Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikimedia-in-mum] Announcement to offer sponsorship to WikiConference India 2011

[Hisham Mundol]

Dear Kundan

I know it's been said by many already - but I did want to thank you as
warmly as I possibly can for a wonderfully generous gesture.

Warmest Regards,

hisham

On Thu, Sep 22, 2011 at 11:07 PM, Kundan Amitabh wrote
___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe / mailing option visit 
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Report on First Wiki Academy organised by Wikimedia Chapter

[Hisham Mundol]

On Sep 13, 2011, at 3:13 PM, Arjuna Rao Chavala wrote:
> 
> I am happy to share the report on the first Wiki Academy organised by 
> Wikimedia Chapter.
> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Wiki_Academy/Department_of_Public_Libraries,_Bangalore#Report
> 
> 
> Please spread the word around and help in identifying other institutions for 
> co-hosting future events
> 
> Chapter will be happy to send the brochures and provide any other assistance.

Congratulations on this.  It's really good to see the level of interest it's 
generated.  I especially loved reading the bit about them being shown the 
basics of editing and being encourage to start editing and actually starting 3 
new articles.  Wonderful stuff.  I'm sure we'll see many more of this.  


hisham

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Press Coverage: Request for Voices & Faces!

[Hisham Mundol]

On Sep 12, 2011, at 11:29 PM, Vivek Murarka wrote:



> Hello Hisham, Everyone,
>  
> 
> Could the Times Group be requested to also carry the Times Crest article on 
> an open site. Respecting copyrights and then given the title/headline of the 
> article, I would not like to copy-paste the text from the said previous post. 
> Yet, I'd like to share it with a few academics in one or two schools and 
> colleges who, I think, would be interested, but may not have read the 
> article. [Posting the text on this list though is "Fair Use", imho.]
>  
>  
> Meanwhile, though probably off-topic on this list, may I share with you in 
> the celebration of the lives of two memorable Mumbaikars, recently passed; 
> with this : 
> http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/erratica/entry/conqueror-of-maladies 
> .
>  


Not sure about asking the Times Group.  If you notice the small print when you 
logged in, it said Crest is free for now - but they'll charge later.

Thanks for sharing the blog link.___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Copyright Violations by (some) Students: Wikipedia India Education Program

[Hisham Mundol]

On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 6:09 PM, Ashwin Baindur wrote:

> It needs to be tackled by teaching the skills of citation, paraphrasing and
> the many acceptable and unacceptable ways to reflect copied text and ideas
> in Wikipedia articles.
>
> Agreed fully.
___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Copyright Violations by (some) Students: Wikipedia India Education Program

[Hisham Mundol]

On Sep 12, 2011, at 5:01 PM, Naveen Francis wrote:

> Hi Hisham,
> 
> Can you please inform the people who are regularly editing Indian Articles 
> about the Online Ambassador program before closing the dates for the same ?

Sure, Navin.  The application form is at
https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEdtdG5ObU9mMm5oZno3MExDc3lEZHc6MA

For context on this, pls see 
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-September/004299.html

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Copyright Violations by (some) Students: Wikipedia India Education Program

[Hisham Mundol]

On Sep 12, 2011, at 3:33 PM, Theo10011 wrote:

> I beg to differ Gautum. Since, it was made part of the curriculum this almost 
> constitutes as cheating. I am not sure about lofty first world standards but
> I would be failed for cheating just about anywhere in the world.

It's taking a while for some newbie student editors to figure out how to edit 
Wikipedia - and aspects like citation and paraphrasing.  They're working at - 
and I have personally met a bunch of them who're working really hard at it.  
Some are struggling with English.  Some are struggling with getting computer / 
Internet access.  Some are struggling with markups.  …but they're working at 
it! 

> 
> Second, if we don't uphold the "WMF policies" (they are actually project 
> policies, not the foundation's) in an officially sanctioned and financed 
> program, then who will?
> 
> If we were to take this idea further, why respect any local copyright at all? 
> or at least the one in Global South. We can just add copyrighted images and 
> books right off from anywhere, forget about CC or any attempt at working on 
> Open-source licenses. 
> 
> As always, I agree with Beria. If those student were to be graded for this 
> project, they should be failed.

