are happy to see the old books online,“ he said.

Students Pitch In

The Wikimedia Foundation has tied up with various colleges to help with typing and proof-reading. Around 120 students of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences in Bhubaneswar typed stanzas from the Bhagavata while Christ University students from Bengaluru uploaded chunks of the Kannada Vishwakosha as part of their curriculum.

Tech Hurdle

Though the project started in 2006 with Malayalam Wikisource, it spread to other Indian languages around five years ago. The biggest hurdle remains technology as the open source optical character recognition (OCR) software isn't compatible with many Indian languages. “Google's OCR that was launched last year is much better as it works with most Indian languages,“ said Ravishankar. The new software “extracts text from images of any printed text -and sometimes even handwriting, which opens the door to old texts, manuscripts, and more,“ reads Panigrahi's blog post.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/the-times-of-india-january-10-2016-sandhya-soman-read-bengali-malayalam-classics-online-as-free-wiki-libraries-grow

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

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

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

100 Konkani Articles Added to Wikipedia in One Day

praskrishna — 2016-02-12T15:17:02Z

This was published in the Times of India.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/100-konkani-articles-added-to-wikipedia-in-one-day

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

Architectures of Knowledge

praskrishna — 2016-07-30T14:44:01Z

Rohini Lakshane was a speaker at a workshop organized by Columbia's Group for Experimental Methods in the Humanities at Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai.

Rohini briefly spoke about WikiSource, and content donation in Indian languages done by some libraries and non-profits as a result of the efforts of the CIS-A2K team. See the event schedule here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/architectures-of-knowledge

ತರಬೇತಿ ಮಾಡಲು ತರಬೇತಿಗೊಂಡಾಗ.... CIS-A2K TTT 2016

Dhanalakshmi K.T. — 2016-08-03T01:19:18Z

Dhanalakshmi, a student from St Agnes College, Mangaluru, who was a participant of TTT 2016 has blogged her experience at Train-the-Trainer 2016 event organized by the Centre for Internet & Society earlier this year.

ದಿ ಸೆಂಟರ್ ಫಾರ್ ಇಂಟರ್‌ನೆಟ್ ಆಂಡ್ ಸೊಸೈಟಿಯವರು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಜೂನ್ ೧೫ ರಿಂದ ೧೭, ೨೦೧೬ ರ ತನಕ ತರಬೇತುದಾರರ ತರಬೇತಿ (Train The Trainer) ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮವನ್ನು ಹಮ್ಮಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದರು. ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುವ ಅವಕಾಶ ನನಗೆ ಲಭಿಸಿತ್ತು. ನನ್ನ ಅನುಭವವನ್ನು ಚಿಕ್ಕದಾಗಿ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ದಾಖಲಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇನೆ

ಗೂಡಿನಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಒಮ್ಮೆಯೇ ಹೊರ ಜಗತ್ತನ್ನು ಕಾಣಲು ಬಿಟ್ಟಂಥಹ ಅನುಭವ. ಖುಷಿ, ಭಯ, ಅಳುಕು, ಮುಜುಗರ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಒಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಬಂದಂತಿತ್ತು. ಹೊಸ ಜಾಗ ಹೊಸ ಜನ. ಎಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿದರೂ ಗುರುತಿಲ್ಲದವರು. ಅಬ್ಬಾ.... ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು...... ಎಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿದರು ಟ್ರಾಫಿಕ್. ನಾನು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ತಲುಪುವಾಗ ಬೆಳಗ್ಗೆ 5.45 ಆ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆಯೇ ನನಗೆ ಟ್ರಾಫಿಕ್ ನ ಅನುಭವ ಶುರುವಾಯಿತು. ಸೇರಬೇಕಾದ ಜಾಗ ಸೇರುವಾಗ ಗಂಟೆ ಎಂಟಾಗಿತ್ತು.

ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಹಿಂದಿನ ದಿನವೇ ಬರಬೇಕೆಂಬ ಸಂದೇಶವಿತ್ತು. ಅದರಂತೆಯೇ ನಾನು ಬೇಗ ಹೋದೆ. ಉಳಿಯುವ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ ಸಿದ್ಧವಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಮೊದಲನೇಯ ದಿನಕ್ಕೆ ತಯಾರಾಗಲು ಅವಕಾಶ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತು. ರಾತ್ರಿ ಊಟಕ್ಕೆ ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋಗುವುದು ಎಂದಾಗ ಡಾ. ಪವನಜರು ಹಲವಾರು ಹೋಟೆಲ್ ಗಳ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಕೊಟ್ಟರು. ಅಂತೂ ರಾಜಧಾನಿಗೆ ಹೋಗೋಣವೆಂದು ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸಿದೆ. ಆಹಾ... ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದೆ ಊಟ ಎನ್ನಿಸಿತು. ಅಲ್ಲಿಯವರು ನಮ್ಮನ್ನು ಬರಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡ ರೀತಿ ಬಹಳ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿತ್ತು. ತನ್ನ ಮನೆಯವರೇ ಬಂದಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಎಂಬ ಭಾವನೆ ವ್ಯಕ್ತವಾಗುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಊಟದ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಅವರ ಅಥಿತಿ ಸತ್ಕಾರ, ಉಪಚಾರ ಮನಸ್ಸಿಗೆ ತೃಪ್ತಿಕೊಟ್ಟಿತು.

ಅಂತೂ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಮೊದಲನೆ ದಿನ ಬಂತು. ಬೆಳಗ್ಗೆ 6 ಗಂಟೆಗೆ ಎದ್ದುಬಿಟ್ಟೆ. ಪ್ರೆಸೆಂಟೇಶನ್ ತಯಾರು ಮಾಡುವಂತೆ ಸೂಚಿಸಲಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಅದನ್ನು ಡಾ. ಪವನಜರ ಸಹಾಯದಿಂದ ಮೊದಲೇ ರೆಡಿಮಾಡಿದ್ದೆ. ತಿಂಡಿ ಮುಗಿಸಿ ಆಫೀಸ್ ಗೆ ಹೊರೆಟೆವು. ಬೆಳಗ್ಗೆ 9.30ಗೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಶುರುವಾಯಿತು. ಭಾರತದ ಹಲವು ಪ್ರದೇಶದಿಂದಲ್ಲದೇ ನೇಪಾಳ ಹಾಗು ಶ್ರೀಲಂಕಾದಿಂದ ಸಹಾ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುವವರಿದ್ದರು. ಎಲ್ಲರನ್ನು ಒಮ್ಮೆ ನೋಡಿದೆ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಹೊಸ ಮುಖಗಳು. ಆದರೂ ಕೆಲವರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಕೇಳಿಪಟ್ಟಿದ್ದೆ. ಈ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮವು ತನ್ವೀರ್ ಹಸನ್ ಹಾಗು ಟೀಟೋ ಇವರಿಂದ ಹಮ್ಮಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮವು ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥಿತವಾಗಿ ನಡೆಯಿತು.

ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುವವರ ಪರಿಚಯ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಟ್ಟ ರೀತಿ ನನಗೆ ಬಹಳ ಸಂತೋಷಕೊಟ್ಟಿತು. ಸುಮಾರು 30 ಜನರು ನೆರೆದಿದ್ದರು. ನಮ್ಮೆಲ್ಲರನ್ನು ಗುಂಪುಗಳಾಗಿ ವಿಂಗಡಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ನನ್ನ ಗುಂಪಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದವರು- ಪಂಜಾಬಿ ಹುಡುಗಿ ನಿತೇಶ್, ಶ್ರೀಲಂಕಾದ ಶಿವ, ಒರಿಸ್ಸಾದ ಶೈಲೇಶ್, ಕರ್ನಾಟದ ಗೋಪಾಲ್ ಕೃಷ್ಣ. ಇದೊಂದು ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಅನುಭವ ಎನಿಸಿತು. ಅವರ ಅನುಭವ ಕೇಳುವಾಗ ನಾನು ಸಹ ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಇರಬೇಕು ಎಂದೆನಿಸಿತು. ಪ್ರೆಸೆಂಟೇಶನನ್ನು ಮೊದಲ ಗುಂಪಿನಿಂದ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಗ್ಲೋಬಲ್ ಮಾಟ್ರಿಕ್ಸ್ ನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಮಧ್ಯಾಹ್ನದ ಊಟ ಬಹಳ ಅದ್ಭುತವಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಊಟದ ನಂತರ ಮತ್ತೆ ಕೆಲಸ ಮುಂದುವರೆಸಿದೆವು. ಸುಮಾರು 5 ಗಂಟೆಯವರೆಗೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ನಡೆಯಿತು.

ಎರಡನೆ ದಿನವು ಪ್ರೆಸೆಂಟೇಶನ್ ನೊಂದಿಗೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಶುರುವಾಯಿತು. ನಂತರ ಡಾ. ಪವನಜರ ಪ್ರೆಸೆಂಟೇಶನ್, ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಪ್ರೆಸೆಂಟೇಶನ್ ಹೇಗಿರಬೇಕು ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಉತ್ತಮ ಪ್ರೆಸೆಂಟೇಶನ್ ಮಾಡಲು ಬೇಕಾದ ಅಂಶಗಳನ್ನು ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಂಡೆ. ಅಭಿನವ್ ಹಾಗೂ ರೆಹಮಾನ್ ರವರು ಸರ್ವೆ ಇಮ್ಪಾಕ್ಟ್ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಹೇಳಿದರು. ಒಂದು ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ನಡೆಸಬೇಕಾದರೆ ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಮುಂಚೆಯೇ ಹೇಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ತಯಾರಿ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕು ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ಹೇಳಿಕೊಟ್ಟರು. ನಂತರ ಶುಭಾಷಿಶ್ ಹಾಗೂ ಪವನ್ ರ ಪ್ರೆಸೆಂಟೇಶನ್. ಯಾವುದೇ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ನಡೆಸಿದ ನಂತರ ಅದರ ವರಿದಿಯನ್ನು ಹೇಗೆ ಮಾಡಬೇಕೆಂದು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಎಲ್ಲರು ಸಹಾ ಲವಲವಿಕೆಯಿಂದ ಪಾಲ್ಗೊಂಡಿದ್ದರು. ಕೊನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ CISನ ಕಾರ್ಯನಿರ್ವಾಹಕ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕರಾದ ಸುನಿಲ್ ಅವರ ಅನುಭವವನ್ನು ಹೇಳಿದರು.

ಮೂರನೆಯ ದಿನ ಬಂತು. ಇದು TTT 2016ಯ ಕೊನೆಯ ದಿನವಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಅಂದು ನಾನು ಪ್ರೆಸೆಂಟೇಶನ್ ಮಾಡಬೇಕಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಮೊದಲ ಬಾರಿಗೆ ಮಾಡಿದ ಪ್ರೆಸೆಂಟೇಶನ್ ಆಗಿತ್ತು. ನಾನು ಬಹಳ ಹೆದರಿದ್ದೆ. ನನ್ನ ಗುಂಪಿನವರು ಹಾಗು ಅಲ್ಲಿದ್ದವರು ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಪ್ರೋತ್ಸಾಹಿಸಿದರು. ಹೇಗೋ ಪ್ರೆಸೆಂಟೇಶನ್ ಮುಗಿಸಿದೆ. ಒಂದು ಒಳ್ಳೆ ಅನುಭವ ಪಡೆದೆ. ನನ್ನ ಪ್ರೆಸೆಂಟೇಶನನ್ನು ಮೆಚ್ಚಿದರು. ಅದನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿ ಸಂತೋಷವಾಯಿತು, ಆದರೂ ಇನ್ನೂ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು ಎನ್ನಿಸಿತು. ಮಧ್ಯಾಹ್ನದ ನಂತರ TTTಯಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿದವರು ಹಾಗೂ MWTಯಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುವವರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಿ ಗುಂಪು ಮಾಡಲಾಯಿತು. ನಮ್ಮ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಗೆ ಯಾವ ವಿಷಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಲಾವಣೆ ಬೇಕಾಗಿದೆ ಎಂದು ಹುಡುಕಿ ಚರ್ಚಿಸಿದೆವು. ಇದರ ಬದಲಾವಣೆ ಮಾಡಲು ಸಲಹೆ ನೀಡಿದೆವು. ಕೊನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲ್ಲರು ತಮ್ಮ ತಮ್ಮ ಅನುಭವವನ್ನು ಹೇಳಿಕೊಂಡರು.

