Centre for Internet and Society

Otago Southland are the Coolest

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T08:06:13Z

LIANZA Otago Southland are delighted to announce our speaker, Subhashish Panigrahi (@subhapa), from the Centre for Internet and Society’s Access To Knowledge programme, will be tuning in via the interwebs from India to share his vision of Guerilla GLAM, describe case studies of these initiatives in India, as well as touching on the creation of documentaries, learning resources and promotional material from acquired content.

This was published by Library and Information Association of New Zealand. The submission was accepted for Wikimania 2015.

Subha believes “this presentation will be useful for those who can mobilize a small team of volunteers equipped with digital camera, access to local cultural institutions and some level of expertise of curating data.”

Read more about Subha and the abstract for his talk here https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/openotago/2015/10/06/how-to-do-guerilla-glam/

Please share this event with your other GLAM networks!

Event Details

How to do Guerilla GLAM / Subhashish Panigrahi @subhapa <https://twitter.com/subhapa>Tuesday 20 October, 3.00pm NZDT In Dunedin: Conference Room 3, 1st floor University of Otago Central Library, 65 Albany Street, Dunedin<http://www.otago.ac.nz/library/locations/#central>

Online: via Adobe Connect<https://connect.otago.ac.nz/sarah/?launcher=false>. [No software required, just click the link and sign in as a guest. Please ensure you are logged in before 3pm and have read the participant notes on screen] The session will be recorded.

Pre - presentation preparation - entirely optional

If you’re planning on attending Subhashish’s webinar and want to know more about using Wikipedia in your GLAM, you might be interested in watching this first.

This blog post from Alex Stinson<https://twitter.com/sadads> from the Wikimedia Foundation<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home>, entitled "Librarian as Teacher: ways to use Wikipedia"<http://interlibnet.org/2015/10/07/librarian-as-teacher-ways-to-use-wikipedia/>, specifically regarding her discussion about GLAM-wiki
A recording of the September webcast by Phoebe Ayers<http://if%20you%E2%80%99re%20planning%20on%20attending%20subhashish%E2%80%99s%20webinar%20and%20want%20to%20know%20more%20about%20using%20wikipedia%20in%20your%20glam%2C%20you%20might%20be%20interested%20in%20watching%20this%20first./>, a librarian at MIT and former member of the Wikimedia Foundation’s Board of Trustees about the basics of editing Wikipedia especially for Librarians.https://join.onstreammedia.com/play/sparc/7087-edit-a-thon-training-09.30

How to do Guerilla GLAM

Open Access Week (19-25 October) is fast approaching and we have a number of events in store – one I’m keen to tell you about now is a webinar we have planned entitled, “How to do Guerilla GLAM”.

Our speaker, Subhashish Panigrahi @subhapa, from the Centre for Internet and Society’s Access To Knowledge programme will be tuning in via the interwebs from India to share his vision, case studies of Guerilla GLAM initiatives in India, as well as touching on the creation of documentaries, learning resources and promotional material from acquired content.

GLAM = Galleries Libraries Archives and Museums
Guerilla Glam = “getting the most out from cultural institutions where collaboration and long term engagement has high cost and time implications.”

Details of the event

How to do Guerilla GLAM / Subhashish Panigrahi @subhapa
Tuesday 20 October, 3.00pm NZDT
Conference Room 3, 1st floor University of Otago Central Library, 65 Albany Street, Dunedin
Or join us via Adobe Connect. [Please ensure you are logged in before 3pm and have read the participant notes on screen]

We will be recording this session and Subha has given permission for us to make the recording and his slides available here on the blog. We encourage participants to ask questions via the chat facility in Adobe Connect, or to tweet questions using #OAWeek #AOASG.

Abstract
Building partnership with galleries, libraries, archives and museums (collectively known as GLAM institutions) is a great way of funneling the cultural content acquisition and bringing open access to such valuable data. But it is not that easy given the complications each country has in terms of formal agreement, organizational framework, etc. This presentation will detail about the learning curve of institutional partnership building, leveraging personal contacts in small scale GLAM projects and bringing in several indie-projects to cut implication cost, and execute low-cost models.

During this presentation I will present two case studies of contrasting nature: India’s first GLAM project at the National Crafts Museum, New Delhi, and various small-scale collaborative projects. Where the first one would have learning from the six months long project, the second one will draw inspirations from many initiatives that have really no cost or low cost implication and less implementation time involved.

At times, institutional collaborations become liabilities and labor intensive with low Return on Investment. Training staff and implementing GLAM projects are not always easy and retaining contributors is a challenge. Alternatively Guerrilla GLAM could be thought of when having a Wikimedian-in-Residence is not feasible. This presentation will be useful for those who can mobilize a small team of volunteers equipped with digital camera, access to local cultural institutions and some level of expertise of curating data.

Making documentaries and building narratives based on acquired content to creating learning resources and promotional materials will be another aspect of this presentation. Building partnerships with many federal or private institutions also needs sustained long-term engagement and volunteer time is not always enough to devote for a long term GLAM project. This presentation will detail about going the guerrilla way to acquire data from GLAM institutions. This will involve low cost models, leveraging various factors, and getting the most out from cultural institutions where collaboration and long term engagement has high cost and time implications.

About Subhashish

Subhashish Panigrahi is an India based educator, author, blogger, Wikimedian, language activist and free knowledge evangelist. Earlier with Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program and currently at the Centre for Internet and Society‘s Access To Knowledge program, Panigrahi works on building partnership with universities, language research and GLAM (Gallery, Library, Archive and Museums) organizations for bringing more scholarly and encyclopedic content under free licenses, designing outreach programs for South Asian language Wikipedia/Wikimedia projects and communities.

The other hats he wears are as the Editor for Global Voices Odia, Community Moderator of Opensource.com, and Ambassador for India in OpenGLAM Local, Juror of 2015 American Alliance of Museum Muse Awards, and member of OER 2016 Standing Committee. He has presented in various Indian and international conferences on the free knowledge, GLAM and Open Access movement. Panigrahi has authored of “Rising Voices: Indigenous language Digital Activism” in Digital Activism in Asia Reader and was winner of the 2015 Opensource.com People’s Choice Award. Subhashish is available on Twitter at @subhapa and over email at psubhashishatgmaildotcom for more discussion.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/guerilla-glam

Access to Knowledge Bulletin — December 2013

praskrishna — 2014-02-25T10:31:35Z

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

We from the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS-A2K) thank you all for your support and collaboration and wish you a very Happy New Year. We bring you the details of our work for the month of December 2013:

CIS-A2K: Work Accomplished on Konkani Wikipedia

We are pleased to share with you the key accomplishments on Konkani Wikipedia from September to December 2013 in this report. It has been found that there has been an increased editing activity on Konkani Wikipedia, and an increase in the number of articles on Konkani Wikipedia. Konkani Vishwakosh was re-released under Creative Commons License, we initiated Konkani Vishwakosh Digitization project and signed a MoU with Goa University to build Konkani Wikipedia: http://bit.ly/1l6ttmp.

Article

Telugu Wikipedia completes 10 years (by Rahmanuddin Shaik, DNA, December 16, 2013): http://bit.ly/19OAvUV. The article was edited by Rohini Lakshané.

Blog Entries

First ever Train-the-Trainer Program in India (by Nitika Tandon, December 5, 2013): http://bit.ly/1euwSXt.
Priyadarshini Tadkodkar on Konkani language (by Subhashish Panigrahi, November 17, 2013): http://bit.ly/1hldNM8. We are featuring this here as we didn’t carry this in the last newsletter.
Varsha Kavlekar on Konkani Wikipedia Incubator (by Nitika Tandon, December 12, 2013): http://bit.ly/KmxyFo.
Darshan Kandolkar on Konkani Vishwakosh Digitization Process (by Nitika Tandon, December 13, 2013): http://bit.ly/1cqKyQ2.
Darshana Mandrekar speaks on Konkani Wikipedia (by Nitika Tandon, December 16, 2013): http://bit.ly/1keWyya.
Pooja Tople on Wikimedia Projects (by Nitika Tandon, December 17, 2013): http://bit.ly/1hlbubU.

(2-6 are videos of participants from the Konkani Vishwakosh Digitization project (jointly organised by CIS-A2K and Goa University) speaking on their experiences with Wikimedia projects.)

Events Organised

You Too Can Write on Wikipedia! — Training workshop (National Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, December 5, 2013): http://bit.ly/1edmx1z.
Telugu Wikipedia Training Workshop (KBN College, Vijaywada, December 16, 2013): http://bit.ly/1i8ScnL.
Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Alvas Vishva Nudisiri Virasat (Moodabidre, December 19 – 22, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a presentation about Kannada Wikipedia and also conducted a workshop on Kannada Wikipedia as a parallel track. The event was covered by Prajavani (December 22), Hosadigantha (December 22), and Deccan Herald (December 22): http://bit.ly/1dGTBkw.

Events Co-organised

Wikipedia Orientation Workshop (organised by CIS-A2K and Christ University, Bangalore, December 2, 2013): http://bit.ly/1lrkwEy.
Wikipedia Training Session @ Tiruvur (organised by CIS-A2K and Telugu Wikipedia community, Srivahini College, Tiruvur, December 19, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan and Rahmanuddin Shaik conducted the workshop: http://bit.ly/1e3oQX7. It was covered by Andhraprabha (http://bit.ly/1bU5VsQ).

