Centre for Internet and Society

Mangalore: Konkani writers resolve to form all-India forum at JKS conference

praskrishna — 2013-10-14T01:36:04Z

Jagotik Konknni Songhotton (JKS) organized an All-India Konkani Writers’ Conference on Sunday, September 29 at Kalaangann.

This was published in Daijiworld on October 1, 2013. Nitika Tandon is quoted.

As many as 78 Konkani writers from Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra and various regions of Karnataka, attended the conference.

The conference was organized with the intention of bringing together writers of all the five scripts of Konkani and also to probe the possibilities of forming an All-India Konkani Writers’ Forum.

Roy Castelino, treasurer, JKS, welcomed the gathering. The secretary general of JKS, Eric Ozario, explained the purpose of the conference and the need for forming an All-India Konkani Writers’ Forum. Tomazinho Cardozo, ex-speaker of the Goa Assembly and president, JKS, spoke about the injustices done to writers in the Roman script.

Dr Pratap Naik, Konkani activist, spoke of the progress in the writ petition filed in the Goa bench of the Mumbai high court, seeking rectification of the Official Language Act of Goa, to include the Roman script.

Valerian D’Souza, Marcel D’souza and Eric Ozario explained the progress in the writ petition filed in the high court of Karnataka against the Sahitya Akademi, seeking equal treatment to all scripts of Konkani.

Nitika Tandon, programme manager, The Centre for Internet & Society, spoke about Konkani Wikipedia and the need for the participation of the Roman and the Kannada script writers.

The conference resolved to form an All-India Konkani Writers’ Forum, which would protect the interest of Konkani literature and Konkani writers of all scripts. An ad-hoc committee was formed to discuss and decide upon the immediate steps to be taken towards the formation of the Forum.

A book compiling short stories written by Kevin D’Mello, Karkala, titled ‘Chondda ani Gorbh’, was also released on the occasion.

Victor Mathias conducted the proceedings of the conference.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/daijiworld-october-14-2013-mangalore-konkani-writers-resolve-to-form-all-india-forum-at-jks-conference

Odia Wikipedia Workshop @ IIMC

praskrishna — 2013-11-12T05:13:04Z

The CIS-A2K team is organizing an Odia Wikipedia workshop at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, Odisha on November 18 and 19, 2013 from 10.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

ଏଥିରେ କଣ କଣ ଶିଖିବାକୁ ମିଳିବ?

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ଉନ୍ନ‌ତ ଅପସନସମୂହ: ବୋଲ୍ଡ, ତେରଛା ଅକ୍ଷର (Italics), ଆଧାର (Reference) ଯୋଗ, ଶିରୋନାମ (Heading) ଯୋଗ ଆଦି
ଆଗାମୀ କର୍ମଶାଳା ଯାଏଁ ପ୍ରତ୍ୟେକ ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀମାନଙ୍କ ନିମନ୍ତେ କାମ ବିତରଣ
ଛାତ୍ରମାନେ କିପରି ଅଭିଜ୍ଞ ଉଇକିଆଳିଙ୍କଠାରୁ ଅନଲାଇନରେ ତ‌ଥା ଅନ୍ୟାନ୍ୟ ମାଧ୍ୟମରେ ସ‌ହ‌ଯୋଗ ଲୋଡ଼ିବେ

Please find the full details on the Wiki meta-page here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/events/odia-wiki-workshop-iimc-nov-18-19-2013

Wikipedia Orientation Programme for the Second Language Students of Christ University

praskrishna — 2013-11-14T05:16:07Z

The Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge team will organize an Orientation Workshop entitled on Wikipedia for the undergraduate language students of the Christ University, Bangalore on November 16, 2013.

Trainers

T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, Access to Knowledge, Centre for Internet Society

Syed Muzammiluddin, Programme Officer, Access to Knowledge, Centre for Internet Society

Dr Pavanaja,Programme Officer, Access to Knowledge, Centre for Internet Society

Interested Participants

The three days of the orientation programme will cover 1200 second language students of the Christ University, Bangalore.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/events/wikipedia-orientation-programme-for-second-language-students

Panaji: DKA organizes two day Konkani Wikipedia workshop

praskrishna — 2013-11-18T08:33:09Z

In order to showcase Romi Konknni on a global platform, Dalgado Konknni Akademi (DKA) organized a two day Konkani Wikipedia workshop November 16 and November 17 for Romi Konknni writers in collaboration with Centre for Internet and Society’s Access to Knowledge Programme, Bangalore.

