[Wikimediaindia-l] CIS-A2K draft work plans July 2015 to June 2016

2015-04-01 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

We are happy to share with you the draft work plans for the period
July 2015 to June 2016 [1]. We have more or less followed the same
work plan templates from last year. Some of these plans have been
done in consultation with the community members. We look forward to
receiving your feedback and inputs on the talk pages. This time we
have included an endorsement section at the end of every program
plan for the community members to endorse, should they wish to do
so. 

Based on these plans we have also put up the next round of FDC
proposal here[2]. 

We intend to revise these draft work plans based on your and FDC
feedback in July, 2015, subject to grant support from FDC.

Best,
Vishnu

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_July_2015_-_June_2016
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2014-2015_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form
  


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [WMIN-Members] IRC with Punjabi Wikipedia Community on March 11 at 9 PM (IST)

2015-03-11 Thread Vishnu

+1 Ravi for this initiative.

Punjabi WP community has been doing exciting work on wiki and in terms 
of community building using social media.


Let me also join Ravi, and request all Wikimedians to join the IRC and 
share their wisdom and experience with this young community with immense 
potential.


Best wishes,
Vishnu

On 03/10/2015 09:45 PM, Tito Dutta wrote:

That's a nice thinking. Good wishes.:)

On 10 March 2015 at 20:24, Ravishankar Ayyakkannu
ravidre...@wikimedia.in mailto:ravidre...@wikimedia.in wrote:

Hi,

May I invite the larger Wikimedia community to join us for a chat
with Punjabi Wikipedia Community?

They have been displaying tremendous energy and doing interesting
activities recently. It will be a good opportunity for other budding
communities to learn from them. Such interactions will also boost
their morale and make way for further cross-community interactions.

The IRC is scheduled on March 11 (Wednesday) at 9 PM (IST).

Please see

http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Internet_Relay_Chats#How_to_participate

which explains how to join this chat.

We look forward to your active participation at *#wikimedia-in* IRC
channel.

Ravi

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[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: [Wikimedia-l] New Free Research Accounts via the Wikipedia Library

2015-03-04 Thread Vishnu T
Please see the below email about free access to online academic resources.
Do encourage deserving Wikimedians, whom you know, to apply.

Best,
Vishnu

-- Forwarded message --
From: Jake Orlowitz jorlow...@gmail.com
Date: Tuesday, 3 March 2015
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] New Free Research Accounts via the Wikipedia Library
To: wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org
Cc: wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org 
wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org,
wikimediareferenc...@lists.wikimedia.org, wikipedi...@lists.wikimedia.org,
Wikimedia  Libraries librar...@lists.wikimedia.org, Open Access
discussions openacc...@lists.wikimedia.org


Hi!
The Wikipedia Library has new, free research donations available:

Project MUSE (humanities and social science books and journals):  
http://enwp.org/WP:Project_MUSE

DynaMed (clinical reference for medical topics):
 http://enwp.org/WP:DynaMed

Royal Pharmaceutical Society (pharmaceutical information and practice
resources):
 http://enwp.org/WP:RPharmS

Women Writers Online (digital humanities database focused on women's
literature):  http://enwp.org/WP:Women_Writers_Online

Newspapers.com (American newspapers database w/ open access tools):  
http://enwp.org/WP:Newspapers.com

And many other partnerships with accounts available are listed at:  
http://enwp.org/WP:TWL/Journals

Do better research and help expand the use of high-quality references
across Wikipedia projects.  Sign up today!

--The Wikipedia Library Team
 http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia Train the Trainer Program

2015-03-03 Thread Vishnu

Dear Sankarshan

On 03/03/2015 11:21 PM, sankarshan wrote:

On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 12:17 AM, Vishnu visdav...@gmail.com wrote:

This is the second such event held in India, the first one was in 2013.


Has there been an outreach to the participants from 2013 asking them
to document (in form of blog posts etc) the efficacy of the event in
enhancing their skills and aiding in what they are currently doing.



We have been tracking, informally (as the group was small), the 2013 
participants' outreach activities. More than 50% of the participants 
have been doing outreach (on and off wiki). Some of them have become 
outreach champions in their respective communities.


Documentation (especially in the form of blog posts) is not realistic 
and a huge ask. The active editors among Indic projects is small and 
such external documentation will be a needless overhead, of course 
unless they voluntarily do it. Most use their respective language 
projects for on-wiki documentation and publicize in social media groups.


Best,
Vishnu

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[Wikimediaindia-l] CIS-A2K Quarterly Reports (Announcement)

2015-02-28 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

We are happy to share with you the quarterly reports of CIS-A2K for
the period July to December 2014. These reports give a comprehensive
overview of all the activities undertaken by CIS-A2K under the
current FDC Grant.

We welcome your suggestions and feedback on the Talk page of the
report.

July-September 2014: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Progress_report_form/Q1

October-December 2014:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Progress_report_form/Q2

Apologies for the delayed submission of the first quarterly report.

Best,
Vishnu
User:Visdaviva

  


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia Train the Trainer Program

2015-02-26 Thread Vishnu

Dear Sudhanwa, Srikanth and Ashwin,

Thank you for your wishes! This has been conveyed to all the participants.

You can follow the live feed on Twitter with hashtag #CISA2KTTT (:

Best,
Vishnu


On 02/26/2015 01:49 PM, Ashwin Baindur wrote:

We eagerly look forward to blogs, tweets  discussion summaries from
this event! :)


On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 11:56 AM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan
rsrikant...@gmail.com wrote:

Vishnu,
all the very best for the program.


On 26 February 2015 at 10:22, Sudhanwa Jogalekar sudhanwa@gmail.com
wrote:


Hi,

Nice to see the participants across various language wikis. We will
now have good trainers available for languages and places.

All the best wishes for the program.

Regards
-Sudhanwa

On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 12:17 AM, Vishnu visdav...@gmail.com wrote:

Dear Wikimedians,

The Wikipedia TTT-2015, a four day residential training workshop to
groom
leadership skills among the Indian Wikimedia volunteer community, will
begin
tomorrow. This is curated and run by CIS-A2K with the help of Wikimedia
volunteers.

About 30 Wikimedians from across 12 Indian languages and from various
part
of the country will be taking part in this workshop in Bangalore. This
time
we also have some Wikimedians from Nepal joining the program.

This is the second such event held in India, the first one was in 2013.

For more details see the event page here [1].

Best,
Vishnu

[1]

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Train_the_Trainer_Program/2015

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Twitter: sudhanwa Check on FB, Linkedin for more.

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--
Regards,
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What goes around, may not necessarily come around, it may simply bounce
back.

Please sign this petition for Volvo buses in Coimbatore:
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[Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia Train the Trainer Program

2015-02-25 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

The Wikipedia TTT-2015, a four day residential training workshop to
groom leadership skills among the Indian Wikimedia volunteer
community, will begin tomorrow. This is curated and run by CIS-A2K
with the help of Wikimedia volunteers. 

About 30 Wikimedians from across 12 Indian languages and from
various part of the country will be taking part in this workshop in
Bangalore. This time we also have some Wikimedians from Nepal
joining the program.

This is the second such event held in India, the first one was in
2013.

For more details see the event page here [1].

Best,
Vishnu

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Train_the_Trainer_Program/2015
  


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Steward Candidate Submissions are open

2015-01-25 Thread Vishnu T
+1 Srikanth.

Vishnu

On Sunday, 25 January 2015, Srikanth Ramakrishnan rsrikant...@gmail.com
wrote:
 Would be great to see a few candidates. Better still would be to have
some stewards from the subcontinent.

 On 25-Jan-2015 9:41 am, Jyothis E jyothi...@gmail.com wrote:

 All,
 2015 election for Stewards is underway and candidate submission can be
done till 28th.
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/Elections_2015

 For those who are not familiar with Stewards and Steward functions -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards

 Regards,
 Jyothis.

 http://www.Jyothis.net
 [[User:Jyothis]]
 Camerocks - Rock your digital world!
 completion date = (start date + ((estimated effort x 3.1415926) /
resources) + ((total coffee breaks x 0.25) / 24)) + Effort in meetings

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Train-the-Trainer Programme - 2015 (Announcement)

2015-01-14 Thread Vishnu T
Dear Srikanth,

We are exploring possibilities of holding this in other cities, taking
various factors into consideration.

We will update the location and venue on the Event page on Meta as soon as
we have decided.

Best,
Vishnu

On Wednesday, 14 January 2015, Srikanth Ramakrishnan rsrikant...@gmail.com
wrote:
 Vishnu,
 I'm very glad to hear of this years edition of the TTT Program.
 Will it be centered around Bangalore again or are there any plans to take
it to other cities which would be more beneficial in the long run?

 On 14-Jan-2015 7:02 pm, Tito Dutta trulyt...@gmail.com wrote:

 That is a fantastic news. Thank you a lot.
 Regards

 On 14 January 2015 at 18:59, Vishnu visdav...@gmail.com wrote:

 Dear Wikimedians,

 As most of you are aware, CIS-A2K conducted the first Wikipedia
Train-the-Trainer (TTT) programme[1] in 2013 with an aim to support and
groom leadership skills in the community members. We are extremely thankful
to all the senior Wikimedians who acted as Resource Persons for the 2013
event. Achal, Arjuna, Hari, Shymal, Tinu and Viswa thank you once again!
Without your help we could not have conducted it so successfully.

 This email is to let you all know that we have scheduled to conduct the
second iteration of this program at the end of February 2015. We are
inviting applications from interested Indian Wikimedians. Please see this
page on Meta for more details [2].

 Some important dates:
 January 27, 2015 - Last date for registration.
 January 30, 2015 - Confirmation of selected participants
 February 26 to March 1, 2015 - TTT-2015 workshop

 We are working on the schedule and other details. You are welcome to
leave your suggestions and inputs here [3]. Please write to us at
tanv...@cis-india.org and vis...@cis-india.org if you have any further
queries.

 Best,
 Vishnu

 [1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Train_the_Trainer_Program
 [2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Train_the_Trainer_Program/2015
 [3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Train_the_Trainer_Program/2015


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[Wikimediaindia-l] Train-the-Trainer Programme - 2015 (Announcement)

2015-01-14 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

As most of you are aware, CIS-A2K conducted the first Wikipedia
Train-the-Trainer (TTT) programme[1] in 2013 with an aim to support
and groom leadership skills in the community members. We are
extremely thankful to all the senior Wikimedians who acted as
Resource Persons for the 2013 event. Achal, Arjuna, Hari, Shymal,
Tinu and Viswa thank you once again! Without your help we could not
have conducted it so successfully.

This email is to let you all know that we have scheduled to conduct
the second iteration of this program at the end of February 2015. We
are inviting applications from interested Indian Wikimedians. Please
see this page on Meta for more details [2].

Some important dates:
January 27, 2015 - Last date for registration.
January 30, 2015 - Confirmation of selected participants
February 26 to March 1, 2015 - TTT-2015 workshop

We are working on the schedule and other details. You are welcome to
leave your suggestions and inputs here [3]. Please write to us at
tanv...@cis-india.org and vis...@cis-india.org if you have any
further queries.

Best,
Vishnu

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Train_the_Trainer_Program
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Train_the_Trainer_Program/2015
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Train_the_Trainer_Program/2015

  


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[Wikimediaindia-l] Copyright and CC primer for Indian Wikimedians

2014-12-28 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

I would like to introduce you all to Thomas, a fourth year law
student at the National Law University Jodhpur. He has joined
CIS-A2K as an intern and will be developing a primer on Copyright
and Creative Commons for the use of Indian Wikimedians. 

Thomas' aim is to cater to the broad spectrum of Wikimedia users and
to provide both an introduction to copyright law and to address more
advanced questions of copyright law that users might encounter with
regards to issues like digitisation, public domain works, etc.

His approach thus far has been to comb the India Mailing List to
discover the common questions or concerns that Indian Wikimedians
face while dealing with content. He hopes to then transpose answers
to these queries along with general copyright related information
onto a primer following a mixture of a FAQ based and prose based
format to allow for better transposition of information as well as
to allow for better readability and engagement. 

As you will realise, this approach suffers from a number of defects:
1. There are a large number of queries or concerns that users might
have which are not addressed onto the mailing lists and are near
impossible to pre-empt.
2. There are a number of unique processes that Wikimedia implements
(like the “precautionary principle”) that is unique to the context
of copyright and Wikimedia which he is yet to familiarise himself
and such a familiarity can only be built with periodic use.
3. There are a large number of Wikimedians who might be
unrepresented on the Mailing List and might have queries regarding
the use of content.


To this end, Thomas hopes to get some support from the community
here in terms of:
1. Asking any queries that you may have regarding copyright law and
its application to the Wikimedia Universe.
2. Passing along any queries or issues that you may have heard of
from other users, so that this may be introduced.
3. Passing along any other information that may be specifically
relevant to this endeavour, in terms of experience with Wikimedia
policy, practice that has been developed over the past few years and
the like.

Any support in this regard would be extremely helpful. This primer
will of course be a work in progress for subsequent authors to edit
and build upon, true to the Wikimedia ethos, however for the sake of
at least an initial completeness, I request you to reply in over the
course of this week, latest by the 3rd of January 2015. You can
reach Thomas at thomasjv93{at} gmail.com or on his EN Wikipedia User
Talk page:Thomasjv93 He is copied on this e-mail.

It would be useful if you could post this message on your respective
Wikimedia project's village pump.

Thank you for your support.

Best,
Vishnu

  


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Scanner machine

2014-11-26 Thread Vishnu T
Dear Tito,

I would have given the same advice as Shyamal did.

One could also look at using a ssecond-hand Smartphone with 6MP and above
camera to do a decent image capture and then use scantailor for bulk
processing.

Viswa trained many Wikipedians including Jayanta on the use of scantailor
during the TTT . Please consider reaching out to Jayanta for help.

Best,
Vishnu



On Wednesday, 26 November 2014, Shyamal Lakshminarayanan lshya...@gmail.com
wrote:
 Tito, Just some comments from experience but not directly related to your
request. I have scanned a fairly large number of documents (mostly thin
brochures in which the staples could be removed) using a low-cost flatbed
scanner. The one I use is in the Canon LIDE series - these use LEDs and
work off USB power (no additional powercord). They are quite inexpensive
(around Rs 3000) but slow (like all flatbed scanners). It is useful if you
are doing high resolution scans of images. If your focus is more on text
- and it readability or OCR-ability  - then a digital camera based rig
works much more efficiently. Lots of sites on DIY book-scanners (and you
can probably get Viswaprabha to demo you Scantailor). For library research
purpose copying I routinely use a small pocket digital camera and it does a
perfectly good job. Most librarians I have met have been ok with their use.
 best wishes
 Shyamal




 On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 2:29 PM, Tito Dutta trulyt...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hello,
 For a year or more I have been looking for an individual grant to buy a
simple image scanner.
 My most recent application was at Ta Wikipedia

 From that application:, I need a scanner regularly, so I would not be
able to do all works in a particular period (for example, someone says,
take a scanner for two weeks and return after that)

 Can anyone give me oive me one?

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[Wikimediaindia-l] (Announcement) Community help in selecting the CIS-A2K PO

2014-11-12 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

Sorry for X posting.

We, at CIS-A2K, are looking for Wikimedians to help in the selection
process of the CIS-A2K Programme Officer. 

You will be expected to go through the short-listed candidates'
resume and covering letter and rate the person's suitability against
the criteria for the position advertised here [1].

Please write to me off-list, if you are interested in helping us
with the selection process. We would like to keep the participation
limited to 10 Wikimedians from across India. So please hurry and let
us know your intent by November 18th.

Thank you.
Vishnu

[1]
http://cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-institutional-partnership

  


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[Wikimediaindia-l] (Announcement) Recruitment of Programme Officer, CIS-A2K

2014-11-01 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

Sorry for cross-posting.

The Centre for Internet  Society (CIS) is seeking applications
for the post of Programme Officer (Institutional Partnerships) for
its Access to Knowledge (A2K) Programme. The position will be based
in its Bangalore office. Programme Officer will collaboratively work
with the A2K Team and would report to the Programme Director, Access
to Knowledge at CIS.

Position Summary:

As Programme Officer (Institutional Partnerships) your job will be
to collaborate with institutions especially in the higher education
sector to drive and support the growth of open knowledge movement in
India and Indian language Wikipedias and its sister projects. Your
primary responsibility will be to assimilate the work started by
CIS-A2K through various institutional partnerships during the last
15 months. You are also expected to research, design and implement
different pilot projects with an aim to create high quality content
and cultivate new editors on different language Wikipedias in a time
bound manner.

In addition to this you will be anchoring the development and growth
of at least one Indian language Wikipedia and its sister projects.
You are encouraged to deeply engage with the CIS-A2K Work Plan
before making the application.

You will work cohesively with the Wikimedia community, the Wikimedia
India Chapter, the Wikimedia Foundation and like-minded institutions
to meet specific goals of each language Wikimedia community in
India. You will be a part of a small team of 5 to 6 doing high
visibility and high impact work. You should be open to work in a
highly transparent and accountable environment.

For more details see this link [1]. The last date of submitting
applications is November 14, 2014.

Best,
Vishnu
CIS-A2K

[1]
http://cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-institutional-partnership

  


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[Wikimediaindia-l] (Announcement) Recruitment of Programme Officer, CIS-A2K

2014-11-01 Thread Vishnu

Dear Wikimedians,

Sorry for cross-posting.

The Centre for Internet  Society (CIS) is seeking applications for the 
post of Programme Officer (Institutional Partnerships) for its Access to 
Knowledge (A2K) Programme. The position will be based in its Bangalore 
office. Programme Officer will collaboratively work with the A2K Team 
and would report to the Programme Director, Access to Knowledge at CIS.


Position Summary:

As Programme Officer (Institutional Partnerships) your job will be to 
collaborate with institutions especially in the higher education sector 
to drive and support the growth of open knowledge movement in India and 
Indian language Wikipedias and its sister projects. Your primary 
responsibility will be to assimilate the work started by CIS-A2K through 
various institutional partnerships during the last 15 months. You are 
also expected to research, design and implement different pilot projects 
with an aim to create high quality content and cultivate new editors on 
different language Wikipedias in a time bound manner.


In addition to this you will be anchoring the development and growth of 
at least one Indian language Wikipedia and its sister projects. You are 
encouraged to deeply engage with the CIS-A2K Work Plan before making the 
application.


You will work cohesively with the Wikimedia community, the Wikimedia 
India Chapter, the Wikimedia Foundation and like-minded institutions to 
meet specific goals of each language Wikimedia community in India. You 
will be a part of a small team of 5 to 6 doing high visibility and high 
impact work. You should be open to work in a highly transparent and 
accountable environment.


For more details see this link [1]. The last date of submitting 
applications is November 14, 2014.


Best,
Vishnu
CIS-A2K

[1] http://cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-institutional-partnership

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] (Announcement) Recruitment of Programme Officer, CIS-A2K

2014-11-01 Thread Vishnu

Dear Anivar,

Thanks for the suggestion. Will get this change reflected.

Best,
Vishnu

On Saturday 01 November 2014 06:48 PM, Anivar Aravind wrote:

Just a comment . free knowledge or free and open knowledge are the
usual terms used by wmf and movement in general . the term open
knowledge movement may be misleading because it is the current legal
name of open knowledge foundation.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Knowledge


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[Wikimediaindia-l] CIS-A2K revised plan for July 2014 to June 2015

2014-10-30 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

Based on the feedback and suggestions given by the community and FDC
and based on participation in the India Community Consultation
(organized by the Wikimedia Foundation), we have revised the work
plans[1] and budget that will guide our work until June 2015.

You are encouraged to share your feedback on the discussion pages on
Meta.

