The Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 791 to 805.
A Wiki Workshop at Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad
https://cis-india.org/openness/wikipedia-workshop-at-rkgit-ghaziabad
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society's Access to Knowledge team organized a Wikipedia workshop at Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology (RKGIT), Ghaziabad in collaboration with Metawings on January 17, 2013. Subhashish Panigrahi summarizes the happenings from the one-day workshop in this blog post.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the soft skill development training program, RKGIT, an engineering college is working on a series of activities to empower the students with practical approach and competence for their professional life. We were invited to conduct a workshop for the students of mechanical engineering and help them understand the real reasons for contributions to Wikipedia as a volunteer.</p>
<p>Some of the focus areas we set for the workshop were:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Number of students not to exceed 60 to make sure that we get enough time and space to interact actively and pay individual attention.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Number of coordinators to support with logistics to conduct the workshop smoothly.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Active participation of teachers.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Arrangement of internet labs with multiple IP addresses for smooth user account creation.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Around 65 mechanical engineering students from second and third year participated in this workshop. We began the workshop with an interactive discussion about their practical relation with Wikipedia as students and the usability and difficulties that they face. I presented about some important facts about Wikipedia and voluntary contribution in different ways. During and after the presentation students asked a lot of questions about the notability and authenticity of articles, collaboration vs. fights among editors, references and its significance, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">There was a short break to make way for students to settle in the internet lab for a hands on training session. We faced problems with the LAN and 3G network for mobile broadband which made this session longer than expected. There were problems for creating accounts because of the Internet explorer and X based systems and the students couldn't create their user accounts. So, we had to manage with them contributing anonymously from IP addresses. Despite these unexpected technical problems all of them edited various articles. Some of them tried to vandalize and observe the quick reversal of the vandals.</p>
<table class="plain">
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<th><img class="image-inline" src="blog/resolveuid/c95b296397b746abae98c8b557344504/@@images/image/preview" /><br />Subhashish presenting about Wikipedia to the participants</th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">I had a discussion with the director about conducting more such workshops, especially technical workshops where students can code and contribute to MediaWiki.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Quick links:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Presentation used for this workshop: <a class="external-link" href="http://www.slideshare.net/psubhashish/you-can-also-wikipedia">www.slideshare.net/psubhashish/you-can-also-wikipedia</a></li>
<li>English Wikipedia: <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org">http://en.wikipedia.org</a> (Click <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Main+Page&type=signup">here</a> to create an account on Wikipedia)</li>
</ul>
<h3>Presentation</h3>
<p> </p>
<ul>
</ul>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/16067135" width="427"> </iframe></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/wikipedia-workshop-at-rkgit-ghaziabad'>https://cis-india.org/openness/wikipedia-workshop-at-rkgit-ghaziabad</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-01-22T03:09:25ZBlog EntryA Telugu Wiki Meetup @ CIS, Bangalore
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/telugu-wiki-meet-up-at-cis-june-2-2013
<b>On June 2, 2013, the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) hosted a Telugu wiki meetup in its Bangalore office. Updates from the meetup is shared in this blog post.</b>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%A1%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%AF%E0%B0%BE:%E0%B0%AC%E0%B1%86%E0%B0%82%E0%B0%97%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%B3%E0%B1%82%E0%B0%B0%E0%B1%81_%E0%B0%A4%E0%B1%86%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80_%E0%B0%B8%E0%B0%AE%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%B5%E0%B1%87%E0%B0%B6%E0%B0%82_:_2_%E0%B0%9C%E0%B1%82%E0%B0%A8%E0%B1%8D_2013">Access the Telugu wikipedia page about the event here</a></p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the <a class="external-link" href="http://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%A1%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%AF%E0%B0%BE:%E0%B0%B8%E0%B0%AE%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%B5%E0%B1%87%E0%B0%B6%E0%B0%82/%E0%B0%A4%E0%B1%86%E0%B0%B2%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%97%E0%B1%81_%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%A1%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%AF%E0%B0%BE_%E0%B0%AE%E0%B0%B9%E0%B1%8B%E0%B0%A4%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%B8%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%82_2013">Telegu Wiki Mahotsavam held in Hyderabad</a> earlier this year (in April 2013) due to personal and professional constraints even though <a class="external-link" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Arjunaraoc">Arjuna Rao</a> called me twice and requested me to attend it. However, when he called again recently about a planned meetup in Bangalore, I willingly took up the initiative.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">I used the "<a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedians_in_Bangalore">Category: Wikipedians in Bangalore</a>" and communicated with all the Telugu users. I met <a class="external-link" href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Visdaviva">T. Vishnu Vardhan</a>, Programme Director, <a class="external-link" href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge">Access to Knowledge</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/" class="external-link">Centre for Internet and Society</a> and personally and took his views. Myself and Arjuna took the initial steps to organize this meeting. Arjuna managed to invite Dr. T. Ramakrishna and Gudipati Narayana for<a class="external-link" href="http://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%A1%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%AF%E0%B0%BE:%E0%B0%B8%E0%B0%AE%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%B5%E0%B1%87%E0%B0%B6%E0%B0%82/%E0%B0%AC%E0%B1%86%E0%B0%82%E0%B0%97%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%B3%E0%B1%82%E0%B0%B0%E0%B1%81/2_%E0%B0%9C%E0%B1%82%E0%B0%A8%E0%B1%8D_2013"> this meetup</a>. He also managed to announce about this event in the press.