This was published in Daijiworld.com on November 18, 2013.

The workshop which was held at Krishnadas Shama Central Library was attended by 30 Romi Konknni writers including editors of Romi Konknni periodicals.

The workshop was conducted by enthusiastic Nitika Tandon, Goa incharge and Programme Manager of Centre for Internet and Society’s Access to Knowledge Programme.

Among those who attended the Romi Konknni Wikipedia Workshop were young writers Nevena Furtado, Frank Fernandes, Venisha Fernandes, Anselmo Fernandes, tiatrist Mario Menezes, Konkani scholar and researcher Fr Pratap Naik, besides editor of ‘Gulab’ and ‘The Goan Review’ Fausto V da Costa, newly appointed editor of ‘Vavraddeancho Ixtt’ Fr Eusebio Gomes and editor of ‘Amcho Avaz’ weekly Tomazinho Cardozo.

DKA President Premanand A Lotlikar while welcoming the participants explained the importance of building up Romi Konknni Wikipedia. Treasurer Walter Menezes proposed the vote of thanks, and secretary Jose Salvador Fernandes co-ordinated the two days workshop.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/daijiworld-november-18-2013-dka-organizes-two-day-konkani-wikipedia-workshop

ಕನ್ನಡದ ಆನ್‌ಲೈನ್ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ದುರ್ಬಲ

praskrishna — 2013-11-20T07:30:24Z

An article about the tenth Kannada Wikipedia published in Vijaya Karnataka on November 19.

Read the article published in Vijaya Karnataka on November 19, 2013.

-ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಹತ್ತು, ಸೋದರ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಮುಂದೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಹಿಂದೆ-

* ಎಸ್. ಕುಮಾರ್, ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು
ಹತ್ತು ವರ್ಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬರಿ 14,202 ಲೇಖನಗಳು! ಇದು ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದ ಸಾಧನೆ. ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾಹಿತಿಯನ್ನು ಕಲೆಹಾಕುವ ಹುರುಪಿನೊಂದಿಗೆ ಆರಂಭವಾದ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ ಈಗ ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೊನೆಯ ನಾಲ್ಕನೇ ಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿದೆ.

ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷಿನ ಅತಿದೊಡ್ಡ ಆನ್‌ಲೈನ್ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶವಾಗಿ ಜನಪ್ರಿಯವಾದ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ ಹತ್ತು ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ಭಾರತೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳಲ್ಲೂ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಆರಂಭಿಸಿತು. ಆದರೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಭಾರತದ ಇತರೆ ಭಾಷೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಹೋಲಿಸಿದರೆ ಇದು ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಬಡವಾಗಿರುವ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶವಾಗಿಯೇ ಉಳಿದಿದೆ. ತಮಿಳಿನ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ 56 ಸಾವಿರ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿದ್ದರೆ, ತೆಲುಗು 53 ಸಾವಿರ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿದೆ. ಮಲಯಾಳಂ, ಮರಾಠಿ ಭಾಷೆಗಳು ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಅಂದರೆ 40 ಸಾರ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಒಳಗೊಂಡಿವೆ. ಭಾರತೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಪೈಕಿ ಅತಿಹೆಚ್ಚು ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿರುವು ಹಿಂದಿ ಭಾಷೆಯ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ. ಸುಮಾರು ಒಂದು ಲಕ್ಷ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿದ್ದು, ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಕ್ರಿಯಾಶೀಲವಾಗಿ ಸಂಪಾದನೆಗೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತದೆ.

ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕರೇ ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾಹಿತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಅಪ್‌ಲೋಡ್ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು ಹಾಗೂ ಸಂಪಾದಿಸಬಹುದು. ಕೆಲವು ಆಸಕ್ತರು ಜತೆಗೂಡಿ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಗಳನ್ನು ಕಲೆಹಾಕುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಸದ್ಯ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಕ್ಕೆ 400 ಒಟ್ಟು ಸಂಪಾದಕರಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಈ ಪೈಕಿ 41 ಮಂದಿ ಮಾತ್ರ ಸಕ್ರಿಯರು. ತಿಂಗಳಿಗೆ 2000 ಸಾರ ಲೇಖನಗಳು ಸಂಪಾದನೆಯಾಗುತ್ತವೆ. ಆದರೆ ಸೇರ್ಪಡೆಯ ಪ್ರಮಾಣ ಕಡಿಮೆ. ಇಷ್ಟಾಗಿಯೂ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಕ್ಕೆ ತಿಂಗಳಿಗೆ 14 ಲಕ್ಷ ಭೇಟಿಗಳಿವೆ.

ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿ ತಂಡದಿಂದ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶವನ್ನು ಲೇಖನಗಳಿಂದ ಸಮೃದ್ಧಗೊಳಿಸುವ ನಡೆದಿದೆ. ಆದರೆ ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕಪ್ರತಿಕ್ರಿಯೆ ನಿರಾಶೆ ಹುಟ್ಟಿಸುವಂಥದ್ದು. ಕಳೆದ ಮಾರ್ಚ್ ನಿಂದ ಮತ್ತೆ ಅಭಿಯಾನ ಆರಂಭವಾಗಿದ್ದು ಆಸಕ್ತರನ್ನು ಸಂಪಾದಕರನ್ನಾಗಿ ಮಾಡುವ ಪ್ರೇರೇಪಿಸುವ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ತಂಡ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದೆ.

ಸಾಫ್ಟ್‌ವೇರ್ ವಲಯದ ಮಂದಿ ಒಂದಿಷ್ಟು ಸಮಯವನ್ನು ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ನೀಡುತ್ತಾರೆ ಹೊರತು, ಸಾಹಿತಿಗಳು, ಉಪನ್ಯಾಸಕರು, ವಿವಿಧ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರಗಳ ತಜ್ಞರು ಆಸಕ್ತಿ ತೋರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ಎನ್ನುತ್ತದೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ತಂಡ. ಕನ್ನಡ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ ಬರಹಗಾರರು ಒಂದಿಷ್ಟು ಆಸಕ್ತಿ ತೋರಿದರೂ ಲೇಖನಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ಗಣನೀಯವಾಗಿ ಹೆಚ್ಚುತ್ತದೆ. ಪ್ರಕಟಿತ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಕಟಿಸಬಹುದು.ಅದಕ್ಕೂ ಆಸಕ್ತಿ ತೋರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ಎನ್ನುತ್ತದೆ ತಂಡ.

ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ನಿರಾಸಕ್ತಿ
ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದ ಹಿರಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕರಲ್ಲಿ ಒಬ್ಬರಾದ ಯು ಬಿ ಪವನಜ ಅವರು ''ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರಿಗೆ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನಿರಾಸಕ್ತಿ ಇದೆ ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಾಹಿತಿಗಳಾದರೂ ಅಷ್ಟೆ. ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆಯ ಬೆಳವಣಿಗೆ ಅಂದರೆ ಬರೀ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾತಾನಾಡುವುದು ಎನ್ನುವ ಭಾವನೆ ಬೆಳೆಸಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಅದರಾಚೆಗೂ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬೆಳೆಯಬೇಕಿದೆ. ಆಗ ಮಾತ್ರ ಭಾಷೆ ಜೀವಂತವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ,'' ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಾರೆ.

''ಆರಂಭ ಹಂತದಲ್ಲಿ ತಂಡದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಗುಂಪುಗಾರಿಕೆ ಮತ್ತು ಹೆಚ್ಚುಗಾರಿಕೆಯೇ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಬಡವಾಗಲೂ ಕಾರಣ,'' ಎಂದು ತಂಡದ ಸದಸ್ಯರೊಬ್ಬರು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾರೆ.

ನಮಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿರುವುದನ್ನು ಬರೆಯುತ್ತೇವೆ ಎಂಬ ಭಾವನೆಯಿಂದ ಕೂಡಿದ್ದ ತಂಡ ಇನ್ನೊಬ್ಬರನ್ನು ವಿಶ್ವಾಸಕ್ಕೆ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳದೇ ಇದ್ದದ್ದು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಹರಿದು ಬರಬಹುದಿದ್ದ ಲೇಖನಗಳ ಪ್ರಮಾಣವನ್ನು ತಗ್ಗಿಸಿತೇನೊ ಎಂದು ಅವರು ಅನುಮಾನ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ.