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

Knowledge Sharing through GLAM at Bangalore

praskrishna — 2013-02-18T05:37:46Z

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

Creative Commons

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

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

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

What will users learn?

In this part of the seminar users will learn about:

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

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

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

Who should attend the seminar?

The seminar would be of interests to:

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

Admission:

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

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

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

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

You Too Can Write on Wikipedia! — Training workshop

praskrishna — 2013-12-06T07:55:38Z

The Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team in collaboration with Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation and National Institute of Tourims and Hospitality Management is organizing a two-days training workshop (December 5-6, 2013) in Gachibowli, Hyderabad.

As you may know, Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia, and is the 5th most-visited website in the world! It's completely free to use and re-use, it has no advertising, and is available in more than 280 different languages - including 20+ Indian languages. Wikipedia articles are written by ordinary people who volunteer to share their knowledge with the world.

What will you gain from Wikipedia editing?

It improves writing skills. Wikipedia provides students/professionals/researchers a platform to hone their writing skills. Writing on Wikipedia enhances critical thinking and the ability to see all sides of a story. Students will find this incredibility useful in both their personal and professional lives while evaluating the pros and cons of different situations, projects, assignments etc. Wikipedia editing also strengthens research skills. A Wikipedia editor has to provide credible references by looking up books, journals and online materials. Writing on Wikipedia is a good practice for those who will also work on a thesis or a research project.

Your articles will be read by thousands of people across the globe. If you edit a Wikipedia article, it is there *forever* and the audience can be any number from the 500 million who read Wikipedia every month!

It'll boost your chances in admissions or scholarships or placements.

It teaches students how to collaborate! Editing Wikipedia is magical. You add some content and someone from some other part of the class or school or town or country or somewhere else in the world adds a little bit more and makes the contribution that much better. Wikipedia helps one learn how to work productively with other people, even those you don’t know and may never actually meet.

The workshop will cover the following:

What exactly is Wikipedia and how does it work?
Who edits Wikipedia?
How do I edit Wikipedia?
What can I edit?
How can I input text in Indian languages?
How do I insert images?
How do I find and add references?
Do’s and Don’ts

Schedule

December 5, 2013 (Day 1)

Timing	Activity
09.30 to 10.00 a.m.	Welcome and Introduction
10.00 to 11.15 a.m.	Building Knowledge Bases and Platforms via Mass Collaboration on the Internet
11.15 to 11.30 a.m.	Tea/Coffee Break
11.30 to 01.00 p.m.	Wikipedia demonstration + Basics of Wikipedia Editing (hands on activity)
01.00 to 02.00 p.m.	Lunch Break
02.00 to 02.15 p.m.	Energizer
02.15 to 03.45 p.m.	Basics of Wikipedia Editing (Hands on activity)
03.45 to 04.00 p.m.	Tea/Coffee Break
04.00 to 05.30 p.m.	NPOV on Wikipedia (Spectrogram activity)
05.30 to 05.45 p.m.	Look back on what has worked and what has not

December 6, 2013 (Day 2)

Timing	Activity
09.30 to 11.15 a.m.	Advanced Wikipedia Editing (Hands on activity)
11.15 to 11.30 a.m.	Tea/Coffee Break
11.30 to 01.00 p.m.	On Wiki activity
01.00 to 02.00 p.m.	Lunch Break
02.00 to 02.15 p.m.	Energizer
02.15 to 03.45 p.m.	Wikimedia projects and Tourism
03.45 to 04.00 p.m.	Tea/Coffee Break
04.00 to 05.30 p.m.	Group Activity – Wiki projects on Tourism
05.30 to 05.45 p.m.	Feedback and Closing session

For map of the venue: click this link: http://sh.st/r90j

For venue: click this link: http://sh.st/r889

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/you-too-can-write-on-wikipedia-2014-training-workshop

Mini Train the Trainer 2018

subodh — 2018-03-17T08:51:26Z

A mini train the trainer 2018 (Mini TTT 2018) program was organized by CIS-A2K at Jnana Prabodhini & Bhave High School, Sadashiv Peth, Pune on 24 and 25 February 2018. Total 19 active editors from Marathi community participated. Experienced editors from community were also involved in the program.

The objective of the workshop was to develop personality and leadership skills, boost the outreach activities, build cohesiveness and strong relations within the editors, assess the needs of the community and projects, and evolve progress plan.

The participants profiles and the expected outcomes were decided on the nature of persons. They were divided into following categories and inputs were designed accordingly -

TTT Alumni - 4 people in the group. Interest areas are - History, Culture, Indology, Literature, Gender, Sociology, Health, Arts & Culture, Rural development issues, Wikisource, Sports, People.

They are expected to work as mentors for new editors; Wikipedia pillars; Copyright issues; Should be able to do analysis and evolve improvement measures; Integration of Wikimedia Projects; Work for new developments in Wiki projects; Global engagement programs

Facilitators at Institutional & organisational Partners - 12 people in the group. From - Dayanand College, Solapur ; Soni College, Solapur ; T.C.College, Baramati; BAM University, Aurangabad; Vigyan Ashram, Pabal; Jeevan Jyoti Women Emp. Centre, Velhe; Jnana Prabodhini Women Emp.Department ; Jnana Prabodhini Research Centre, Pune ; Wikisource Internship Program at Garware college, Pune

They are expected to learn advance skills, tools & gadgets for good editing; Wikipedia pillars; Copyright issues; To conduct workshops for student community; Design internships and academic assignments for WEP; To develop thematic groups; Quality improvement; Tracking process and progress using outreach dashboard

Independent new active editors - 4 people in the group. Interest areas are - Language, Biographies,Science, Technology, Development issues, Drama, Films, Music, Finance, Commerce, Tourism, Commons

They are Working on category-wise content generation; Wikipedia pillars; Copyright issues; Building communities of interest; reference tools

Topics covered

Advanced tools and gadgets
Quality issues in Wikipedia
Event planning and reporting
Commons - Copyright, categories
Wikidata
Wikisource - Copyright, OTRS, OCR
Outreach dashboard
Global campaigns

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mini-train-the-trainer-2018

Article on Telugu Wikisource Feature Book in Pustakam.net

pavan — 2018-04-17T14:08:28Z

An article about Telugu Wikisource feature book - Andhrula Sanghika Charitra (ఆంధ్రుల సాంఘిక చరిత్ర) by Pavan Santhosh got published in Pustakam.net.

Pustakam.net is a web magazine dedicated to commentaries -primarily in Telugu and occasionally in English- on world literature, by book lovers. This attempt is aimed to make Telugu Wikisource community's efforts to provide free and quality books noticed among book lovers and also help Telugu Wikisource contributors to figure out ways to get such articles published in online and print platforms.

Originally published article can be accessed here.

తెలుగువారి వెయ్యేళ్ళ జీవన చిత్రం – ఆంధ్రుల సాంఘిక చరిత్ర (వికీసోర్సు ప్రదర్శిత గ్రంథాలు)

“ఆ (విజయనగర) కాలమందు స్త్రీలుకూడా మంచి జెట్టీలుగా సిద్దమై కుస్తీలు జేసిరి. క్రీ.శ. 1446 నాటి యొక శాసనములో హరియక్క అను నామె తన తండ్రిని కుస్తీలో చంపిన జెట్టీలతో కుస్తీచేసి వారిని చంపి పగదీర్చుకొనెను.” (విజయనగర సామ్రాజ్య కాలము)
*****

“మన దేశములో పొగాకును ప్రవేశ పెట్టి దేశమును నాశనం చేసిన మహనీయులు పోర్చుగీసువారు. అది క్రీ.శ. 1600-1650 ప్రాంతములో ప్రవేశ పెట్టబడెను.” (క్రీ.శ. 1600 నుండి 1757 వరకు)
*****