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We finally met at CIS and had a two-hour session:</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">The Programme</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Welcome note by Sasi</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Mutual introductions</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">An introduction was given to <a class="external-link" href="http://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%A1%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%AF%E0%B0%BE:%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%9C%E0%B1%86%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%9F%E0%B1%81">Telugu Wiki projects</a> with practical examples. (Using, searching, editing, interaction and getting help)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Guests’ doubts were clarified by the Telugu Wikipedians <a class="external-link" href="http://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%A1%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%95%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%BF:%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%9A%E0%B0%82%E0%B0%A6%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%B0">Ravichandra</a>, Arjuna and <a class="external-link" href="http://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%A1%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%95%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%BF:Veera.sj">Sasi</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Dr. Ramakrishna suggested that parallel to the <a class="external-link" href="http://te.wikipedia.org/">Telugu Wikipedia</a> development, Telugu should be encouraged to be used in administration. This should start with interactions with the officials and the organizations working towards it</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Gudipati Narayana conveyed his view that Telugu Wikipedia can be used to increase the standards in Telugu teaching</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Both the guests promised that they will do their bit in organizing the Wikipedia awareness events in the organizations know to them</li>
</ul>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
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<td style="text-align: center; ">A group photo of Telegu Wikipedians from the meetup held at CIS, Bangalore is seen below</td>
</tr>
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<td><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/Photo.png" alt="null" class="image-inline" title="Group Photo" /></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<ul>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><i>It is decided that a Telugu Wiki Meet-Up will be held on second Saturday of every month in Bangalore for Telugu Wikipedians.<br /></i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/telugu-wiki-meet-up-at-cis-june-2-2013'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/telugu-wiki-meet-up-at-cis-june-2-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherSJ VeeraTelegu WikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopOpenness2013-08-19T06:53:18ZBlog EntryA Telegu Wiki Meetup @ CIS
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/telegu-wiki-meet-up-july-13-2013
<b>Telugu Wikipedians had their monthly meetup at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) in Bangalore on Saturday, July 13, 2013, 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Telugu Wikipedians <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Arjunaraoc">Arjuna</a>, <a class="external-link" href="https://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%A1%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%95%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%BF:Ravichandrae">Ravichandra</a>, <a class="external-link" href="https://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%A1%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%95%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%BF:Veera.sj">Sasi </a>and <a class="external-link" href="https://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%A1%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%95%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%BF:%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%B9%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%AE%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%A8%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%A6%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%A6%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%A8%E0%B1%8D">Rahmanuddin </a>participated in the meetup. Telugu lecturer Gudipati Narayana and Haribabu on behalf of <a class="external-link" href="http://www.indiaforyou.in/magazine/index.php?mid=32145">Bengaluru Telugu Tejam</a> also attended the event. Dr. T. Ramakrishna, who translated <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savitri:_A_Legend_and_a_Symbol">Aurobindo Ghosh's "Savitri"</a> to Telugu was the chief guest for this meetup. This is the second monthly <a class="external-link" href="https://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%AE%E0%B1%8A%E0%B0%A6%E0%B0%9F%E0%B0%BF_%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%87%E0%B0%9C%E0%B1%80">Telugu Wikipedia</a> workshop in Bangalore.</p>
<h3>An Introduction to Telugu Wiki</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The workshop began with the mutual introduction and thereafter the participants were briefed about content creation and editing of articles. A practical demonstration was given by creating an article on Bengaluru Telugu Tejam. Arjuna, Ravichandra, Rahmanuddin and Sasi responded to the queries from the participants and clarified their doubts.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Introduction to Savitri</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Dr. T. Ramakrishna thereafter gave a presentation of Aurobindo's book "<a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savitri:_A_Legend_and_a_Symbol">Savitri</a>". He spoke in length about <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo">Aurobindo Ghosh</a>, his contributions to the freedom movement of India, and a brief background about Savitri, an epic poem in blank verse based upon a theology from the Mahabharata. Dr. Ramakrishna said that Sri Aurobindo who was a great spiritual leader and a yogi conveyed the message that religion and culture in India are not interlinked or interrelated. He also said that the characters in the present story tells to mankind how to increase spiritual energy.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Telugu Wikipedia Issues and Projects</h3>