ದಿನದಿಂದ ದಿನಕ್ಕೆ ನಾನು ಹಲವಾರು ವಿಷಯಗಳನ್ನು ಕಲಿಯುತ್ತಾ ಸಾಗುತ್ತಿರುವೆ. ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ವಿಕಿಸೋರ್ಸ್ ಹಾಗೂ ವಿಕಿಡಾಟದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಂಡೆ. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕಲಿತ ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಂದು ವಿಷಯವು ನನಗೆ ಒಂದಲ್ಲ ಒಂದು ರೀತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಹಾಯ ಆಗೇ ಆಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಬಹಳ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಅನುಭವವಾಯಿತು. ಇದನ್ನು ಎಂದಿಗೂ ಮರೆಯಲಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಇಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೆ ನನ್ನ ಪ್ರಯಾಣನ್ನು ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸದೇ ಮುಂದುವರಿಸಬೇಕೆಂಬುದೆ ನನ್ನ ಆಸೆ.

Link to the blogpost here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ca4cb0cacca4cbf-caecbeca1cb2cc1-ca4cb0cacca4cbfc97c82ca1cbec97-cis-a2k-ttt-2016

WikiConference India 2016 Starts Friday in Chandigarh

praskrishna — 2016-08-05T01:48:32Z

India, a key growth area for Wikipedia, is gearing up for a national conference "for Wikimedians in India to meet and share their views, discuss challenges and exchange useful tips, best practices and other information".

First published by Indo Asian News Service was mirrored on NDTV website on August 4, 2016. Sunil Abraham will be participating.

While the conference is open to "Wikipedians" from across the globe, organisers announced here that it would have a "very distinct Indian flavour and will deal primarily with issues relating to India on Wikipedia and its sister projects".

Wikipedia, founded in 2001, is the world's sixth-most popular website in terms of overall visitor traffic. Its worldwide monthly readership totals almost 500 million.

Since 2011, the Wikipedia has been working to expand its growth in India, and it held its first Indian conference in Mumbai in November that year, which was attended by 700 persons and addressed by website founder Jimmy Wales.

This year, the meet takes place from August 5-8 in Chandigarh, the city and a Union territory of a million population that serves as the capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana.

"The main objective is to reduce the gap between different communities and get help from other community members on technical issues and other things like best practices in decision making and how we resolve the disputes in the community," the organisers said.

Those attending including Wikimedia Foundation executive director Katherine Maher, board member Nataliia Tymkiv, senior programme officer for emerging Wikimedia communities Asaf Bartov, language engineering team international manager Runa Bhattacharjee, Punjabi poet Dr Surjit Patar, and Wikipedia education programme senior manager Tighe Flanagan.

From India, participants will include The Centre for Internet and Society executive director Sunil Abraham, and Wikimedia India president Yohann Varun Thomas.

This event includes "hackathons" and "edit-a-thons" - collective workings towards improving the content available online. It will also see sessions on the Wikimedia movement in India, examples of its use in education, innovative tech solutions from India, content translation, a "gentle introduction" to Wikidata, gender gaps, and case studies from various Indian languages.