We look forward to your continuous engagement in our collective
dream of further growing the Wikimedia and open knowledge movement
in India.

Best,
Vishnu
CIS-A2K

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015

  


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[Wikimediaindia-l] CIS-A2K revised plan for July 2014 to June 2015

2014-10-30 Thread Vishnu

Dear Wikimedians,

Based on the feedback and suggestions given by the community and FDC and 
based on participation in the India Community Consultation (organized by 
the Wikimedia Foundation), we have revised the work plans[1] and budget 
that will guide our work until June 2015.


You are encouraged to share your feedback on the discussion pages on Meta.

We look forward to your continuous engagement in our collective dream of 
further growing the Wikimedia and open knowledge movement in India.


Best,
Vishnu
CIS-A2K

[1] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] WMIN is looking for a FEMALE representative for AdaCamp Bangalore

2014-10-29 Thread Vishnu

+1
On Wednesday 29 October 2014 05:45 PM, Ravishankar Ayyakkannu wrote:

Hi,

Wikimedia India is looking for a FEMALE representative to participate 
in AdaCamp Bangalore http://bangalore.adacamp.org.


The representative

  * Need not be a chapter member. But, we would like you to become a
member in future and take an active role in our Gender Gap SIG
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Gender_gap.
  * Shall submit a report to the chapter about the event and
participation.
  * Shall fulfill the expecatations of AdaCamp's usual selection
process http://bangalore.adacamp.org/how-we-select-attendees/.
  * Shall avail travel scholarship from the chapter.

Please apply before 31st October 05:00 PM IST at

http://wiki.wikimedia.in/AdaCamp_Bangalore

Ravi





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[Wikimediaindia-l] Support to Community participation - Wikipedia at Swatantra 2014

2014-10-28 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

This e-mail is to take your suggestions about the below proposal.

As some of you may know that Swatantra 2014 (5th International Free
Software Conference, Kerala) is being held in Trivandrum during
December 18-20, 2014. More details can be found at this link http://icfoss.in/fs2014.html.
Organized by ICFOSS (GoK) this event is set to attract hundreds of
Free Software enthusiasts. CIS is one of the supporters of this
conference.

There is a dedicated track for Wikipedia/Wikimedia during the
conference. We are also planning to set up a Wikimedia stall at the
event. We are hoping to have ML Wikimedians take lead on this.

We are considering to give travel and stay scholarships for select
Wikimedians from across India, who are interested to participate in
this event and benefit from it. This will also be a great
opportunity to meet and interact with Malayalam Wikimedia community.


CIS-A2K is considering to support upto 2 Wikimedians from each
language community. Interested Wikimedians will be asked to put up a
request, along with a statement of purpose, in their respective
Wikimedia Village pumps and will request the community members to
second them. Based on the community response CIS-A2K will decide on
providing travel and stay scholarships. CIS-A2K will support this as
part of its Community Strengthening Initiatives [1]


Please let us know your suggestions on the above process and share
your inputs on how we could do this in a better manner. We would
like to put out a call by November 10. We will be open to receiving
your feedback until November 7, 2014.

You could also leave your feedback on Meta here [2]

Best wishes,

Vishnu


[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015#Community_Strengthening_Initiatives
[2] http://bit.ly/1tBuWpT
  


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[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: [Wikimedia-l] Re-licensing Wikimedia logos on Commons to CC BY-SA 3.0

2014-10-27 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

The below crucial e-mail from WMF Legal about re-licensing the
Wikimedia logos for your information. Do spread the word among your
community.

Best,
Vishnu

  
   Forwarded Message 
  

  
Subject:

[Wikimedia-l] Re-licensing Wikimedia logos on Commons to
  CC BY-SA 3.0
  
  
Date: 
Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:51:47 -0700
  
  
From: 
Yana Welinder ywelin...@wikimedia.org
  
  
Reply-To:

Wikimedia Mailing List
  wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org
  
  
To: 
Wikimedia Mailing List
  wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org
  

  
  
  
  Hi folks,

I'm happy to announce that we are re-licensing the Wikimedia logos on
Commons to CC BY-SA 3.0:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/10/24/wikimedia-logos-have-been-freed/

I would really appreciate your help with replacing the undefined
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Copyright_by_Wikimedia[1]
templates on the logos with the undefined
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Wikimedia_trademark[2] and
undefined https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Cc-by-sa-3.0[3]
templates. But we don't want to replace templates on the MediaWiki
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MediaWiki.svg[4] and the Community
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Community_Logo.svg[5]
logos, which were originally released under free licenses.

There are also some pages on Commons, like this one
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing[6], that may need to
be updated based on the re-licensed logos.

Thanks,

Yana

[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Copyright_by_Wikimedia

[2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Wikimedia_trademark

[3] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Cc-by-sa-3.0

[4] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MediaWiki.svg

[5] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Community_Logo.svg

[6] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing


-- 
Yana Welinder
Legal Counsel
Wikimedia Foundation
415.839.6885 ext. 6867
@yanatweets https://twitter.com/yanatweets

NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical
reasons I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community
members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more
on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer.
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Hindustani Music resource donation event - Mumbai

2014-10-06 Thread Vishnu


On Monday 06 October 2014 10:24 AM, Pranav Curumsey wrote:
This is wonderful. 


Thanks, Pranav.

Will you also be getting some audio examples uploaded to Commons? I am 
glad your team has taken up the cause of Indian classical on Wikipedia 
and look forward to more in this sphere in the coming months.


We have managed to get this resource, thanks to Dr. Tejaswini's (A2K 
Advisor) efforts. In her individual capacity she is doing research on 
Hindustani music and I am sure that she will be able to source some good 
recordings, historical images and videos and upload them on to commons 
and also build an interest group that works on improving relevant 
articles on Wikipedia.


She has committed to getting more content donated from the Hindustani 
music world. Let's hope that everyone of her effort becomes successful. 
It will be great, if you are any other Wikimedian interested in 
Hindustani music collaborates with her in these efforts. Please feel 
free to write to her off the list.


Cheers,
Vishnu


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[Wikimediaindia-l] Hindustani Music resource donation event - Mumbai

2014-10-05 Thread Vishnu

Dear Wikimedians,

We are glad to invite you to join us for an event in Mumbai on October 
7th where Pandita. Neela Bhagwat [1] will donate her comprehensive 
textual compilation of  Gwalior Gharana [2] bandishes.


Timing: 5.30 to 7 pm
Venue: Shivaji Park Nagarik Sangh, (hall next to Shivaji statue at 
Shivaji Park, Dadar)


As some of you may know that Gwalior Gharana is one of the old 
traditions of Hindustani gayaki and like other gayaki's the tradition 
has been passed on orally in the guru-shishya parampara. Pt. Neela 
Bhagwat has over a period of 30 years (of learning and teaching music) 
meticulously compiled most of the Gwalior Gharana bandishes with 
notations and notes. Upon the request of CIS-A2K, she has agreed to 
donate this comprehensive collection which will be scanned and hosted on 
Wikisource. We hope that this will be of interest to music aficionados 
and those interested in the study of Hindustani Music.


CIS-A2K is thankful to the event hosts, Khayal Trust. The event will 
attract a community of Hindustani music lovers and we hope to orient 
them to consider improving the quality of content on Hindustani music 
and musicians on Wikipedia during the event. We welcome the community 
members in Mumbai to join us in this effort. Please help spread the word.


Best,
Vishnu

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neela_Bhagwat
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwalior_gharana  (needs wiki love)


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[Wikimediaindia-l] Etherpad link - India Community Consultation

2014-10-04 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

Here is the link to the Etherpad [1], which captured the proceedings
of the Day 1 (1 to 8 pm) of the India Community Consultation-2014. 

Best,
Vishnu

[1] https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/Indiacommunityconsultation-Day1

  


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Indian women in science edit-a-thon

2014-10-01 Thread Vishnu

Dear Shyamal,

Last year we did Lilavati's Daughters Edit-a-thon on notable Indian 
Women Scientists [1]. I am sure the users registered there would be 
interested to take part in this too. You could probably alert the event 
organizers about this if you know them.


Lilavati's Daughters Edit-a-thon received a better response from Indic 
Wikimedians and I am sure they would also be interested to take part in 
this.


Best,
Vishnu
[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Lilavati%27s_Daughters_Edit-a-thon


On Wednesday 01 October 2014 04:28 PM, Shyamal L. wrote:
Please note this upcoming event - 
http://www.indiabioscience.org/content/women-science-wiki-edit-thon
You can also contact the organizers via en:User:Fluentflux or 
t...@indiabioscience.org mailto:t...@indiabioscience.org


best wishes
Shyamal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Shyamal





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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikikn-l (kannada wikipedia)] Release of 105 books by Govt of Karnataka under CC-BY-SA

2014-09-25 Thread Vishnu



On Thursday 25 September 2014 11:19 AM, Rajesh Ranjan wrote:
On Thu, Sep 25, 2014 at 9:49 AM, Anivar Aravind 
anivar.arav...@gmail.com mailto:anivar.arav...@gmail.com wrote:




On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 9:55 PM, Vishnu visdav...@gmail.com
mailto:visdav...@gmail.com wrote:

Dear Ravi,

On the copyright question AFAIK...  it is the manner in which
a certain content is expressed (e.g. analyzed, compiled,
paginated, represented, etc..) the author could claim
copyright, as there is a certain basic amount of creative
labour that went into it. So Govt. of Karnataka could
rightfully copyright these works, which it has now released
under CC-BY-SA 3.0. A useful thing to read in this context
would be this [1].


As Ravi pointed 11th Century Kannada literature is already public
domain . There is no point in re-licensing it as CC-BY-SA .
Digitization does not create fresh copyright . While thanking Govt
for their efforts to make it available , please dont create fresh
copyright on it . And while looking at details, There was no 
point of time in which govt of Karanataka had copyright on this

content .

This effort is almost in same lines of  Open access initiative of
rare public domain books by Kerala Sahitya academy happened almost
same time last year
(http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/online_library/index.html) .
They havnt claimed any undeserving copyright on these books . SO
it is better if people involved canm correct Govt of Karanataka at
this point itself showing kerala example to avoid further
ambiguities surrounding license .

~ regards
Anivar



I agree with Ravi and Anivar!

I am not an expert of licensing, but the thing that is already in 
public domain, licensing the same under CC-BY-SA 3.0 is one way 
limiting the public availability of the same content.



Rajesh and Anivar,

Purely from a copyright POV, it is important to recognize the idea - 
expression divide. The content per-se in this case may be public domain, 
but it is the expression of it that is copyrighted as I stated above. 
Especially, as I understand, the copyright act in India has bare minimum 
requirements for creative labour.


But I am willing to be better educated on this.

Cheers,
Vishnu
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Software Freedom Day Celebrations across India

2014-09-24 Thread Vishnu

+1 Ravi


Vishnu

On Wednesday 24 September 2014 04:02 AM, Ravishankar Ayyakkannu wrote:

Hi,

Software Freedom Day is a global celebration and education of why 
transparent and sustainable technologies are now more important than 
ever.


You may find an event happening near your place at

http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/map/index.php?year=2014

If not, you can start an event and gather friends from Wikimedia, FOSS 
and other Free Culture communities.


This is a good opportunity not only to spread awareness about 
Wikimedia projects but also a chance to network and win friends for 
our community.


I will be attending Software Freedom Day celebrations in Chennai on 
27th September at Anna University Campus, Chennai.


More details can be found at

http://fsftn.org/sfd2014-stall-registration-form/

We have a stall registered already for Wikimedia projects.

I welcome the Wikimedia community in and around Chennai for this event.

Thanks,

Ravi,
Program Director, Wikimedia India Chapter.



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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikikn-l (kannada wikipedia)] Release of 105 books by Govt of Karnataka under CC-BY-SA

2014-09-24 Thread Vishnu

Dear Ravi,

On the copyright question AFAIK...  it is the manner in which a certain 
content is expressed (e.g. analyzed, compiled, paginated, represented, 
etc..) the author could claim copyright, as there is a certain basic 
amount of creative labour that went into it. So Govt. of Karnataka could 
rightfully copyright these works, which it has now released under 
CC-BY-SA 3.0. A useful thing to read in this context would be this [1].


Coming to this specific case of CC release,what I see important for our 
context of open knowledge movement in India is the gesture of release of 
such large content under Creative Commons by the Government of 
Karnataka, than anything else. I am sure you will agree that we all 
could cite this as a precedence in negotiating with other Government 
entities for getting more content released under CC. For instance, we at 
CIS-A2K showed Goa University's Konkani Wikipedia re-licensing under CC 
as an example in persuading the Mysore University authorities to release 
the Kannada Encyclopedias under CC.


Such precedents become even more important in the Indic Wikimedia 
project's context as the publication of majority of non-fiction writing 
in the Indian languages during the last 60 years happened under aegis of 
the Government in India.


Cheers,
Vishnu
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_v._Rural   
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idea-expression_divide (needs wiki love)




On Wednesday 24 September 2014 07:00 PM, Ravishankar Ayyakkannu wrote:

Hi Pavanaja,

Please excuse my ignorance regarding Kannada Literature.

Are we talking about the works of

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purandara_Dasa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanaka_Dasa

and works like

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasa_sahitya

These seem centuries old and should be already available in public 
domain with no copyright claims. Why woud we need them re-released 
under Creative Commons?


If Dept of Kannada  Culture, Govt of Karnataka provides access to 
readily available digitized sources, it is an important gesture and I 
appreciate the effort behind this. But, not sure on the copyright part.


Could you please clarify?

Thanks.

Ravi,
Program Director, Wikimedia India Chapter.


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[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: [Wikimedia-l] ***Security notice*** for IRC: vulnerability prior to September 15, change passwords

2014-09-24 Thread Vishnu

For those who are active on IRC [1].

Best,
Vishnu
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat



 Forwarded Message 
Subject: 	[Wikimedia-l] ***Security notice*** for IRC: vulnerability 
prior to September 15, change passwords

Date:   Wed, 24 Sep 2014 11:45:59 -0700
From:   Pine W wiki.p...@gmail.com
Reply-To:   Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org
To: 	wikitec...@lists.wikimedia.org wikitec...@lists.wikimedia.org, 
Wikimedia-announce wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org, Wikimedia 
Mailing List wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org, secur...@wikimedia.org




All,

As you may have heard, Freenode found some compromised servers on their
networks. Network traffic, including SSL traffic, may have been sniffed by
a third party.

This likely affects many Wikimedia IRC users, including users who do not
speak English, so please forward this notice and translate as needed for
the benefit of other Wikimedians.

If you have not changed your nickserv password on September 15 or later,
please do so now.

From the Freenode blog:

Before changing your password, please check your email address in /msg
nickserv info and, if needed, update it – see /msg nickserv help set email
(remember to check your new email for the verification key). This will
ensure that we can send you a password reset email should, for whatever
reason, your password change not work properly. If you have no email set on
your account or an email set that you cannot access, we cannot send
password resets to you, so do please keep this up-to-date.

To change your password use /msg nickserv set password newpasshere

Since traffic may have been sniffed, you may also wish to consider any
channel keys or similar secret information exchanged over the network.
Please direct questions to Freenode IRC ops. They are voiced in the
#freenode channel.

Pine
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Recruitment Announcement : Program Director of Wikimedia India Chapter

2014-09-21 Thread Vishnu

Dear Ravi,

Congratulations and welcome!

Best wishes.
Vishnu


On Sunday 21 September 2014 01:25 PM, Jayanta Nath wrote:


Dear Members of Wikimedia India Chapter,


It is my pleasure to announce Ravishankar Ayyakkannu as the Program 
Director of Wikimedia India Chapter.



He was involved in various projects of the movement that dealt with 
the State Government of Tamilnadu and multinational firms like 
Google.  His experiences working for the movement have been featured 
in media including The New York Times and BBC. He has served as the 
General Council member of the International Forum for Information 
Technology in Tamil. He is also actively involved in promoting Free 
and Open Source projects and Free Culture movements in Tamil.


Ravishankar completed his graduation from Nanyang Technical 
University, Singapore and Technical University of Munich, Germany and 
later worked as a researcher for the Leiden University in The 
Netherlands.He has been working as an independent Web development 
consultant.



The Interview committee consisting of Sudhanwa Jogalekar (Past 
president) , Navin Francis ( Past Secretory), Moksh Juneja (President) 
and myself were honored to be part of this efficient, effective, and 
enlightening process.



Ravishankar joined Wikimedia India on 20th September 2014 as Program 
Director. He will be based in Bangalore. His primary roles are 
supporting community members in organizing and executing the various 
chapter programs, strategic planning for the chapter, mentoring 
interns and devise success measurement metrics for community projects.



Please join me in officially welcoming Ravishankar Ayyakkannu to 
Wikimedia India Chapter!



Jayanta Nath

President

Wikimedia India Chapter




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[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: [Wikimedia-l] Open call for Individual Engagement Grant proposals

2014-09-02 Thread Vishnu T
Dear Wikimedians,

Please see the below call for proposals for IEG.

Best,
Vishnu

-- Forwarded message --
From: Siko Bouterse sboute...@wikimedia.org
Date: Tuesday, 2 September 2014
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Open call for Individual Engagement Grant proposals
To: wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org


Greetings! The Wikimedia Foundation Individual Engagement Grants program is
accepting proposals for funding new experiments from September 1st to 30th.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG

Your idea can improve Wikimedia projects by building a new tool or gadget,
organizing a better process on your wiki, conducting research on an
important issue, or providing other support for community-building. Whether
you need $200 or $30,000 USD, Individual Engagement Grants can cover your
own project development time in addition to funding for a team to help you.
The program has a flexible schedule and reporting structure, and
Grantmaking staff are there to support you through all stages of the
process.

Do you have have a good idea, but you are worried that it isn’t developed
enough for a grant?  Put it into the IdeaLab, where volunteers and staff
can give you advice and guidance on how to bring it to life. 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab  Also, IEG will be hosting
three Hangout Sessions for real-time discussions to help you make your
proposal better - the first will happen on September 16th. 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Events#Upcoming_events

For inspiration, you can read more about past projects 
https://blog.wikimedia.org/tag/individual-engagement-grants/ that received
funding or review open proposals 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG#ieg-reviewing. We are excited
to see some of the new ways your grant ideas can support our community and
make an impact on the future of Wikimedia projects.

Submit your proposal in September! 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG#ieg-apply

Warm regards,
Siko

--
Siko Bouterse
Head of Individual Grants
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

sboute...@wikimedia.org

*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. *
*Donate https://donate.wikimedia.org or click the edit button today,
and help us make it a reality!*
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] 20 volumes (8376 pages) of Tamil Encylopedia released under Creative Commons

2014-08-30 Thread Vishnu

Dear Ravi and Tamil Wikimedians,

This is fantastic news!

Congratulations to Prof. C.R. Selvakumar and all the Tamil Wikimedians 
and to Prof. P.R. Nakkeeran of (Tamil Virtual Academy) for this 
significant content donation!!


Best wishes,
Vishnu


On Saturday 30 August 2014 08:10 PM, Ravishankar wrote:

Hi,

Tamil Development Board (an autonomous institution under Government of 
Tamilnadu) releases its Encyclopedia (10 volumes, 7407 pages) and 
Children's Encyclopedia (10 volumes, 969 pages) under Creative Commons 
license. Tamil Wikipedians lead by Prof. C. R. Selvakumar and Prof. P. 
R. Nakkeeran, (Director, Tamil Virtual Academy) spearheaded this 
initiative coinciding with Tamil Wikipedia's 10 years celebrations.