This aspect is solely at the discretion of the faculty - as it should be.  I do 
know that faculty members are taking it seriously.



___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Copyright Violations by (some) Students: Wikipedia India Education Program

[Hisham Mundol]

On Sep 12, 2011, at 4:47 PM, Theo10011 wrote:

>  I am not sure if "Intellectual honesty" means ethics in this context but I 
> would disagree if that is what WMF and other Wikipedians would be concerned 
> about, it's really the legal liability that they expose WMF and projects to. 
> Maybe Hisham can clarify.

To be fair, the actions taken were in in the context that this is an education 
program - and it's important that the benefits that students can accrue - of 
stronger research, better writing and improved critical thinking skills - are 
actually realized by students.  This is what we are trying to encourage.  
Copy-pasting will not add any value to students.
> 
> 
> I am well aware of your position as a open-source book publisher and a 
> Creative commons hero along with someone I respect, that was why I found your 
> position very surprising on this issue.
> 
> Also, Hi Hisham, Nice to see you avoided replying to my comment alone. ;)

Hello Theo!  I shall shortly make amends for this remiss...

> 
> Theo
> 
> [1]http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Category:DMCA 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Copyright Violations by (some) Students: Wikipedia India Education Program

[Hisham Mundol]

hisham

On Sep 12, 2011, at 3:59 PM, Srikanth Lakshmanan wrote:

> 
> 
> Apart from copyvios which can be detected since they are from online sources, 
> quite a few students write bookishly (which makes me wonder if they are 
> copying from local texts). I kind of feel(personal opinion) that *deadlines* 
> , *marks* are making quite a few of them to treat this as yet another 
> homework and in turn have the "done and dusted" attitude. Of course there 
> have been some good contributions, but it has been rare for the population.

A huge amount of the work that Campus Ambassadors are doing is to convey that 
this is so much more than just another homework.  At every stage, the tone of 
all messaging is positive and uplifting and optimistic and fun.   We're 
celebrating success and showcasing new editor talent in every class. 

I am sure we will get many many many more good contributions. 

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Copyright Violations by (some) Students: Wikipedia India Education Program

[Hisham Mundol]

hisham

On Sep 12, 2011, at 2:48 PM, Ashwin Baindur wrote:

> Hisham,
> 
> Nice to hear the comprehensive way in which the copy violation issue is being 
> addressed. Its better to nip this in the bud otherwise it could grow beyond 
> control and also sully the good work being done by hundreds of students.
> 
:-)

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Copyright Violations by (some) Students: Wikipedia India Education Program

[Hisham Mundol]

hisham

On Sep 12, 2011, at 3:11 PM, Gautam John wrote:

> On 12 September 2011 13:16, Hisham Mundol  wrote:
> 
>> (Some) students in the Pune pilot have copy-pasted copyright material onto
>> their articles.  We are taking these copyvios extremely seriously and here's
>> a summary of the action that we have taken.
> 
> You know, Hisham, it's nice that the WMF takes this seriously but we
> might be over blowing it a tad too far. The WMFs policies work really
> well in a 1st world environment where there is great sensitivity to
> copyright and violations. In India, it's a different kettle of fish
> and we need to treat it as such.
> 
> Yes, it is important to explain why copyvivos are important (and from
> an academic, plagiarism point of view too) but the bigger issue if
> intellectual honesty.
> 
> I think they'll do just fine!
> 

I'm sure they'll do fine!  I continue to remain optimistic and refuse to get 
cynical about it.  …and I'll continue to celebrate some awesome awesome work.  

Maybe the tone of my message conveyed the wrong impression.  The primary goal 
is to explain what a copyvio is, convey why copyvios are not to be done and how 
to write good quality articles  - all in the context and spirit of better 
learning, more fun, intellectual honesty and the need to avoid academic 
plagiarism - so I'm with you on that.  