<p>The following were some of the observations and decisions taken at this meetup:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">It was decided to complete the "<a class="external-link" href="https://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%A1%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%AF%E0%B0%BE:%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%9C%E0%B1%86%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%9F%E0%B1%81/%E0%B0%A4%E0%B1%86%E0%B0%B2%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%97%E0%B1%81_%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%AE%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%96%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%B2%E0%B1%81">Telugu Famous Personalities</a>" as soon as possible so that new projects could be taken up.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Narayana has promised to make a plan to train Telugu lecturers and students on <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telugu_language">Telugu Wikipedia</a> and to release it very soon to TE-Wikipedia</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Rahmanuddin proposed to increase participation in Telugu Writers Meetings and Internet Meetings which are held across the globe so that the awareness on <a class="external-link" href="https://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%AE%E0%B1%8A%E0%B0%A6%E0%B0%9F%E0%B0%BF_%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%87%E0%B0%9C%E0%B1%80">TE-Wiki</a> can be increased</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Arjuna requested to look into the plans which would answer the issues raised in Telugu Wikipedian Meet</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Dr. Ramakrishna felt that more pressure should be brought on the Government of India to increase the usage of <a class="external-link" href="https://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%A1%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%AF%E0%B0%BE:%E0%B0%B8%E0%B0%AE%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%B5%E0%B1%87%E0%B0%B6%E0%B0%82/%E0%B0%A4%E0%B1%86%E0%B0%B2%E0%B1%81%E0%B0%97%E0%B1%81_%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%A1%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%AF%E0%B0%BE_%E0%B0%AE%E0%B0%B9%E0%B1%8B%E0%B0%A4%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%B8%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%82_2013">Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">After completing the current priorities, projects related to Bangalore should be taken up.</li></ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/telegu-wiki-meet-up-july-13-2013'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/telegu-wiki-meet-up-july-13-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherSJ Veera (Telugu Wikipedian)Access to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaTelugu WikipediaOpenness2013-09-01T11:30:18ZBlog EntryA Seminar on E-publishing of Odia Books
https://cis-india.org/openness/news/seminar-e-publishing-odia-books
<b>A seminar was organized by Molybtech Technology Solutions on November 30, 2014 for the betterment of Odia language and writers at Bhanja Kala Mandap.</b>
<p>Subhashish Panigrahi participated in the seminar as a speaker and shared his knowledge with the audience.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/news/seminar-e-publishing-odia-books'>https://cis-india.org/openness/news/seminar-e-publishing-odia-books</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessOdia WikipediaAccess to Knowledge2014-12-07T02:41:26ZNews ItemA Report of the Odia Wikipedia Workshop held in KMBB College of Engineering, Bhubaneswar
https://cis-india.org/news/report-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop-in-sambad
<b>(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.</b>
<table class="listing">
</table>
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<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/OdiaWikipediaworkshopKMBBBhubaneswar.png" alt="Odia Wikipedia Workshop" class="image-inline" title="Odia Wikipedia Workshop" /></th>
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</tbody>
</table>
<p>Read a <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-workshop-organized-in-kmbb-college-bhubaneswar" class="external-link">detailed report</a> about this workshop.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/report-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop-in-sambad'>https://cis-india.org/news/report-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop-in-sambad</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2012-12-07T22:37:59ZNews ItemA Report of Odia Wikipedia Workshop at IIT, Kharagpur
https://cis-india.org/news/report-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop-in-iit-kharagpur
<b>The Samaja, Odia daily, Kolkata edition, on December 3, 2012, published an article about the Odia Wikipedia Workshop organized in IIT, Kharagpur, West Bengal.</b>
<table class="vertical listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/OdiaIITKharagpur.png" alt="Odia Wikipedia Workshop IIT, Kharagpur" class="image-inline" title="Odia Wikipedia Workshop IIT, Kharagpur" /></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/report-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop-in-iit-kharagpur'>https://cis-india.org/news/report-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop-in-iit-kharagpur</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2012-12-05T05:20:38ZNews ItemA lifetime of five years on the internet
https://cis-india.org/news/dna-india-may-19-2013-subir-ghosh-a-lifetime-of-five-years-on-the-internet
<b>Centre for Internet and Society observes its fifth anniversary on Sunday.</b>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Subir Ghosh was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/1836745/report-a-lifetime-of-five-years-on-the-internet">published in DNA on May 19, 2013</a>. Sunil Abraham is quoted in this.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Five years is a long time in the internet space. The past five years, certainly, has been. And so has it been for the Centre for Internet and Society that completes five years here.<br /><br />When a group of citizens got together to come under a platform called CIS five years ago, they had wanted to work on policy issues about the internet that had a bearing on society. They, in fact, still do; except that the new media space itself has undergone a metamorphosis. Five years ago social media was just starting off, few people had smart phones, and online speech was not a burning issue.<br /><br />Sunil Abraham, executive director of city-based CIS, affirms this, and goes on to assert: “Five years ago, privacy was not a mainstream concern. Today, many different actors and stakeholders are interested in the configuration of the draft Privacy Bill. We first warned the public about the draconian measures in the IT Act during the 2008 amendment. Four years later, many more people are familiar with problematic sections and are adopting various strategies to amend the Act and it’s associated rules.”<br /><br />Likewise, five years ago, people dismissed “shared spectrum” as a pipe dream; today “shared spectrum” is mentioned in the National Telecom Policy. CIS usually thinks ahead, and works on a range of issues.<br /><br />“For internet adoption in India to grow dramatically from the dismal statistics today, we need to ensure continued access to cheap devices and affordable and ubiquitous broadband,” says Abraham.<br /><br />“With Ericsson suing Micromax for Rs100 crore, the mobile wars have come to India. If we have to protect innovation in sub-100 dollar devices, we need to configure our patent and copyright policy carefully.”<br /><br />But since CIS works primarily on policy issues, shouldn’t it have been based in Delhi rather than in Bangalore? “We do have a small office in Delhi. But we are headquartered in Bangalore because we need to keep learning from technologists and the technical community,” explains Abraham.<br /><br />When an organisation calling itself the Centre for Internet and Society (www.cis-india.org) observes its fifth anniversary, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that many of the activities related to the anniversary celebrations (May 20-23) have precious little to do with the internet, and is more about society itself. And yes, an entire evening is devoted to Kannada. There’s a talk by Chandrashekhara Kambara on ‘Kannada in the modern era,’ and another by UB Pavanaja titled ‘From Palm Leaf to Tablet – Journey of Kannada’.<br /><br />“We are looking at the complete eco-system. For instance, during the digitalisation of TV in India, what will happen to the internet? Do TV promoting policies undermine the growth of broadband? On the second day we look at the connection between another older technology - cinema and the Internet.”</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/dna-india-may-19-2013-subir-ghosh-a-lifetime-of-five-years-on-the-internet'>https://cis-india.org/news/dna-india-may-19-2013-subir-ghosh-a-lifetime-of-five-years-on-the-internet</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceOpennessResearchers at Work2013-05-20T09:04:28ZNews ItemA letter to CGIAR in support of Open Access