An official confirmation (in Tamil) can be seen at

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Letter_from_Tamil_Development_Board_donating_20_volumes_of_encyclopedia_in_Tamil_under_Creative_Commons_license.jpeg

Scanned copies of these works are already available at

http://tamilvu.org/library/kulandaikal/lku00/html/lku00ind.htm

At Tamil Wikipedia, we are discussing how we can get this content 
typed and transferred to WikiSource. Doing so can be a good model to 
encourage more such works to be released in public domain.


Following are two options I can think of:

1. Volunteers type all the content. Besides taking years to complete, 
this won't do justice for the value of time of volunteers who can do 
more valuable work than typing mechanically.


A program like IT@School present in Kerala or a contest can encourage 
more people to join this effort but not all communities can't emulate 
this model successfully.


2. Request WMF to give a grant to the owner of the content and let 
them hand over the typed content to Wikisource volunteers who will 
upload and wikify the content.


This will ensure maintaining the spirit of volunteerism and yet 
getting the work done in a professional and time bound manner.


Numerous works in Wikisource are such ready made content uploaded 
already in the web through other projects like Project Gutenberg.


If providing grants to non-Wikimedia organizations is an issue, a 
grant towards this can be given to community / chapter who will then 
outsource the typing work.


I welcome community's input on any other model for this as India has 
vast amount of literature and works like this are waiting to be 
transfered to Wikisource. This is one area where we can add lot of 
content to Wiki projects at once.


Ravi



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[Wikimediaindia-l] (Announcement) Nitika's exit from CIS-A2K

2014-08-19 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear fellow Wikimedians,

It’s with regret that I announce the exit of Nitika Tandon as
Programme Manager of CIS-A2K on July 31, 2014. Sorry for this
delayed announcement.

As many of you know, Nitika joined the Wikimedia movement in August
2011 as a Consultant for the WMF's India Programme. She later on
transitioned into the CIS-A2K program in September 2012. Nitika has
played quite an important role in the CIS-A2K programme since then.


CIS would like to thank her for all her valuable contributions to
the Wikimedia movement and particularly in anchoring the Konkani
language plan during the last one year. As a Konkani language anchor
Nitika did her best in helping the Konkani Wikipedia community grow.
During her stint at CIS-A2K, Nitika also had put concerted efforts
to build partnerships with the Goa University and the Nirmala
Institute of Education and in sharing the A2K's work openly with the
Wikimedia community.

We wish Nitika the best in life!

Vishnu
  


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[Wikimediaindia-l] Statement on CIS-A2K's FDC Proposal

2014-08-14 Thread Vishnu
) feel that
  Wikipedia Outreach should be supported by paid professionals
  whereas some think it should be done by volunteers. While we
  appreciate the broader philosophy that define each of these
  approaches, we have been putting every effort to bring the best of
  both of these approaches in our work. We strongly believe that
  there is an immense amount of learning for all of us as a
  movement, if we could collectively explore how to best utilize
  volunteers and voluntary sector professional energies than to
  pitch them as mutually exclusive. At the end of the day we all are
  driven by the same collective vision of growing open knowledge.
We will soon share
  the revised plans and budget for the next year and look forward to
  your continuous engagement in our collective dream of further
  growing the Wikimedia and open knowledge movement in India. 

Best wishes,
Vishnu
CIS-A2K
Note: This is being put up on Meta here [1]

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Staff_proposal_assessment
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Board_decisions/2013-2014_round2
[4] http://bit.ly/1sY6XQU





  


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] A brief message

2014-08-14 Thread Vishnu T
Thank you, Asaf.

Looks like there was some problem with the email I had sent, which could be
because of the poor internet connection. Apologies!

You can read it on Meta too, from here:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grants_talk%3AAPG%2FProposals%2F2013-2014_round2%2FThe_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society%2FProposal_form#Statement_on_CIS-A2K.27s_proposal_discussion

Best,
Vishnu


On Friday, 15 August 2014, Asaf Bartov abar...@wikimedia.org wrote:
 Dear fellow Wikipedians,

 Yesterday, Vishnu Vardhan, the CIS-A2K programme director, sent a Very
Long Email to this list, titled Statement on CIS-A2K's FDC Proposal.

 I suspect the subject line, and the length of the e-mail, may have
discouraged many from bothering with it.  This is a brief message
encouraging you to make the effort, this once, as I believe the significant
news shared in it are worth hearing.

 Cheers,

 A.
 --
 Asaf Bartov
 Wikimedia Foundation

 Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
 https://donate.wikimedia.org
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] CIS-A2K Bulletin June 2014

2014-07-12 Thread Vishnu

Dear Subha,

I think, Ravi has a valid observation and a useful suggestion.

Cheers,
Vishnu


On Friday 11 July 2014 03:19 PM, Ravishankar wrote:

Subha,

To clarify further:

* This is a good project.

* I don't mind whether you spend your personal time or official time 
for this.


* Issues regarding denial of contribution requests doens't fit in this 
discussion.


My issue is when you asked me to contribute for this, I saw you as a 
community member and contributed.


But, I was shocked to see this reported as a CIS-A2K project later. I 
might have even contributed knowing that but  not revealing that in 
advance is a serious disappointment. I am not sure how many other 
contributors were informed of the CIS-A2K affiliation.


Here is another instance where CIS-A2K claims affiliation to this work:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form#Q10

My request is simple:

EITHER declare this affiliation in the Twitter page.

OR stop mentioning this as a CIS-A2K initiative anywhere.

Ravi



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[Wikimediaindia-l] Wiki Loves Pride, India 2014

2014-07-07 Thread Vishnu

Dear Wikimedians,

Wiki Loves Pride is a global campaign to expand and improve LGBT-related 
content across several Wikimedia projects [1]. We invite you to 
participate in a two-week long edit-a-thon to help improve Wikipedia's 
coverage of India relevant LGBT-related content. The edit-a-thon will 
lead up to offline events on *Saturday, July 19, 2014 in Bangalore and 
Delhi* [2]. You are welcome to join the offline events.


The event aims at creating new articles, expanding the existing stubs 
and translating English articles to various Indian languages with a 
focus on LGBT Rights, Culture and History in India. Please feel free to 
chip in with ideas, articles and activities on the event page on Meta [3].


Everyone is welcome to join the event as enthusiasts, editors, 
translators, bloggers or event managers. Start by signing up as a 
participant [4].


Best,
Vishnu

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wiki_Loves_Pride
[2] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Wiki_Loves_Pride_2014#Off-line_Events
[3] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Wiki_Loves_Pride_2014
[4] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Wiki_Loves_Pride_2014#Sign_up



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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wiki Loves Pride, India 2014

2014-07-07 Thread Vishnu

Ravi,

This is an ongoing lable-a-thon. Please see the event page 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Indian_Parliamentarian_Label-a-thon


We will put up a report after the event.

Vishnu

On Monday 07 July 2014 04:54 PM, Ravishankar wrote:

Vishnu,

I would love to know the achievements of the last edit-a-thon aka 
label-a-thon that CIS-A2K arranged.


https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Indian_Parliamentarian_Label-a-thon#What_does_this_achieve.3F

Ravi


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[Wikimediaindia-l] (Announcement) Draft Policy for Open Access to DBT DST funded research

2014-07-07 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

I am happy to share with you the Draft Policy for Open Access to
Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Department of Science and
Technology (DST), Govt. of
India funded research
http://dbtindia.nic.in/docs/DBT-DST_Open_Access_Policy.pdf

CIS has contributed to this draft, which is up for comments until
July 25, 2014. Hope this will come through soon and ensure that more
scientific research in India would be openly accessible for all of
us.

Best,
Vishnu

  


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[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: [Wikimedia-l] Please spread the word: Tools only on Tool Labs from July 1

2014-06-05 Thread Vishnu

Below FYI.

Vishnu


 Original Message 
Subject: 	[Wikimedia-l] Please spread the word: Tools only on Tool Labs 
from July 1

Date:   Wed, 04 Jun 2014 12:50:34 +0200
From:   Silke Meyer silke.me...@wikimedia.de
Reply-To:   Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org
Organization:   Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
To: Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org



Hi all,

please spread the word: Tools only on Tool Labs from July 1

About one year ago, we, Wikimedia Deutschland e. V., announced June 30th
as the deadline of the Toolserver migration (Roadmap at [1]). This
deadline is approaching. The Toolserver will stop working on June 30th.
What will happen afterwards?

Background information

The Toolserver is a community based infrastructure that hosts software
supporting Wikipedia and its sister projects. Over the years many active
volunteers have developed helpful and great software tools that are
running on several Wikimedia projects.
The Toolserver is operated by Wikimedia Deutschland with assistance from
the Wikimedia Foundation and several chapters. For many reasons, the
Toolserver will be discontinued and replaced by Tool Labs [2], a
platform operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Please see the reasons at
[3]. For more than one year Wikimedia Deutschland has been coordinating
the migration of software tools from Toolserver to Tool Labs.

What editors should know

The toolserver is a community-driven project. The tools shall be
migrated by the developers resp. maintainers themselves. Many of them
have already migrated their tools or have indicated that they will do so
before the end of this month. We have a special agreement with the
OpenStreetMap projects and with the developer of Merlbot [4] to ensure
these tools don’t stop working. All other tools will stop working by
July 1st.

What editors can do

* On Tool Labs [2], you can look up if the tools that you use and need
have already moved there.
* Talk to the developers of your favourite tools: It is important to let
them know how much you appreciate their tools and that you need them to
do your work.
* Contact us if you don’t know who these developers are or if you have
any questions or if you want us to forward wishes or requests to tool
developers. Contact information is given at the end of this text.

Information for tool developers

If you are still facing the migration of your tools, please keep in mind
that lots of people use your tools. They are a great support for their
daily work and will be missed when they fail. Please take the time to
migrate them or poke us: WMDE can still support you during migration -
what we can’t do is maintain abandoned tools in the long run.

From July 1st on, the toolserver admins will still hand you over your
backups upon request and create redirects to Tool Labs for you. *You
won’t be able to log in to the toolserver anymore though.*

If anyone wants to have and reuse other people’s code, we recommend to
seek approval from them directly, even if from a legal point of view
there is no problem. Don’t hesitate to talk to us if you need a contact
person.

Here is a collection of the relevant links for you again:
* Tool Labs: http://tools.wmflabs.org
* Tool Labs help pages:
https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Nova_Resource:Tools/Help
* How to create redirects to Tool Labs:
https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/.htaccess#.htaccess
* Magnus Manske’s migration manual:
https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Magnus_Manske/Migrating_from_toolserver
* Scripts to clean up your toolserver account]] after migration:
https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/Main_Page
* Mailing list Labs-l: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/labs-l
* IRC channel #wikimedia-labs:
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#wikimedia-labs
* Marc-André Pelletier (Coren) and Andrew Bogott (andrewbogott) are the
WMF Tool Labs ops. Petr Bena (petan) and Tim Landscheidt (scfc_de) are
voluntary Tool Labs admins.

We invite you to join our IRC office hour in #wikimedia-office on
Wednesday, June 11th, at 5 p.m. UTC.

Contact:
The migration is coordinated by Silke Meyer (WMDE). Birgit Müller
supports her in communications. The two toolserver admins Marlen
Caemmerer und Alexander Mette are glad to help you with advice.
Marc-André Pelletier can answer all questions concerning Tool Labs.
Contact us at
Silke: silke.me...@wikimedia.de, Talk page at [5], IRC: Silke_WMDE
Birgit: birgit.muel...@wikimedia.de, Talk page at [6], IRC: Birgit_WMDE

We hope that the transition will happen as smoothly as possible!

Best, Silke


[1] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Tool_Labs/Roadmap_en
[2] http://tools.wmflabs.org
[3] https://toolserver.org/
[4] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:MerlBot
[5] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer_Diskussion:Silke_WMDE
[6] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer_Diskussion:Birgit_Müller_(WMDE)



--
Silke Meyer
Internes IT-Management und Projektmanagement Toolserver

Wikimedia Deutschland e.V

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] On CIS's grants request from Wikimedia Foundation

2014-05-15 Thread Vishnu


On Wednesday 14 May 2014 08:17 PM, Ravishankar wrote:
So, I would like to know if you have signed a separate MoU or some 
sort of lgeal contract that defines the terms and conditions of 
working relationship with WMF apart from the grant agreement.

Dear Ravi, Hari and Dhaval,

Other than the 2 year Grant Agreement CIS has not signed any other 
separate MoU with WMF.


Asaf has explained in detail on this list as to why this Grant Agreement 
is not being shared publicly. I am quoting him here again We (i.e. WMF) 
will not be sharing that agreement, on principle: not because there's 
anything secret or damning in it, but because we do not want to create a 
misleading precedent that may set the expectation that all WMF contracts 
are subject to community review. This isn't, and cannot be, the case. We 
likewise do not expect Chapters or other partners to publicly share 
contracts


Please see his posting here 
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2013-November/010603.html


Best,
Vishnu

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikimedia-in-blr] On CIS's grants request from Wikimedia Foundation

2014-05-15 Thread Vishnu

Dear Hari,

I am afraid that the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) is being 
interpreted selectively here. While Section 3 of the FCRA is important 
it is important to read it in conjunction with Section 4 of the FCRA (an 
exception clause for Section 3), which states that even those who 
participate in broadcast and electronic media can receive foreign money, 
“*by way of salary, wages or other remuneration due to him* or to any 
group of persons working under him, from any foreign source or by way of 
payment in the ordinary course of business transacted in India by such 
foreign source”.


I do not think there is any violation in Pavanaja writing for Prajavani.

Best,
Vishnu

On Wednesday 14 May 2014 12:15 AM, Hari Prasad Nadig wrote:

Dear Pavanaja,

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

You have received an annual compensation of about *17 Lakhs* last year 
(that also excludes travel and other reimbursements) as per the 
declaration made by Vishnu on the talk page of this proposal [1]. This 
came from the funds granted to CIS that was received from WMF through 
FCRA. And this will be increased by 20% for this year?


Further, for Kannada alone, *12.3 Lakhs* seem to be set aside out of 
which you seem to be the primary beneficiary. [2]


And all this while, you have been a columnist for Prajavani.

This seems to be a clear violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation 
Act as outlined by Srikanth on the copied email.


Regards,

[1] - 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form#CIS_Staff_details
[2] - 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Budget




On 13 May 2014 22:29, Srikanth Ramakrishnan rsrikant...@gmail.com 
mailto:rsrikant...@gmail.com wrote:


Pavanaja,
as per the FCRA:
3. (1) No foreign contribution shall be accepted by any- (g)
association or company engaged in the production or broadcast of
audio news or audio visual news or current affairs programmes
through any electronic mode, or any other electronic form as
defined in clause ® of sub-section (I) of section 2 of the
Information Technology Act, 2000 or any other mode of mass
communication; (h) correspondent or columnist, cartoonist, editor,
owner of the association or company referred to in clause (g).

Writing a weekly column, as a freelancer makes one a columnist.
*
*
*
*


On 13 May 2014 15:52, Pavanaja U B pavan...@vishvakannada.com
mailto:pavan...@vishvakannada.com wrote:

Hi,

There is a factual error. I am not employed with Prajavani. I
write just one column per week as freelancer.

Regards,

Pavanaja

*From:*wikimedia-in-blr-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org
mailto:wikimedia-in-blr-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org
[mailto:wikimedia-in-blr-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org
mailto:wikimedia-in-blr-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] *On
Behalf Of *Srikanth Ramakrishnan
*Sent:* 13 May 2014 12:50
*To:* Wikimedia India Community list
*Cc:* Kannada Wikipedia Discussion List wikik...@wikipedia.org
mailto:wikik...@wikipedia.org; Mailing list for Wikimedians
/ Wikipedians in Bangalore, India
*Subject:* Re: [Wikimedia-in-blr] [Wikimediaindia-l] On CIS's
grants request from Wikimedia Foundation

Hi all, I have one important question here.

The Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act prohibits money
received from abroad to be used as payments or salaries to
anyone employed with the press or media.

I believe Dr. Pavanaja is a columnist for Prajavani. How does
this work out?

It's just a preemptive question.

On 12 May 2014 17:45, Hari Prasad Nadig hpna...@gmail.com
mailto:hpna...@gmail.com wrote:

Fellow Wikimedians,

As you all know, Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore
has sought funding of about *1.8 Crores* through the FDC
process from Wikimedia Foundation to carry out work on seven
local language projects in India that includes Kannada, Telugu
among others. [1]

The funds primarily cover the salaries of the people belonging
to the CIS-A2K team among other administrative expenses and
other expenses as outlined on their proposal page.

The proposal was up for Community review and comments until
April 30th and many have recorded their response about it [2].
Several community members have come forward in pointing out
that the staff salaries being paid and that being proposed -
are quite on the higher side (which is up to 2.4 Lakhs per
month per person).

Apart from the concerns on extremely high salaries for Indian
norms of the team members of CIS-A2K team, there have been
some serious concerns raised about

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] On CIS's grants request from Wikimedia Foundation

2014-05-15 Thread Vishnu


On Wednesday 14 May 2014 10:11 PM, Hari Prasad Nadig wrote:



We do not have the property ownership documents (no. 4) as
CIS does not own the building. These are with the owners and
we cannot provide them.



In that case, you could perhaps provide the rental agreement made and 
signed by CIS with the owner? And perhaps the electricity bill (which 
specifies the name of the owner)?


Dear Hari,

Yes, this should be very much possible.

Cheers,
Vishnu
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] On CIS's grants request from Wikimedia Foundation

2014-05-14 Thread Vishnu

Dear Hari,

Please see my replies in-line.

On Wednesday 14 May 2014 12:51 AM, Hari Prasad Nadig wrote:

Vishnu,

There have been detailed discussion on how the salaries seem to 
overshadow everything else in CIS's proposal of *1.8 Crore*. And it is 
not just me, many other community members who have logged their 
comment there have felt that the salaries are quite extravagant to 
Indian standards. Even the staff assessment takes note of this.


You yourself seem to be drawing around *24 Lakhs *per annum (which is 
2 Lakhs per month!) that excludes travel and reimbursements as 
declared by you. [1] I'm pretty sure even the readers on this mailing 
list recognize that these are pretty huge salaries that we're talking 
about for Indian standards in non-profits for the responsibilities 
outlined.


Yes, it is no secret how much salary I draw or what the CIS-A2K program 
budget is and what we have proposed. Members on this list will remember 
that once I took over as the Program Director of CIS-A2K, I have ensured 
that we bring transparency to the entire CIS-A2K program including the 
project budget. We shared the entire A2K budget with the community in 
May 2013 on this list [1]. Staff salaries which also includes my salary 
were disclosed. Members on the list do know that we have taken this 
transparency measure much before the current FDC application (or at a 
time when we were not thinking about this FDC application). Neither I 
nor the current CIS-A2K team had any say in determining the salaries. 
There has been an extensive discussion on this here [2].


I am afraid that in your earlier mail the proposed A2K program plans 
number was wrongly quoted along with the per-person salary and I was 
merely highlighting the right facts.




Further, on the FCRA compliance issues, the compliance to Karnataka 
Societies Act and the concerns about Conflict of Interest - there are 
apparently some grave issues *which require that more documentation is 
made public* by the CIS as stated by me at:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Staff_proposal_assessment#Assessment_overlooks_some_grave_concerns

and at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Staff_proposal_assessment#Serious_FCRA_violations.3F

We appreciated this effort on Meta here [3]. Again let me appreciate the 
community members and your effort to throw light on these concerns. As 
stated in the reply on Meta [3], and I quote here for the benefit of the 
members:


CIS has never compromised in getting the best available professional 
expertise in complying with the various statutory requirements. So at 
the outset we need to state that CIS has always complied with the 
statutory advice received from our legal adviser and whenever required 
also sought second opinion. Thus to our current understanding we are in 
the best possible compliance with the statutory requirements for the 
not-for-profits in India. However, because a few of the community 
members, in the interest of continuing support to Wikimedia movement in 
India, expressed serious concerns, CIS will take every effort to share 
these with our legal advisers for their professional opinion. This could 
take some days, but we are certainly committed to sharing our legal 
advisers' opinion on these matters with the community and FDC at the 
earliest. This exercise is also important for CIS as it will help us to 
put ourselves in much better compliance, if required.