ಅತಿ ಹಿರಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕರು
ಎಚ್ ಆರ್ ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ವೆಂಕಟೇಶ್, ಮುಂಬಯಿ
ಬಿ ಎಸ್ ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ್, ಸಾಗರ

ಅತಿ ಕಿರಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕ
ಯಜ್ಞೇಶ್, 9ನೇ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿ, ಮೈಸೂರು
-----

ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಸಮಗ್ರವಾಗಿರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಇರುವ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಕೂಡ ತಪ್ಪಿನಿಂದ ಕೂಡಿದೆ. ವಾಕ್ಯರಚನೆ ಸರಿ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ ಇದ್ದೂ ಇಲ್ಲದಂತೆ.
* ಎಚ್ ಎಂ ನಿರಂಜನ, ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್ ಉಪನ್ಯಾಸಕರು, ಹೊಸಪೇಟೆ

ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಅನೇಕರಿಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ಬರಹಗಾರರಿಗೆ ಈ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಾಂತ್ರಿಕ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಹೀಗಾಗಿ ಸಮೃದ್ಧವಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆಯಬಹುದಾಗಿದ್ದ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಸೊರಗಿದೆ. ಈಗ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ನೀಡುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆ.
* ಟಿ. ಜಿ. ಶ್ರೀನಿಧಿ, ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕ

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/vijaya-karnataka-kannada-wikipedia-november-19-2013

ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಈಗ ದಶಮಾನೋತ್ಸವ. ಅದರ ಪ್ರಯುಕ್ತ ಒಂದು ಆಚರಣೆ

praskrishna — 2013-11-20T08:58:30Z

Coverage of the ten years of celebrations in Kannada Wikipedia on Avadhi website.

ಸ್ಥಳ: ಎಚ್.ಎನ್. ಮಲ್ಟಿಮೀಡಿಯ ಹಾಲ್, ನ್ಯಾಶನಲ್ ಕಾಲೇಜು, ಬಸವನಗುಡಿ

ದಿನಾಂಕ: ನವಂಬರ್ ೧೭, ೨೦೧೩

ಸಮಯ: ೦೯:೩೦ ರಿಂದ ೧೩:೦೦

ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ವಿವರ :

೯:೩೦-೧೦:೦೦ ನೋಂದಣಿ

೧೦:೦೦ ರಿಂದ ೧೧:೦೦ ಸಭಾ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ

ಸ್ವಾಗತ ಗೀತೆ – ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ಚೈತನ್ಯ

ಸ್ವಾಗತ ಮತ್ತು ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆ – ಡಾ. ಎ. ಸತ್ಯನಾರಾಯಣ

ಪ್ರಸ್ತಾವನೆ – ಡಾ. ಯು. ಬಿ. ಪವನಜ

ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿಗಳ ಮಾತು

ಡಾ. ಯು. ಆರ್. ಅನಂತಮೂರ್ತಿ

ನಾಡೋಜ ಪ್ರೊ.ಜಿ. ವೆಂಕಟಸುಬ್ಬಯ್ಯ

ರವಿ ಹೆಗಡೆ, ಸಮೂಹ ಸಂಪಾದಕ, ಉದಯವಾಣಿ

ಹತ್ತು ವರ್ಷದಲ್ಲಿ ಉತ್ತಮ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಿದ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯನ್ನರುಗಳಿಗೆ ಮತ್ತು

ನಿರ್ವಾಹಕರುಗಳಿಗೆ ಸ್ಮರಣಿಕೆ ನೀಡಿಕೆ

ಧನ್ಯವಾದ ಸಮರ್ಪಣೆ

೧೧:೦೦ – ೧೧:೧೫ – ಚಹಾ

೧೧:೧೫-೧೨:೦೦

ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆ – ಓಂಶಿವಪ್ರಕಾಶ

ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ – ಕಿರಣ್ ರವಿಕುಮಾರ

ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯನ್ನರುಗಳ ಮಾತು

೧೨:೦೦-೧೩:೦೦ – ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವ (edit-a-thon)

ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಸಿದ್ಧ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಂದು ಲೇಖನ ಸೇರಿಸುವುದು.

ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಬರುತ್ತೀರಿ ತಾನೆ? ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿದ್ದವರು ಲ್ಯಾಪ್‌ಟಾಪ್, ಇಂಟರ್‌ನೆಟ್

ಡಾಂಗಲ್ ಮತ್ತು ಒಂದು ಸಿದ್ಧಪಡಿಸಿದ ಲೇಖನ ತಂದು ಕೊನೆಯ ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವದಲ್ಲಿ

ಪಾಲ್ಗೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕಾಗಿ ವಿನಂತಿ.