https://cis-india.org/news/letter-to-CGIAR
<b>Professor Subbiah Arunachalam wrote a letter to CGIAR apprising them of the need for, and advantages of making their research output Open Access.</b>
<p>Last week Indian Open Access (<a class="external-link" href="http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm">OA</a>) advocate <a class="external-link" href="http://poynder.blogspot.com/2006/05/why-india-needs-open-access.html">Professor Subbiah Arunachalam</a> (<a class="external-link" href="http://poynder.blogspot.com/2006/05/open-access-science-in-which-no-one-is.html">Arun</a>) organised a letter to the top management of <a class="external-link" href="http://www.cgiar.org/">CGIAR</a> — the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. The letter spoke of the need for, and advantages of, making all of CGIAR's research output Open Access.</p>
<p>In doing so, it pointed out that one of CGIAR's research centres — the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (<a class="external-link" href="http://www.icrisat.org/">ICRISAT</a>) in India — has already introduced an <a class="external-link" href="http://openaccess.icrisat.org/">OA mandate</a>, and this has proved hugely successful.</p>
<p>Since the mandate was introduced, the letter says, OA has grown fast, "and the portal now has virtually all the research papers published in recent times, and all the books and learning material produced by ICRISAT researchers."</p>
<p>Yet, the letter adds, today ICRISAT is the only international agricultural research centre with an OA mandate. [After the letter was sent, the signatories discovered that The International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (<a class="external-link" href="http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/Paginas/index.aspx">CIAT</a>) also has an open access mandate in place.]</p>
<p>Since the ICRISAT mandate has proved very successful, the letter suggests, now would be a good time for other research centres to follow suit. As the letter puts it, "We believe that it would be great if other CGIAR laboratories could also mandate open access to their research publications. Indeed, it would be a good idea to have a system wide Open Access mandate for CGIAR and to have interoperable <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_repository">OA repositories</a> in each CGIAR laboratory."</p>
<p>The letter adds: "Such a development would provide a high level of visibility for the work of CGIAR and greatly advance agricultural research. Besides, journals published by CGIAR labs could also be made OA."</p>
<p>CGIAR, we should note, was initially an initiative of the <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Foundation">Rockefeller Foundation</a>, and is focused on reducing poverty and hunger, and improving human health and nutrition, as well as enhancing ecosystem resilience through high-quality international agricultural research, partnership and leadership.</p>
<p>Following the Rockefeller initiative it was proposed in 1970 to create a worldwide network of agricultural research centres under a permanent secretariat, and today CGIAR has 64 governmental and nongovernmental members and 15 research centres around the world.</p>
<p>Along with Arun, fifteen other OA advocates signed the letter (including me).</p>
<p>So why target CGIAR? I emailed Arun and asked him to explain the background.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>RP: Why did you decide to write a letter to CGIAR?</p>
<p>SA: What one does largely comes from one's own experience. After a long career in scholarly communication — as editor of scientific journals and secretary of a scholarly Academy in India — I spent 12 years as a volunteer with an NGO headed by <a class="external-link" href="http://poynder.blogspot.com/2007/05/bridging-digital-divide-empowering.html">Professor M S Swaminathan</a> and was engaged in a rural development project focused on poverty alleviation. The letter to the CGIAR top management was a direct result of these two experiences.</p>
<p>RP: Essentially this is a developing world issue isn't it?</p>
<p>SA: Of course. Agriculture is the poor cousin among different areas of research; just the same way the Third World countries are the poor cousins of the advanced countries.</p>
<p>Most people in poor countries depend on agriculture for a living. How can they improve their lives if agricultural knowledge and innovations are privatised or, even if they are not privatised, made so expensive that they cannot afford to access them?</p>
<p>If we want to address the problem of rampant poverty in the developing countries, it is important to make agricultural knowledge flow freely and be easily available to people in the developing world.</p>
<p>RP: The point here is that the traditional method of publishing research in subscription journals means that that research remains inaccessible to most researchers in the developing world, since most research institutions there cannot afford to pay the very costly subscriptions imposed by scholarly publishers?</p>
<p>SA: Correct. The CGIAR laboratories were conceived, largely by the Rockefeller Foundation, with the clear purpose of helping the developing countries, and later on funded by the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.worldbank.org/">World Bank</a>, <a class="external-link" href="http://www.fao.org/">FAO</a>, and <a class="external-link" href="http://www.undp.org/">UNDP</a>.</p>
<p>Unlike development aid where funds from the rich countries are transferred to poor countries, the CGIAR was set up to transfer knowledge to the poor countries as well as help them be part of knowledge production. The difference is clear: If you want to help someone who is hungry better to teach him fishing rather than give him a fish.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, research findings of CGIAR laboratories often end up as articles in refereed professional journals, most of which are behind toll access. I thought it needed to be corrected.</p>
<p>RP: OA has been a cause for you for some years now hasn't it?</p>
<p>SA: I have been talking about and promoting open access for nearly a decade and indeed it has become a passion. Some of my friends, eminent academics and researchers, refer to me jokingly as "Mr Open Access of India." I found in my friend and former colleague<a class="external-link" href="http://www.icrisat.org/icrisat-seniorstaff.htm"> Dr Venkataraman Balaji</a> someone who can actually implement it in ICRISAT, the CGIAR laboratory located in India.</p>
<p>We worked together in holding a half-day symposium on Open Access as part of the annual meeting of the Indian Science Congress Association held at Hyderabad (close to where ICRISAT is located). And we invited <a class="external-link" href="http://www.keyperspectives.co.uk/aboutus/aswan.html">Alma Swan</a> from the UK and Professor Pushpa Bhargava, one of India's leading life scientists and humanists, to the symposium. As I did not have any funding support, Balaji hosted all the speakers as guests of ICRISAT.</p>