We are committed to seeking the opinion of our legal advisers on the 
concerns raised, as we respect the voice of the community members, 
including you. Also it is more in the interest of CIS to better comply 
with the statutory requirements.


I'm afraid that just the explanations may not suffice here as the 
concerns are serious in nature. I sincerely hope that you shall open 
up the documents for at least the sake of transparency.


Please note that CIS has never kept its documents closed to open them 
again. CIS gets its financial and institutional documents scrutinized 
every year and reports to multiple authorities as part of various 
statutory compliances. The Income Tax department periodically 
scrutinizes CIS's accounts. All the documents are always open for 
scrutiny by the donors. We have made every document available that was 
asked by the WMF's visiting team to CIS (which includes WMF's CFO 
Garfield Byrd) in February 2014.  We had also thrown open all our 
document to the general public for scrutiny during May 2013. I have 
written to members on this list and other Wikimedia lists, inviting them 
to come and scrutinize all our documents during this Open Week. Please 
see the announcement here [4].


Thanks for engaging with CIS-A2K's work, which we always appreciate.

Best,
Vishnu

[1] 
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2013-May/009980.html


[2] 
https

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Legal threat for Wikimedia community volunteers in India getting WMF grants

2014-05-14 Thread Vishnu

Dear Ansuman,

I am assuming that you are referring to our e-mail exchange during April 
29 to June 26, 2013.


Firstly, it was I who brought to your notice to not threaten in my 
e-mail dated June 25, 2013. At which point you indicted me of 
threatening you.


It would be best if you could share the entire e-mail discussion for an 
objective assessment by any senior Wikimedian and I would tender an 
apology should I be at wrong.


Best,
Vishnu

On Wednesday 14 May 2014 12:45 PM, ansuman wrote:
I have had a similar experience with Vishnu when I first wrote an 
email (prior to the job application) to him with the concerns about A2K.


He couldn't understand my concerns, misunderstood my intention, and 
threaten me without seeking clarification. That day I knew of his 
intentions and understanding of Wikimedia movement; the reason i have 
been keeping track of their work plans, activities and pointing out 
mistakes.


He always makes such mistakes and when someone points out, he denies 
the allegations.


Ansuman




On 14 May 2014 12:29, Hari Prasad Nadig hpna...@gmail.com 
mailto:hpna...@gmail.com wrote:


Vishnu,

What you were writing there was fairly off-topic, and quite
unnecessary. And that hints of malice. In retrospect, that could
have been seriously avoided.

It also dangerously undermines other community members who're
willing to speak out expressing their opinion in an open discussion.

I protest and object strongly to the way it has been put forward.


On 14 May 2014 11:19, Vishnu visdav...@gmail.com
mailto:visdav...@gmail.com wrote:

Dear Hari,

I seriously refute the way you are wrongly interpreting my
intentions. It is never my intention nor style of work to
threaten anyone, least of all a Wikimedian friend like Ravi.

I was only making a legal point that we as a movement should
look into and I have very clearly stated that we should take
this concern on board. I have also amply stated that my
interpretation is up for correction.

Ravi, if you think, event remotely, that I am trying to
threaten you, I profusely apologize. If you or the community
members think that I was wrong to take the Tamil Wiki 10
celebration example to illustrate a legal point [1], apologies
for that too. I was only doing it to state a point without any
intention of malice or wrong doing what-so-ever.

Cheers,
Vishnu

[1]

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Staff_proposal_assessment#Additional_concern_that_should_be_taken_on_board



On Wednesday 14 May 2014 01:46 AM, Hari Prasad Nadig wrote:

Ravi,

While I do not approve of the way this has been worded here
or presented here by you, it does seem like a veiled threat
clearly directed towards you by Vishnu for your speaking out
(which has been quite vehement, to be honest). And an
apparent threat like this coming in from a Program Director
does look very ugly.

The worst thing is that it seems to be trying to distract
readers from the actual issues. I sincerely hope that Vishnu
shall clear this up with an appropriate step that befits his
position and the respect his position merits.

And I wish and hope these shall not happen in future.



On 14 May 2014 00:58, Srikanth Ramakrishnan
rsrikant...@gmail.com mailto:rsrikant...@gmail.com wrote:

Is receiving money as an individual from a foreign body
in violation of the Act?
If that is so, won't half of India be violating it?

I have a copy of the Act from the Ministry of Law and
Justice and it doesn't seem to say so.



On 13 May 2014 19:11, Ravishankar ravidre...@gmail.com
mailto:ravidre...@gmail.com wrote:

Hey,

Is there a legal threat for Wikimedia community
volunteers in India getting Individual engagement
grants and grants for running community events from WMF?

An alert regarding this has been raised here:


https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Staff_proposal_assessment#Additional_concern_that_should_be_taken_on_board

Any professional legal / financial advise will be
much appreciated.

Thanks,

Ravi



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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Legal threat for Wikimedia community volunteers in India getting WMF grants

2014-05-14 Thread Vishnu


On Wednesday 14 May 2014 11:29 AM, Ravishankar wrote:
How  were programs like India Education program run? Will this come 
under FCRA violation? How is the IEP different from any community led 
event in receiving foreign money and executing projects?

Dear Ravi,

I do not have a clue how this was done. It is best to seek clarification 
from the team that was involved from WMF.


Best,
Vishnu

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] On CIS's grants request from Wikimedia Foundation

2014-05-14 Thread Vishnu

Dear Ravi,

On Wednesday 14 May 2014 01:02 PM, Ravishankar wrote:

Vishnu,

//Please note that CIS has never kept its documents closed to open 
them again. //


//We had also thrown open all our document to the general public for 
scrutiny during May 2013. I have written to members on this list and 
other Wikimedia lists, inviting them to come and scrutinize all our 
documents during this Open Week.//


Please let me know when is this open week for 2014.


It was done as part of the CIS's 5th anniversary. I am not sure if we 
will have a similar open week for 2014. But should we get the FDC 
funding, I would like to explore means by which the community can also 
take part in financially auditing the A2K expenses. We could discuss 
this separately, later?




I would like to come and have a look at the MoU you signed with WMF.
As stated earlier on this mailing list, we are unable to share this MoU 
as WMF has given us a clear instruction not to do so.




Since WMF is silent on answering crucial questions on the MoU, could 
you please answer one question:


What is the exit clause for your working partnership with WMF?


The Grant agreement is for two years.

Best,
Vishnu


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] On CIS's grants request from Wikimedia Foundation

2014-05-14 Thread Vishnu

Dear Hari,

On Wednesday 14 May 2014 02:11 PM, Hari Prasad Nadig wrote:


[..snip..]

On 14 May 2014 12:53, Vishnu visdav...@gmail.com 
mailto:visdav...@gmail.com wrote:




I'm afraid that just the explanations may not suffice here as the
concerns are serious in nature. I sincerely hope that you shall
open up the documents for at least the sake of transparency.


Please note that CIS has never kept its documents closed to open
them again. CIS gets its financial and institutional documents
scrutinized every year and reports to multiple authorities as part
of various statutory compliances.


[...]

Noted.

Kindly make the following documents public:

 1. Information about the AGMs and elections held by CIS for its
governing body for all these years.
 2. Latest copy of the Memorandum of Association as filed with the
Registrar of Societies, Karnataka (as mandated by Clause 13 of the
Karnataka Societies Registration act).
 3. The annual filings of CIS with the Registrar of Societies,
Karnataka for all these years.
 4. The property ownership documents of the premises where CIS office
works from.
 5. The MoU signed by CIS with WMF.
 6. The FCRA certification and compliance related documents.



We do not have the property ownership documents (no. 4) as CIS does not 
own the building. These are with the owners and we cannot provide them.


As stated on this list many times we cannot share the WMF Grant 
Agreement (no. 5) without the explicit permission from WMF.


Rest of the documents could be made available. But the admin team is in 
the middle of audit. Let me consult Sunil (he will return to office mid 
next week) and get back on this.


Best,
Vishnu
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] On CIS's grants request from Wikimedia Foundation

2014-05-13 Thread Vishnu

Dear Wikimedians,

Some responses here on Meta [1] on behalf of CIS. I have also commented 
in my individual capacity on the statutory aspects to the best of my 
knowledge. Also see some in-line replies.


On Monday 12 May 2014 05:45 PM, Hari Prasad Nadig wrote:

Fellow Wikimedians,

As you all know, Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore has sought 
funding of about *1.8 Crores* through the FDC process from Wikimedia 
Foundation to carry out work on seven local language projects in India 
that includes Kannada, Telugu among others. [1]
The funds primarily cover the salaries of the people belonging to the 
CIS-A2K team among other administrative expenses and other expenses as 
outlined on their proposal page.


As may of you know, please note that CIS has proposed the said budget to 
implement 21 plans of which there are 7 language area plans, 8 stand 
along projects, 3 community strengthening initiatives, etc.




The proposal was up for Community review and comments until April 30th 
and many have recorded their response about it [2]. Several community 
members have come forward in pointing out that the staff salaries 
being paid and that being proposed - are quite on the higher side 
(which is up to 2.4 Lakhs per month per person).


As you may have already seen in the budget, please note that the salary 
proposed is for 7 employees on the CIS-A2K team and the average per 
person salary would come to less than 1 lakh per month, per person and 
not as stated above.


CIS-A2K welcomes your feedback and suggestions.

Thank you,
Vishnu

[1] - 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form
[2] - 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form
[3] - 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Budget#Budget_as_per_Expenditure_Heads



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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikipedia-gu] Attn: Wikisource communities - Don't waste your time typing text. Get paid.

2014-05-02 Thread Vishnu

Dear Dhaval,

I am sharing the link on the Meta where this has been discussed

Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form#Questions_about_this_form_and_the_relationship_between_CIS_and_Wikimedia

Best,
Vishnu


On Friday 02 May 2014 12:38 PM, Dhaval S. Vyas wrote:


Dear Kartikbhai,

That is not the proposal by Gujarati wiki community, it is from CIS. 
Also, if you notice, in that proposal, there is no payment to the 
community, who will really be putting pain in 
digitising/uploading/typing/correcting the content. And on the 
contrary, CIS staff will be paid a reasonable share from the grant.


I have my name mentioned in that proposal, for which I have to had 
provide declaration on a discussion page of CIS's grant application. I 
am on my mobile at the moment so can't find the link to it to share. 
If anyone wants to see my comment, let me know and I will share the link.


Yes, of course, the idea on which CIS has built the proposal was from 
me, but I had only spoken once soon after wikimenia and then came to 
know about proposal just when it was ready. I have had no more 
involvement in that proposal apart from initial idea, which was 
jointly shared by Sushant Savla, a fellow admin on gu.wikisource.


Dhaval

On 2 May 2014 04:33, Kartik Mistry kartik.mis...@gmail.com 
mailto:kartik.mis...@gmail.com wrote:


On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 1:45 AM, Dhaval S. Vyas dsv...@gmail.com
mailto:dsv...@gmail.com wrote:
 Please visit the link in below email, where Wikimedia Foundation
(shortly
 known as WMF) is suggesting that they are funding (in simpler
term paying)
 for content upload. This is the task that we all are doing free
of cost so
 far. Because you have uploaded hundreds (may be thousands) of
pages so far
 as we have created 50+ books on gu.wikisource, all our efforts
will be paid
 now by WMF (in fact should have been paid so far as well). If
you have any
 doubt, reach out to User:Bluerasberry and User:Ijon on meta
 (meta.wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org). Asaf
(User:Ijon) clearly suggests that Bots are under
 the paid activity considered by WMF.



https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form#Q2c

Already in progress:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/100_Books_on_Gujarati_Wikisource

--
Kartik Mistry/કાર્તિક મિસ્ત્રી | IRC: kart_
{kartikm, 0x1f1f}.wordpress.com http://wordpress.com



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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposed Wiki Data Marathon program by CIS-A2K

2014-04-30 Thread Vishnu

Dear Ravi,

On Wednesday 30 April 2014 01:12 PM, Ravishankar wrote:
But, when an unusually high amount is spent on a resource person 
through CIS-A2K, I can't help point out the double standards followed 
for similar programs planned by WMIN.


Please check

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Tinucherian_and_Shijualex/Wiki_Community_development_in_India_and_newsletter/Report

a similar pan India outreach program done by two volunteers for 
roughly 13% of this whole Wiki Data Marathon program.


With due respect to what has been done... I don't think this takes into 
account the salary component and if it is only travel expenses then 
after 3 years the proposed travel budget is comparable. I could not but 
notice this in the report // Going forward we will not be able to 
contribute actively in these community building efforts due to our 
current personal and professional priorities.// which requires some 
introspection.


Cheers,
Vishnu

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposed Wiki Data Marathon program by CIS-A2K

2014-04-25 Thread Vishnu
 will assume 
good faith and understand our sincere intentions about this program, 
whether we will be able to do it or not.


Best,
Vishnu
[1] 
Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form#Replies_to_FDC_Staff_about_CIS_Programs
[2] 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF-A2K_Revised_Budget_%28draft%29_and_Utilization_Sept_12-Feb_13.pdf
[3] This is the posting on list just after I returned from DivCon 
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2013-November/010670.html
[4] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Wikidata_India_Marathon
[5] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Wiki-Data_India_Marathon#Budget



On Thursday 24 April 2014 12:16 AM, Ravishankar wrote:

Hoi Gerard,

( Context for others:

Please see

* 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Wiki-Data_India_Marathon


* 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form#Q14


* 
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2014-April/011104.html 
)


//If something new has to start and Wikidata is new, then it needs 
more than just a video or a conference call.//


100s of Wikimedia projects, including many in India, didn't need any 
kind of intervention.


//I gave a presentation to professionals who work in data. It took me 
an hour to set up the environment with them and for them so that they 
could start.. We had a meeting for three hours and we scratched the 
surface enough to make a difference. The fact that we were together 
ensured good faith and enough understanding.//


Are they Wikimedians? It is enough if Wikimedians can make sense of it.

If Wikimedians are not able to make sense of it, then we need to 
improve Wiki Data for the global community too.


//I have seen some of the agenda and if only a fifth of what is 
started pays of it is well worth the investment.//


Is it?

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Narrowing_Focus_presentation_to_the_Board_(26_October_2012).pdf 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Narrowing_Focus_presentation_to_the_Board_%2826_October_2012%29.pdf


talks about reducing focus on events.

WMIN's FDC proposal was heavily criticized for a focus on events and 
its impact was questioned.


And yet, we have an event for Wiki Data with a proposed budget as follows:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Wiki-Data_India_Marathon#Budget

This is 29.7% of the annual budget of WMIN !

To give a context this is almost 40% of the 2011 Wikimedia India 
conference !!


The single biggest expense in this Wiki Data Marathon program is the 
cost for resource person which is 4,50,000 INR.


So much cost for a resource person for a month hints that this could 
be someone visiting India from abroad.


Any idea who this is ? :)

Even University faculties don't understand Wikipedia editor and our 
markup.


So, what do we do? Run marathons like this for all Wikipedia projects?

//Just consider what a challenge it is to bring Wikidata to India in a 
way where it actually makes a difference.//


Please provide evidence that this is an India specific problem. When 
communities don't even get the decade long Wikipedia project, it is 
only expected that they won't get Wiki Data too.


How good is Wiki Data adoption in similar parts of the word and how do 
you address it?


Thanks,

Ravi



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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] WMIN's grant report

2014-04-24 Thread Vishnu


On Tuesday 22 April 2014 10:29 PM, Ravishankar wrote:
It is interesting that CIS-A2K makes ceremonial media reports about 
the MoUs it signs with institutions but the MoU it signed with WMF is 
not public yet.


See:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:CIS-A2K_MoU_signing_ceremony_with_KISS-KIIT

CIS-A2K grant is expring this year and WMF has assured of no never 
ending renewals but CIS-A2k goes on to make 3 year long MoUs.


Quote:


  Signed an MoU with Goa University

Goa University entered into a three year MoU with CIS for building 
Konkani Wikipedia. As part of this partnership, Goa University and 
CIS-A2K will work together to help build Konkani Wikipedia and community.


http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/work-accomplished-konkani-wikipedia

So, I hope both WMF and CIS will honor the community by making the MoU 
they signed a public record.


Thanks,

Ravi

P.S. Here is another instance of a request for the same -

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Forum/Archives/2013-08#Terms_.2F_MoU_for_India_A2K_project

Dear Ravi,

CIS has earlier stated on this mailing list itself that it does not have 
a problem sharing the agreement of the WMF's existing grant and Asaf has 
clarified WMF's stance on this matter.


With regard to the other MoUs CIS-A2K has signed with various 
institutional partnerships... please note that the term is often 
determined by the institutional partner and we do not insist on changing 
the institutional systems, which anyhow does not productively contribute 
the programmatic aspect. Also all our MoUs have an exit clause with one 
months notice by either of the parties. So CIS-A2K is extremely clear 
what it would do if the further phase of support does not come through. 
Trust this helps.


Best,
Vishnu
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] A new steward from India

2014-04-24 Thread Vishnu

Congratulations Shanmugam!!

Cheers,
Vishnu

On Wednesday 23 April 2014 03:30 PM, Ravishankar wrote:

Hey,

Just wanted to let you know that Shanmugam has been elected as a 
Steward recently. He started editing in Tamil Wikipedia and serves as 
a sysop there.


He is available in the Indian time zone and should be able to make 
sense of issues involving some of the Indian language Wikimedia projects.


Do reach him at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Shanmugamp7 if you 
need help from a steward.


Ravi


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Reports on WMF grants team visit

2014-04-18 Thread Vishnu

Dear Ravi,

Thanks for flagging this. You did send an earlier reminder about this, 
but we completely got consumed by the work planning and the FDC proposal 
and could not get to this. Apologies!


Will share the draft soon and will request friends from WMIN EC to 
contribute to it.


Cheers,
Vishnu

On Friday 18 April 2014 10:41 AM, Ravishankar wrote:

Any updates on this?

I asked Anushaya about this during IRC with Indic Wiki IRC in Feb 2014 
and she said I should ask WMIN and CIS-A2K :)



//
Hey,

Any reports from Wikimedia India chapter / CIS - A2K regarding the 
plans after WMF grants' team visit?


Thanks,

Ravi//


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Reports on WMF grants team visit

2014-04-18 Thread Vishnu

Hi Karthik,

I think our mails crossed. We will take lead in sharing a draft with you 
and other in the EC for your inputs, soon.


Best,
Vishnu

On Friday 18 April 2014 12:40 PM, Karthik Nadar wrote:

Hi Ravi,

Thanks for bringing this up.

I was wrong in believing that WMF and CIS would actively take part on 
this while making the report, but none of the full time paid people 
seem to be interested. Wikimedia India would take it up, but the 
report will completely one-sided, thus requesting the concerned 
parties (WMF and CIS) to initiate or participate and help us on this.



On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 10:41 AM, Ravishankar ravidre...@gmail.com 
mailto:ravidre...@gmail.com wrote:


Any updates on this?

I asked Anushaya about this during IRC with Indic Wiki IRC in Feb
2014 and she said I should ask WMIN and CIS-A2K :)


//
Hey,

Any reports from Wikimedia India chapter / CIS - A2K regarding the
plans after WMF grants' team visit?

