Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs-Fortnightly IRC: Thursday March 15th @ 9pm IST (Indic Languages) Thursday March 29th @9pm IST (Outreach Communication) (#wikimedia-office)
Here's the link that gives the log of this meeting - for those who couldn't attend. As planned, the major topic of discussion was the Indic Languages initiatives. We talked about the overall approach that Shiju has been following with several dozen community members. We walked through the Medical project - currently underway in Assamese, Telugu, Oriya (Odia) Malayalam. (This seeks to create vital articles in Indic wikis with the help of community members with medical/healthcare background, or users who are interested in healthcare articles.) During the IRC, Jayanta informed us that the Bengali community have also started it - which is great. We also discussed the Translated Articles Enhancement Project which has been started by the Kannada community. Thank you to every one but a special thank you to the new folks who came on today. It's always nice to see new faces! We ran out of time on this IRC. As discussed, I would like to suggest Thursday March 22nd @9pm IST for another IRC. (This is in addition to the IRC planned for March 29th.) The March 22nd IRCwill be an open house - and will not therefore have a predetermined agenda. As always, do visit the India Program page for more information on everything we do. Best hisham On Mar 15, 2012, at 8:45 PM, Hisham wrote: Reminder that we are starting in 15 minutes. Do join in! Details below. hisham On Mar 15, 2012, at 8:38 AM, Hisham wrote: Gentle reminder. Do join in. hisham On Mar 11, 2012, at 6:41 AM, Hisham wrote: Hi Folks One of the essential things that India Program needs to constantly work out is keeping the community informed of the work that we are doing - so that this work is clearer but also to help cross-pollinate ideas amongst a wider set of community members who might not have been engaged on specific village pump / talk page discussion or involved in particular activities (e.g. outreach events) or wikiprojects. We used to have a monthly IRC with the community and India Program. (For those who are not familiar with IRC, it is an Internet messaging system similar to a regular chat room. It's very simple to use and you can join in by clicking on the following link: http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#wikimedia-office.) I have been remiss in conducting these for the past few months - and I'd like to make amends by restarting, with a couple of modifications. a) I'd like to propose fortnightly instead of monthly. (I was wary of doing it any more frequently than monthly earlier because I didn't know if there would be enough on the plate to discuss. I have changed my mind now - because there is too much to discuss to cover in a single monthly session.) I'd like to propose that we do it in the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of every month at 9pm IST (which is GMT + 0530) - THOUGH NOT THIS MONTH - BECAUSE I HAVE MISSED THE TIMELINE. Just for March, we will do it on March 15th and March 29th (both at 9pm IST which is GMT + 0530) b) I'd like to propose that we do it focussed on specific work streams instead of general. The reason I say this is that - as with many community meet-ups, folks will give time to attend a meet-up or participate in an IRC only if there is a topic of relevance to them. To that extent, we could do one IRC on Indic languages and one on Outreach Communications. I'd start both the IRCs with a re-cap of India Programs activities for the fortnight (or so) prior to the IRC and forward from the IRC - and then we could talk about either Indic langauges or Outreach Communications. The March 15th one will be focussed on Indic Languages and the one on March 29th will be on Outreach Communications. ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs-Fortnightly IRC: Thursday March 15th @ 9pm IST (Indic Languages) Thursday March 29th @9pm IST (Outreach Communication) (#wikimedia-office)
Hi Pradeep Thanks for sharing this. I've been thinking about what you say and i agree with you. Based on your ideas, here's what I suggest. Going forward, one day before the IRC, we will publish a brief opening statement (which will be relevant to the topic, e.g., Indic Languages) which will be on meta. The IRC will start with a link to this statement. For the next 45 minutes we will discuss the statement. We will then open the floor up for that last 15 minutes. When we publish the logs, we will publish the opening statement above it - so the context is clear to those who could not attend. This way, I hope that we will have a enough time and space to discuss the particular topic and allow for maximum participation - and still keep open the option for other discussions. On the aspect of comfort with IRCs, I agree it does take a little getting used to. The key thing (in addition to the structure I am proposing above) is that we encourage everyone to get involved in the discussion. I do hope that we keep getting newer folks on - as we had the last time round - and it is they who are most likely to feel they don't have the space to join in a conversation when they see the volume of messages and diversity of topics. ...and yes, we will continue the IRC sessions and keep looking at how we can improve effectiveness. Best hisham On Mar 15, 2012, at 10:17 PM, Pradeep Mohandas wrote: hi, I hope some of the IRC-veterans can pitch in here. Not everyone is comfortable with IRC. I think these sessions will be more helpful for all involved if we had a statement put up on a wiki or on the mailing list by individuals who want to make these statements and then have a round of questions around the topics (as an example: community and outreach) which were meant to be discussed at the meeting. Then, perhaps throw the floor open for general questions that members of the community want to raise. I think this will make it interactive and not be percieved as a narrative or a one-sided discussion. These may not have been intentional and should have been raised earlier. I hope the Office continues this practice and tries to improve its effectiveness as they move forward. warm regards, User:Prad2609 On 15 March 2012 20:45, Hisham his...