<p>Then about two years ago Dr Balaji convinced his Director General and the senior management of ICRISAT about the need to adopt OA for all research publications of ICRISAT.</p>
<p>RP: So your letter is the next step in an extended process of OA advocacy?</p>
<p>SA: It is. Long before ICRISAT decided to adopt OA I had met Enrica Poracari of CGIAR at a Global Knowledge Partnership meeting in Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok and I had broached the topic of OA and her response was positive. I have been in touch with her ever since then.</p>
<p>I am also associated with<a class="external-link" href="http://www.iaald.org/"> IAALD</a>, a worldwide group of agricultural information professionals, and I talked to them about the need for adopting OA. Peter Ballantyne, an old friend of mine from his days at <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iicd.org/">IICD</a>, in The Hague, was the President of IAALD and a few months ago he joined one of the CGIAR laboratories.</p>
<p>I have been sending advocacy letters to all three of them (Balaji, Porcari and Ballantyne) and I got a sense that CGIAR information professionals and knowledge managers were now moving towards OA. So I thought it would help them if some of us activists in the Open Access movement wrote to the top management of CGIAR.</p>
<p>So I decided to draft a letter. I thought if the letter was signed by some of the leaders of the OA movement, it would have a much greater chance of achieving its purpose. I sent it out to about 20 champions of OA and 15 of them readily agreed to be signatories. As I did it in a short time, I might have missed some real champions of OA. My apologies to them.</p>
RP: Why target CGIAR?<br /><br />
<p>SA: Actually I have been writing such letters to many organisations, although mostly Indian organisations and a few international organisations such as <a class="external-link" href="http://www.ictp.it/pages/mission/italy.html">ICTP, Trieste</a>.</p>
<p>In India I have written frequently to organisations like the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government, the Department of Science and Technology, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Indian Council of Medical research, and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research — with varying levels of success.</p>
<p>But I wrote to CGIAR above all because agriculture is vital for the poor countries of the world. Besides, CGIAR is an umbrella organisation that covers 15 laboratories dealing with virtually all aspects of agriculture. Unlike the physics OA repository <a class="external-link" href="http://arxiv.org/">arXiv</a>, and the biomedical research archive <a class="external-link" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/">PubMed Central</a> there is no central repository for agricultural research. And most importantly, one of the CGIAR laboratories has already adopted full Open Access. At the same time many others in the system do not know about it even a year after it began operation.</p>
<p>RP: What would you like people to do in response to the letter?</p>
<p>SA: If by 'people' you mean people belonging to CGIAR, I would like them to implement full OA in each one of their laboratories. I would like agricultural research organisations such as the US Department of Agriculture and major agricultural universities of the world to adopt OA.</p>
<p>I am happy to inform you, after Dr S Ayyappan took over as Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research a few months ago,<a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Council_of_Agricultural_Research"> ICAR</a> is moving fast towards OA. He made their two refereed journals OA and he has assigned a full-time Assistant Director General to implement many OA-related initiatives.</p>
<p>RP: What about other researchers, OA advocates and anyone else who is interested in helping to ensure the free flow of research information in the developing world. What would you propose they do?</p>
<p>SA: Any movement of this kind is like a <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_car">temple car</a> in India. The more people come forward to pull, the faster the car will move, and the faster it will reach its destination.</p>
<p>All those interested may also write to the Board of CGIAR and the Directors General of CGIAR laboratories recommending the adoption of an OA mandate.</p>
<p>They can also talk to individual researchers and persuade them to make their own research openly accessible.</p>
<p>I understand that knowledge managers in CGIAR laboratories are not averse to the idea of Open Access. If they know that many of us outside the system are also keen that they adopt OA, it will help them move to forward quickly.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Read the original in <a class="external-link" href="http://poynder.blogspot.com/">Open and Shut</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/letter-to-CGIAR'>https://cis-india.org/news/letter-to-CGIAR</a>
</p>
No publishersubbiahOpenness2023-11-01T12:43:34ZNews ItemA Kannada Wikipedia Workshop in Udupi
https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-udupi-april-29-2013
<b>The Access to Knowledge team at the Centre for Internet and Society is organizing a Kannada wikipedia workshop at the MGM college in Udupi. Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi is sponsoring the event.The workshop will begin at 10.00 a.m. and end by 5.00 p.m. Dr. U.B.Pavanaja will give a talk on Kannada wikipedia.</b>
<p>The workshop will cover the following topics:</p>
<ol>
<li>What is Wikipedia?</li>
<li>Who edits Wikipedia?</li>
<li>How does Wikipedia work?</li>
<li>HOW TO EDIT?</li>
<li>What can I edit?</li>
<li>Why to contribute to Wikipedia</li>
<li>Kannada specific topics </li>
<li>Brief on Creative Commons</li>
<li>Hands-on</li>
</ol>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-udupi-april-29-2013'>https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-udupi-april-29-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopOpennessEvent2013-04-26T06:29:15ZEventA Kannada Wikipedia Workshop in Mysore
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/kannada-wikipedia-university-of-mysore
<b>On Tuesday, August 6, 2013, a day-long Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted at the Centre for Proficiency Development and Placement Services (CPDPS), Manasa Gangotri campus, University of Mysore, Karnataka by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team. Dr. U.B.Pavanaja conducted the workshop.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The main objective of this workshop was to acquaint the participants about Wikipedia and get them a hands-on experience of editing Wikipedia and also encourage them to contribute to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannada_language">Kannada Wikipedia</a>. The participants were also asked to reflect upon their experiences and perceptions of editing and contributing to Wikipedia, and identify areas in which they could add more value to the existing initiatives.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Most of the previous Kannada Wikipedia workshops have been well covered well by the leading Kannada newspapers like Vijaya Karnataka, Prajavani, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This generated quite some interest in many people and we began getting requests to conduct more Kannada Wikipedia workshops. One such request came from <a class="external-link" href="http://www.uni-mysore.ac.in/centre-for-proficiency-development-and-placement-services-cpdps/">Prof. Niranjana Vanalli</a>, Director of <a class="external-link" href="http://www.uni-mysore.ac.in/centre-for-proficiency-development-and-placement-services-cpdps/">CPDPS</a>, to conduct a <a class="external-link" href="http://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%AE%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%96%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AF_%E0%B2%AA%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%9F">Kannada Wikipedia</a> workshop at his centre. The date was finalised for August 6, 2013. This was announced in the leading local newspapers. As a result, nearly 50 persons registered for the workshop.</p>