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Copyright Violations by (some) Students: Wikipedia India Education Program

[Hisham Mundol]

hisham

On Sep 12, 2011, at 3:38 PM, Anivar Aravind wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 3:11 PM, Gautam John  wrote:
>> On 12 September 2011 13:16, Hisham Mundol  wrote:
>> 
>>> (Some) students in the Pune pilot have copy-pasted copyright material onto
>>> their articles.  We are taking these copyvios extremely seriously and here's
>>> a summary of the action that we have taken.
>> 
>> You know, Hisham, it's nice that the WMF takes this seriously but we
>> might be over blowing it a tad too far. The WMFs policies work really
>> well in a 1st world environment where there is great sensitivity to
>> copyright and violations. In India, it's a different kettle of fish
>> and we need to treat it as such.
> 
> feeling Same. Treat it like usual copyright violations happening in
> wikipedia, and take precautionary steps. Disabling Leaderboad etc
> seems to be little overstretched act. I wonder, how we missed
> addressing Copyvios at all in the programme plan?
> 

The actions we have taken are part of a set of precautionary steps - and also 
include a host of additional support for students.  One the question of the 
leaderboard, it's only fair that honest, hard-working students get the 
recognition they deserve.  

We have addressed copyvios repeatedly with students - but, what can i say, 
sometimes kids will be kids…  We are now reiterating the message through 
multiple channels.  It's opportune because a lot of students are now starting 
to edit and they need reminders.  The context is there are 1000 students and 
the overwhelming majority are new to Wikipedia.  This presents a problem of 
scale for us and a challenge of familiarity for them. 


___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Copyright Violations by (some) Students: Wikipedia India Education Program

[Hisham Mundol]

hisham

On Sep 12, 2011, at 3:07 PM, Béria Lima wrote:

> There are another way (who works fine in Brazilian program): Treat then as 
> adults they are and the articles as projects. If I cheat in a project in any 
> college in Brazil my professor would give me a zero. In some brazilians 
> college I may be expelled for do that (without count the fact that is also a 
> crime in Brazil). We (and they) need to realize how serious copyright 
> violations are.
> 
> But to make sure,  i'm not saying you people to threat your students, but to 
> make them realize how serious that is.  


Hi Beria

Agree with you - and my intention and actions are precisely to do what you 
said: to convey to students that this is a serious matter and they need to 
treat it with the seriousness that it deserves.  (In terms of the specific 
academic approaches to be taken, that is a call that faculty and directors of 
the colleges will take; not us.)

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Press Coverage: Request for Voices & Faces!

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

In the last couple of days, we've had a couple of really insightful, 
well-written articles on Wikipedia and you, the community. 
http://www.timescrest.com/life/you-cant-copypaste-this-homework-6226

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110911/jsp/7days/story_14492284.jsp

I want to acknowledge the behind-the-scenes work of Tinu and Moka.  (Most of 
you know Tinu - who's a community member based out of Bangalore.  For those of 
you who don't know, Moka handles Global Communications for the Wikimedia 
Foundation.)  They have worked on making sure that we convey the right messages 
as well as making the articles as inclusive of as many community members as 
possible - by covering the stories of as wide a range of editors as possible.  
The result of their work is the high-quality articles I've referenced above.

We will continue to get requests from the press and I'd love to have them tell 
the tales of an even larger and more varied group of community members.   It'll 
help to convey the diversity and magic of the community.  Can I request you let 
Tinu and I know (offlist please) if you are willing to be interviewed by 
journalists in future?  Every one of your stories will add emotion to an 
article - no matter how simple or otherwise your story is. 

Also, a practical issue that we are facing is that we don't have enough 
print-quality images of community meet ups.  Can you please add as many 
high-resolution images of as many community meet ups, outreach events, etc. as 
you can to Commons (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) so that the 
press can access it more easily - and they can celebrate the human face of 
Wikipedia in newspapers and magazines?

Many thanks.