@wikimedia.org wrote: Reminder that we are starting in 15 minutes. Do join in! Details below. hisham On Mar 15, 2012, at 8:38 AM, Hisham wrote: Gentle reminder. Do join in. hisham On Mar 11, 2012, at 6:41 AM, Hisham wrote: Hi Folks One of the essential things that India Program needs to constantly work out is keeping the community informed of the work that we are doing - so that this work is clearer but also to help cross-pollinate ideas amongst a wider set of community members who might not have been engaged on specific village pump / talk page discussion or involved in particular activities (e.g. outreach events) or wikiprojects. We used to have a monthly IRC with the community and India Program. (For those who are not familiar with IRC, it is an Internet messaging system similar to a regular chat room. It's very simple to use and you can join in by clicking on the following link: http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#wikimedia-office.) I have been remiss in conducting these for the past few months - and I'd like to make amends by restarting, with a couple of modifications. a) I'd like to propose fortnightly instead of monthly. (I was wary of doing it any more frequently than monthly earlier because I didn't know if there would be enough on the plate to discuss. I have changed my mind now - because there is too much to discuss to cover in a single monthly session.) I'd like to propose that we do it in the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of every month at 9pm IST (which is GMT + 0530) - THOUGH NOT THIS MONTH - BECAUSE I HAVE MISSED THE TIMELINE. Just for March, we will do it on March 15th and March 29th (both at 9pm IST which is GMT + 0530) b) I'd like to propose that we do it focussed on specific work streams instead of general. The reason I say this is that - as with many community meet-ups, folks will give time to attend a meet-up or participate in an IRC only if there is a topic of relevance to them. To that extent, we could do one IRC on Indic languages and one on Outreach Communications. I'd start both the IRCs with a re-cap of India Programs activities for the fortnight (or so) prior to the IRC and forward from the IRC - and then we could talk about either Indic langauges or Outreach Communications. The March 15th one will be focussed on Indic Languages and the one on March 29th will be on Outreach Communications. ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Chennai hackathon on 17 March
we had an awesome event today. full day of cracking head with code. got 13 project ideas being implemented by around 20 geeks. thanks for the nice event. ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] An easy way to improve the spelling and grammar in the Wikipedia in your language
Other thing to be said about that (since we are now promoting Mozilla add-ons) 1. You can install several dictionaries :D (I have for both Portuguese versions, English, Spanish, French, Italian and German) 2. Since we are all wikipedians and happened at least once with all of use to lost all our work because the browser crashed, you hit the close button by mistake, or any other problem, this is a very good add-on which works on Firefox, Chrome and Safari (but use it on firefox because Firefox is the best one ;) ). The name is Lazarus, and you can download here (if you use FF): https://addons.mozilla.org/pt-PT/firefox/addon/lazarus-form-recovery/ or here (for the other browsers): http://lazarus.interclue.com/download 3. If you wanna put references on your text in WP, but is too lazy to format the refs, you can use: https://addons.mozilla.org/pt-PT/firefox/addon/cite4wiki/ I do have a - very long - list of all addons you can use in your Firefox (or directly in WP) to make it work with WP easier, if someone needs it help, just send me a mail off-list. _ * * *[image: Inline images 1]* *Béria Lima* * * * Imagine um mundo onde é dada a qualquer pessoa a possibilidade de ter livre acesso ao somatório de todo o conhecimento humano.* *Ajude-nos a construir esse sonho.* http://wikimedia.pt/Donativos** * ** http://wikimedia.pt/Donativos* On 17 March 2012 17:05, Amir E. Aharoni amir.ahar...@mail.huji.ac.ilwrote: Hello, Wikipedians in India, This just struck me: There's a very easy way to contribute to the Wikipedia in your language and to your language in general, and a lot of people are probably not aware of it. Here it is: Modern web browsers like Firefox and Google Chrome allow you to check the spelling while you type. An important thing that a lot of people don't realize is that it works not just in English, but in many other languages, too. If you use Firefox on Windows, go to this page: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/language-tools/ Find the spelling dictionary for your language in the list. Most major languages of India already appear there. Some important languages, like Kannada and Telugu are not there yet; i'm working on getting them there. To make it work: 1. Click Install Dictionary and follow the instructions. 