<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/KannadaWikipediaWorkshopMysoreAug062013022.jpg/image_preview" alt="Kannada Wikipedia workshop CPDPS Mysore" class="image-inline image-inline" title="Kannada Wikipedia workshop CPDPS Mysore" /></p>
<p><i>Above: Dr. Pavanaja conducting the workshop in Mysore</i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. P. Nagabhushan, Chairman of Computer Studies, <a href="http://www.uni-mysore.ac.in/computer-science/#A">Dept. of Studies in Computer Science</a>, University of Mysore. He said that Wikipedia could facilitate the growth of Kannada language in this digital era. Prof. Niranjana Vanalli welcomed everyone and also did the role of MC for the inaugural program. The workshop was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. started about half an hour late. Initially there were 22 people and as the day progressed we saw more people joining in for the workshop. In the end there were about 60 participants. Dr. Pavanaja spoke briefly and requested Mysore University to re-release their famous Kannada Encyclopaedia under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/">Creative Commons license</a> so as to facilitate the growth of Kannada Wikipedia.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The inauguration programme was very well covered by<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/we-need-more-kannada-content-in-wikipedia/article4998269.ece"> media</a>. T<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/divest-books-of-copyrights/article4998274.ece">he Hindu highlighted</a> my request about releasing encyclopaedias under the Creative Commons license.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After the inauguration, all those who were interested in the hands-on session shifted to the computer lab in the same building. Dr. Pavanaja gave a presentation on Wikipedia, then Kannada Wikipedia, and then spoke about its importance. This was followed by some demos on using Wikipedia and editing Wikipedia. The participants created their usernames in Kannada Wikipedia. Very soon the limit of creating 6 new editors per IP address was reached and the remaining people could not create their usernames. Some participants registered using Dr. Pavanaja’s laptop. The rest of the participants watched the demos and promised to go home and register later. Many people did so and have e-mailed their usernames.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%B8%E0%B2%A6%E0%B2%B8%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AF:Kiranravikumar">Kiran Ravikumar</a>, a young active Wikipedian from Mysore gave a brief presentation about <a href="http://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons</a> and how to use it with Wikipedia. He demonstrated uploading some image under <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org">Wikimedia Commons</a> and linking it from Wikipedia.</p>
<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/KannadaWikipediaWorkshopMysoreAug062013043.jpg/image_preview" alt="Kiran Ravikumar" class="image-inline image-inline" title="Kiran Ravikumar" /></p>
<p><i>Above: Wikipedian Kiran Ravikumar making his presentation</i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Some new editors have begun doing wiki editing. We may need to monitor, and nurture these new editors till the time they become well versed.</p>
<p><i>We would like to thank Prof. Niranjana Vanalli for all the local arrangements, publicity and and making the workshop to happen</i>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/kannada-wikipedia-university-of-mysore'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/kannada-wikipedia-university-of-mysore</a>
</p>
No publisherpavanajaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaOpennessKannada Wikipedia2013-10-04T04:40:46ZBlog EntryA Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Sagara
https://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara
<b>On Sunday, July 28, 2013, a day-long Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted at Sagara, Shimoga Dist, Karnataka by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team. In this post, I share with you the happenings from the workshop.</b>
<h3>Video</h3>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZWk8hI5Bp9s" width="320"></iframe></p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Some months ago, I got a phone call from <a class="external-link" href="http://www.chinmayamrao.com/">Chinmaya M Rao</a> from <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagara,_Shimoga_district">Sagara, Shimoga District</a> requesting me to conduct a Kannada Wikipedia workshop at Sagara. He informed me that there are quite a good number of writers in that area who are interested in adding content to Kannada Wikipedia but don't know how to. Many telephonic discussions followed, many dates were considered, changed, iterated and finally the workshop was organised on Sunday, July 28, 2013. The programme was inaugurated by <a class="external-link" href="http://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%95%E0%B2%BE%E0%B2%97%E0%B3%8B%E0%B2%A1%E0%B3%81_%E0%B2%A4%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%AE%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AE%E0%B2%AA%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AA">Shri Kagodu Thimmappa</a>, Speaker of the current <a class="external-link" href="http://kla.kar.nic.in/">Legislative Assembly of Karnataka</a>. Famous Kannada writer <a class="external-link" href="https://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%A8%E0%B2%BE_%E0%B2%A1%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%B8%E0%B3%8B%E0%B2%9C">Naa D'Souza</a> was the chief guest. Shri G.T. Shridhar Sharma, President of <a class="external-link" href="http://www.kannadatimes.com/kannada-times-media-world-r">Kannada Times Media World</a>, presided over the function. The programme was jointly organised by CIS and <a class="external-link" href="http://www.kannadatimes.com/">Kannada Times Media World</a>, Sagara.</p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
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<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/KannadaWikipediaWorkshopSagaraJuly282013008.jpg/image_preview" alt="Shri Kagodu Thimmappa inaugurating the workshop" class="image-inline image-inline" title="Shri Kagodu Thimmappa inaugurating the workshop" /></p>
</th>