Warm Regards,

hisham

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Copyright Violations by (some) Students: Wikipedia India Education Program

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

(Some) students in the Pune pilot have copy-pasted copyright material onto 
their articles.  We are taking these copyvios extremely seriously and here's a 
summary of the action that we have taken.

a) Conducted classroom sessions in all 3 colleges where the program is running 
and conveying the importance of not making this mistake - and the fact that 
they will be caught - and that too quickly.  Between Nitika and I, we've 
conducted sessions in at least 10 separate classes last week (along with Campus 
Ambassadors.)
b) Conducted meetings with the directors and faculty members to convey the 
gravity of the issue and asking them to pass on the message to their students 
in the strongest possible terms.
c) Almost doubling the number of Campus Ambassadors to provide more on-ground 
support for students.  We will be sending out an update on this soon.  The 
issue of copyvios was taken up specifically during the training for these 
Campus Ambassadors.
d) Started work on establishing an Online Ambassador program 
(http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-September/004299.html)
 to provide additional support 
e) Disabled the leaderboard 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:India_Education_Program/Leaderboard) so 
that we make sure that recognition is given only to deserving students.

Controlling the copyvio issue is the single biggest issue for the program and 
we will continue to do everything it takes to minimize it.  Of course, some 
students who will still try and cut corners and the actions listed above should 
hopefully reduce the problem.

Having said all this, we must not cloud the fantastic work of many students by 
the errors committed by (some) newbies who are unfamiliar with Wikipedia.  Do 
continue to support and celebrate the work of the good guys!

Thank you for you continued support on this.

Best

hisham

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Santhosh Thottingal joins the Foundation Engineering Team and Gerard Meijssen as technology outreach consultant.

[Hisham Mundol]

Welcome to both Santhosh & Gerard.  We're in exciting times and it's awesome to 
have you guys.

Warmest Regards,

hisham

On Sep 7, 2011, at 2:07 PM, CherianTinu Abraham wrote:

> Santhosh Thottingal joins the Foundation Engineering Team and Gerard Meijssen 
> as technology outreach consultant. 
> Gerard Meijssen , if I may call as an indophile, is very dear for many of us 
> and others who reads india mailing list :)
> 
> Special congratulations and best wishes to both of them. 
> 
> Regards
> Tinu Cherian
> 

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Malayalam Wikipedia crosses 20, 000 articles.

[Hisham Mundol]

Congratulations All Malayalam Wikipedians.  What a wonderful way to celebrate 
Onam!

Malayalam Wikipedia is a shining example of building a community and driving 
quality of content.  Now, it's leading the way in using social media to 
encourage participation and promote projects.  Hats Off!

Happy Onam!

hisham

On Sep 7, 2011, at 11:22 AM, CherianTinu Abraham wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> I was waiting for one of the active Malayalam Wikipedia editors to announce 
> it here .. with no such signs, let me do the privilege on their behalf. :)
> 
> I am delighted to announce that Malayalam Wikipedia ( ml.wikipedia.org) 
> crossed 20,000 articles 2 days back. 
> Interestingly an article stub on "Reality" by Abhishek Jacob is the 20,000 th 
> article to be created. The 15,000th article was born almost a year back in 
> Nov 2010. 
> Malayalam Wikipedia currently has 261 "active users", 17 admins and 4 b'crats.
> http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Statistics 
> 
> There was a coordinated effort fby the Malayalam Wikipedians to organically 
> reach the 20,000 article milestone before Onam and the target was achieved 4 
> days ahead of "Thiruvonam" 
> Apart from the discussion pages, the ML Wikipedians used social media 
> networking sites like Facebook groups ( 
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/mlwiki/ ) and twitter extensively to 
> coordinate and encourage this campaign.
> This will be also an interesting case study of Wikipedia discussions 
> happening off-wiki and the use of networking sites to promote Wikipedia.
> 
> Congratulations and best wishes to all the ML Wikipedians behind this 
> achievement. 
> 
> Regards
> Tinu Cherian 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs Team: Starting Selection Process for New Team Members

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

I'm writing to update you that the selection process of 2 more team members of 
the India Programs team has commenced.  (As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we've 
selected Shiju & Nitika for our efforts on Indic languages and Participation.)  
The 2 positions I'm referring to in this mail are the remaining members of the 
team:

Communications.  This person will manage all communications, public 
relations/media, social media & digital outreach.
Team Support.  This person will manage all the backend (but essential) 
operations of the team - such as office administration and basic accounting and 
personnel management.  