ಬರುವವರು ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ಈ ಪುಟದಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಂದಾಯಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಿ -

https://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ:ಸಮ್ಮಿಲನ/ದಶಮಾನೋತ್ಸವ

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/avadhi-website-november-16-2013-kannada-wikipedia-10-years-celebration

10th anniversary of Kannada wikipedia

praskrishna — 2013-11-20T09:03:30Z

Kannada wikipedia is celebrating its 10th anniversary on November 17.

The article by ND Shiva Kumar was published in the Times of India on November 15, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja is quoted.

Kannada wikipedia has 15,369 articles (as of September 2013) and attracts 14 lakh visitors a month. It undergoes 2,000 edits a month.

The wikipedia boom among the Indian languages started in 2003. Initially, the growth was very slow and it reached 1,000 articles only by 2006. Even today, the situation isn't great.

Among the Indian languages, Hindi tops the list with one lakh articles, Tamil has 56,000, Telugu 53,000 and Marathi 40,000. Kannada is ahead of only Oriya and Punjabi.

Kannada has a total of 400 editors, of which 41 are active and 7 very active. The two highest contributors are non-techies and they are around 80 years - H R Lakshmivenkatesh from Mumbai and B S Chandrashekar from Sagar.

Wikipedian U B Pavanaja says it has gained momentum recently and the future looks bright.

The 10th anniversary programme on November 17 will be held from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm at H N Multimedia Hall, National College, Basavanagudi, Bangalore. Guests of honour will be Dr U R Ananthamurthy and Prof G Venkatasubbaiah.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-times-of-india-november-15-2013-nd-shiva-kumar-tenth-anniversary-of-kannada-wikipedia

Wikimedia Diversity Conference

praskrishna — 2013-12-02T06:40:02Z

T.Vishnu Vardhan participated in the conference organized by the German Wikipedia community in Berlin (GLS Campus) on November 9 and 10, 2013. He presented on So Many Languages- Challenges and Opportunities for the Wikimedia Movement in India and also led a Round-up session on Geographic diversity and Language pluralism on Wikimedia.

This was published on the meta page of Wikipedia.

Vishnu's presentation can be accessed here.
A brief discussion of the round-up session can be seen here.
All the videos can be watched here.

Video

Wikimedia Diversity Conference 2013: Interview - T Vishnu Vardhan from Wikimedia Deutschland on Vimeo.

Why a Diversity Conference?

Representing the world's knowledge is the mission of the global Wikimedia movement. But we are still in our infancy. Many languages and cultures are not adequately represented in the different Wikimedia projects, many people shy away from participating in our projects and sharing their knowledge with the world. Particularly striking is the low proportion of women. To gain this knowledge and commitment, both to increase the pool of knowledge in the Wikimedia projects and to enable a heterogeneous, colourful, diverse community, is the goal of our work.

Wikimedia Deutschland is planning to make "Diversity" the topic of an international conference in Berlin. Here we will gather to exchange findings, methods, and approaches for incorporating more gender diversity in Wikimedia projects, and for considering gender diversity within the wider context of diversity in general (language, culture, projects, etc).

New technological innovations such as VisualEditor can have an impact on the formation and composition of authorship, and community projects like Teahouse or WikiWomen's Collaborative have been successfully aimed at supporting diverse contributors. Let's gather to share information about what's working and what's not in current initiatives, consider the impact of technical and community developments, and connect in order to turn ideas into action.

Goals of the Conference

Establish a sustainable dialogue with collaborators in Wikimedia Chapters, the Wikimedia Foundation and the international communities to frame the issue of diversity in the context of Wikimedia.

We aim to build a shared understanding of what diversity means for Wikimedia projects and why it is important.
Connect, multiply and create successful initiatives for increasing gender and other types of diversity in Wikimedia.

We aim to turn ideas into action.

Focus of the conference

We are very happy to see all your ideas and it seems that many Wikipedians, Wikimedians and interested people are highly engaged in thinking about many aspects concerning diversity in Wikipedia. This is great!