“మన పూర్వులకున్న కళాదృష్టి మనలో కానరాదు. చిలుకనో పువ్వునో చెక్కని చెంబు బోడిచెంబే! అంచులేని యుడుపుల ధరించుట అమంగళమని తలంచిరి. ఇండ్ల గోడలపై చిత్తరువులు వ్రాయిస్తూవుండిరి. ద్వారముల చౌకట్లపై చక్కని జంత్రపుపని యుండెడిది. బట్టలపై అద్దకముతో బొమ్మలను వేయుచుండిరి. ధనికులు పటములను వ్రాయించెడివారు. కాకతీయుల కాలములో చిత్తరువులు జనసామాన్యమందును ఆదరణీయముగా నుండినట్లు కానవచ్చును. ఇండ్లముంగిళ్ళలో మ్రుగ్గులతో చాల చక్కని చిత్రములను పడుచులు తీర్చు చుండెడివారు….
ఏవిధమగు చిత్తరువులు వ్రాయుచుండిరో అవియు తెలియవచ్చినవి. దారుకావనములోని శివుడు, గోపికాకృష్ణులు, అహల్యా సంక్రందనులు, తారా చంద్రులు, మేనకా విశ్వామిత్రులు మొదలైనవి వ్రాయిస్తూ వుండిరి. చిత్తరువులను ‘మయ్యెర’తో వ్రాసిరి. (మయ్యెర అను వెంట్రుకలతో చేసిన బ్రష్షు అయి యుండును – మైర్ అన అరవములో వెంట్రుక అని యర్థము). ఓరుగల్లున ‘చిత్తరువులు వ్రాసే యిండ్లు 1500’ అని ఏకామ్రనాథుడు వ్రాసెను. భోగమువారు తమకు తగిన పటాలను వ్రాయించుకొనిన ఇతరులును వ్రాయించుకొన్న వారు కారు. ప్రజలు తమతమ అభిలాషల కొలది వ్రాయించుకొను చుండిరి. వీర పూజ కోరువారు వీరుల చిత్రాలు వ్రాయించిరి.” (కాకతీయ యుగము)
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“పల్లవులు, కాకతీయులు దేశమందలి అడవులను కొట్టించి, గ్రామాలను ప్రతిష్ఠించి, వ్యవసాయకులకు భూము లిచ్చియుండిరి. దీనినిబట్టి క్రీస్తుశకము 1000 కి పూర్వము కర్నూలు, బళ్ళారి మున్నగు మండలాలు అరణ్యప్రాంతాలుగా నుండెనని తెలియును. ప్రతాపరుద్రుడు స్వయముగా కర్నూలు సీమకు వెళ్ళి అడవుల గొట్టించి ఇప్పటికి కర్నూలు పట్టణమునకు 10, 15 మైళ్ళ ఆవరణములోని పల్లెల పెక్కింటిని నిర్మాణము చేసినట్లు ఆకాలపు శాసనాదుల వలన తెలియవచ్చెడివి. తెలంగాణములో నూరేండ్ల క్రిందటకూడ అడవులనుకొట్టి రైతుల ప్రతిష్ఠించుతూ వచ్చిరనిన ఆకాలపుమాట చెప్పనవసరము లేదు.”
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“బెజవాడ కనకదుర్గమ్మను గురించి నేలటూరి వేంకటరమణయ్యగారిట్లు (S-I-Temple లో) వ్రాసెను. “ఒకగ్రామమం దేడ్గురు విప్రసోదరులుండిరి. వారికి కనకమ్మయను చెల్లె లుండెను. ఆమె శీలమును వారు సందేహింపగా నామె బావిలోపడి చనిపోయి జనుల బాధించు శక్తికాగా, జనులామెకు గుడికట్టి పూజింప దొడగిరి”. నెల్లూరిలోని దర్శి తాలూకాలోని లింగమ్మ అను బీదరాలొక ధనికునింటి సేవకురాలుగా నుండెననియు, ధనికుల సొత్తు లపహృత మగుడు ఆమెపై నిందవోపగా నామె బావిలో పడి చచ్చి దేవరయ్యెననియు, నెల్లూరు జిల్లాలోని పొదిలమ్మయు, సందేహింపబడి చంపబడిన యొక స్త్రీశక్తిగా మారినట్టి దనియు, నూరేండ్ల క్రిందటగూడ కోటయ్య అను లింగబలిజి ఒక గొల్ల మగనాలినిగూడి ఆమె భర్తచే వధింపబడి కోటప్పకొండ దేవరగా ప్రసిద్ధు డయ్యె ననియు శ్రీ నేలటూరివారు వ్రాసినారు.” (రెడ్డిరాజుల కాలము)
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“నేటికిని తెనుగు అక్షరాలను “ఓనమాలు” అని దేశమంతటను అందురు. శైవుల ప్రాబల్యమే తెనుగుదేశాని కుండినదనుట కీ ఓనమాలే సాక్ష్యమిస్తున్నవి. “ఓం నమ: శివాయ” అను షడక్షరీ శివమంత్రముతో విద్య ప్రారంభమగుచూ వచ్చినది. ఉత్తర హిందూస్థానములోను, మళయాళములోను “శ్రీ గణేశాయ నమ:” అని అక్షరాభ్యాసము చేతురు. కాని మన తెనుగు దేశమందును, కర్ణాట మందును ఈం నమశ్శివాయయే కాక ‘సిద్ధం నమ:’ అనియు వ్రాయింతురు. మొదట జైనమత వ్యాప్తియై జైనులే విద్యాబోధకు లగుటచేత వారు “ఓం నమ: సిద్ధేభ్య:” అని అక్షరాభ్యాసము చేయిస్తూ వుండిరేమో !” (కాకతీయ యుగము)
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“ఆ కాలమందు గడియకాలములో నీటిలో మునుగునట్లుగా నొక చిల్లిగల గిన్నెను నీటిపై నుంచి అది మునిగిన వెంటనే లెక్కప్రకారము గంట కొట్టుతూ ఉండిరి.” (కాకతీయ యుగము)
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“రాజులు కావ్యనాటకాలను, సాహిత్యశాస్త్రమును, సంగీతనాట్యశాస్త్రములను ఎక్కువగా నభ్యసించి రనుటకు రెడ్డిరాజులు వ్రాసిన శాస్త్రాలు, చేసిన వ్యాఖ్యలే ప్రథమసాక్ష్యములు. అవికాక వారికి అశ్వశిక్షణము, అశ్వశాస్త్రము, గజ శాస్త్రము, రాజనీతి, యుద్ధతంత్రము ముఖ్యములైన విద్యలు, రాజనీతిని గూర్చిన శాస్త్రములు సంస్కృతములో నెక్కువగా నుండెను. తెనుగులో మడికి సింగన సకలనీతిసమ్మతము వ్రాసెను. అందతడు పలువురి తెనుగు నీతికవుల నుదహరించెను. ఆ కవులలో పెక్కుకవుల గ్రంథాలు మనకు లభించుటలేదు. సంగీత నాట్యశాస్త్రములలో కొన్నిరచనలు రాజులే చేసిరి. కుమారగిరి వసంతరాజీయ రచనల కుదాహరణముగా అతని యుంపుడు కత్తెయగు లకుమాదేవి నాట్యము చేస్తూవుండెడిది.” (రెడ్డిరాజుల కాలము)
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“రెడ్డిరాజుల కుండిన బ్రాహ్మణభక్తి భారతదేశ చరిత్రలో వేరుచోట కాన వచ్చునో లేదో అత్యంత సంశయమే. ఓరుగంటి చక్రవర్తు లిచ్చిన దానాలు తురకవిజేతల చేతులలోనికి పోయెను. రెడ్డిరాజులు తాము గెలిచిన ప్రాంతములందంతటను పూర్వరాజులు దానము లన్నింటిని స్థిరపరిచిరి. పైగా తామున్నూ అసంఖ్యాకముగా భూములను, అగ్రహారములను బ్రాహ్మణులకు దానము చేసిరి. వీరి దానములచే ఆకర్షితులై తూర్పుతీర మందలి కృష్ణా గోదావరీ మండలములలో బ్రాహ్మణులు కొల్లలుగా నిండుకొనిరని పలువురు చరిత్రకారు లభిప్రాయ పడినారు.” (రెడ్డిరాజుల కాలము)
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“ఆంధ్రులు సముద్ర వ్యాపారము విశేషముగా చేసినప్పుడు తత్సంబంధమగు సాంకేతికపదములు వాఙ్మయములో నుండవలసియుండెను. కాని యట్టివి విశేషముగా గ్రంథస్థము కాలేదు. అయినట్టివి కొన్ని కూడా జనుల కర్థము కానివై పోయెను.” (రెడ్డిరాజుల కాలము)
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“తెలంగాణాలో నిర్మల కత్తులు జగద్విఖ్యాతి కాంచియుండెను. అచ్చటి కత్తులు అచ్చటి యుక్కు డెమాస్కస్ నగరాని కెగుమతి యగుచుండెను. మెరుగు టద్దాలుకూడా సిద్ధమవుతూ వుండెను. వాటిని శుభ్రము చేయుటకేమో మెరుగురాతి పొడిని వాడినట్లు కానవస్తున్నది.” (రెడ్డిరాజుల కాలము)
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“చతురంగపు ఆట చక్రవర్తులనుండి సాధారణజనులవరకు ఆసక్తిని కలిగించినట్టిది. దీనిని మోసిన్ పుట్టకముందే హిందువులు కనిపెట్టిరని ప్రతీతి నౌషీర్వాన్ అను ప్రసిద్ధ పారసీకచక్రవర్తి యీ యాట గొప్పదనమును విని హిందూస్థానమునుండి అదేపనిగా చతురంగపు పలకలను, కాయలను తెప్పించుకొని ఆ విద్యను నేర్పు గురువును పిలిపించుకొనెను.” (విజయనగర సామ్రాజ్య కాలము)