Thanks,

Ravi//

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Karthik Nadar.


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] CIS-A2K Work Plan for July 14-June 15

2014-04-16 Thread Vishnu

Dear Ansuman and Wikimedians,

Thanks for engaging with our plans. We have replied to some and in the 
process of replying to some more of your questions on Meta here [0] and 
it will be good to continue the discussions there. Some replies to 
questions not raised on Meta.


On Tuesday 15 April 2014 12:07 PM, ansuman wrote:
It also claims that it works with WMIN here [2], but has anyone from 
WMIN involved in making the corresponding plans/proposals?


We had invited WMIN EC to share their inputs and feedback on the plans 
on March 22, 2014. It would have been nice to have shared these a bit 
more early (after knowing how stretched the EC members are), however, it 
took more time than anticipated in putting up the plans.


Here[3] it's written, Based on the protocol agreed upon by the WMIN, 
CIS-A2K will in consultation with WMIN continue to support and serve 
the Wikimedia communities in India.
What protocol? How come it's not been out yet? CISA2K needs support 
from WMIN and Communities in India. 


During the first meeting with the WMIN Chapter EC, held on February 24, 
2013, we had mutually agreed upon certain protocols of working together. 
Detailed minutes of this meeting are available here [1]. CIS-A2K has 
mostly adhered to these protocols. There were some unintentional lapses 
in communication, which were raised by the EC during our recent meeting 
in February 2014. During this meeting we have also discussed how the 
complementarity between us could be further improved.


At least here in this sentence, CISA2K should write that it will 
collaborate with WMIN and work with Wikimedia communities in India!!


About collaborating with WMIN... We have extended help to WMIN whenever 
asked for and the Executive Committee (EC) of WMIN has been generous to 
give us inputs and feedback on our plans and activities since September 
2012, when the WMF gave a grant. During the last 18 months we reached 
out to the WMIN EC periodically [2] and had consulted the EC before 
executing key activities and extending significant support to volunteers 
and communities in India. We also collaborated with the WMIN and in 
organizing events like the Creative Commons India re-launch. CIS will 
continue to engage and collaborate with the WMIN. For the coming year we 
specifically propose to more actively work with WMIN in the following 
activities.


   * One out of the 7 Language Area Plans which would be Bangla
   
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Bangla.
   * In extending general support and service to the movement in India
   
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/General_Support_and_Service_to_the_Movement.
   * Med GLAM Project
   
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Med_GLAM_Project
   * Gujarati Wikisource Project
   
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/100_Books_on_Gujarati_Wikisource
   * Wiki Loves Public Arts, India
   
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Wiki_Loves_Public_Art_%28India%29

Best,
Vishnu
[0] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015
[1] 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j6xofnVk59WT7rh8FcytsOBRAW6uA8hJxov0EEkXHhs/edit?usp=sharing
[2] For instance, (based on a quick look at my Sent folder) after I took 
over as the Director of CIS-A2K in February 2013 I have written to them 
62 times.
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] CIS-A2K Work Plan for July 14-June 15

2014-04-16 Thread Vishnu

Dear Wikimedians,

Sharing the below some replies, which were put up on Meta [1], in case 
you have missed seeing it. Sorry for cross-posting. It would be good to 
continue the discussions on Meta.


On Monday 14 April 2014 12:24 PM, Ravishankar wrote:


(copy of this comment placed at 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015 
. We can continue discussing there)


Hi,

Thanks for the elaborate work plan.

1. The way the budget is presented at

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015#Budget

is misleading. A good percent of this budget will be spent on staff 
salary, travel logisitics and other things which will not be there if 
the work is done by the community. So, this is not the actual cost 
needed for the desired output but the cost arising because of the 
involvement of paid professionals.


So besides this way of presenting the budget, there should also be a 
regular way of presenting budget like how the chapters are asked to 
submit during FDC application. It can be noted that during the last 
round of FDC funding application, WMIN faced very strict criterion 
regarding infrastructure cost, staff salary cost.


Hi Ravi, thanks for engaging with the work plans and the questions. Have 
tried to address some within the context of the work plans.
We had shared a google spreadsheet [2], which gives a micro level 
picture of the Budget against each of the planned activity. Also each 
plan has an independent budget and is closely mapped on to the 
implementation plan, and clearly lists the proposed expenses for CIS-A2K 
staff costs and travel costs. An attempt is made to correlate why we are 
spending a certain amount on a certain activity. Thus all these budgets 
are very optimally planned and the overall budget is an assimilation. 
CIS-A2K chose this design to provide mission level transparency to our 
work and to provide a clear structure of accountability to the movement 
and community. However, based on your feedback we have realized that it 
would be useful to also give item-wise break-up on Meta. We have given 
this budget break-up here [3].




2. I have an eerie feeling that the community development work in 
India is getting outsourced to NGOs like CIS at the cost of crippling 
budding local chapters like WMIN. The way Hindi Wikipedia seeks help 
for content management (fixing Google articles) confirms my concern.


3. Where can I find WMF's open assessment of the work done by CIS-A2K 
in the previous year? How is the cost for the work done justified? If 
the cost if justified, then the actual communities and the content 
they have developed on their on own are worth many crores of Indian 
rupees. But, we face strict guidelines when applying for grants 
whereas NGOs like CIS don't have that strict criterion.




We feel it is more productive to see the complementarity between the 
WMIN and CIS-A2K than to pitch them as competitors for financial 
resources. The later would undermine trust-building and consequently 
threatens the growing synergies between WMIN and CIS-A2K. It is 
particularly intriguing that outsourcing is being mentioned here as a 
model. Would be useful to have more clarity and larger discussion on 
these. Probably, it would be apt to raise these broader concerns on 
CIS-A2K's FDC proposal discussion page [4].


Best,
Vishnu
[1] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015#Budget.2C_CIS_support_rationale_and_Assessment_by_WMF
[2] 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AshSF7ZKRBR5dGpMUnNKdHItUFJGMHluQUFxZGRHMmcusp=sharing#gid=4
[3] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Budget
[4] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Photography and ethics symposium

2014-04-16 Thread Vishnu

Dear Shyamal,

Thanks for sharing this. CIS will explore the possibilities of web 
streaming this event.


Will share details closer to the date.

Best,
Vishnu

On Monday 07 April 2014 02:09 PM, Shyamal L. wrote:

This might be of interest and worth participation in by the Chapter.

http://wantedseries.com/ethics-in-photography-symposium/

Symposium Objectives
The main symposium objectives are to:
►   Bring together thinkers, scholars and practitioners of photography 
as well as the media, museums, social and business institutions, to 
examine the   state of ethics and values in photography and to 
formulate a voluntary code of ethical conduct for creators and 
consumers of photographs
►   Promote a rich and open environment in which to discuss these 
critical and urgent issues
►   Develop effective strategies to disseminate and implement across 
India the outcomes of the symposium.


Symposium Topics:
Relevant research work on all aspects of ethics in relation to 
photography including but not limited to:

►  Freedom of Expression
► Censorship
►  Freedom of Information
►  Morals or Ethics?
► Copyright/Copyleft /Creative commons
►  Ethics policies: funding agencies and policy makers
►  Information Law Language, Culture and Ethics Code of conduct
►  Principles and standards of ethical behavior
►  Genres of photography and ethical differences 
(nature/anthropological / photojournalism)

► Conservation ethics

August 11, 2014
Goethe-lnstitut/ Max Mueller Bhavan 3, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi

best wishes
Shyamal




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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] CIS-A2K Work Plan for July 14-June 15

2014-04-16 Thread Vishnu

Dear Wikimedians,

Sorry for cross-posting this from Meta.

On Tuesday 15 April 2014 07:31 PM, Ravishankar wrote:

'''Questions for CIS-A2K'''

4. How do you attribute or separate the performance of CIS-A2K from 
the organic efforts and the growth of the community?


5. What is the (subtle) pressure, if any, on the community to achieve 
the expected results? The plan is quite ambitious but looks completely 
top down in approach. Do you expect the community to be burnt out?


Hi Ravi, as always appreciate your active engagement with CIS-A2K's 
work. Responses below.
* The methodology we follow to assess our impact is a year on year 
tracking of various metrics for a particular focus language area. We 
have discussed this in detail in all the 4 language plans that we 
propose to continue to work from last year. For instance, see the 
discussion on impact on Telugu language projects here[1]. Also see our 
quarterly reports, for instance this[2]. We have also set out SMART 
goals, wherever possible, for the Stand-alone Wikimedia Projects[3], 
Community Strengthening Initiatives [4], etc, which will be 
independently tracked. Would be nice to get suggestions on how we could 
do this in a better way.
* It is difficult to give a simple and direct answer to the question 
about pressure and burn-out, as the experiences change from community to 
community and also within the community. For instance, some Wikimedians 
within a language community were concerned when an activity was not 
successful and get more involved and bothered, whereas some are ok and 
some just move on after doing whatever they can and so on. We have been 
following the strategy of focus language area interventions for exactly 
a year now and have not experienced a community level burn-out, which 
could be a rare possibility. Even while doing off-wiki activities like 
community events, outreach, etc. we try to ensure that the CIS-A2K does 
majority of the leg work and conserves the volunteer time for more 
productive purposes.
: We are cautiously ambitious about the plans. There were many more 
ideas that were thrown at us, which we could not accommodate. For 
instance, one of the Urdu Wikipedia admins wrote to us asking to take up 
the development of Urdu Wikipedia project by growing the community in 
India, we have requests from institutions to partner with us for 
Wikimedia work that we are unable to honour currently, etc.
: Top-down approach: Could you please say more about the top-down 
approach, probably citing some examples from any one of 21 plans? Thanks!


Best,
Vishnu

[1] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Telugu#Impact
[2] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Reports/CIS-A2K_Quarterly_Report_1/Telugu
[3] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015#Stand-alone_Wikimedia_Projects
[4] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015#Community_Strengthening_Initiatives





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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] CIS-A2K Work Plan for July 14-June 15

2014-04-16 Thread Vishnu

Dear Ansuman,

It is not clear what you mean by No outcome. It would be helpful if 
you could take up one of the plans, for instance Odia[1] which you are 
more familiar with, and give some examples. Please feel free to 
critically assess the plan and point out lacunas and suggest 
improvements. This will help us with other language plans too.


Would appreciate if you could also post this feedback on the work plan 
page on Odia Wikipedia [2] so that the larger Odia community will also 
see it.


Thanks,
Vishnu
[1] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Odia

[2] https://or.wikipedia.org/s/l7x


On Wednesday 16 April 2014 11:24 PM, ansuman wrote:
Vishnu, glad to see your prompt replies...not good enough..you left 
some important points!!

All i see is plans and reports.. No outcome!

Ansuman




On 16 April 2014 21:28, Vishnu visdav...@gmail.com 
mailto:visdav...@gmail.com wrote:


Dear Wikimedians,

Sharing the below some replies, which were put up on Meta [1], in
case you have missed seeing it. Sorry for cross-posting. It would
be good to continue the discussions on Meta.


On Monday 14 April 2014 12:24 PM, Ravishankar wrote:


(copy of this comment placed at

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015
. We can continue discussing there)

Hi,

Thanks for the elaborate work plan.

1. The way the budget is presented at


https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015#Budget

is misleading. A good percent of this budget will be spent on
staff salary, travel logisitics and other things which will
not be there if the work is done by the community. So, this is
not the actual cost needed for the desired output but the cost
arising because of the involvement of paid professionals.

So besides this way of presenting the budget, there should
also be a regular way of presenting budget like how the
chapters are asked to submit during FDC application. It can be
noted that during the last round of FDC funding application,
WMIN faced very strict criterion regarding infrastructure
cost, staff salary cost.


Hi Ravi, thanks for engaging with the work plans and the
questions. Have tried to address some within the context of the
work plans.
We had shared a google spreadsheet [2], which gives a micro level
picture of the Budget against each of the planned activity. Also
each plan has an independent budget and is closely mapped on to
the implementation plan, and clearly lists the proposed expenses
for CIS-A2K staff costs and travel costs. An attempt is made to
correlate why we are spending a certain amount on a certain
activity. Thus all these budgets are very optimally planned and
the overall budget is an assimilation. CIS-A2K chose this design
to provide mission level transparency to our work and to provide a
clear structure of accountability to the movement and community.
However, based on your feedback we have realized that it would be
useful to also give item-wise break-up on Meta. We have given this
budget break-up here [3].



2. I have an eerie feeling that the community development work
in India is getting outsourced to NGOs like CIS at the cost of
crippling budding local chapters like WMIN. The way Hindi
Wikipedia seeks help for content management (fixing Google
articles) confirms my concern.

3. Where can I find WMF's open assessment of the work done by
CIS-A2K in the previous year? How is the cost for the work
done justified? If the cost if justified, then the actual
communities and the content they have developed on their on
own are worth many crores of Indian rupees. But, we face
strict guidelines when applying for grants whereas NGOs like
CIS don't have that strict criterion.


We feel it is more productive to see the complementarity between
the WMIN and CIS-A2K than to pitch them as competitors for
financial resources. The later would undermine trust-building and
consequently threatens the growing synergies between WMIN and
CIS-A2K. It is particularly intriguing that outsourcing is being
mentioned here as a model. Would be useful to have more clarity
and larger discussion on these. Probably, it would be apt to raise
these broader concerns on CIS-A2K's FDC proposal discussion page [4].

Best,
Vishnu
[1]

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015#Budget.2C_CIS_support_rationale_and_Assessment_by_WMF
[2]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AshSF7ZKRBR5dGpMUnNKdHItUFJGMHluQUFxZGRHMmcusp=sharing#gid=4
[3

[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: [Wikimedia-l] Wikipedians in Residence -- what makes a good program

2014-04-14 Thread Vishnu

Sorry for cross posting. This could be useful in the Indian context too.

Cheers,
Vishnu


 Original Message 
Subject: 	[Wikimedia-l] Wikipedians in Residence -- what makes a good 
program

Date:   Mon, 14 Apr 2014 11:29:46 -0700
From:   Pete Forsyth petefors...@gmail.com
Reply-To:   Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org
To: Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org



I thought it might be worthwhile to put some attention on what a well
planned and effective Wikipedian in Residence program looks like.
Especially for anybody on this list whose introduction to the topic was the
Belfer Center program, this might be a worthwhile read:

Five things a Wikipedian in Residence can do:
http://wikistrategies.net/5-things-wikipedian-in-residence/

This is of course only 5 things -- not the 5 things. Perhaps others
will post ideas about what a great WiR does.

Pete
[[User:Peteforsyth]]
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[Wikimediaindia-l] CIS-A2K Work Plan for July 14-June 15

2014-03-31 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

I am glad to share with you the detailed work plan of CIS-A2K for
the period July 2014-July 2015 [1] . This work plan consists of 21
plans across 6 verticals. 

These are:

* 7 Language Area Plans
* 3 Community Strengthening Initiatives
* 8 Stand-alone Wikimedia Projects
* Creating Movement Resources
* Publicity, Research and Documentation
* General Support and Service to the Movement

The work plan includes details of aims, objectives, programme
activities and expected outcomes. Most of the language area plans
were put together in active consultation with the respective
Wikimedia language communities. Various inputs and ideas
contributed, opportunities provided, and challenges thrown at the
CIS-A2K program during the last year by the Wikimedia communities in
India, our institutional partners, Executive Committee (EC) of
Wikimedia India Chapter (WMIN) and the Wikimedia Foundation's
Grantmaking Team have significantly informed our work plans.

Each plan has an independent budget and is closely mapped on to the
implementation plan. An attempt is made to correlate why we are
spending a certain amount on a certain activity. Thus all these
budgets are very optimally planned and the overall budget is an
assimilation. CIS-A2K believes that this will give mission level
transparency to our work and provide a clearer structure of
accountability to the movement and the community.

Please do share your feedback and inputs on the respective plan
discussion pages. We would be glad to correct ourselves if you could
point out to any major omissions and errors in plans. We will be
approaching the FDC requesting support for this work plan [2]. 

Thanks,
Vishnu
(Program Director, CIS-A2K)
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form



  


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[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: Re: Gujarati Wikisource - completes 50 books

2014-03-27 Thread Vishnu

Please see the below email from Sushant Savla.

Congratulations to Sushant and other Gujarati Wikimedians for their 
efforts in achieving this milestone!!


Best,
Vishnu

 Original Message 
Subject:Re: Gujarati Wikisource - completes 50 books
Date:   27 Mar 2014 15:01:24 -
From:   sushant savla sushant_sa...@rediffmail.com
To: vis...@cis-india.org




Dear Vishnu,

this is in continuation to our telecon regarding i am not able to get my 
name registered in Wikimedia India list hence writing this email to you.


Gujarati Wikisource has achieved yet another milestone on its second 
birthday (29.03.2014) completed uploading full 50 books which has come 
in public domain.


The collection of these 50 books includes well known Gujarati literary 
creations in the form of Autobiography, Novels, Plays, Collection of 
Poems, Essays, Moral Stories etc. This includes works of prominent 
writers such as Mahatma Gandhi, Zaverchand Meghani, Kavi Nhanalal, 
Surasinhji Gohil, Educationist Gijubhai Badheka, Kavi Dalapatram, 
Ramanlal Nilkanth etc.


This feat was achieved in 2 years time.

As OCR is not available, volunteers of Gujarati wiki Community have 
typed this books. The community proceeds in a planned manner. A book is 
selected and its announcement is made at common platform on source. 
Volunteer interested joins the project. Chapters are distributed among 
the particants and proof reading is done. Once completed, another book 
is undertaken.


Kindly inform this on Indian Community List

Regards

Sushant


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[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: [Wikimedia-l] Call for Individual Engagement Grant proposals and committee members

2014-02-28 Thread Vishnu

Dear Wikimedians,

Individual Engagement Grants Committee is receiving proposals. Do share 
and encourage applicants with interesting ideas to improve Wikimedia 
projects.


Best,
Vishnu


 Original Message 
Subject: 	[Wikimedia-l] Call for Individual Engagement Grant proposals 
and committee members

Date:   Fri, 28 Feb 2014 11:04:47 -0800
From:   Siko Bouterse sboute...@wikimedia.org
Reply-To:   Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org
To: wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org



Hi all,

The Wikimedia Foundation and the Individual Engagement Grants Committee
invite you to submit and review proposals for community-led experiments to
improve Wikimedia!

Individual Engagement Grants support individuals and small teams to
organize projects for 6 months. You can get funding to turn your idea for
improving Wikimedia projects into action, with a grant for online community
organizing, outreach and partnerships, tool-building, or research. Funding
is available for a few hundred dollars up to $30,000.

Proposals for this round are due 31 March 2014:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG

We're also seeking new committee members to help review and recommend
proposals for funding. Candidates are invited to sign up by 9 March 2014:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Committee

Some examples of projects we've funded in the past:

*Organizing social media for Chinese Wikipedia ($350 for materials)[1]

*Improving gadgets for Visual Editor ($4500 for developers)[2]

*Coordinating free access to reliable sources for Wikipedians ($7500 for
project management, consultants and materials)[3]

*Building community and strategy for Wikisource (EURO 1 for organizing and
travel)[4]

You can read more on the WMF blog:

https://blog.wikimedia.org/tag/individual-engagement-grants/

Hope to have your participation in this round!