<td style="text-align: justify; ">Speaking after inaugurating the workshop, Shri Kagodu Thimmappa said "the basic knowledge of technology has become important as one could get ample, accurate information on various topics, and current affairs of the world in a minute all languages, including Kannada. It is the onus of the people of the sate to preserve and promote the use of Kannada language." (Deccan Herald, Shimaga edition, July 30, 2013). Naa D'Souza mentioned how earlier knowledge was the monopoly of some particular sections of the society and how technology has transformed knowledge into an asset of all the people irrespective of caste, race, religion, region and financial status.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "><i>Seen above is a picture of Shri Kagodu Thimmappa inagurating the workshop</i><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">I then gave a brief introduction to <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wikipedia</a> and <a class="external-link" href="http://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%AE%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%96%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AF_%E0%B2%AA%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%9F">Kannada Wikipedia</a>. There are many encylopaedias in <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannada_language">Kannada</a> but very few are regularly updated. They are seldom digitised. People who add content to Kannada Wikipedia are in search of authentic information. These are available in many encylopaedias brought in by various academies, associations and universities funded by the Government of Karnataka. People of the state have a right on these content. I requested Shri Kagodu Thimmappa to bring them under the <a class="external-link" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/">Creative Commons License</a> so that the active Kannada Wikipedians can make use of them to add content into Kannada Wikipedia. Shri Kagodu Thimmappa promised to look into this.</p>
<table class="plain">
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<td>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After the inauguration, the actual presentation by me started at a cybercafe run by Istam Computers. It was raining heavily. Participants walked for 5 minutes in heavy rain to reach the venue. The presentation went on till lunch time. The place was very congested. One participant, B. V. Ravindranath, who is a practicing Chartered Accountant at Sagara, offered his place to conduct the hands-on workshop. Hence, all participants went to the new venue which was quite comfortable. Participants did the hands-on editing of Wikipedia till 7.30 p.m. Eleven persons participated in the workshop and edited actively. Some were seen editing Kannada Wikipedia regularly after the workshop.</p>
</td>
<th>
<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/KannadaWikipediaWorkshopSagaraJuly282013027.jpg/image_preview" alt="Kannada Wikipedia workshop at Sagara" class="image-inline image-inline" title="Kannada Wikipedia workshop at Sagara" /></p>
</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><i>Dr. U.B. Pavanaja is seen sharing a light moment with participants from the workshop in the above picture</i>.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">An active Kannada Wikipedian, <a class="external-link" href="http://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%B8%E0%B2%A6%E0%B2%B8%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AF:Bschandrasgr/%E0%B2%AA%E0%B2%B0%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%9A%E0%B2%AF">B S Chandrashekhar</a> from Sagara, who has more than <a class="external-link" href="http://toolserver.org/~quentinv57/sulinfo/Bschandrasgr">4500 edits on Kannada Wikipedia</a> to his credit was felicitated during the inauguration function. He is 79 years old. Despite his old age, he actively paticipated in the workshop till the end and learnt many intricacies which he was otherwise unaware of.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>In the end, I would like to personally thank Chinmay Rao and G. T. Shridhar Sharma of Kannada Times who toiled a lot in organising the wokrshop. Also thanks to B. V. Ravindranath, CA, who provided the venue for the hands-on workshop</i>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara'>https://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara</a>
</p>
No publisherpavanajaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopVideoOpenness2014-03-25T08:51:36ZBlog EntryA Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Krishnarajapet
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/a-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-krishnarajapet
<b>On Sunday, August 11, 2013, a day-long Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted at Shyam Computers, Krishnarajapet, Karnataka. The workshop was co-organized by the CIS-A2K team along with Kannada Sahitya Parishat of KR Pet. This report summarizes the proceedings of that workshop and subsequent research into relevant questions flowing from the discussions.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The CIS-A2K team has been getting requests to conduct Kannada Wikipedia workshops from various parts of Karnataka. One such request came from ISRO technician Akash B., who is originally from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishnarajpet">Krishnarajapet</a>, popularly known as K R Pet, in <a href="http://www.mandya.nic.in/">Mandya Dist</a> of Karnataka. . Shyamesh of Shyam Computers sponsored the venue by lending his cyber centre. The workshop was scheduled for 10.00 a.m. and began a little late at 10.45 a.m.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">About 20 participants came together to learn Wikipedia editing. The inauguration was followed by the hands-on workshop. We had some discussions with Akash about the IP address restrictions for registering new users. Usually only 6 persons can register on a day from one IP address. Fortunately, the cyber centre had a dynamic IP. After 6 registrations, we reset the modem so that the remaining participants could register. Akash helped some participants to register the previous day itself.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The participants were quite enthusiastic. We gave a presentation about <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wikipedia</a> and <a class="external-link" href="http://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%AE%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%96%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AF_%E0%B2%AA%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%9F">Kannada Wikipedia</a> and then gave a demonstration about editing the Wikipedia. After that the participants tried their hands on editing Kannada Wikipedia. Some of the participants who attended the workshop are now editing the Kannada Wikipedia on a daily basis. We hope that they sustain their interest and enhance the quality of Kannada Wikipedia.</p>
<table class="plain">
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<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/KRPet.png" alt="Krishnarajapet Workshop" class="image-inline" title="Krishnarajapet Workshop" /></th>
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<td>A group picture of the participants from the Krishnarajapet workshop. (Picture by Dr. U.B.Pavanaja, CC-BY-SA 3.0)</td>
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<p>A special thanks to Kannada Sahitya Parishat, K R Pet, Akash B and Shyam Computers.</p>
<h3>Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-august-12-2013-krishnarajapet-workshop" class="external-link">Prajavani,</a> (August 12, 2013)</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-times-of-karnataka-august-12-2013-krishnarajapet-workshop" class="external-link">Suvarna Times of Karnataka</a> (August 12, 2013)</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/vijaya-vani-august-12-2013-krishnarajapet-wikipedia-workshop" class="external-link">Vijaya Vani</a> (August 12, 2013)</li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/a-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-krishnarajapet'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/a-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-krishnarajapet</a>