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“ఈ కాలము(రెడ్డిరాజుల కాలము)లో కళాపోషణము ఉచ్చస్థాయి నందెను. తుది రెడ్డిరాజులు వసంతరాజ బిరుదాంచితులగుట ఈ కళాపోషణమున కొక ప్రబలతర నిదర్శనము. కవిసార్వభౌముడును, ఆసేతువింధ్యాది పర్యంతము తన కీడుజోడు లే డనిపించుకొన్నవాడును, బహుశాస్త్ర పురాణ పారంగతుడును, కవితలో నూతన యుగస్థాపకుడునునగు శ్రీనాథుడు విద్యాధికారియట! అఖిలాంధ్ర వాఙ్మయమునకు ప్రామాణికాచార్యత్రయములోనివాడగు ప్రబంధ పరమేశ్వరుడు ముఖ్యాస్థానకవి యట ! శివలీలా విలాసకర్తయగు నిశ్శంక కొమ్మన రెడ్డి రాజుల కీర్తనల చేసినవాడట ! సహస్ర విధాననవాభినయ కళాశ్రీశోభితలకుమాదేవి రాజసన్నిధిలో నిత్యనూత్నముగా నటంచినదట ! బాలసరస్వత్యాది మహాపండితు లాస్థాన దివ్యజ్యోతులట ! స్వయముగా రెడ్డి, వెలమప్రభులు కవులై, వ్యాఖ్యాతలై, సాహిత్యాచార్యులై సర్వజ్ఞులై సర్వజ్ఞ చక్రవర్తులైన దిగంత విశ్రాంత యశోవిశాలురట ! కర్పూర వసంతోత్సవములకు సుగంధ భాండాగారాధ్యక్షు లుండిరట ! ఇక కళాభివృద్ధికి కొదువయుండునా ?” (రెడ్డిరాజుల కాలము)
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“గారడీ అను విద్యను ఇంద్రజాల మనిరి. ఇంగ్లండులోని ఇంగ్లీషు పత్రికలలో ఇంచుమించు 40 ఏండ్లనుండి యొక చర్చ కొన్నిమారులు చేసినారు. ఇంచుమించు 150 ఏండ్ల క్రిందట ఒక ఇంగ్లీషు వాడొక ఇంద్రజాల ప్రదర్శనమును హిందూస్థానములో చూచి దాన్ని చాలా మెచ్చుకొని అనాడే పత్రికలో వ్రాసెను. ఆ ఇంద్రజాలమ లో ఒకడు త్రాటి నొకదానిని పైకి నిలువుగా విసరి గాలిలోనిలబెట్టి దానిపై కెగబ్రాకి మాయము కాగా, వాని యంగములు ఖండ ఖండములుగా క్రిందబడె ననియు, మరి కొంతసేపటికి వాడు త్రాటినుండి గబ గబ దిగివచ్చెననియు వ్రాసెను. అది యబద్ద మనియు, అట్టి విద్యను ప్రదర్శించు వానికి ఇంగ్లండుకు రానుపోను వ్యయమును భరించి వేలకొలదిగా బహుమానము లిత్తుమనియు కొందరు ప్రకటించిరి. కాని కొరవి గోపరాజు ఒక కథలో ఇదేవిధమగు ఇంద్రజాలమును వర్ణించినాడు.
ఒకడు తనభార్య అనుదానిని వెంటబెట్టుకొని రాజసన్నిధిలో ఆమెను రక్షణార్థమై విడిచి, తాను దేవసహాయార్థమై యుద్ధముచేయ వెళ్ళుతున్నాని చెప్పి ఒక త్రాటిని పైకి నిలువుగా విసరి, దాన్ని నిలబెట్టి, దానిపై కెగబ్రాకి మాయమయైను. కొంతవడికి వాని కాలుసేతులు, తల, మొండెము తుంటలై క్రిందబడెను. వాడుంకువగా నుంచిపోయిన వానిభార్య రాజును వేడి సెలవు పొంది సహగమనము చేసెను.
వెంటనే త్రాడు పైకి ప్రాకిపోయిన భటుడు పైనుండి దిగివచ్చి తనభార్యను పంపుమనెను. రాజు విచారగ్రస్తుడై ఆమె సహగమనము చేసెనని చెప్పెను.” (రెడ్డిరాజుల కాలము)
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“హిందూ సైనికులు ముసల్మానులవంటి సైనికభటులు కారు. ముసల్మాను సైన్యములో అరబ్బులు, ఖురాసానీ తురకలు, పారసీలు, అబిషీలు (అబిసీనియనులు), పఠానులు, బిల్లులు, మున్నగు అటవికులు ఉండిరి. తమ సైనికులు తురక భటులకు సరిరారని విజయనగర చక్రవర్తులు గుర్తించి, తురకలను తమ సైన్యములో భర్తీచేసి, వారికొక “తురకపేట”ను ప్రత్యేకించి వారికి మసీదులు కట్టించి సకల సదుపాయములు చేసిరి. అట్లు చేసినను వారికి హిందూ రాజులపై విశ్వాస ముండినటుల కానరాదు. వారు తమ ఏలికలకు సలాములు కూడ చేయుటకు ఇష్టపడనందున ఏదోవిధముగా తమ గౌరవము నిలుపుకొనుటకు తన గద్దెపై ఖురాను నుంచుకొని దానికిచేసిన తురక సలాములను తానును పంచుకొనెను.” (విజయనగర సామ్రాజ్య కాలము)
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“ద్వంద్వయుద్ధము కేవలము విజయనగర రాజ్యమందే నెగడెను. ద్వంద్వయుద్ధము చేయువారు మంత్రి లేక రాజు సెలవు పొందవలసి యుండెను. గెలిచినవానికి ఓడినవాని ఆస్తి యిప్పించెడివారు.” (విజయనగర సామ్రాజ్య కాలము)
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“జనులు మాడలను బిందెలలో నింపి ఇండ్లలో, దొడ్లలో, చేలలో గుర్తుగా దాచుకొంటూవుండిరి. తరాలుగా దాచిన జాడలు వృద్ధులు తమవారికి తెలుపకముందే చచ్చుటయు, దానికై వాని సంతతి వారు వెదకుటయు సంభవించెడిది. ధనాంజనము వేసి ధన మెక్కడున్నదో కనిపెట్టే మంత్ర తంత్రవేత్తలు బయలుదేరిరి. పలుమారు దాచిన ద్రవ్యము పరులకు హఠాత్తుగా దొరుకుతూ వుండెను. ద్రవ్యమును భూమిలో పూడ్చి దాచుకొను నాచారము నేటికికూడ మన పల్లెలలోని కొందరిలో కానవస్తున్నది.” (విజయనగర సామ్రాజ్య కాలము)
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“దేశమందు బాటల నిర్మాణము చాలా తక్కువ. అందుచేత బండ్లపై వ్యాపారము చేయుట కనుకూలముగా లేకుండెను. వ్యాపారస్థులు ఎద్దులపై కూలీల కావళ్ళపై, గుర్రపు తట్టువులపై, గాడిదలపై కంచర గాడిదలపై సరుకులను తీసికొనిపోతుండిరి. ఈవిషయమును మన సారస్వతమందు పలుతావులలో తెలిపినదేకాక ఆగంతుక వైదేశికులగు పీస్, బార్బోసా పభృతులు తాము చూచినట్లు తెలిపినారు. బాటలు లేక అడవులెక్కువగా నుండినప్పుడు దొంగలు కూడా ఎక్కువగానే యుండిరి…. దొంగలభయానికి వ్యాపారులు గుంపులుగాపోయిరి.” (విజయనగర సామ్రాజ్య కాలము)
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“కొల్లూరు పట్టణములో ఒకదేవుడు వెలిసెను. ప్రతి జనుడు ధాన్యమును తన మూత్రములో తడిపి ఆ దేవతా విగ్రహముపై వేసిన అవన్నీ రత్నాలై రవ్వ లవుచుండెనట. అందరును ఆ క్రియను చేయుచు మేడలు కట్టిరి. ఆ పట్టణములో ఒక పేద బాప డుండెను. అందరివలె నీవును చేసి సుఖపడరాదా అని అతనిభార్య తొందరపెట్టుచుండెను. ఏమైననుకాని నేనా తుచ్చపుపని చేసి అపచారము చేయనని అ శిష్టు డనుచుండెను. ఒకనాటి మద్యరాత్రి మరొక వృద్ధ బ్రాహ్మణు డా పేదబాపని కుటుంబ సహితముగా పట్టణము బయటకు పిలుచుకొని పోయి అదిగో కొల్లూరుపట్టణ వైభవము చూడు అని ధగద్ధగితముగా మండుచుండే పట్టణమును వారికి చూపి మాయమయ్యెనట. అది కొల్లూరు పట్టణం వలె వెలిగినది అనేకథ. ఆ కథ నిజముగా ఈ వజ్రాలగనికి సంబంధించినదని పైననే కనబడుచున్నది.” (క్రీ.శ. 1600 నుండి 1757 వరకు)
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“ఆ కాలమందు కోర్టులు లేకుండెను. ప్రతిగ్రామమందు గ్రామపెద్దలు ప్రతిఫలాపేక్ష లేక తగవులు తీర్పుచేసిరి. విజ్ఞానేశ్వరీయమే ముఖ్యాధార భూతశాస్త్రము. బ్రాహ్మణులే సభాసదులు. వారి తీర్పులపై రాజువద్ద పునర్విమర్శ(అపీలు) కావచ్చును. సాధారణముగా వారి తీర్పునకు తిరుగు లేకుండెను. ధనోద్బవ (సివిల్), హింసోద్బవ (క్రిమినల్) అభియోగములను (కేసులను) వారే విచారించిరి. ముఖ్యమైన నేరములను రాజు స్వయముగా విచారించెనను. ‘సభ’వారిని పిలిచి వారి సహాయముతో తీర్పు చెప్పెడివారు.
“సభ”ను చావడిలోనో, దేవాలయమందో, ఊరిమధ్య నుండు “రచ్చ” కట్టపైననో చేసిరి. అందుచేత వివాదమునకు సభగా కూడుటకును “రచ్చ” యనిరి.” (విజయనగర సామ్రాజ్య కాలము)
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“”కృష్ణ” అను పేరుగల విద్వాంసుడు రాయలవారికి సంగీతము నేర్పెను. అతడు రాయలకు వీణావాద్యముకూడా నేర్పినందులకుశిష్యుడు గురువునకు గురుదక్షిణముగా నిలువైన ముత్యాల హారాలను, వజ్రాల హారాలను నిచ్చెనని కర్ణాటభాషలో నారాయణ కవిచే వ్రాయబడిన రాఘవేంద్రవిజయములో తెలిపినారు. సంగీతము శాస్త్రప్రకారము అత్యంతాభివృద్ధి నొందెను. ఒక్కొక్క ఋతువులో ఒక్కొక్క రాగమునకు ప్రాధాన్యముండెను. వసంతకాలమందు హిందోళరాగము పాడిరి. రాయలకు పోర్చుగీసు రాయభారి తమ దేశపు వాద్యములను కానుక యివ్వగా వారు చాల సంతోషించిరట!” (విజయనగర సామ్రాజ్య కాలము)
*****