Best wishes,

Siko


[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Build_an_effective_method_of_publicity_in_PRChina

[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Visual_editor-_gadgets_compatibility

[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Library
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Elaborate_Wikisource_strategic_vision

--
Siko Bouterse
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

sboute...@wikimedia.org

*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. *
*Donate https://donate.wikimedia.org or click the edit button today,
and help us make it a reality!*
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[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2014 scholarship now accepting application

2014-01-08 Thread Vishnu

  
  
Dear Wikimedians,

FYI

Vishnu

  
   Original Message 
  

  
Subject:

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2014 scholarship now accepting
  application
  
  
Date: 
Wed, 08 Jan 2014 17:37:11 +
  
  
From: 
Katie Chan k...@ktchan.info
  
  
Reply-To:

Wikimedia Mailing List
  wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org
  
  
To: 
Wikimania general list (open subscription)
  wikimani...@lists.wikimedia.org
  
  
CC: 
wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org
  

  
  
  
  Hi all,

Scholarship applications for Wikimania 2014 in London are now being 
accepted. Applications are open until the end of the day UTC on 17 February.

Wikimania 2014 scholarships is an award given to an individual to enable 
them to attend Wikimania in London from 6-10 August, 2014.

Only a single type of scholarship will be available from the Wikimedia 
Foundation for Wikimania 2014. A Wikimedia Foundation scholarship will 
cover the cost of an individual's round-trip travel costs as arranged by 
the Wikimedia Foundation travel agency, shared accommodation as arranged 
by the Wikimedia Foundation, and registration for Wikimania.

Applicants will be rated using a pre-determined selection process and 
selection criteria by the Scholarship Committee, who will determine 
which are successful. To learn more about Wikimania 2014 scholarships, 
please visit https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarships.

To apply for a scholarship, fill out the application form on 
http://scholarships.wikimedia.org/apply. It is highly recommended that 
applicants review all of the material on the Scholarships page and the 
associated FAQ before submitting an application.

If you have any question, please contact 
wikimania-scholarsh...@wikimedia.org or leave a message on 
https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Scholarships.

Katie Chan
Chair, Scholarship Committee

-- 
Katie Chan
Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the view of any organisation the author is associated with or employed by.


Experience is a good school but the fees are high.
  - Heinrich Heine


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[Wikimediaindia-l] How to Edit Hindi Wikipedia: Video training module is ready

2014-01-07 Thread Vishnu

Dear Wikimedians,

After many weeks of effort, CISA2K is happy to share with you 
#HindiWikipedia https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/hindiwikipedia 
tutorial videos released under #CC 
https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/cc-BY-SA 4.0. The entire training 
module was produced in collaboration with the Christ University 
students, faculty and staff, as part of the 
Wikipedia-in-the-UG-Language-Classroom program. CISA2K is grateful to 
the wholehearted supported extended by the Christ University towards 
this endeavour. A total of 10 videos are thoughtfully produced to teach 
anyone how to edit Hindi Wikipedia and are being uploaded here on 
Commons 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Learn_to_edit_Hindi_Wikipedia


All the videos can also be streamed on YouTube here 
http://bitly.com/hindiwiki


CISA2K will be happy to share the entire module in HD on a disk upon 
request.


Video tutorials on Kannada Wikipedia will follow soon.

Best,
Vishnu
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Indian Wikipedians featured in Editing Wikipedia outreach booklet

2014-01-07 Thread Vishnu

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing this Arjuna.

Congratulations Viswa and Netha!!

Vishnu

On Wednesday 08 January 2014 01:08 PM, Arjuna Rao Chavala wrote:

Hi,

The new edition of Welcome to Wikipedia called Editing Wikipedia 
features  Viswa (Page 6 ) and Netha (Page 16) from India.


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Editing_Wikipedia_brochure_EN.pdf

Congratulations  Viswa and Netha!


Cheers
Arjuna


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Kolkata Bookfair report

2013-12-24 Thread Vishnu

Dear Jayanta,

It's difficult to work with journalists who may be rushing to meet 
submission deadlines and end up mis-quoting the facts or give wrong 
details  :)


Probably, it may help if you could do a Press-Note and send it to all 
the Media agencies. At least they will have the correct details in hand.


All the best!!

Vishnu


On Saturday 21 December 2013 11:44 PM, Jayanta Nath wrote:
KOLKATA: In an effort to enthuse people to become regular contributors 
to its site, Wikipedia will launch a campaign at the Kolkata Book Fair 
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Kolkata-Book-Fair next 
year. It has already booked a stall and lined up an awareness 
programme to sign up volunteers. Incidentally, Kolkata fares poorly 
when it comes to contribute to the world's biggest online 
encyclopedia. At present, the city has only five contributors.


Wikipedia needs people from Kolkata to contribute voluntarily not only 
to the mother website but also to its Bengali link, Banglapedia. We 
would hold workshops where we would give presentations about how to 
edit existing material on Wiki/Banglapedia. The biggest incentive for 
any contributor is that, the moment he/she writes a piece or edits 
something, it gets updated and is published for the world to see, 
explained Jayanta Nath, chief of Banglapedia.


The Book Fair authorities have already sealed the deal and are looking 
forward to this heavyweight participant.


Wikipedia's participation will add glamour to the fair, said Tridib 
Chatterjee, general secretary of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild 
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Publishers-and-Booksellers-Guild.



On Sat, Dec 21, 2013 at 11:32 PM, Jayanta Nath jayanta...@gmail.com 
mailto:jayanta...@gmail.com wrote:


Dear all,

Now another wrong report


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Wikipedia-stall-at-book-fair-next-year/articleshow/27695829.cms

Jayanta




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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] (Announcement) Selection of Community Communications Consultant at CIS-A2K

2013-12-16 Thread Vishnu

Dear Ashwin and Pradeep,

Thanks for pointing this out. Somehow the below has missed from my 
message. Here it is.


Rahmanuddin Shaik has worked as a web developer and content provider in 
his previous job. He contributed to Telugu computing, localization and 
free software However, his main online passion has been the Wikimedia 
Foundation projects. He is an active contributor on Wikimedia Commons, 
Telugu Wikipedia and Telugu Wikisource. He has been contributing to 
Wikimedia projects since 2009 and with the current username రహ్మానుద్దీన్ 
since 2011. He is also Telugu SIG at WMIN.


Best,
Vishnu


On Friday 13 December 2013 10:04 PM, Pradeep Mohandas wrote:

Hi,

Having his Wikipedia username is as good as or better than having his 
name, Vishnu.


Pradeep

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone http://overview.mail.yahoo.com?.src=iOS



*From: * Ashwin Baindur ashwin.bain...@gmail.com;
*To: * Wikimedia India Community list 
wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org;
*Subject: * Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] (Announcement) Selection of 
Community Communications Consultant at CIS-A2K

*Sent: * Fri, Dec 13, 2013 11:26:22 AM

Can we have his user id  his biodata please?


On Fri, Dec 13, 2013 at 8:11 AM, Arjuna Rao Chavala 
arjunar...@gmail.com javascript:return wrote:


Vishnu,

Thanks for your update.

2013/12/10 Vishnu visdav...@gmail.com javascript:return

Dear Wikimedians,

I am happy to share with you that Mr. Rahimanuddin Shaik has
been selected for the role of Community Communications
Consultant at CIS-A2K! Please join me in congratulating him
on the selection and wish him success with the assignment.

My hearty Congratulations and best wishes to  Rahimanuddin Shaik.

Cheers
Arjuna

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--
Warm regards,

Ashwin Baindur
--



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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Thesis defence ( on crowdsourcing - of some interest to the community)

2013-12-11 Thread Vishnu
Interesting! Thanks for sharing this Shyamal. Could you also share the 
details of the institution? Once the Defense is done, any idea, if 
thesis be made accessible digitally?


Vishnu

On Wednesday 11 December 2013 01:39 PM, Shyamal L. wrote:

Department of Computer Science and Automation
Ph.D. Thesis Defense


Speaker :  Mr. Swaprava Nath
Title   :  Mechanism Design for Strategic Crowdsourcing
Faculty Advisor :  Prof.  Y. Narahari

Date:Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Time:11:30 AM
Venue   :  CSA Multimedia Class (Room No. 252, First Floor)


Abstract

This thesis looks into the economics of crowdsourcing using
game theoretic modeling. The art of aggregating information and expertise
from a diverse population has been in practice since a long time.

The Internet and the revolution in communication and computational
technologies has made this task easier and given birth to a new era of
online resource aggregation, which is now popularly referred to as
crowdsourcing. Two important
features of crowdsourcing are: (a) crowdsourcing
is always human driven, hence the participants are rational and intelligent
and they experience a payoff in some form through their participation, and
(b) the participants are connected over a social network. To understand

the behavior and the outcome of such a strategic crowd, we need to
understand the economics of a crowdsourcing network. In the thesis,
we have considered the following three major facets of the crowdsourcing
problem.


(i) Elicitation of the true qualities of the crowd workers:
as the crowd is often unstructured and unknown to the designer, it is
important to determine if the crowdsourced job is indeed performed at the
highest quality.


(ii) Resource critical task execution:  due to the diverse geographical,
cultural, socio-economic reasons, crowdsourcing entails certain
manipulations that are unusual in the classical theory. The design
has to
be robust enough to handle fake identities or information provided
by the crowd.

(iii) Improving the productivity of the crowdsourcing network: as the
designer's goal is to maximize some measurable output of the crowdsourcing

system, an interesting question is how one can design the network and/or
the incentive scheme so that the system performs at the optimal level
considering the strategic nature of the individuals.

In the thesis, we provide novel solutions to all the questions above

using game theoretic modeling and mechanism design innovations. Our
investigation helps in understanding certain limits of achievability,
and provides design protocols in order to make crowdsourcing more
efficient.



ALL ARE WELCOME


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia edit-a-thon on Dec 7-8 in Delhi for articles on violence against women

2013-12-04 Thread Vishnu T
A much needed edit-a-thon, Rohini. Will spread the word to individuals and
groups who could participate.

Best,
Vishnu

On Wednesday, 4 December 2013, Rohini Lakshané roh...@wikimedia.in wrote:
 Breakthrough, a global human rights organisation that runs campaigns such
as Bell Bajao, and Wikimedia Chapter (India) are conducting a Wikipedia
edit-a-thon in Delhi on December 7 and 8 for editing articles pertaining to
violence against women. Facebook page of the event:
http://www.facebook.com/events/181325168737101
 Basic idea behind this session:  A crucial problem with several Wikipedia
articles on sexual violence, especially in the Indian context, is that
often there are no articles or that articles have been deleted). It would
be a knowledge advocacy session to increase gender sensitive editing in
Wikipedia.
 The session will involve editing of articles pertaining to various
aspects of violence against women in India. A list of about 10 Wikipedia
articles has been drawn up for editing.  The session will be live-blogged.
Remote participation will be enabled through IRC channels.
 The edit-a-thon is a part of the 16 days of activism against gender
based violence starting 25th November (International Day for the
Elimination of Violence against Women) to 10 December (International Human
Rights Day). This is a global campaign that aims at raising awareness about
gender-based violence as a human rights issue. This hackathon will be
mainly focussed towards data visualisation and several organisations are
providing us with statistical datasets and other kinds of data including
audio and video.
 --
 Chairperson (Special Interest Group), Gender gap,
 Wikimedia Chapter (India)

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Request for a mediawki hackathon during Congress Everywhere at Dharamshala

2013-12-02 Thread Vishnu

Sounds like a great idea, Arun.  All the best!!

Vishnu

On Sunday 01 December 2013 06:31 PM, Arun Ganesh wrote:

Dear Indian Wikimedians,

Those of you in the hacker community would be aware that the 30th 
Chaos Communication Congress will be live streamed at a special event 
in a himalayan hackerspace called Ghoomakad [1] between Dec 27-30.


Since it will be unique gathering of technologists in this remote 
region, it is also an ideal opportunity to conduct a mediawiki 
hackathon/wikimedia outreach that will be able to target a culturally 
diverse group of people including the Tibetan exile community from 
Dharamshala which is 10 km away.


As one of the residents of the hackerspace and an active Wikimedian, I 
have prepared a proposal to the Chapter to provide for travel and 
accommodation scholarships to 4 Wikimedia volunteers who would like to 
lead and support a hackathon in the village. You can see the detailed 
proposal and budget breakdown here:


http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Grants/Congress_Everywhere_Mediawiki_hackathon

Since time is short, those interested to lead the hackathon or conduct 
outreach in the local schools can already apply for the travel 
scholarship now:

http://bit.ly/1hqFxyD

PS: Do note that this grant is pending approval by the Chapter EC and 
the scholarship is subject to that decision. In the meantime do share 
this with any community member you might know in the Delhi/North area. 
Queries on the proposal are also invited on the talk page of the proposal.


[1] http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Ghoomakad



--
Arun Ganesh
(planemad) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Planemad


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Invite to WikiSangamotsavam-2013, the annual gathering of Malayalam Wikimedians

2013-11-25 Thread Vishnu T
Thanks Netha.

Congratulations to the Malayalam Wikimedia community for doing such
detailed planning! Inviting Wikimedians from across India is a wonderful
idea!! It's a new bench mark!!!

Wishing you all lots of fun filled learning.

With a belief that this will bring more energy to the Wikimedia movement in
India,
Vishnu



On Friday, 22 November 2013, Netha Hussain nethahuss...@gmail.com wrote:
 Dear all,

 WikiSangamotsavam 2013, the annual gathering of users and well wishers of
Malayalam Wikimedia projects, will take place from 21-23 December, 2013 in
YMCA Alappuzha, Kerala. Please click here to go to the official page to see
more details.  .

 WikiSangamotsavam - 2013 is our first attempt to invite and host selected
members from other Indian Wikipedia communities. We are planning to invite
our friends and well-wishers from 14 different language wiki communities
in  India to this most auspicious occasion hosted by Malayalam wiki
community! We are also planning to arrange few scholarships for
non-Malayalam Wikimedians who are interested in participating in this
event. With all these, we expect this year’s  conference shall become the
largest outreach program any  Indian wiki community have ever attempted.

 As a part of WikiSangamotsavam-2013, we are organizing edit-a-thons,
WikiVidyarthiSangamam (a conference of students interested in Wikimedia
projects), WikiYuvaSangamam (a meetup of youth interested in Wikimedia
projects), a computer training session for the differently-abled, a
digitization drive to digitize the information regarding wetlands in Kerala
and WikiJalaYathra, a wiki voyage through Vembanadu backwaters.

 We cordially invite you to participate in WikiSangamotsavam-2013 to share
your experiences, to connect with your peers and create partnerships
thereby strengthening the Indian Wikimedia community.

 To participate in WikiSangamotsavam, please register here

 Looking forward to meeting you in Alappuzha from 21-23 December, 2013!


 On behalf of Malayalam Wikimedia Community,

 Netha Hussain
 User: Netha Hussain on Wikimedia projects


 --
 Netha Hussain
 Student of Medicine and Surgery
 Govt. Medical College, Kozhikode
 Blogs : nethahussain.blogspot.com
 swethaambari.wordpress.com


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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Tamil Wikipedia crosses 1000 total contributors milestone

2013-11-25 Thread Vishnu T
Awesome, Ravi! Congratulations to the diverse Tamil WP community!!

Loads of wishes for a wonderful wiki year ahead!

Hope to see you all during the 11th year Tamil Wiki celebrations  :-)

Cheers,
Vishnu


On 24 November 2013 23:17, Ravishankar ravidre...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi,

 October 2013 stats for Tamil Wikipedia is out. We have crossed many
 milestones in one jump coinciding with our Tenth Anniversary Celebrations!

 * 1017 Total contributors . We have crossed the 1000 milestone after
 Malayalam Wikipedia. Next in line is Hindi Wikipedia with 988 total
 contributors.

 * 118 active editors who edit 5 times a month. Highest in ten years and
 the first time we crossed 100.

 * 27 new editors joined this month. This is the second highest enrollment
 in ten years after the 2010 June state wide essay contest time.

 * 25 very active editors who edit 100 times a month. Highest in ten years.

 * We went from 1 to  2 contributors for every one million Tamil speaking
 population now.

 * Registered 8.5m million page views. That is 2,83,000 per day. Highest in
 ten years.

 We hope to sustain this activity through various initiatives.

 Thanks,

 Ravi

 References:

 1. http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediaTA.htm

 2. http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/SummaryTA.htm

 3. http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthlyCombined.htm

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: A2K, its lies and irresponsibilities

2013-11-20 Thread Vishnu T
Dear Ansuman,

Thanks for flagging this. All the profiles of the CIS-A2K team members are
now updated. Please see [1].

Best,
Vishnu

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Team

On 28 October 2013 16:46, ansuman ansum...@gmail.com wrote:



 Me:
 Please make available the job descriptions/roles for all the employees at
 meta and share the same in the mailing list.

 Vishnu:
 YES WE ARE REWORKING THE PROFILES AS THE EARLIER ROLES ARE NO MORE
 RELEVANT. WE WILL TAKE THIS UP ON PRIORITY AND PUT IT UP ON META. THE LINKS
 TO A2K TEAM MEMBER PROFILES, SHARED EVERY MONTH IN A2K NEWSLETTERS, WILL IN
 FUTURE BE LINKED TO THE META PAGES.
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: A2K, its lies and irresponsibilities

2013-11-20 Thread Vishnu T
Dear Ansuman,

On 28 October 2013 16:46, ansuman ansum...@gmail.com wrote:

 Why still *2* new recruits are missing even after several months, at
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Teamhttp://bl-1.com/click/load/ADAAMlM2Um8Hb1w7CTw-b0231
 ,

 Why there is no *monthly reports* updated on meta,
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Reportshttp://bl-1.com/click/load/VGRaaABlVmtQOFA3AjA-b0231

 Why there is no *community Mid-year reports* updated,
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Reportshttp://bl-1.com/click/load/VmZZawdiAj9ROVUyBDc-b0231


A comprehensive mid-term grant report for the period Sept. 2012 to June
2013 of CIS-A2K is published on Meta here [1].

CIS-A2K had been publishing monthly newsletters and circulating it widely
to the community through the Indian mailing lists. These give an accurate
picture of the CIS-A2K activities on a monthly basis and serve as a monthly
report of the work done. We will also initiate measures to put up these
details on Meta as indicated here [2].

Best,
Vishnu

[1] http://bit.ly/A2K-NR
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Reports#Monthly_Reports
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: A2K, its lies and irresponsibilities

2013-11-20 Thread Vishnu T
Dear Ansuman,


On 28 October 2013 16:46, ansuman ansum...@gmail.com wrote:


 Why there is no response to this, Evaluation results after months? *How
 long are your two weeks?*
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_April_2013_-_June_2014/Learning_and_Evaluationhttp://bl-1.com/click/load/UGAKOFw5WmcCagZhV2c-b0231

 We have clarified it here [1]


 What about *Quarterly Community Survey* mentioned here,
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_April_2013_-_June_2014/Learning_and_Evaluationhttp://bl-1.com/click/load/XW0PPQdiBzoFbVA3VGU-b0231?
 Is there any plan to do this ever?


 Yes, we are working on the Quarterly report for the period July-Sept. 2013
and will be sharing soon.

However, in terms of participatory and continuous mode of
evaluationhttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_April_2013_-_June_2014/Learning_and_Evaluation,
we foresee a challenge in actively involving the respective language
community members in quarterly evaluation cycles. Firstly in the five
language communities that we are focusing on, such an introspection
exercise was not done systematically before and secondly a mandatory
imposition may not be productive either for the Community or for CIS-A2K.
We do not want it to end-up becoming a task to be ticked against. Our
effort is to train the community to systematically introspect, which will
go a long way in strengthening the Indian language Wikipedias and the
associated communities. For instance, we have a beginning with Telugu
Wikimedia community. See this [2].


Best,
Vishnu

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_April_2013_-_June_2014/Learning_and_Evaluation
[2]
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%89%E0%B0%97%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%A6%E0%B0%BF_%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_%E0%B0%A4%E0%B0%B0%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%A4_%E0%B0%A4%E0%B1%86%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80_%E0%B0%AA%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%97%E0%B0%A4%E0%B0%BF
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Winners of WLM India 2013

2013-11-20 Thread Vishnu T
Wow! Amazing pics!! Congratulations to all the winners.