To help us organize sessions and accomplish our goals of developing a shared understanding and set of actions for improving diversity, we intend to focus this first conference on two aspects of diversity:

Gender diversity - the gender gap, LGBT initiatives
Geographic diversity - the global south, linguistic and economic diversity

We hope that future events will be organized to focus more specifically on other important diversity aspects like age, education, and disabilities.

Timeline

application for scholarships/submission of proposals August 20 - September 20, 2013
official registration August 20 - October 20, 2013
note of acceptance: by October 4, 2013
agenda finalized: end of October 2013
conference: November 9 - November 10, 2013

Background Information

In 2013, Wikimedia Deutschland initiated a research and development project "Diversity for Wikipedia" that develops possible courses of action towards more gender diversity. Within the project, gender diversity guidelines, gender diversity action plans and designs are developed. It will implement specific actions aimed at enhancing a welcoming culture, diversity awareness among Wikipedians and participation of female editors. In a co-operation with Beuth University, digital web-based educational material with a focus on gender topics will be developed.

Within the framework of developing a diversity concept about what diversity in Wikipedia really means, we will organise this conference to further develop our existing approaches and to elaborate on new ideas. By the end of this year, the project will be in an advanced state and we are looking forward to discuss the different worldwide initiatives with the international communities, Wikimedia Chapters and the Wikimedia Foundation.

Contact

Julia Kloppenburg. You can reach Julia via her user page or via e-mail. For general enquiries and questions concerning scholarships you can contact the organising team at: diversity@wikimedia.de Feel free to get in touch!

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/wikimedia-diversity-conference

Indian Govt to Build Machine Translation System for 22 Indic Languages

praskrishna — 2013-12-11T07:14:35Z

National Translation Mission is preparing a Machine Translation System (MTS) to instantly translate texts from vernacular Indian languages to English, reports New Indian Express.

Brindaalakshmi's article was published by Medianaama on November 14, 2013. CIS memorandum of understanding with Goa University is mentioned.

The report states that scientific and technical terminologies are being developed in 69 disciplines of study in 22 languages as part of this project. Apparently, 25,000 to 30,000 lexicons have been identified in each subject to create the MTS.

Speaking at a media event, Prof V Saratchandran Nair, Director of National Translation Mission said that the project is being initiated to help students who have done their schooling in vernacular languages but have to study in English during college. He also added that only Tamil currently has translated materials in all 69 disciplines, while Oriya has it in 49 disciplines. In contrast, there is no science material available in Santhali, Manipuri and Konkani languages.

National Translation Mission is a Government of India initiative that intends to establish translation as an industry and facilitate higher education by making available translated study material for students. The program also trains translators in different languages. Interestingly, the website states that it will not replicate the efforts of other organisations like C-DAC, TDIL that are also involved in creating indic support for computers and services. However, it seeks to build technology to directly translate a sentence typed in English into an Indian language. When we checked, we noticed that the website also offers dictionaries and other resources for translators.

Other efforts to provide indic support: In September 2013, the Goa university had entered into a three year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) for building the Konkani Wikipedia. As part of this partnership, Goa University will be uploading the four volumes of Konkani encyclopedia. This could be a good start to building a repository of translated works for science in Konkani.

In July 2013, Technology Development for Indian Languages Programme (TDIL) of DeitY (Department of Electronics and IT) had developed Urdu language fonts and keyboard drivers for Windows and Android.

In June 2013, DeitY had also created a repository of fonts for all 22 constitutionally recognized languages through TDIL. These fonts are available as a CD that can be procured from TDIL or the entire suite can also be downloaded from the TDIL website.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/medianama-november-14-2013-brindaalakshmi-indian-govt-to-build-machine-translation-system-for-22-indic-languages

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Alvas Vishva Nudisiri Virasat

praskrishna — 2013-12-31T09:48:19Z

The Access to Knowledge team from the Centre for Internet and Society conducted a workshop at Moodabidre from December 19 to 22, 2013.

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a presentation about Kannada Wikipedia and also conducted a workshop on Kannada Wikipedia as a parallel track. He spoke about Kannada and IT in general and also about Kannada Wikipedia. The event was covered by Prajavani (December 22), Hosadigantha (December 22), and Deccan Herald (December 22). Scanned copies of these are reproduced below:


Above: A report published by Prajavani


Above: Article by Guruprasad TN about Kannada Wikipedia, Dr. Pavanaja is quoted.


Above: Article in Hosadigantha. Dr. Pavanaja is quoted.