పై విశేషాలన్నీ సాహిత్య, చారిత్రకాధారాలను విశ్లేషించి, పదాలను అర్థాలను వింగడించి వెయ్యేళ్ళ తెలుగువారి జీవన చిత్రంగా సురవరం ప్రతాపరెడ్డి రాసిన ఆంధ్రుల సాంఘిక చరిత్ర అనే పుస్తకం నుంచి తీసుకున్నవి. ఆంధ్రుల సాంఘిక చరిత్రలో తెలుగు వారు వెయ్యేళ్ళ కాలంలో ఎలా జీవించారన్న విషయాన్ని వివరించే అపురూపమైన గ్రంథం. “తారీఖులు దస్తావేజులు ఇవి కాదోయ్ చరిత్రకర్థం” అని సంప్రదాయ చరిత్ర రచన లక్ష్యాలు, పద్ధతులు తప్పుపట్టాడు మహాకవి శ్రీశ్రీ.

అదే కవితలో
చారిత్రక విభాత సంధ్యల/ మానవకథ వికాసమెట్టిది?/ ఏ దేశం ఏ కాలంలో/ సాధించిన దే పరమార్థం?/ ఏ శిల్పం? ఏ సాహిత్యం?/ ఏ శాస్త్రం?ఏ గాంధర్వం?/ ఏ వెల్గుల కీ ప్రస్థానం?/ ఏ స్వప్నం? ఏ దిగ్విజయం?
అన్న కవితాపాదాలకు రూపమిస్తూ ఒక జాతి జనుల సంఘర్షణకు, అలవాట్లకు, పద్ధతులకు రూపంగా వెలువరించారు సురవరం ప్రతాపరెడ్డి ఈ పుస్తకాన్ని. ఒక సాంఘిక సముదాయంగా తెలుగు జాతి ఏ కష్టనిష్టూరాలు ఎదుర్కొన్నది, ఏ అలవాట్లు చేసుకున్నది, ఏ పద్ధతుల్లో జీవించినది, ఏయే పడికట్లు కలిగివుండేది అన్నవి అన్వేషిస్తూ వెయ్యేళ్ళ తెలుగు వారి జనజీవితానికి అద్దంగా ఆంధ్రుల సాంఘిక చరిత్ర రూపొందింది.

ప్రామాణికత, ఆసక్తిదాయకమైన అంశాల మేలుకలయిక అయిన ఈ పుస్తకం వెలువడిన తొలిముద్రణకే ఆంధ్ర పండిత లోకంలో ప్రముఖులైన రాళ్ళపల్లి అనంతకృష్ణశర్మ, వేటూరి ప్రభాకరశాస్త్రి వంటివారి మన్నన పొందింది. తర్వాత ఎన్నో విశ్వవిద్యాలయాల్లో పాఠ్యగ్రంథంగా నిర్ణీతమైంది, ప్రస్తుతం గ్రూప్ పరీక్షలకు పాఠ్య పుస్తకాల్లో ఇదీ ఒకటి. ఆంధ్రుల సాంఘిక చరిత్ర రచనకు గాను సురవరం ప్రతాపరెడ్డి కేంద్ర సాహిత్య అకాడమీ పురస్కారం అందుకున్నారు. 20వ శతాబ్ది ముగిసి కొత్త సహస్రాబ్దిలోకి అడుగుపెడుతున్న తరుణంలో 1999లో వెల్చేరు నారాయణరావు, జంపాల చౌదరి రూపొందించిన 20వ శతాబ్ది ఉత్తమ తెలుగు పుస్తకాల జాబితా “ఈ శతాబ్దపు రచనా శతం” సహా అనేక ఉత్తమ పుస్తకాల జాబితాలో చోటుచేసుకుంటూనే ఉంది.

ఆంధ్రుల సాంఘిక చరిత్ర పుస్తకాన్ని తెలుగు వికీసోర్సు సముదాయ సభ్యులు (శ్రీరామమూర్తి, డాక్టర్ రాజశేఖర్, ప్రభృతులు) యూనీకోడ్‌లో పాఠ్యీకరించి, ఇ-పుస్తకంగా తయారుచేశారు. ఈ పుస్తకం ఎవరైనా తిరిగి వాడుకోవచ్చు, పంచుకోవడానికి వీలుగా లభ్యమవుతోంది. 2018 మే మొదటి పక్షంలో ఈ పుస్తకాన్ని విశేషగ్రంథంగా తెలుగు వికీసోర్సు వారు ప్రదర్శిస్తున్నారు.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/article-on-telugu-wikisource-feature-book-in-pustakam

Re-licensing Sessions with Authors and Organisations

subodh — 2019-08-05T16:12:42Z

In collaboration with Marathi community, CIS-A2K is getting connected with various authors and organisations willing to re-license their content under CC-By-SA. A2K is facilitating the OTRS process Commons for re-licensing as well as digitisation of the content. The team of trained Wikimedians at Vigyan Ashram, Pabal, District Pune has taken the responsibility of digitising the books and further uploads in Wikimedia projects.

See the information posted on Wikipedia page here

In July, CIS-A2K facilitated the OTRS process of two organisations. Jnana Prabodhini and Saptahik Vivek Hindustan Prakashan Sanstha have released their 6 books and 8 volumes of encyclopedias respectively in CC-By-SA. As the organisations have solely published these books by sponsoring the writers, editors and designers, the authorised signatory of the organisation has to complete the OTRS process. The simple 'How to do' step by step manual was developed to facilitate this process. This process will be replicated by other organisations in near future. These books are valuable & reliable references in Marathi literature.

CIS-A2K conducted three sessions with authors also. In the field of rural development in Maharashtra, thoughts of Late S. G. Majgaonkar are highly regarded. His son Dhananjay Majgaonkar who holds the copyright for his books, completed the OTRS process and released 3 books in CC-By-SA. The books are now on Commons as well as Wikisource project.

Content donation sessions were conducted with Ila Dalwai, daughter of social reformer & writer Late Hamid Dalwai, thinker & writer Hari Narake and grand daughter of Marathi thinker & writer Late Narahar Kurundkar. These persons handed over the books to CIS-A2K for further process. The digitisation of the books has been started at Vigyan Ashram, Pabal.

The links of books uploaded on Commons are given below.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/subodh-kulkarni-july-31-2019-re-licensing-sessions-with-authors-and-organisations

Call for joining the Free Knowledge movement #Wikipedia #Wikimedia

bhuvana — 2019-08-20T07:15:30Z

Every little drop makes a Mighty ocean! Join us in this Free Knowledge movement where your contributions will be used world-wide.

Access to Knowledge team of the Centre for Internet and Society is the partner of the Wikimedia Foundations and the Wikimedia movement. Our work is to support Wikipedia/ Wikimedia projects in India. We conduct and support a series of skill building initiative such as workshops, meetups, photo walks, contest, edit-a-thon etc. We also attend to build sustainable partnerships with institutions, organizations, groups and communities which support the Wikimedia communities to build and improve the content in Wikipedia and other projects.

Are you an individual or do you represent any organisation, institution, groups or enterprises? You can actually help the ‘Free Knowledge’ movement by donating photos, media, content or archives. Let us tell you how.

Wikipedia is a widely read website in the current world. According to Alexa’s rating, Wikipedia is the 5th most highly rated in the world. Also certainly we can say that after searching your query on Google (or any other search engine you use) you should have found Wikipedia as a preferable suggestion or result. We find it astonishing that all content of Wikipedia and its sister projects are created, modified and maintained by volunteers, here we need your support. There are many articles on Wikipedia which are being read by thousands of people but do not have relevant images. The problem is simple there is not any free image available. On Wikimedia/Wikipedia we take copyright very seriously and cannot use any content unless it is on public domain/ under free license/ copyright owner donates it under free license.

For example, there is an article on 2019 Kerala floods which is read by 2000 unique readers at this moment but we do not have sufficient photo coverage. Similarly, we have an article on a famous writer say, Ruskin Bond here also we do not have many photos on him or his works.

Wikimedia community is an independent community. Community decides by itself the content, its style including the media files to be included after detailed instructions. Although we cannot instruct the community we can provide resources which will definitely be of help for the free knowledge movement.

This article is an open call to “YOU” to support the free knowledge movement and Wikimedia movement by donating useful content. The content might be video, useful photos, database and audio. The content you are donating must be under Creative Commons Share-like content. You must have the copyright of the content under CC licenses,a CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and build upon the work that they (the author) have created. Attributions will be given under every file details.

Think of a world where your content can also be part of the larger free knowledge movement?

This is the overall idea in a nutshell. We are eager to discuss every aspect of the process and your questions in detail. Please feel free to contact Tito Dutta(tito@cis-india.org). Let's schedule a call or meet in person.

[Currently the A2K is conducting a content donation drive and awareness campaign. This blog post was written as a part of this initiative ]

Odia Wikipedia Workshop at KISS

praskrishna — 2014-01-16T06:52:36Z

A day long Odia Wikipedia workshop for post-graduate students and faculty members is being organized by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team at the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) on January 10.