2. Restart Firefox. 3. Open some article in the Wikipedia in your language for editing. 4. Right-click in the editing area. 5. Make sure that Check spelling is checked. 6. Right-click again. Go to Languages and make sure that your language is checked. Now check: Does the spell checking work as you would expect? Does it mark incorrect words in red? If you right-click words in red, does it offer sensible corrections? If all works well, you'll be able to easily fix spelling and grammar errors in the Wikipedia in your language. It is an easy way to contribute to the Wikipedia in your language, because usually you can improve the spelling of articles even without knowing much about the subject of the article. It is also possible that the dictionary is buggy or has missing words and marks correct words in red. If this happens, please write to me and i'll do my best to report these words to the maintainer of the dictionary, so that in the next version of the dictionary they will be checked correctly. (Let me say this again: Please feel free to write to me about technical problems in support for your language. I don't know any Indic language well, but i'm sure that i'll be able to help nevertheless.) If you don't use Firefox, you should try it: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html (There's a good chance that there's a version in your language!) If you use Firefox on Linux or Mac, a spelling dictionary for your language is supposed to be already installed if you installed a language pack for your language in the operating system. If you are not sure how to do it or if it doesn't work as you expect, please write to me. Spell checking is supposed to work in Google Chrome, too, but it supports less languages and i also found some bugs in its spelling functionality. You are still welcome to try it: go to Preferences (wrench) - Under the hood - Languages and Spell-checker settings, and then add your language. I might be wrong, but i don't think that you can install custom spelling dictionaries in Microsoft Internet Explorer. If i'm wrong, please correct me; if i'm right, then well, that's another reason to try Firefox or Chrome :) -- Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי http://aharoni.wordpress.com “We're living in pieces, I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] An easy way to improve the spelling and grammar in the Wikipedia in your language
2012/3/18 Arjuna Rao Chavala arjunar...@gmail.com: Telugu spell checker (Self plug:contributed by me )is at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/telugu-spell-checker/ Arjuna, this is very good! I wonder why doesn't it appear in the full list of spelling dictionaries. I filed a bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=736786 Spell checkers for indic languages have only limited success, due to the complex nature of Indic languages. Advanced algorithms developed in Universities are yet to reach the common users. If the software is free, it can be distributed through Mozilla, OpenOffice and Google services like GMail and Google Docs. In the particular case of Mozilla, the spelling dictionary can be included in the version of Firefox that people download, but only if it's licensed as GPL, LGPL and MPL. This requirement is strange to me, but Mozilla are very firm about it. Since you are the author of this particular dictionary, you can decide to license it this way, and then it will be installed to all users by default. The other way to distribute it is just to advertise it any way you can - blogs, comments, Facebook, anything. Spelling checkers should be advertised more :) -- Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי http://aharoni.wordpress.com “We're living in pieces, I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] An easy way to improve the spelling and grammar in the Wikipedia in your language
Base Telugu words though old were already available under GPL, thanks to the efforts of IIIT, Hyderabad which digitized CPBrown English-Telugu dictionary. I just used it for Telugu spell checker. I did not package it as a dictionary, as the purpose is served by spell checker add on. - Sent via mobile On Mar 18, 2012 5:10 AM, Amir E. Aharoni amir.ahar...@mail.huji.ac.il wrote: 2012/3/18 Arjuna Rao Chavala arjunar...@gmail.com: Telugu spell checker (Self plug:contributed by me )is at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/telugu-spell-checker/ Arjuna, this is very good! I wonder why doesn't it appear in the full list of spelling dictionaries. I filed a bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=736786 Spell checkers for indic languages have only limited success, due to the complex nature of Indic languages. Advanced algorithms developed in Universities are yet to reach the common users. If the software is free, it can be distributed through Mozilla, OpenOffice and Google services like GMail and Google Docs. In the particular case of Mozilla, the spelling dictionary can be included in the version of Firefox that people download, but only if it's licensed as GPL, LGPL and MPL. This requirement is strange to me, but Mozilla are very firm about it. Since you are the author of this particular dictionary, you can decide to license it this way, and then it will be installed to all users by default. The other way to distribute it is just to advertise it any way you can - blogs, comments, Facebook, anything. Spelling checkers should be advertised more :) -- Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי http://aharoni.wordpress.com “We're living in pieces, I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