Participants are coming from the Wikipedias in languages including Punjabi, Kannada, Odia, Tamil, English, Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam, Urdu, Sindhi, Hindi and Chinese.

Because of its widespread popularity - and contrary to fears that a website "anyone" can edit will not have quality - the Wikipedia notches often among the highest results when information is searched for on the world wide web.

It is a project supported by the Wikimedia Foundation and based on a model of "openly editable content". As the site explains: "The name Wikipedia is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning quick) and encyclopedia."

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/indo-asian-news-service-ndtv-august-4-2016-wiki-conference-india-2016-starts-friday-in-chandigarh

South Asia's Largest Wikimedia Conference Kicks Off in India

subha — 2016-08-08T01:39:25Z

Wiki Conference India 2016, the largest gathering of the contributors of Wikipedia (the multilingual online encyclopaedia) and its sister projects called Wikimedia projects, begins August 5 in Landran, in the Indian state of Punjab.

The blog post was published by Global Voices on August 5, 2016.

The conference returns five years after its first iteration in 2011. This year's event is focused on bringing the contributor communities of South Asian and English-language Wikimedia projects from the Indian subcontinent under one roof.

A few hundred participants including 100 scholarship holders from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will meet at the Chandigarh Group of College campus, where the conference is being held. Organizers have planned a series of presentations, talks and workshops—related to major topics like gender bias in Wikipedia, technology, global reach, education, volunteer leadership building and engagement and program design—to occupy participants for all three days.

For the separate technical sessions, a pre-event needs assessment survey was conducted widely to collect input about the technical challenges that volunteer contributors are facing. A hackathon is in the works to address some of the major technical challenges of different language communities.

The Wikimedia community in South Asia as a whole and the Wikipedia community, both of which rely on volunteers, are creating a massive repository of freely licensed content in the Indian languages on the Internet. Currently Wikipedia itself is available in about 293 languages. Other Wikimedia projects—Wikisource, a free library; Wiktionary, a multilingual online dictionary; and Wikimedia Commons, the world's largest media repository housing hundreds and thousands of images, audio, video and other media files—will add a few hundred more projects to this list.

Some of the noted guests who are addressing the gathering include Wikimedia Foundation's board member Nataliia Tymkiv, the organization's newly promoted Executive Director Katherine Maher, Punjabi-language poet Surjit Patar, and Internet freedom advocate and Centre for Internet and Society's Executive Director Sunil Abraham.

A Wikipedia edit-a-thon has been running for about a month prior to the conference in 12 Indian language Wikipedias and one European language Wikipedia (Ukrainian Wikipedia). The main languages in this edit-a-thon are Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. The focus of this sprint is to expand the content reach of Wikipedia on Punjab, Punjabi people, and their language and culture as a symbolic gesture to show gratitude to Punjab where the event is happening. Articles about Punjab or Punjab people in other local languages will help many local readers of Wikipedia learn about Punjab in their own language. So far, more than 1,900 article have been created by about 100 Wikipedians. The edit-a-thon will be also running during the conference so that the participants can also contribute to this activity.

Konkani language is the official language of the Indian state of Goa and is spoken along the western coast of India. In an interview, The Discoverer, an active contributor to the Konkani-language Wikipedia, explained how Wikipedia can unite native speakers who speak different variations of the same language and write in different scripts:

For Konkani Wikipedia to succeed, it is not just a ‘good idea’ for Konkani speakers writing in various scripts to work together on one Wikipedia, but it’s also a necessity and a challenge at the same time. It’s a necessity, because as things stand, no one script has a strong enough community to run a Wikipedia by themselves. It’s a challenge because not everyone can read every script, and it’s important for all the users of a Wikipedia to be able to understand all the content on that site.

The full interview is here.

A team of dedicated organizers who are primarily volunteers and represent several Wikimedia communities from India and three Wikimedia-affiliates—Wikimedia India, Punjabi Wikimedians and Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge program—are working together to make this event a success.