Subhashish Panigrahi is conducting the workshop.

ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ:କର୍ମଶାଳା/ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱର/୮

ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ରୁ

ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱରସ୍ଥିତ ଆଦିବାସୀ ଆବାସିକ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠାନ KISS (କଳିଙ୍ଗ ଇନଷ୍ଟିଚୁଟ ଅଫ ସୋସିଆଲ ସାଇସେନ୍ସ)ଠାରେ ଏଠାକାର ଶିକ୍ଷକ ଓ ସ୍ନାତକୋତ୍ତର ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀମାନେ ଆଦିବାସୀମାନଙ୍କର ଭାଷା, ଚଳଣି ଓ ଜନ‌ଜୀବନ ବାବଦରେ ଅନେକ ଗବେଷଣାଭିତ୍ତିକ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ ଏକାଧିକ ଭାଷାରେ ଲେଖିବାର ଏକ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରାଯାଇଛି । ପ୍ରାରମ୍ଭିକ ପର୍ଯ୍ୟାୟରେ ଏହି ନ‌ଥିକରଣ ତିନୋଟି ଭାଷାରେ (ଓଡ଼ିଆ, ଇଂରାଜୀ ଓ ହିନ୍ଦୀ)ରେ କରାଯାଇ KISS ୱେବସାଇଟରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ କରାଯିବ । ଏହି ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗସମୂହ ଜ୍ଞାନ‌କୋଷ ପରିସରରେ ଥିବାରୁ ଏସବୁକୁ ଉଇକିକରଣ କରି ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗସବୁକୁ ସମୃଦ୍ଧ କରିବା ନିମନ୍ତେ ଏହି ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳାର ଆୟୋଜନ କରାଯାଇଛି । ନ‌ଭେମ୍ବର ୧୪ (ଗୁରବାର‌) ଦିନ ସକାଳ ୧୧:୦୦ ରେ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହୋଇ ଥିବା ପ୍ରଥମ କର୍ମଶାଳାରେ ଯୋଗଦେଇଥିବା ଶିକ୍ଷକ ଓ ସ୍ନାତକୋତ୍ତର ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀମାନଙ୍କ ନିମନ୍ତେ ଏହା ଏକ ଉନ୍ନତ କର୍ମଶାଳା । ଏଥିରେ ସେମାନଙ୍କୁ ଦିଆଯାଇଥିବା ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗଗୁଡ଼ିକୁ ସେମାନେ ସମ୍ପାଦନା କରି ସେଥିରେ ଅଧିକ ତ‌ଥ୍ୟ ଯୋଡ଼ି ତାହାକୁ ଉନ୍ନ୍ତ କରିବେ । ସମ୍ପାଦନା ପରେ ଆଗାମୀ ଯୋଜନା ବଆବଦରେ ଆଲୋଚନା କରାଯିବ ।

ଏଥିରେ କଣ କଣ ଶିଖିବାକୁ ମିଳିବ?

ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପିଂ
ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆରେ. ସମ୍ପାଦନା
ଆଗାମୀ ଯୋଜନା

ସ୍ଥାନ ଓ ସମୟ

KISS (କଳିଙ୍ଗ ଇନଷ୍ଟିଚୁଟ ଅଫ ସୋସିଆଲ ସାଇସେନ୍ସ), ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱର
ଜାନୁଆରି ୧୦ (ଶୁକ୍ରବାର‌), ସକାଳ ୦୯:୦୦

ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳାରେ ଭାଗ ନେଉଥିବା ଉଇକିଆଳିଗଣ

--ସୁଭାସିସ ପାଣିଗାହି (ମୋ ସାଙ୍ଗେ କ‌ଥାବାର୍ତ୍ତା)

ଅନୁଷ୍ଠାନର ଶିକ୍ଷକ ଓ ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀଗଣ

କାମ ବିତରଣ

ନଭେମ୍ବର ମାସର କର୍ମଶାଳାରେ ଭାଗନେଇଥିବା ସମସ୍ତ ଶିକ୍ଷକ ଓ ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀମାନଙ୍କୁ ୧୧ଟି ଛୋଟ ଛୋଟ ଦଳରେ ଭାଗ କରାଯାଇଥିଲା । ପ୍ରତିଟି ଦଳ ଏକ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ ଉପରେ ମିଳିତ କାମ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରିବେ । ତଳେ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗର ନାମ ଓ ଶିକ୍ଷକ ତ‌ଥା ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀଙ୍କ ନାମ ଦିଆଗଲା । ଆଜିର କର୍ମଶାଳାର ସମସ୍ତ ଅଂଶଗ୍ରହଣକାରୀ ନିଜ ନିଜର ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗରେ କିଛି ଲେଖା ଆରମ୍ଭ କରିଛନ୍ତି । ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳାରେ ସେମାନେ ଏହି ଲେଖାଗୁଡ଼ିକ ସମୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ କରିବେ ।

ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ ନାମ	ଶିକ୍ଷକଙ୍କ ନାମ	ଶିକ୍ଷକଙ୍କ ନାମ	ଛାତ୍ର/ଛାତ୍ରୀଙ୍କ ନାମ	ଛାତ୍ର/ଛାତ୍ରୀଙ୍କ ନାମ
ସାନ୍ତାଳୀ ଲୋକସଂସ୍କୃତି	ମହତ ଶତପ‌ଥୀ		ରୁକ୍ମଣ ବରିହା	ସମ୍ବାରୀ ମୁର୍ମୁ
ହୋ ପରବ			ତରଣୀସେନ ସାମଡ
ହୋ ଜନ‌ଜାତିର ପର୍ବପର୍ବାଣୀ	ଦୀପ୍ତିରଞ୍ଜନ ବେହେରା		ସୂର୍ଯ୍ୟମଣି ସଏ	ତରଣୀସେନ ସାମଡ
ହୋ ଜନ‌ଜାତିର ବିବାହ ପ୍ରଥା‎	ସୌମିତ୍ରୀ ସାମନ୍ତରାୟ			ଜଗଦୀଶ କୁମାର ସିଂ
ଲାଞ୍ଜିଆ ସଉରା ଜନ‌ଜାତିର ଘର‎	ପ୍ରୀତିନନ୍ଦା ରାୟ		ସୁବାସ ଚନ୍ଦ୍ର ସାମଲ	ଗିରିଜା ଶଙ୍କର ମଲିକ
ସାନ୍ତାଳୀ ପର୍ବପର୍ବାଣୀ	ସାଇ ବିଶ୍ୱନାଥ ତ୍ରିପାଠୀ	ପ୍ରିୟମ୍ବଦା ସ୍ୱାଇଁ		କାପୁରା ସୋରେନ
ସାନ୍ତାଳୀ ସଙ୍ଗୀତ	ନୀଳିମା ସାମନ୍ତ	ସୁଜ୍ଞାନୀ ରଥ	ବାସୁଦେବ ମାରାଣ୍ଡି
ସାନ୍ତାଳୀ ଜନ ଜାତିର ଜୀବନ ଜୀବିକା	ଶୁଭଲକ୍ଷ୍ମୀ ମହାନ୍ତି		କ୍ରିଷ୍ଣା ସୋରେନ	ମହେନ୍ଦ୍ର ବେଶ୍ରା
ମୁଣ୍ଡା ଜନ‌ଜାତି			ସରୋଜିନୀ ସିଂ

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/odia-wikipedia-workshop-kiss-january-10-2014

Rejuvenating India’s Rivers the Wiki Way

subodh — 2019-04-01T13:18:33Z

Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), an organisation working on rejuvenation of rivers in India, has began documentation of rivers on Wiki, especially to draw attention to and mitigate the crisis of toxic deposits facing more than 40 rivers in India. The work was started by Jal Biradari, TBS’s Maharashtra based group, in Sangli district with the help of the Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team of CIS. Here is the report from the first pilot workshop conducted by CIS-A2K during 22-25 December 2018 at Tarun Bharat Sangh Ashram, in Alwar, Rajasthan.

Events details on Wikimedia meta page

The Workshop

As per a Government of India report 42 rivers in India are polluted with toxic heavy metal deposits in them. To mitigate this crisis Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), an organization working on rejuvenation of rivers in India began documentation of rivers on Wiki. The work was started by TBS’s Maharashtra based group Jal Biradari in Sangli district with the help of the Access to Knowledge team of CIS (CIS-A2K).

Realizing the potential of the project TBS decided to integrate this as training module in their capacity building workshops conducted at Bhikampura in Rajasthan. The first pilot workshop was conducted by CIS-A2K during 22-25 December 2018 at Tarun Bharat Sangh Ashram, Bhikampura, Alwar in Rajasthan for 34 participants from eight states of India. Dr. Rajendra Singh, Maulik Sisodiya and Subodh Kulkarni, CIS-A2K were the facilitators. The objectives behind organizing the workshop was to build an open knowledge resource on water related issues in all Indian languages, document the river basins of India, train volunteers working in the sector to work in Wikimedia projects, open street mapping exercises and photo walks along the river and post free content on Commons and Wikisource projects.

The documentation structure for river basin was decided through participatory process. The participants were divided into 6 groups for working on 6 river basins of Arvari district. The resource material available with TBS in the form of maps, reports, training booklets was used to prepare the schematic maps of each river basin. The water bodies such as ponds, manmade structures like dams were also listed.