Details on the positions as well as the application process are available on 
the Wikimedia Foundation site :-

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Communications_-_India_Programs

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Team_Support_-_India_Programs

Similar to the process that we followed for the earlier selections, these have 
been posted on linkedin.  (I'll be cross posting this mail on local wikimedia 
mailing lists, as well as the main FOSS India mailing list.

Can I request the following from as many of you as possible:

We'd love to have existing Wikimedians on board.  Please do apply if you're 
interested!  
Please share this mail with anyone you know who might be interested.  
Pls broadcast these links on your social networks, mailing lists, bulletin 
boards, etc.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any clarifications.

Many thanks.

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs Team: Starting Selection Process for New Team Members

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

I'm writing to update you that the selection process of 2 more team members of 
the India Programs team has commenced.  (As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we've 
selected Shiju & Nitika for our efforts on Indic languages and Participation.)  
The 2 positions I'm referring to in this mail are the remaining members of the 
team:

Communications.  This person will manage all communications, public 
relations/media, social media & digital outreach.
Team Support.  This person will manage all the backend (but essential) 
operations of the team - such as office administration and basic accounting and 
personnel management.  

Details on the positions as well as the application process are available on 
the Wikimedia Foundation site :-

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Communications_-_India_Programs

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Team_Support_-_India_Programs

Similar to the process that we followed for the earlier selections, these have 
been posted on linkedin.  (I'll be cross posting this mail on local wikimedia 
mailing lists, as well as the main FOSS India mailing list.)

Can I request the following from as many of you as possible:

We'd love to have existing Wikimedians on board.  Please do apply if you're 
interested!  
Please share this mail with anyone you know who might be interested.  
Pls broadcast these links on your social networks, mailing lists, bulletin 
boards, etc.

fyi, last date is 10 September.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any clarifications.

Many thanks.

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [WikiHI-l] Hindi Wiki crossed 1 lakh Article milestone

[Hisham Mundol]

On Aug 30, 2011, at 10:50 PM, mayur wrote:

> Dear all,
>   With about 50,000 registered user, 250 active users , 14
> million edits and a depth of
> 34Hindi
> Wikipedia crossed 1
> lakhs 
> articlesmilestone
> today.
> 
> Regards
> (User:Mayur)

This is wonderful to hear.  Congratulations to the Hindi community.  Many 
thanks for sharing this, Mayur.

Mayur

I'd like to +1 to the following comments made on this thread:-

a) shall we try and get some PR around this for the community in Hindi print & 
TV?
b) can you share learnings and experiences for other language communities?

Shall we catch up on these?

hisham


> 
___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikimedia-IN-PUN] Pune August 2011 Meetup

[Hisham Mundol]

It's really sweet to see these report.  …For those of you who don't know, 
Rishabh is really really really young.  

…and so I can say in total honesty, "Well Done, Young Man!"

hisham

On Aug 30, 2011, at 10:43 PM, Ashwin Baindur wrote:

> 
> 
> A write up by Rishabh Tatiraju, the youngest member of Pune community!
> 
> Warm regards,
> 
> Ashwin Baindur
> --
> 29 August 2011
> 
> Heavy rains lashed the city and we were expecting very less people in the 
> meetup. Despite the torrential rain, ten of our brave WikiPuneri enthusiasts 
> managed to join the meetup on time. We had two new young faces joining our 
> meetup, both pursuing their higher studies in Sinhagad College.
> 
> The meetup commenced a little late than the scheduled time of 6:00 PM. Ashwin 
> Baindur enlightened us with some facts about the Oral Citations Project. The 
> Oral Citations Project is a strategic research project intiated byAchal 
> Prabhala of Bangalore community and funded by the Wikimedia Foundation to 
> help overcome a lack of published material in emerging languages on 
> Wikipedia. A video presentation of the same was  also seen (View Video Here).
> 
> In the final moments of the meetup, Mandar Kulkarni orated about Wiki 
> Conference India which is to be held in Mumbai in November 2011. He educated 
> us about the different ways in which we can participate in the conference and 
> be a part of it. With this, we ended the meetup by about 8:00 PM.
> ___
> Wikimedia-IN-PUN mailing list
> wikimedia-in-...@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-in-pun