Also there was a report published by Udayavani on December 24, 2013. This can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/1cjwIyD.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-alvas-vishva-nudisiri-virasat

Access to Knowledge Bulletin — October 2013

praskrishna — 2014-01-04T12:04:56Z

The Access to Knowledge (Wikipedia) newsletter for the month of October 2013:

Train the Trainer Program
Wikipedians, about 20 of them, from 10 different cities, speaking 8 different languages, joined together for the first ever four days "Train the Trainer Program" organised by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team in Bangalore from October 3 to 6, 2013. CIS-A2K organised the residency training program to build capacities amongst different language Wikimedia communities. A good diversity of Wikipedians from various language communities such as Bengali, Gujarati, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Odia, came over for the event. Two prominent reasons identified for organizing the event were the limitations of a virtual sphere and the limited number of Wikipedians leading outreach activities. Seventeen people participated in the event: http://bit.ly/18hjw0n

► Events Organised
Workshop on Wikipedia in the Indian Undergraduate Language Classrooms (October 1, 203, Christ University, Bangalore). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted the workshop: http://bit.ly/HIiC30.
వికీపీడియా:సమావేశం/బెంగుళూరు/అక్టోబర్ (UTC, Bangalore, October 12, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk: http://bit.ly/1hpmXrt.
Konkani Vishwakosh Digitization (Goa University, October 19-20, 2013). CIS-A2K team conducted the workshop. Thirty-seven people participated in the event: http://bit.ly/1a9m8N2. Nitika Tandon shares a detailed blog post on the re-release of Konkani Vishwakosh under CC License: http://bit.ly/1cm9wBH.
► Event Participated In
Re-sourcing Indian Cinema: Humanities Research, New Archives and Collaborative Knowledge Production (organised by the Centre for Contemporary Studies and the Centre for Study of Culture and Society, October 29, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk on “Let Cinephiles Collaborate: Pleasures and Perils of Indian Film History on Wikipedia”: http://bit.ly/18Obr2P.
► Media Coverage
CIS gave its inputs for the following media coverage:

Mangalore: Konkani writers resolve to form all-India forum at JKS conference (Daijiworld, October 1, 2013): http://bit.ly/1ek8AzW.
Wikipedia in Indian Languages on Mobile Phones (by Megha Prakash, Sci Dev Net, October 15, 2013): http://bit.ly/Hfh7sI.
कोंकणी विश्‍वकोश ‘विकिपीडिया’वर (Navprabha Daily, October 22, 2013). A detailed article about the digitalization of Konkani Vishwakosh: http://bit.ly/18J3YlB.

Wikimedia Foundation has funded A2K to anchor the growth of Wikimedia movement in India. The A2K team consists of six members, four based in Bangalore: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Dr. U.B. Pavanaja, Subhashish Panigrahi and Muzammiluddin Syed, one member Nitika Tandon in Delhi and one Advisor Dr. Tejaswini Niranjana. Archives of our newsletters can be accessed here (http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters). Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at http://bit.ly/TOcXId.

About CIS

The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-profit research organization that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness (including open government, FOSS, open standards, etc.), and engages in academic research on digital natives and digital humanities.

Follow us elsewhere

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
CIS group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cis.india
Visit us at: https://cis-india.org

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

Request for Collaboration:
We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant@cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic language wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at vishnu@cis-india.org

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

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

First Odia Wikipedia Education Program concludes at IIMC, Dhenkanal

praskrishna — 2013-01-29T06:42:53Z

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

praskrishna — 2013-01-31T03:10:05Z

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

This was published in Sambad on January 30, 2013.

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

Wiki Meet-up in Bangalore: Talk by Vishnu Vardhan

praskrishna — 2013-02-11T06:22:56Z

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

Agenda

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

KS Viswanath

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

Vishnu Vardhan

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

Joe Justice

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

Vibhu Srinivasan

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

Participants

Intended Audience

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

The full details can be accessed on the Wikipedia page

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

A Report of the Odia Wikipedia Workshop held in KMBB College of Engineering, Bhubaneswar

praskrishna — 2012-12-07T22:37:59Z

(By Debapriya Priyadashi Chakra) Sambad, Odisha's most widely read and largest circulated daily, on November 19, 2012, published an article about the Odia Wikipedia workshop organized in KMBB College of Engineering, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Read a detailed report about this workshop.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/report-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop-in-sambad