Activists during the workshop conducted by TBS in Alwar, Rajasthan in December 2018

After this pre-work, the training on Wikipedia editing started. The participants worked in sandboxes first on their articles. The manual of style, giving offline and online references and categorisation were discussed and practiced on sandboxes. The Commons session started with elaborate discussion on copyrights, licenses and encyclopedic content. The images were uploaded on Commons and used in the articles. The articles in the sandboxes were presented by each working group. Taking into consideration various suggestions, appropriate modifications were done. The finished new articles and the additional content into existing articles were then moved in the main namespace of respective language Wikipedia. TBS has decided to re-license 30 books and training material on river in CC-BY-SA. Participants who attended the workshop have started contributing in various languages.

Participants' Feedback

“Rivers are essential for existence of life in land. Keeping its sanctity and health is very important. The Wikimedia workshop gave an insight on river pollution issues and the importance of reviving them. As Wikipedia is an open platform it can create a larger impact by reaching out to the society.” - Mrityunjay1010

“The wiki-workshop on "Rivers on Wiki" has been my maiden experience in the context of generalizing the knowledge for common good. The workshop gave me a lens to see the usage of Wikipedia in regional languages as a medium for environmental consciousness building as well as conservation. Wikipedia as a means for social audit was also another enriching experience in that workshop.” - Simantabharati

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/subodh-kulkarni-rejuvenating-indias-rivers-the-wiki-way

CIS-A2K proposal to Wikimedia Foundation for 2019-2020

Ananth — 2019-04-15T08:05:23Z

The Centre for Internet & Society's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K) has submitted its proposal form for the year 2019 - 2020 to the Wikimedia Foundation. CIS thanks all community members who gave valuable suggestions and inputs for drafting this proposal.

Grants:APG/Proposals/2018-2019 round 2/The Centre for Internet and Society/Proposal form

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation registered in India that works in different areas such as accessibility, openness, internet governance, telecom, research, etc. The organisation's official website may be seen at cis-india.org. Annual reports of the Centre for Internet and Society may be seen here.

The Access to Knowledge (A2K) program of CIS^[2] is dedicated to supporting and serving Indian Wikimedia projects and the communities. In the last few years, CIS-A2K has worked towards creating sustainable programs and building community capacity. The primary objectives of CIS-A2K are:

Supporting and serving the Indian Wikimedia communities in all possible ways.
Building institutional partnerships.

Bringing more content under free license
Designing and executing projects with community participation.
Strengthening the Wikimedia volunteers.
Fostering and enabling an appropriate legal and technological ecosystem.

In 2018–2019 CIS-A2K worked with Kannada, Marathi, Odia, and Telugu communities as Focused Language Area, and Punjabi Wikisource as a Focused Project Area. Some of the major events conducted by CIS-A2K in last 1 year were:

Train the Trainer
MediaWiki Training
Advanced Wikidata Training
Wikisource workshop (Patiala, Ahmedabad, Bangalore)
Wikigraphists Bootcamp
TWLCon
Women's TTT
Wiki Women for Women Wellbeing (WWWW)

CIS-A2K is also working with like-minded organisations and institutions such as Christ University, Bangalore, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation, Vigyan Ashram, Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Solapur University, Odisha state government etc to improve content on different Wikimedia projects and to bring more content to the projects.

Proposal overview

1. Please provide a brief description of your organisation's work in the upcoming funding period.
The Centre for Internet and Society – Access to Knowledge is submitting the work-plan for the period 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020. Our plans and programs may be divided into the following verticals:

in Content Enrichment, we are proposing activities like edit-a-thons, Wikisource proofread and validation campaign, Wikidata label-a-thons and data-thons, photowalks etc. We'll also work with like-minded institutions and organisations to conduct thematic edit-a-thons or similar activities that will help to improve content on different Indic Wikimedia projects;
in Skill Development Initiatives, we are proposing to conduct activities like Zonal Wiki workshops, MediaWiki Training, and Wikidata workshop etc. We will also conduct zonal and regional workshops on different Wikimedia projects.
in Partnership, we will continue our work with the existing partners, and we'll build new partneships. We are proposing activities like outreach, awareness sessions, and workshops for content donation, increasing awareness about the Wiki movement and bridging gender gap;
in Leadership, we are proposing activities like Train-the-Trainer, Wikisource Conference, Wikimedia Summit India, Intensive Personal Wiki Training, supporting Indic Wikimedians through request page etc.

In this work-plan year, CIS-A2K will continue its transition from Focused Language Area (FLA) to Focused Project Area (FPA).

Focused Language Area: Focused Language Area is an approach of CIS-A2K, where we work with a community with all its projects and activities. In other words, CIS-A2K supports all wiki-activities of a particular language community. So far Kannada, Konkani, Odia, Marathi, Tulu, Telugu have been our FLAs.
Focused Project Area: Focused Project Area or FPA is an approach of CIS-A2K introduced in 2018–2019 work-plan where CIS-A2K mainly focuses on projects. In 2018–2019 CIS-A2K collaborated with Punjabi Wikimedians, and our focused projects for Punjabi Wikimedians were Punjabi mostly Wikisource and Institutional Partnership. In the same year, we increased our support towards Wikisource communities in India, appointed a Wikisource project advisor, and conducted and supported several Wikisource project events. In November 2018, we conducted a national-level Wikisource consultation.

We'll plan programs and activities accordingly keeping (Wikipedia) and Wikisource and Wikidata in mind. We will focus on these two projects as based on our interaction with Indian Wikimedia community members, we have found several Indic Wikimedia communities want further support and focus on these projects. CIS-A2K earlier put some effort to support these projects, and this work-plan year we will put more effort.

CIS-A2K will continue working towards creating an inclusive Wiki atmosphere in the Indian subcontinent. With an emphasis on creating safe spaces, promoting gender gap bridging activities A2K team would like to work with all the Indian communities, projects and individuals with interesting ideas and for the overall development of Wikimedia movement. Bridging gender gap will remain as a primary focus of CIS-A2K. We'll try to ensure at least 25% of female participants in all the events conducted by CIS-A2K. We'll conduct a quarterly audit, and present the report in our newsletters.

Read the full proposal on Wikipedia page

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ananth-subray-april-15-2019-cis-a2k-proposal-to-wikimedia-foundation-for-2019-2020

Digital Humanities for Indian Higher Education

praskrishna — 2013-06-07T11:30:29Z

The Access to Knowledge team from the Centre for Internet and Society in collaboration with HEIRA-CSCS, Tumkur University, CILHE-TISS and CCS (IISc) is hosting a one day Digital Humanities consultation on July 13, 2013 at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

Note: Following is a draft text which will be updated soon.

The digital age has had a huge impact on higher education in the last decade, transforming the modalities of both teaching and research. Consequently the very foundations of the systems of knowledge production and dissemination are being re-examined. This is due to the impact that the digital turn has had on already established systems, and to the exciting possibilities that it offers for radically transforming these systems. In tertiary education for instance, one of the ways in which the digital impact has made itself felt is to move the classroom online or to make resources freely available online, thereby providing access for new constituencies.

For researchers, digital archiving and digital publishing has made possible the same widening of access, while also enabling innovative ways of reading traditional objects of inquiry through the use of computational methods. While these developments are not confined to a specific domain of knowledge, the term most often used to reference them has been ‘Digital Humanities’. The term has gained currency worldwide perhaps because of the seeming incongruity of the relationship between the conventional humanities disciplines and what is deemed a technological development. This is a relationship that has not only produced new approaches to old material, but perhaps — even more significantly — reconfigured the objects and domains of inquiry themselves, and re-tooled the modes by which we conduct our research.

The five host institutions have engaged with each other in different collaborative initiatives over the years. Most significant among them have been (a) the exploration of integration, inter-disciplinarity and dialogue between the natural sciences and the social sciences/humanities; and (b) the production and deployment of critical resources in Indian languages in the higher education sector. We seek to bring these interests together in the proposed consultation aimed at setting agendas for digital humanities in India.

Exploring the possible connections between the human sciences and the digital domain could throw up many productive directions for the higher education system. One of the biggest challenges facing the system in India today is the issue of access and the quality of that access. In the coming decade, Indian higher education is estimated to achieve a Gross Enrolment Ratio of at least 20% (from the existing 12%). This immense new inflow into the education system poses significant institutional and pedagogic challenges. With English emerging as the global language for knowledge production, there is pressure on the Indian higher education system to move towards English-based teaching and learning. Simultaneously, here is a cognitive issue: of effective comprehension. Students who are first-generation learners are finding it increasingly difficult to negotiate with the English-only curriculum that presents itself to many as an insurmountable hurdle.

A new set of possibilities could open up if one were to examine this issue from the perspective of the Indian languages. For over 150 years these languages have been used in all modern institutions and practices (from banking to statecraft) and have developed their own concept ecologies and rich traditions of public intellectual discourse. Currently these languages and practices are being thrust into the background by the globalization of higher education. Re-inserting them into our classrooms and institutional arrangements would be crucial from two perspectives: a) providing newer avenues for students to re-negotiate curricular content which is predominantly in English and b) infusing new source materials into social, political, economic and cultural research on India, thereby increasing the relevance and dynamism of Indian social sciences and humanities. Needless to say, technology will play a major role in this context. Not only will technology figure prominently in addressing the question of access, equity and outreach, it will also help in bringing hitherto inaccessible intellectual resources into easily available and distributable forms. Also crucial to the question of access is the scalability that digital technology offers.