More details about the event could be found in the event page, and on Facebook and Twitter.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/global-voices-august-5-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-south-asia-largest-wikimedia-conference-kicks-off-in-india

The largest Wikipedia gathering in South Asia kicks off

subha — 2016-08-06T17:11:39Z

Wikimedia Conference 2016Wiki Conference India 2016 (WCI), the largest gathering of contributors to Wikipedia and its sister projects in South Asia, will be held during August 5-7 this year in Chandigarh, India.

This was published Opensource.com on August 5, 2016

The first iteration of this event was five years ago in 2011. The event is focused around South Asian language Wikipedias and Wikimedia projects. Hundreds of participants, including over 100 scholarship holders from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, will participate in this three-day event. A team of volunteers representing several Wikimedia communities across the country and three Wikimedia affiliates—Wikimedia India, Punjabi Wikimedians and Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge program—are working together to make this event a success.

Several Wikimedia project and program-related talks, meetups and thematic workshops, focused on technology, program design, volunteer leadership building and engagement, gender gap in Wikipedia, global reach, and education, will keep the participants occupied. There will be separate technical tracks, which were chosen from the results of a pre-event needs assessment survey to ensure that community needs are met. Prior to the conference, a month-long edit-a-thon has been running in twelve South Asian language Wikipedias, and one European language Wikipedia (Ukrainian Wikipedia). The focus of this sprint was to expand the content reach of Wikipedia on Punjab, Punjabi people, and their language and culture as the event is happening in Punjab. So far, more than 1900 articles have been created by about 150 Wikipedians, and the edit-a-thon will be also running during the conference to keep the option of creating more articles open to the participants. Some of the guests includes Wikimedia Foundation's board member Nataliia Tymkiv, the organization's newly promoted executive director Catherine Maher, Punjabi-language poet Surjit Patar and Internet freedom advocate and Centre for Internet and Society's Executive Director Sunil Abraham.

As compared to the last WikiConference India, this conference has more thematic focus, especially on challenges like the gender bias on Wikipedia, and emerging projects like the Wikipedia Education Program. There are as many as six presentations related to gender gap, and six more related to education program.

There has been constant engagement on both on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #WCI2016. Some of the most-used basic phrases in the Punjabi language have been recorded and shared to the participants from outside the region to communicate with the locals.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/opensource.com-subhashish-panigrahi-august-5-2016-largest-wikipedia-gathering-in-south-asia-kicks-off

WikiConference India 2016

praskrishna — 2016-08-07T01:35:50Z

WikiConference India 2016 is an event to provide a common platform for all Wikimedians in India to meet and share their views, discuss challenges and exchange useful tips, best practices and other information. The Conference is open for participation of Wikimedians from all nations, and will be taking place on the 5th, 6th, and 7th of August 2016 at Chandigarh.

The Conference has a very distinct Indian flavor and deals primarily with issues relating to India on Wikipedia and its sister projects.

The main objective is to reduce the gap between different communities and get help from other community members on technical issues and other things like best practices in decision making and how we resolve the disputes in the community.

Guests

Katherine Maher, Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation
Nataliia Tymkiv, Board Member, Wikimedia Foundation
Asaf Bartov, Senior Program Officer, Emerging Wikimedia Communities, Wikimedia Foundation
Runa Bhattacharjee, Manager, Language Engineering Team (International), Wikimedia Foundation
Dr. Surjit Patar, Punjabi poet and writer
Tighe Flanagan, Senior Manager, Wikipedia Education Program, Wikimedia Foundation
Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, The Centre for Internet and Society
Yohann Varun Thomas, President, Wikimedia India
María Kreuz, Communications and Outreach Coordinator, Wikimedia Foundation

Social Media Campaign

Facebook event page - https://www.facebook.com/events/146258892472025/ (More suited for conference participants only)
Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/WikiConferenceIndia2016
Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/WikiConferenceIndia2016/
Official Twitter Handler - https://twitter.com/WikiConIndia
IRC Channel - #wikiconferenceindia

More Info, click here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/wikiconference-india-2016