+1 to Karthik and everyone else who were involved.

Cheers,
Vishnu


On Thursday, 21 November 2013, Karthik Nadar karthik...@wikimedia.in
wrote:
 Dear all,

 This year, we received 11,000 images if monuments in Wiki Loves Monuments
India 2013. Over a month, the jury team has been working on to select and
nominate best images for the WLM international contest and thus also
selecting the winning images of India contest. Here are they:
http://www.wikilovesmonuments.in/here-are-the-winners-of-the-wiki-loves-monuments-2013-india-contest/


 I would like to take a moment to thank all those who helped to make this
happen. Thank you Naveen and Kiran Ravikumar for sharing your shoulders.
Thanks to jury for sending their valuable time in reviewing images. Also
thanks to Pavithra, Arun Ganesh and Manoranjan for been part of special
jury. Never to forget the international team for their kind help at all the
times!

 Thanks to Wikimedia India for funding the contest, to INTACH for
partnering it for the first time. Apologies if I have missed anyone, but
you shall also owe a thousand of thanks from the WLM team.

 PS: Could you help us spread the work through media, get in touch with me
or Naveen or Kiran!!



 Regards,
 Karthik Nadar.
 On behalf of WLM India team.

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Kerala School text books to be Licensed under Creativecommons, Printing using FOSS Tools

2013-11-15 Thread Vishnu T
Dear Anivar,

Congratulations to you, others in the SMC team and officials who are behind
this initiative!! Hope to hear about the official order.

Let the Knowledge Go around  :)

Best,
Vishnu


On 15 November 2013 18:33, Anivar Aravind anivar.arav...@gmail.com wrote:

 Sorry for the typos** earlier


 Dear all ,

 Some happy news for all of us .


 The School curriculum steering commitee of  Kerala Govt's SCERT(State
 Council Educational Research and Training)  decided  3 major points in our
 interest yesterday

 1. SCERT is improving text book printing infrastructure by shifting from
 Adobe 's softwares to FOSS based XeTeX and free licensed fonts.

 2. They will shift from ASCII to Unicode . This will also help in
 universal access for differentially abled via technologies like Text to
 Speech even in Malayalam Language .

 3. The books will be licensed under  CC-BY-SA .

 Official Order is still pending. But I am posting this since it is already
 in media reports.

 Read a report in TOI
 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Now-free-software-to-set-school-textbooks-in-Kerala/articleshow/25781341.cms

 The Change will be applicable to all newly publishing books from now
 Starting from Malayalam Text books in 5, 7, and 11th standards

 Myself, Hrishikesh K.B and a team from Swathanthra Malayalam Computing (
 http://smc.org) are working closely with SCERT from last few months to
 help  them in initiating this change process.

 Thanks to Dr. P.K Thilak, Research Officer  SCERT , Director SCERT, and
 Biju Prabhakar IAS (Director of Public Instruction, Govt of Kerala )  for
 initiating this Change.

 ~ regards
 Anivar Aravind
 Secretary
 Swathanthra Malaalam Computing
 http://smc.org.in
 Ph. 09448063780

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: Lilavati's daughters

2013-11-14 Thread Vishnu T
Thanks Gerard! Will add this info on the project page too [1] and also on
the project pages on Indic Wikipedias.

--Vishnu
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Lilavati%27s_Daughters_Edit-a-thon
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Lilavati%27s_Daughters_Edit-a-thon#Project_pages_on_Indic_Wikipedias


On 12 November 2013 14:04, Gerard Meijssen gerard.meijs...@gmail.comwrote:

 Hoi,
 I have added all the subjects of the book Lilavati's daughters to its
 Wikidata item [1]. This makes it the perfect place to coordinate
 information about all of them.

 The things that you can do:

- add labels for them in your language
- make statements about them like their date of birth
- or their alma mater
- or awards they received
- or whatever you think is relevant

 Many of these fine ladies do not yet have an article in any language that
 I am aware of. When there is an article in any language, you can add it
 however to the items that are already there. When YOUR language is not
 represented in Wikidata and, when it does have an ISO-639-3 code, we are
 really happy to give you the opportunity to add information in YOUR
 language as well.

 PS there is a Wikipedia article in several Indian languages (not in
 English) you get to all the subjects of the book (these fine Indian lady
 scientists) by clicking on the data item in the side bar.

 Thanks,
   GerardM

 [1] https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14948432

 PS I am NOT subscribed to the list.. I do not see replies

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [CIS-A2K Announcement] MoU with Christ University, Bangalore

2013-11-14 Thread Vishnu T
Hello TheOriginalSoni,

When replying to the digest it would be useful if you could edit your
Subject line so it is more specific. Have done that in this instance :)

On 10 November 2013 19:16, TheOriginalSoni the.original.s...@gmail.comwrote:

 Hello I'm new to mailing lists, so please don't mind if I do this
 incorrectly.

 Vishnu T, What would be included in the program, and wouldn't English also
 be an appropriate possible location for the same?


Yes. We could undertake a similar program also in English. However, given
the IEP experience we are careful to not hurry with such a program in
English.



 Also, are there any plans for help from the WIkipedia community itself to
 deal and help with any technical or other issues the students in the
 undergraduate program are likely to face?


Yes.  We would not be able to do this without the support of the community.
We will be putting out a call for On-Wiki mentors for this program and you
are welcome to join :)



  I hope such programs would be successful, and even extended towards other
 colleges and universities in India

 Congratulations and regards,
 Soni
 (TheOriginalSoni on enwiki)

 Let's hope for the best and thanks for your wishes.

Vishnu
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] CC Launch

2013-11-14 Thread Vishnu T
Dear Sowmyan,

Thanks for the detailed account of the event. Are there any images of the
event available on Commons? If yes, would be great to have a link.

Cheers,
Vishnu


On 15 November 2013 00:29, Sowmyan Tirumurti tsowm...@wikimedia.in wrote:

 The relaunch of the creative Commons India took place at New Delhi on 12thNov 
 2013. It was a joint effort by the three affiliates of Creative Commons
 India viz Wikimedia Chapter, Center for Internet and Society, and Acharya
 Narender Dev College. New Delhi.



 The Wikimedia banner announcements were very effective. The registrations
 exceeded 1000, and threatened to make hall capacity of 300 to be woefully
 inadequate. Mercifully, the actual attendance to registration ratio was
 just about right to make the attendees count to remain just within the
 capacity.



 Staff and Students from Acharya Narender Dev College did a lot of the
 voluntary work necessary for the arrangements.  A nice rangoli at the
 reception welcomed the visitors. They also managed the reception desk, and
 behind the screen arrangements to welcome the speakers with potted plants,
 and present them mementoes.



 Dr Savithri Singh of ANDC welcomed the gathering. Mr Lawrence Liang,
 Co-founder of Alternative Law Forum, and the organizer of the first launch
 of Creative Commons many years ago spoke first. He answered the most
 frequently asked question as to why this is a relaunch, and what happened
 after the first launch. Lawrence narrated how the first launch took place
 from IIT Mumbai. At that time the focus was to create a version of the 2.5
 license ported to Indian law. As many of you would know, though the basic
 licenses have been based on the international legal understandings among
 the nation members of the United Nations, making these enforceable among
 all these nations, further scope to port these agreements to a nation’s law
 also exists, and this is called porting. Lawrence and his associates did
 this with the 2.5 version. Lawrence remarked with humor that Ekalavya may
 have been the first person to have breached the copy right law and paid for
 it by being disabled from using the knowledge. Lawrence also spoke on the
 current international movement seeking to make the output of publicly
 funded projects public.



 Meanwhile, Dr Shashi Throor arrived and a majestic Diya was lit to
 symbolize the occasion. Dr Tharoor also electronically launched the webpage
 http://www.creativecommons.org.in/ . The India page within the website of
 Creative Commons.org can be found here.

 www.CreativeCommons.org/india http://www.creativecommonsindia.org/india



 Dr Shashi Tharoor spoke in support for the emerging open knowledge
 environment, and said his ministry has already made a beginning by
 releasing the NCERT books under CC By SA. We can count on him to support
 all reasonable suggestions in these areas.



 Ms Rohini Nilekani spoke about her experience in launching Pratham books,
 where the objective was to nurture the reading habit among children and to
 put a book in every child’s hand.



 This was followed by Mr Moksh Juneja of Wikimedia who spoke on how
 Wikimedia is supporting Creative Commons.



 Delhi has a vibrant community that is eager to participate in such
 initiatives. Many were impatient with the slow progress in this country,
 and wanted a lot more to happen quickly. This was amply demonstrated in the
 questions and answers session, as well as at the end of the talk sessions,
 when many did not go for the high tea and engaged with the organizers.

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[Wikimediaindia-l] Wikimedia and Language Diversity in India

2013-11-14 Thread Vishnu T
Hello,

Some of you may know that I was in Berlin, Germany attending the Wikimedia
Diversity Conference [1].

I presented on the language diversity in India and the kind of challenges
and opportunities it presents to the Wikimedia movement at large.  Other
than reflecting on the work Wikimedia communities in India, WMIN and
CIS-A2K are doing, I have also proposed and talked briefly about a new
project called WikiSpeech.

As per the 2013 PLSI there are 780 languages in India and we have just
about 20 Indian language Wikipedias. Most of these languages are oral
cultures and are spoken by small pockets of the population. Thus it may not
make much sense for these communities to have a Wikipedia or any of the
Wikimedia projects that are text/script intensive.  I deeply believe that
WikiSpeech can go a long way in preserving the language diversity in India
and the world at large.   I was thinking through a model based on the work
done by a) George A. Grierson during 1898-1928 (the first Linguistic Survey
of India); b) the recent PLSI work (2013); c) CG Net Swara (which
effectively leveraged mobile in creating a community led journalistic
venture in the tribal language of Gonds of central India); and d)
www.pad.ma(a platform that allows one to annotate visual and audio.
The code is
open-source).

These are initial ideas and are very much unbaked.  The presentation, I
did, only has one slide and may not give a lot of detail, but if any one of
you is interested, I will be more than glad to discuss this off-list.  I
have also had a long conversation with Gerard Meijssen about Wiki-Data and
the possibilities of opening up knowledge for diverse linguistic
communities in India.

You can find the link to the presentation [2] and the etherpad [3]. A
Round-up session on Geographic diversity and Language pluralism on
Wikimedia was also organized. You can see brief discussion here [4].

I am thankful to the Wikimedia Diversity Conference organizers for the
travel and stay scholarship they have provided.  Look forward to hearing
your thoughts and ideas on, if and how could we develop these ideas further.

Best,
Vishnu

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Diversity_Conference
[2]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:So_Many_Languages-_Challenges_and_Opportunities_for_the_Wikimedia_Movement_in_India.pdf
[3] https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/wikimedia-movement-india
[4] https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/roundup3
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] WMF and CIS agreement

2013-11-06 Thread Vishnu T


 One of the reasons I personally would want to push for more visibility on
 the agreement terms is the spending that is being done on the salaries of
 the people involved in the Indian program. There's not much disclosure on
 these if I'm not mistaken. Or point me to it if there's any.

 Dear Hari,

The current CIS-A2K Grant budget (including the Team salaries) were openly
shared with the community through most of the Indian mailing lists, in June
2013. For the posting on this list see [1].

Also see [2] for original approved budget which was part of the Grant
Agreement and see [3] revised budget.

Best,
Vishnu

[1]
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2013-May/009900.html
[2]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF-A2K_Grant_Budget_and_Utilization_Sept12_-Feb13.pdf
[3]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CIS-A2K_WMF_Grant_Revised_Budget_%28Approved%29_and_Utilization_Sept_12-Feb_13.pdf
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[Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikimedia Announcement] CIS-A2K Grant Report for September 2012-June 2013

2013-11-05 Thread Vishnu T
Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society's(CIS) Access to
Knowledge (A2K) Program, India!

As many of you know that the Wikimedia Foundation approved a 22 month grant
to the CIS-A2K. The aim of the grant was to support the growth of Wikimedia
movement in India.

Please find the Grant Report for the first 10 months period (i.e. September
2012-June 2013) on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Reports/CIS-A2K_Narrative_Report:_%28September_2012_%E2%80%93_June_2013%29https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Reports/CIS-A2K_Narrative_Report:_%28September_2012_–_June_2013%29


 CIS-A2K will be happy to receive your feedback. Please let us know if you
have any suggestions, questions and concerns about the report and our work.
We would be glad to have this feedback on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Reports/CIS-A2K_Narrative_Report:_%28September_2012_%E2%80%93_June_2013%29https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Reports/CIS-A2K_Narrative_Report:_%28September_2012_–_June_2013%29


 We are thankful to the Wikimedia community in India, Wikimedia India
Chapter and the Wikimedia Foundation for actively engaging with our work.
We will continue to work upon our deficiencies, failures and successes.


 Warm regards,

Vishnu

Program Director, CIS-A2K
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[Wikimediaindia-l] Updated Aksharyogini font release in Open Font License

2013-11-04 Thread Vishnu T
Kudos Sudhanwa! I couldn't help but repeat, what a wonderful gesture!

+1 to Ashwin.

Vishnu

On Sunday, 3 November 2013, Ashwin Baindur ashwin.bain...@gmail.com wrote:
 What a wonderful gesture! If only everyone followed your lead in social
good instead of donating blidly to temples, bursting crackers, etc.


 On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 4:44 PM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar sudhanwa@gmail.com
wrote:



 Dear friends,

 You may be aware that we (my family) have released a font family
earlier. Here is some background if you are not aware of it.

 On the first death Anniversary of Yogini Joglekar(my aunt), our family
released AksharYogini (Normal) Font on 1st Nov. 2006. This font is
primarily for Marathi language but can also be used for Hindi (for any
language using Devanagari). It also has English support. Later on, on the
occasion of Gudhipadwa (Chaitra Shuddha 1, 1931; that is 27th March 2009) ,
we released the additional fonts to complete the AksharYogini font
family. This font family was/is made available on the site
http://aksharyogini.sudhanwa.com for free usage/distribution/sharing.


 Today, on the occasion of Eighth Death Anniversary of Yogini Joglekar,
we are now releasing an updated AksharYogini font.  This font is also
available on the same website http://aksharyogini.sudhanwa.com

 This is an updated font and has support for the new (MS Windows)
operating systems where the internal mechanism for font rendering is
changed. Also, it has additional characters for the current Unicode
standard and the Rupee Sign is also included.

 Most important is the licensing. The new release is under the Open Font
License. As such, all Linux distributions will be able to freely use it in
their packaging.

 Please feel free to use, share, distribute the new font. You can
download it from http://aksharyogini.sudhanwa.com .

 Give us feedback on my email id or the official id for the font 
aksharyogini at sudhanwa.com  You can also comment on the guestbook on the
website.
 Do share this news and also the font.

 Wishing you a Very Happy Diwali !!

 Thanks and regards
 -Sudhanwa

 --

 ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
 web: www.sudhanwa.com  blog: www.sudhanwa.in
 Twitter: sudhanwa Check on FB, Linkedin for more.

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 --
 Warm regards,

 Ashwin Baindur
 --
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Short-term assignment at CIS-A2K

2013-10-30 Thread Vishnu T
Surely. We were looking to extend the date until November 5. Will be
sending a mail on this shortly.

Best,
Vishnu


On Thursday, 31 October 2013, Ravishankar ravidre...@gmail.com wrote:
 Vishnu,

 //The last date to receive the applications is November 1, 2013.
Applicants are requested to use the subject “CCC at A2K” while submitting
the application

 Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed either remotely or in-person.
Only short-listed candidates will be informed by e-mail about the interview
by November 5, 2013.//

 I agree with Ansuman that this is a very short notice. Especially, when
people are in holiday for Diwali.

 Is it possible to extend the final date for submitting applications? I
hope this can be flexible.

 Ravi

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: A2K, its lies and irresponsibilities

2013-10-29 Thread Vishnu T
Dear Ansuman,

On 28 October 2013 16:46, ansuman ansum...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi all,

 This is part of the replies of Vishnu four months ago.


 ---
 ---

 Me:
 And also tell the community, who are all involved in the interview process
 and selection process, and why?

 Vishnu:
 BEFORE EVEN PUBLISHING THE JOB ADVERTISEMENT WE HAD DECIDED TO PUBLISH A
 BLOG POST/WRITE-UP ON THE SELECTION PROCESS AND SHARE IT WITH THE WIKIMEDIA
 INDIA COMMUNITY AS PART OF OUR TRANSPARENCY MEASURE. ONCE THIS IS UP, WILL
 SHARE THE LINK.


We have published a blog post on the Program Officer selection process on
September 10, 2013.[1]  This has also been shared with the Indian Wikimedia
community as part of the September A2K Newsletter [2], which was posted on
all the Indian Wikimedia lists.

Best,
Vishnu

[1]
http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/selection-of-programme-officer-pilot-projects-a2k
[2]
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2013-October/010575.html
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikimedia-in-en] Fwd: A2K, its lies and irresponsibilities

2013-10-29 Thread Vishnu T
Dear Ansuman,

On 30 October 2013 00:45, ansuman ansum...@gmail.com wrote:

 Good to see some movements at meta, it worked to an extent so far.

 This is all you got to cover up; newsletters, and list of events at meta.
 Except these, is there any page which is updated?

 Newsletters, we knew where to find, i was not asking for it, but i was
 asking why there is no updates at meta?
 In newsletters, you keep repeating few blog posts in the consecutive
 month, i noticed couple of times. I don't understand the need of it.

 Do you have answers to each concerns and questions i have raised?
 I'm not just talking about updates, which are one or two month due,
 also asking about Community Mid-year reports, Evaluation results,
 Quarterly community survey which have not been started since the
 inception of A2K.

 I see, recently one team member has been added. What about another
 team member? Isn't s/he in the team, and an employee? Please add the
 profiles and their work details.


You have raised a set of concerns on the same mailing lists 2 days ago. I
had informed you on these same mailing lists that I will get back to the
list within the next 20 days with updates/answers for your concerns. I said
so, and I repeat again, because most of these tasks are works-in-progress
and some are delayed. After I share the updates, should you have more or
unanswered queries/questions/feedback, it could certainly be brought to the
attention of the list-members. Is this agreeable?


 When i first raised those concerns via email, you didn't listen,
 delayed. Then I forced you to respond, then you said you'd consider,
 but you didn't. Then I raised some more concerns at meta, few you
 didn't accept, few to accept i had to show you facts and figures.
 All the points I've raised in this duration, there still few to many
 are pending in which to few you had said you'd get back or consider!
 Well I don't know how long it'd take you to do that?

 Then just again I have raised few more questions. Lets see how you and
 your team will work on that and able to respond to them.

 Is this how you have planned for the community to make you work? Then
 I think the community members should be getting twice the amount of
 yours!! :D

 I don't know your definition of Lie. But when people don't keep
 their words, i call it lie, and them liar.


Let these figments of imagination be, as they are. I would prefer to stay
away from such needless rhetoric, as I and my team have wasted considerable
human hours already in doing so. Let's stick to a critical analysis of
CIS-A2K's work, which is productive. Your earlier mail (sent 2 days ago)
was to the point and concise.

As an initial response, I shared the links through which one can see the
entire work, or lack of it, of CIS-A2K since the commencement of the Grant
in September 2012.

For the benefit of the list-members and you I have tried to summarize
CIS-A2K's activities below for the period September 2012 - June 2013.