</p>
No publisherpavanajaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopOpenness2013-09-05T06:46:39ZBlog EntryA Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hubli
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-hubli
<b>On Sunday, July 21, 2013, a day-long Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted at Hubli by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team. This blog post throws more light on the workshop.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On June 13, 2013, a Kannada news channel, <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion" class="external-link">Suvarna News 24x7, telecasted a panel discussion on Kannada Wikipedia</a>. I participated as a panelist in the programme along with <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:M_G_Harish">M.G. Harish</a>, who is an admin of Kannada Wikipedia. In the panel discussion, the anchor Shetty asked us whether we conduct workshops to help people edit Wikipedia? I said yes, and also confirmed that if people (from whichever place they may hail from) want training on editing Wikipedia then I am willing to travel to that place and do a workshop.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">One week after the programme was telecasted, one V S Hiremath called me from Hubli and requested me to conduct a Kannada Wikipedia workshop at Hubli. Many rounds of discussions took place. One condition that I had put forward was that participants should come with their own laptops and internet connections like data cards, dongles, etc., for the workshop. Unfortunately, majority of the people willing to participate in the workshop didn't have laptops albeit having desktops and internet connections in their homes. So we had to make alternative arrangements and the workshop was conducted at the computer lab of <a class="external-link" href="http://www.kleimsrhubli.org/">KLE Society's Institute of Management Studies and Research</a>. The logistics were arranged by V. S. Hiremath of UNV Associates.</p>
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<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/HubliKannadaWikipediaWorkshop011.jpg/image_preview" title="Inauguration-KndWiki" height="261" width="348" alt="Inauguration-KndWiki" class="image-inline image-right" /></p>
<p><i>Above is a picture of Dr. U.B. Pavanaja at the inauguration of the workshop</i>.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">The programme was scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Due to the monsoon season, it was raining heavily. People started to come in a bit late. Hiremath had scheduled an inauguration and media briefing for the workshop. <a class="external-link" href="http://www.kleimsrhubli.org/Prppdagi.pdf">Dr. Prasad B.Roodagi, Director of IMSR</a>, presided over the function. The inauguration was done by Sheelavantar of <a class="external-link" href="http://www.hosadigantha.in/epaper.php?edition=hubli">Hosa Digantha</a>. Since Dr. Prasad B.Roodagi came almost one hour late, the workshop began late.</p>
<p>The actual hands-on workshop started after the tea-break at 11.30 a.m. People were very eager to learn about editing Wikipedia. There were 22 participants.</p>
<p>Wikipedia has a condition that only 6 new editors can register per day for a given IP address. The lab had static IP address. Once, 6 participants had registered, the remaining couldn't register.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">So the rest registered using my laptop during lunch break. I taught them the features of Wikipedia, searching for a topic, posting new articles, formatting, inserting links, images, references, etc. Participants got to know all of these by using their respective sandboxes. Towards the end, I also showed them Kannada Wiktionary, Kannada Wikiquote and Kannada Wikisource.</p>
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<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/GroupFoto.png" alt="Participants @ Hubli" class="image-inline" title="Participants @ Hubli" /></p>
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<td style="text-align: center; "><i>Above is a group picture of the participants from the workshop</i>.</td>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">The results have been positive. About 1-2 persons are adding new content to Kannada Wikipedia. Hope that the remaining participants will also add content over a period of time.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>A special thanks to V.S. Hiremath for doing all local arrangements and giving wider publicity. Without his active interest and participation, the workshop wouldn't have happened</i>.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><br /><a class="external-link" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Kannada_Wikipedia_workshop_Hubli_21-7-2013">Click here</a> for more pictures from the workshop. Press coverage from leading newspapers like Times of India, Deccan Herald, VijayaVani, HosaDiganta, Vijaya Karnataka, Prajavani, and Samyukta Karnataka can be dowloaded from the zip file below:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/hubli-workshop-press-coverage.zip" class="internal-link"><b>Press Coverage</b></a> (Zip folder, 4.5 Mb)</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-hubli'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-hubli</a>
</p>
No publisherpavanajaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-07-31T09:28:26ZBlog EntryA Feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians on HMTV
https://cis-india.org/news/hmtv-may-30-2013-wikipedia-and-telugu-wikipedians
<b>Based on the Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam, HMTV (one of the leading Telugu News channels in Andhra Pradesh) has produced a half an hour feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This feature gives a concise history of the growth of Wikipedia and the efforts being put in developing Indian Language Wikipedias. Done in collaboration with Telugu Wikipeidans, this feature also showcases some of the key Telugu Wikipedians who have attended Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam — a community event supported by CIS-A2K and WMI Chapter. This feature was broadcast on May 30 and was repeated on May 31.</p>
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<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Video</h2>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9g9UGXgH72w" width="320"></iframe></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/hmtv-may-30-2013-wikipedia-and-telugu-wikipedians'>https://cis-india.org/news/hmtv-may-30-2013-wikipedia-and-telugu-wikipedians</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-08-21T04:46:47ZNews ItemA Feature on Telugu Wikipedia
https://cis-india.org/news/feature-on-telugu-wikipedia
<b>Namaste Telangana newspaper has done a Sunday magazine feature on Telugu Wikipedia on the occasion of the 10th anniversary.</b>
<p><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/telangana.pdf" class="internal-link">Click to download the file</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/feature-on-telugu-wikipedia'>https://cis-india.org/news/feature-on-telugu-wikipedia</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaTelugu WikipediaOpenness2013-12-30T06:01:59ZNews Item