Through this interdisciplinary consultation, we hope to chart out the possible directions for digital humanities in India, which would include, among others, a strong engagement with Indian languages as well as a rethinking of how the sciences and the humanities could intersect. All of this is likely to hold paradigm-changing consequences for higher education: involving for example online learning, technologically enhanced learning, archival practices, new research methodologies, and the production of new and locally relevant knowledges.

We invite participants to make short presentations of 15 minutes each reflecting on the questions raised in this note, and bringing to the table issues raised by the initiatives in which they have taken part so far.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/events/digital-humanities-for-indian-higher-education

Wiki donors

praskrishna — 2013-07-01T04:19:13Z

Time Out finds out what Wikipedia’s doing to turn the info mammoth Kannada friendly

The article by Akhila Seetharaman was published in TimeOut Bengaluru on June 21, 2013. T. Vishnu Vardhan and Dr. U.B. Pavanaja are quoted.

Some Wikipedia numbers: Two hundred and eighty-six languages, 42 lakh articles in English. 2.6 crore articles totally. One lakh articles in Hindi, 50,000 in Telugu and Tamil each. Forty thousand in Marathi; 30,000 in Malayalam; 14,000 articles in Kannada. Number of Kannada Wikipedia contributors: 25. Kannadaspeaking population: 47 million. “That’s half a person working to build this public knowledge repository for every million Kannada speakers,” said Vishnu Vardhan, who directs the Access for Knowledge programme in India, a programme that is anchored by the Centre for Internet and Society. “While Hindi Wikipedia gets 60 lakhs page views per month, Kannada gets nine lakh eyeballs monthly.”

Vardhan and his team do outreach programmes, training college studentsin Karnataka on Wikipedia and encouraging them to contribute to its growing body of knowledge in Kannada. So far they’ve had 16 programmes and reached out to 2,500 people. Vardhan admits that there’s a mixed response. “It’s not a labour of love for everyone. Some people are excited to contribute, others feel it’s too much work.”

But he believes it’s important to get across the main message: that Wikipedia is a public knowledge infrastructure for the future. “In our minds libraries, books, newspapers, archives are knowledge repositories,” he said. “But the book is a relatively recent phenomenon, only about a hundred years old. And now everything is becoming the Internet. What is going to happen to our language or culture in the digital era?” Vardhan explains to people that this is the gap they could be filling by taking part in Indian language Wikipedia.

On the agenda for the coming year is growing the content in five Indian language Wikipedias, including Kannada. It’s a gargantuan task. Nobody gets paid to write on Wikipedia and there are technical challenges: you need browser support, Kannada fonts, and most keyboard layouts are in English. But as Vardhan says the Kannada font can be downloaded for free.

But free knowledge communities in each language have to overcome hurdles if there’s to be a valuable repository of knowledge for the public in Indian languages. “We are all netizens. We are all educated, metro people. We’re comfortable accessing the Internet but how many of us use it in our own language? Do we type in Kannada or write in Kannada? While access to knowledge happens in English there is still a large population that does its business in Kannada,” he said. Visit kn.wikipedia.org.

Tech’s messages
UB Pavanaja was among the first eggheads to take Kannada content online. Time Out spoke to him about the city’s lingo

Could you tell us about a little about yourself?
I worked as a scientist at Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) in Mumbai for 15 years before getting into the emerging field of computers and Indian languages. I started the first Kannada website, and the first Kannada online magazine. I also created the first Indian language version (Kannada) of Logo software, a popular programming language for children and advised the Government of Karnataka on standarising Kannada on computers. I now work with the Centre for Internet and Society as part of the Access to Knowledge team.

How has Kannada changed in the past two decades?
There have been lots of changes. It is mostly Kanglish now, no more Kannada. Most people have replaced common Kannada words like “appa”, “amma”, “anna”, “akka”, “chikkappa”, “atte”, with dad, mom, bro, sis, uncle, aunty. Nobody uses Kannada numbers. Go to any shop and the shopkeeper will give you the price in English and not in Kannada. Even the display boards in shops are now in English. Common vegetables and fruits names are now displayed in English. I don’t know the names of common vegetables and fruits in English so I can’t rely on the boards for information. I either know the vegetable by looking at it or I don’t. If the price board is moved slightly, then I won’t know the price of the vegetable. For example, in Reliance Fresh, they write “coccinea” for our common vegetable which we know as “tondekaayi”. Let them write coccinea in English script. But why do they write that in Kannada script?

How have information and communication technologies influenced Kannada language over the years? About ten or 15 years ago when developments in IT were rapid, the implementation of Kannada in IT was not keeping pace with time. Hence people thought it was not possible to use Kannada in IT. But that has changed now. Whatever is possible with English in IT is now possible with Kannada also. But people lack awareness and willingness to adopt it. Wherever there is computerisation, it is automatically in English and not Kannada. For, example, the online booking of tickets by KSRTC is in English only. Technically it is now possible to develop a data-driven website in Kannada. But KSRTC is not willing to do so.

Any Kannada lingo that didn’t exist two decades?
There are many. Some samples: “message maadu”, “delete maadu”, “missed call kodu”, “update maadu”, “copy maadu”. Most of them are derived from using technology.

What have been the biggest influences on the Kannada language in recent times?
Mobile phones, smart phones, FM radio, TV channels, and movies.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/timeout-bengaluru-akhila-seetharaman-june-21-2013-wiki-donors

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Coverage in Vijaya Karnataka)

praskrishna — 2013-07-02T07:22:57Z

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted a workshop in Hasan on June 4, 2013. Vijaya Karnataka published a report of the workshop on June 5, 2013.


Above is a report of the workshop in Vijaya Karnataka. The workshop was conducted by Dr. U.B.Pavanja on June 4, 2013.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/vijaya-karnataka-june-5-2013-report-of-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-in-hasan

Nichole Saad from the Wikimedia Foundation visits Christ University

manasarao — 2017-12-17T19:01:04Z

Nichole Saad, Program Manager, Wikipedia Education Program, Wikimedia Foundation visited Christ University, Bengaluru to conduct a periodic review of the Wikipedia Education Program. The meeting was conducted along with CIS-A2K and Department of Language faculty: Dr. Mallika Krishnaswami, Dr. K.A. Sebastian, Dr. Rathi and Dr. Shivaprasad.

The review kicked off with an introduction to Ms. Saad regarding the work that has been going on at the University. Registrar, Dr. Anil Pinto addressed the gathering of faculty of the Department of Languages and CIS-A2K team members. Student representative Shamama was also present.

Upon giving an introduction to the University itself, Dr. Pinto spoke about the genesis of the Program which was, at its heart, a loss of interest in languages. He spoke of the various ways in which the program has engaged with language: promoting science in regional language, publishing Christ University books on Wikisource, digitising old/ rare books, in addition to editing of articles, creating articles and creating articles in their specialities. On the future of the program, he felt that moving ahead to asking "faculty member in other disciplines if they can accept assignments submitted in languages other than English(despite the fact that the medium of instruction is English)” would be a good way forward. Dr. Pinto continued, “Wikipedia is the best tool available to us to go digital. We are happy that Wikipedia builds in the process and our students also learn.” He said that there were also plans to get all PhD students to go through a Wikipedia workshop to create knowledge specific to their subject.

Speaking next, Tanveer, Program Manager, CIS-A2K, expressed his gratitude to Christ University for enabling CIS-A2K to conduct the Wikipedia Education program at the University. He pointed out that even before the WMF started thinking about the New Readers program, CIS-A2K had engaging students at Christ University who had not previously engaged with Wikipedia. This marked a shifting away from digital learning to critical thinking in knowledge production and creation.

Just as in other WEP programs, there has been an inclination towards a specific topic. For example, Pune University has been working on gender. When this all comes together, it gives a composite view of knowledge production in indian language. There is also the need to escalate the discussion to a core academic level- a fruitful engagement mode with different points of view.

CIS-A2K’s WEP interventions have also been offering certificate courses for students as well as internships in order to understand a) the work their peers have done and b) the value addition they can do. This is exciting because this results in a large outreach and lends to learn and thinking on our feet constantly. As with every intervention, there are challenges that astonish that we need to think about and integrate into our work. In conclusion, he pointed out that the WEP at Christ is a challenge that CIS-A2K relishes.

The attendees further discussed the need to not only keep the community abreast of WEP activities but to also acknowledge and understand the feeling of ownership that comes with working on Wikimedia projects. Another commendable feature of the WEP at Christ remains the fact that students take on the role of campus ambassadors. The outcomes of the program have been documented in the Kannada media with a paper presentation as well. The attendees discussed possible research outputs as well.

Finally, Ms. Saad spoke of the importance of sharing wisdom and experiences in review meetings like these. She said that the focus of the Wikimedia movement is to go to places where people don’t have access and go to marginalised communities and make education accessible to them. This has the potential to change people’s lives as they will get access to information and skills to navigate a digitally literate world. Ms. Saad also spoke about using Wikimedia projects in classrooms. She said, “it can’t happen overnight, can’t become familiar with it right away or comfortable with it. However with pioneers like Christ University in this space, who areopen minded to it, the impact is greater than just number and statistics."

During the later sessions, Ms. Saad conducted activities that enabled students to ponder the following questions:

how can technology enrich the learning of students in India?
what are WEP challenges in India
what are some of the improvements you would need to make WEP better?

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/nichole-saad-from-the-wikimedia-foundation-visits-christ-university