Some key activities during the period of Sep 2012 to June 2013 are:

   - Number of newsletters published: 10
   - Number of events conducted: 49
   - Number of Wikipedia Education Programs conducted: 5
   - Number of people reached: about 1314
   - Number of women participants: approximately 406 (30.9%)
   - Number of community meet-ups  IRCs: 12
   - Number of sites across India where Wikimedia events were conducted: 18
   - Number of valid usernames: 582
   - Number of blogs posted: 58
   - Number of Print and Electronic Media mentions: 28
   - Number of Hackathons supported: 2
   - Number of community celebration events: 7
   - Number of Institutional partnerships: 13

Soon we will publish a detailed report for this period with more details on
the activities, achievements, impact, challenges and learning of CIS-A2K.
And of course we would be seeking detailed feedback from the community and
continue to improve upon our successes and failures in growing the
Wikimedia movement in India.

Best,
Vishnu
PS. Dear Friends, there might be slight delay in my e-mail responses as I
will be on a short break during November 1 to November 4.
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Konkani Vishwakosh Under CC-BY-SA

2013-10-29 Thread Vishnu T
AFAIK Harriet is more thinking of the modalities of off line delivery of
Konkani Wikipedia (once live) through XO Tablets which has Sugar learning
environment. Would the current Kiwix easily interact with Sugar?

Any idea if the Kiwix UI is already available in Konkani?

Best,
Vishnu


On 30 October 2013 10:28, sankarshan foss.mailingli...@gmail.com wrote:

 On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 10:21 AM, Harriet outofin...@gmail.com wrote:
  My next goal is working in an offline wiki for school kids in Goa.

 Making the content of wiki(pedia?) offline is something that I see a
 lot of efforts focusing upon. http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Main_Page /
 Kiwix is one simple tool that makes it possible. The Kiwix UI is
 translated into around 80 odd languages (and, more are on their way).


 --
 sankarshan mukhopadhyay
 https://twitter.com/#!/sankarshan

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: A2K, its lies and irresponsibilities

2013-10-28 Thread Vishnu T
Dear Ansuman,

Thanks for flagging your concerns pertaining to the Access to Knowledge
(A2K) program at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS).

Most of these are in the pipe-line (or works in progress) and we will share
updates on each one of the queries you have posted, on the mailing lists
and/or on-wiki in the next 15-20 days. We will also update on our failures
in meeting some of the plans.

There are some delays with the taking off of some of our current year plans
[0]. However, I fail to understand where we have lied? All the A2K work is
periodically i.e. monthly, (except for once where we clubbed two months
newsletters as we were redesigning the newsletter based on feedback
received from some Indian Wikimedia community members0 published through
A2K Newsletter.  The Newsletters were widely circulated on all Indian
Wikimedia mailing lists.

Please also see:

a) All CIS-A2K Newsletters here [1] under the section The Access to
Knowledge Bulletin.

b) All the Events CIS-A2K has organized towards strengthening the Wikimedia
movement in India. We are currently updating all the events on this [2]
Meta page and soon you will see all the events conducted/supported by A2K
since September 2012.

c) Support to various requests placed by the Indian Wikimedia community. [3]

More updates to follow.

Vishnu
[[:m:User:Visdaviva]]

[0]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_April_2013_-_June_2014
[1] http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Requests  
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Requests




On 28 October 2013 16:46, ansuman ansum...@gmail.com wrote:

  Hi all,

 This is part of the replies of Vishnu four months ago.


 ---
 ---

 Me:
 And also tell the community, who are all involved in the interview process
 and selection process, and why?

 Vishnu:
 BEFORE EVEN PUBLISHING THE JOB ADVERTISEMENT WE HAD DECIDED TO PUBLISH A
 BLOG POST/WRITE-UP ON THE SELECTION PROCESS AND SHARE IT WITH THE WIKIMEDIA
 INDIA COMMUNITY AS PART OF OUR TRANSPARENCY MEASURE. ONCE THIS IS UP, WILL
 SHARE THE LINK.


 Me:
 Please make available the job descriptions/roles for all the employees at
 meta and share the same in the mailing list.

 Vishnu:
 YES WE ARE REWORKING THE PROFILES AS THE EARLIER ROLES ARE NO MORE
 RELEVANT. WE WILL TAKE THIS UP ON PRIORITY AND PUT IT UP ON META. THE LINKS
 TO A2K TEAM MEMBER PROFILES, SHARED EVERY MONTH IN A2K NEWSLETTERS, WILL IN
 FUTURE BE LINKED TO THE META PAGES.
 --

 If I've missed any updates on this from A2K, let me know.

 What happened to the decision? When do you plan to share this, next year?
 If so you should have told the  community. Don't you think so?

 Besides user pages (User pages don't have detailed information about the
 job description) there is no proper work details of anybody on meta
 officially
 . I don't think there is any even off-wiki
 . (Profiles at CIS site are not detailed enough to know their works)


 We don't know who is responsible for which work!! Who is doing what?


 Few more questions..

 Why still *2* new recruits are missing even after several months, at
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Teamhttp://bl-1.com/click/load/ADAAMlM2Um8Hb1w7CTw-b0231
 ,

 Why there is no *monthly reports* updated on meta,
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Reportshttp://bl-1.com/click/load/VGRaaABlVmtQOFA3AjA-b0231

 Why there is no *community Mid-year reports* updated,
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Reportshttp://bl-1.com/click/load/VmZZawdiAj9ROVUyBDc-b0231

 If there is any report available anywhere, when do you plan to update the
 meta pages?

 Why there is no response to this, Evaluation results after months? *How
 long are your two weeks?*
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_April_2013_-_June_2014/Learning_and_Evaluationhttp://bl-1.com/click/load/UGAKOFw5WmcCagZhV2c-b0231

 What about *Quarterly Community Survey* mentioned here,
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_April_2013_-_June_2014/Learning_and_Evaluationhttp://bl-1.com/click/load/XW0PPQdiBzoFbVA3VGU-b0231?
 Is there any plan to do this ever?

 And on this
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Forum/Archives/2013-08#Terms_.2F_MoU_for_India_A2K_projecthttp://bl-1.com/click/load/BDRcblQxATwFbQFmUmw-b0231,
 which Shyamal brought it up; I'd like to see something concrete from the
 Foundation.

 I don't know about off-wiki, but there hasn't been proper communication on
 anything on-wiki. If there is a change in plans or updates on any event, we
 don't get to see that! Why?

 * Who is accountable for all these discrepancies??*

 I request the foundation or whoever

[Wikimediaindia-l] Short-term assignment at CIS-A2K

2013-10-25 Thread Vishnu T
 The Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K)
Program invites applications from experienced Wikimedia community members
for a short-term assignment as a 'Community Communications Consultant'. The
duration of this assignment is for 3 months. The consultant will work with
the CIS-A2K team and report to the Program Director CIS-A2K.

 *Profile:*

An ideal candidate should:

a) have been a Wikimedian for more than a year.

b) have good understanding of and contribution on Wikipedia, Wikisource,
Wiktionary and Wikimedia Commons projects.

c) have links with at least 5 Indian language Wikimedia community members

d) have good writing skills in English and at least in 2 Indian languages

e) be able to speak/read multiple (at least 3) Indian languages

f) be open to receiving community review of his/her work


 Preference will be given to those who:

a) can use python

b) can use various tools for community metrics

c) can actively use social media


 *Job Description*

The consultant will:

   1.

   Do about 60 profile stories on key Wikimedians (especially those who
   have not received visibility beyond their language community) from all the
   Indian language Wikimedia communities.
   2.

   Revive Indian community Wikimedia Newsletter.
   3.

   Undertake research and produce analytical reports based on community
   wide metrics.
   4.

   Any other tasks that may be assigned by the Programme Director, Access
   to Knowledge.

 *Fee and Payment*

The consultant will be paid a consolidated sum of about Rs. 40,000/- per
month for three months. The consultancy fee will be paid after an
assessment of the work done by the Consultant. The consultancy fee could be
slightly negotiated based on the experience and expertise of a suitable
candidate.

 *Other Information*

The position is based in Bangalore and the consultant will need to work
from CIS' Bangalore office.

 Applicants are requested to send their detailed CV with a covering letter
(not exceeding 350 words indicating their motivation to take up this
assignment) to *vis...@cis-india.org* . The last date to receive the
applications is November 1, 2013. Applicants are requested to use the
subject “CCC at A2K” while submitting the application

 Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed either remotely or in-person.
Only short-listed candidates will be informed by e-mail about the interview
by November 5, 2013.


Vishnu
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[Wikimediaindia-l] Re-releasing Konkani Vishwakosh under CC-BY-SA 3.0 (Event Invitation)

2013-09-24 Thread Vishnu T
Greetings from CIS-A2K!

We request the pleasure of your company at the event 'Re-releasing Konkani
Vishwakosh  Building Konkani Wikipedia' . The event will take place on the
26th September, Thursday,10am - 11am at the Conference Hall, Goa
University, Taleigao.

Upon CIS-A2K' explicit request, Goa University has approved the re-release
of Konkani Vishwakosh under Creative Commons License (CC‐BY‐SA 3.0) to make
it freely available to public and thus preserve Konkani language and
culture in the digital era. This encyclopedia will also serve as one of the
main sources of building and writing articles on Konkani Wikipedia (which
is currently under incubation).

We'd like you to be a part of this event and help showcase Konkani
community and language on a global digital platform such as Konkani
Wikipedia.

Please see the link for the invite.[1] We look forward to seeing you at the
event.

Best,
Vishnu

[1]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Re-release_of_Konkani_Vishwakosh_under_Creative_Commons_License_CC-BY-SA_3.0_-_Invite.pdf
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[Wikimediaindia-l] CIS-A2K MoU with Goa University (Announcement)

2013-09-23 Thread Vishnu T
Dear All,

On behalf of CIS-A2K, I am glad to share with you that GOA University has
signed an MoU with CIS-A2K.

As part of this MoU Goa University and CIS-A2K will work together to
digitize “Konkani Vishwakosh” under Creative Common license and build a
Digital Knowledge Partnership in order to enhance digital literacy in the
Konkani language and facilitate collaborative knowledge production and
disseminate the same free of cost through Kokani Wikipedia (currently under
incubation). Gos University and CIS-A2K will co-design and jointly
implement relevant training programmes to achieve this objective.

CIS-A2K is grateful for the support and encouragement received from the Goa
University Vice-Chancellor Dr. Satish Shetye; Prof. Alito Siqueira; Prof.
Priyadarshini Tadkodkar; Dr. Madhavi Sardesai; Dr. Gopakumar; and other
faculty of Goa University.

We are also equally grateful to Wikipedians Harriet Vidyasagar and
Frederick Noronha who have engaged with CIS-A2K team and been a constant
source of support.

Wish us best of luck!

Vishnu
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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] unsubscribing - sabbatical

2013-09-19 Thread Vishnu T
Enjoy Hacker School, Sumana! Best.

Vishnu


On Thursday, 19 September 2013, Sumana Harihareswara suma...@wikimedia.org
wrote:
 Hi folks. Just wanted to let you know I'm unsubscribing in advance of
 the start of my sabbatical - more info at
 http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2013-August/071542.html
 . If you need to talk about Wikimedia technical community stuff before
 January, please consult Quim Gil, qgil at wikimedia dot org. Thanks!
 --
 Sumana Harihareswara
 Engineering Community Manager
 Wikimedia Foundation

 P.S. More about me and Hacker School:
 http://www.harihareswara.net/sumana/2013/08/28/1

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] German University of Tubingen partners with Malayalam Wikipedians to digitize the works of Herman Gundert.

2013-09-17 Thread Vishnu T
Brilliant news!!

Congratulations to the Malayalam Wikimedia community for their excellent
efforts.

Best,
Vishnu


On 18 September 2013 09:43, CherianTinu Abraham tinucher...@gmail.comwrote:

 Hi all,
 Some of you would have already heard about the recent partnership
 between Malayalam Wikipedians  German University of Tubingen to digitize
 the works of Herman Gundert.

 Dr. Hermann Gundert was a German missionary, scholar, and linguist, as
 well as the grandfather of German novelist and Nobel laureate Hermann
 Hesse. Gundert compiled a Malayalam grammar book, Malayalabhaasha
 Vyakaranam (1859), the Malayalam-English dictionary (1872), and contributed
 to work on Bible translations into Malayalam. He worked primarily at
 Tellicherry on the Malabar coast, in Kerala, India. Gundert also
 contributed to the fields of history, geography and astronomy.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Gundert

 The corpus of nearly 80 manuscripts, 150 printed works and some palm leaf
 manuscripts of the German scholar available with the university runs into
 some 42,000 pages.

 A detailed history of this effort can be read here
 http://shijualex.in/tubingen-university-gundert-collection/ ( Blog by
 Shiju Alex in Malayalam)

 Project Page in Malayalam WikiSource :


 https://ml.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%B4%B5%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%95%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%97%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%A8%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%A5%E0%B4%B6%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%B2:%E0%B4%9F%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%AF%E0%B5%82%E0%B4%AC%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%99%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%99%E0%B5%BB_%E0%B4%B8%E0%B5%BC%E0%B4%B5%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B5%E0%B4%95%E0%B4%B2%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%B6%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%B2_%E0%B4%B2%E0%B5%88%E0%B4%AC%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%B1%E0%B4%BF_%E0%B4%97%E0%B5%81%E0%B4%A3%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%9F%E0%B5%BC%E0%B4%9F%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%9F%E0%B5%8D_%E0%B4%B6%E0%B5%87%E0%B4%96%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%82

 The project named “Gundert legacy – a digitization  project of the
 University of Tuebingen” will be started soon.

 Some News Coverage :

 The Hindu :
 http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/german-university-gifts-malayalam-the-legacy-of-herman-gundert/article5125550.ece
 Times of India :
 http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JS1JLTy8yMDEzLzA5LzEzI0FyMDAyMDI%3D
 New Indian Express :
 http://newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/German-University-to-digitise-Malayalam-books/2013/09/11/article1778484.ece

 Kudos to Shiju Alex and the Malayalam Wikipedian/WikiSource Community who
 are part of this effort.

 Regards
 Tinu Cherian

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Announcement: CIS-A2K's Train The Trainer Program

2013-09-08 Thread Vishnu T
Hi Shyamal,

Thanks for sharing the deck and for stating the importance of Information
literacy and research techniques.  Could not agree any more about their
importance. However, as you have rightly noted the focus is more on doing a
successful outreach. Would try to incorporate some of these skill set into
the program design.

Best,
Vishnu


On 7 September 2013 08:43, Shyamal L. lshya...@gmail.com wrote:

 I see that core editing related matters are included only in point 5 and
 6. I was recently examining some statistics related to BSNL dynamic IP
 addresses since I quite frequently see a new message for me when I log in
 in the morning on the en.wiki and the message turns out to be in almost all
 cases warnings against poor editing, vandalism and so on. On some IP
 ranges, about 1-6% of all IP talk pages have warnings and an analysis shows
 that the most common problem is poor sourcing, self-promotion and other
 forms of advertising.

 In my (limited) experience working with advanced students (MS + levels) on
 Wikipedia editing, I have found it very useful to cover Information
 Literacy and research techniques. Information Literacy skills are taught in
 very few higher learning centres in India (I may be wrong though since such
 courses were available to me both at undergrad and postgrad levels) I would
 suggest that it is vital that people know about what research is and how
 sources are evaluated. I also think there needs to be coverage of technical
 writing  (which includes reviewing literature, structuring, brevity,
 balance, avoiding closed paraphrasing and plagiarism, inline citation with
 templates, citation styles - Harvard, MLA, APA, use of bibliographic tools
 like Zotero )

 best wishes
 Shyamal
 PS: will check if i can find the slides that i use, only able to find my
 internet research slides at the moment
 http://www.slideshare.net/muscicapa/information-literacy-and-internet-use-for-entomologists

 1) Public Speaking and Engaging the audience
 2) Presentation Skill and Body language
 3) Basic Video editing skills
 4) Leveraging mainstream and social media
 5) Basics of Copyright and Creative Commons for Content Donation and
 Digitization
 6) Technical session on complexities of Indian Languages on Computers (or
 based on majority participants need)
 7) Wikimedia India Chapter - History and Present



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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikimedia-in-en] Announcement: CIS-A2K's Train The Trainer Program

2013-09-06 Thread Vishnu T
Dear Ashwin,

The program will have an array of activities, which are still being
finalized. The following will be covered.

1) Public Speaking and Engaging the audience
2) Presentation Skill and Body language
3) Basic Video editing skills
4) Leveraging mainstream and social media
5) Basics of Copyright and Creative Commons for Content Donation and
Digitization
6) Technical session on complexities of Indian Languages on Computers (or
based on majority participants need)
7) Wikimedia India Chapter - History and Present

Other than this participants will be introduced to various Energizers and
Activities that they could use in Wiki-training like Spectogram, Speed
Geeking, World Cafe, Appreciative Inquiry, Visual Journalism, Theater Games
etc.

There will also be a day long field visit.

We are still in the process of finalizing the list of Resource Persons for
specific sessions, who will be mostly from Bangalore. This will be in
addition to the in-house expertise at CIS-A2K.

Sorry for the delayed reply.

Best,
Vishnu

On 4 September 2013 18:37, Ashwin Baindur ashwin.bain...@gmail.com wrote:

 Who's training, what's the syllabus?


 On Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 6:31 PM, Nitika Tandon nit...@cis-india.orgwrote:


 Dear All,

 CIS-A2K is organising a 4 day Train the Trainer (TTT) program in
 Bangalore during 1st week of October 2013. The idea of the program is to
 build capacity and enable community members to conduct outreach sessions
 independently or with minimal support to introduce Wikipedia to prospective
 editors in their respective Indian languages.

 By way of this program, CIS-A2K wants to support and enable community
 members who might be interested to conduct Wikipedia outreach sessions in
 their own cities/languages. The event is open to all Wikimedia volunteers
 from India who can and want to support outreach events in the coming year.

 CIS-A2K is calling for applicants for it's Train the Trainer Program. If
 you'd like to be part of this program please make sure that you meet the
 selection criterion [1] and submit Train the Trainer Program Application
 From [2] by 13th September, 2013.

 To know more about the program, rationale, overview, timeline etc. please
 check the attached document or visit the Meta page.[3]

 We look forward to hearing from you soon. For any further queries please
 mail at a...@cis-india.org

 Thanks
 Nitika Tandon
 Program Manager
 Access to Knowledgehttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge
 The Centre for Internet  Society

 [1]
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/TTT#Selection_Criterion
 [2] http://bit.ly/A2Kttt
 [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/TTT


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 --
 Warm regards,

 Ashwin Baindur
 --

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Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Reg: Training the trainers (Was: Re: Wikimediaindia-l Digest, Vol 538, Issue 1)

2013-09-06 Thread Vishnu T
Thanks for the good suggestion Shyamal.

Most certainly.

Vishnu


Sent from a handheld device. Excuse my brevity.

On Thursday, 5 September 2013, L. Shyamal lshya...@gmail.com wrote:
 A good question. I hope the trainers will have experience working on at
least one FA class articles or a GA class at a minimum, preferably on the
English Wikipedia in addition to expertise on their home language Wikipedia.

 best wishes
 Shyamal

 Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2013 18:37:29 +0530
 From: Ashwin Baindur ashwin.bain...@gmail.com

 Who's training, what's the syllabus?


 On Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 6:31 PM, Nitika Tandon nit...@cis-india.org
wrote:

 ...
  CIS-A2K is organising a 4 day Train the Trainer (TTT) program in
Bangalore
  during 1st week of October 2013. The idea of the program is to build
  capacity and enable community members to conduct outreach sessions
  independently or with minimal support to introduce Wikipedia to
prospective
  editors in their respective Indian languages.



 ...

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