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] 3rd Bangalore Odia Wiki Meetup- Odia Wikipedia reaches 1500 articles

[Hisham Mundol]

Heartiest congratulations to the Odia community. It's wonderfully inspiring to 
see a small Indic wikipedia build up so systematically.  I love the fact that 
you are focused on building the community and - as a result - able to build 
quality.  

Onwards to the next milestone!  …which is going to be sooner than you plan for, 
I'm sure.

Warmest Regards,

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

On Aug 29, 2011, at 2:41 PM, Subhashish Panigrahi wrote:

> Hi folks,
> 
> Good morning from Odia Wiki Community.
> 
> Yesterday we had a small meetup to celebrate the "1500 articles Celebration" 
> attended by 6 old and 1 new Wikipedians.
> 
> Agenda:
> Current status: The substantial growth and the initiatives taken to improve 
> the status of Odia Wikipedia was discussed. Odia Wikipedia was dormant for 
> almost 8 years which just started reviving itself in the beginning of this 
> year and made a leap of almost 1000 well written articles in this short span 
> with the bandwidth of a small community with less active members. Bangalore 
> was the stepping stone for the revival of Odia Wikipedia and in the 3rd 
> Bangalore Wikipedia Meetup we have celebrated 1500 articles.
> 
> Projects:
> Discussion regarding 2 ongoing projects.
> Odia loves Wikipedia: An event in Commons to bring out media files uploaded 
> by Odia Wikians. This event has reached 351 media files.
> 
> Wikipedia for Odia Literature: An event which is created to uplift the 
> presence of Odia language and literature in Wikipedia, chronological 
> documentations and media files collection. This is running in both in the 
> Wikipedia as well as Commons. Under this event Odia Wikipedia has attained 
> 131 articles in Odia Wikipedia and 37 images in Commons. 
> 
> Further plans: 
> The next target was set up with attaining 500 more articles to beat Gurumukhi 
> Wikipedia which presently has 2003 articles as both of these Wikipedias took 
> birth in the same time.
> 
> We also have discussed to discourage creation of stubs without taking care of 
> them for further expansion, creation and used of templates, categories, good 
> citaions.
> 
> Plans for more outreach programs by collaborating the Odia literature 
> departments of several known colleges and universities was also talked of.
> 
> Wikipedians debated how Wikipedia could be a fair and reliable source and at 
> times how much beneficial it'd be when most of today's generation are moving 
> out of books and internet has become a repository of unending knowledge and 
> its regional context when an ancient language like Odia is considered, 
> whether or not it is needed to work for Wikipedia, or find any better 
> alternative.
> 
> Thank you all for reading. Expecting your valuable feedback and comments
> 
> ସୁଭପାSubhashishPanigrahi
> ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ
> ___
> Wikipedia Odia (Oriya) mailing list
> wikipedia...@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-or
> facebook.com/OdiaWiki
> Tweet @OdiaWiki
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] WMF, India Office and Chapter - Update

[Hisham Mundol]

On Aug 26, 2011, at 11:11 AM, Gautam John wrote:

> On 26 August 2011 11:08, Naveen Francis  wrote:
> 
>> Expression of interest by colleges is in English or other Indic languages ?
> 
> Naveen, thus far English but perhaps Hisham might have had queries for
> Indic support.
> 
Not received any so far
___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] WMF, India Office and Chapter - Update

[Hisham Mundol]

inline

On Aug 26, 2011, at 1:23 PM, Hari Prasad Nadig wrote:
> 
> 
> About the Foundation update,
> 
> The number of students involved sounds great and sets up huge expectations 
> about the program. There has been tremendous publicity for the program. Like 
> mentioned on the update, it does require great deal of effort to retain this 
> enthusiasm in the campuses -- however the addition new staff, Shiju and 
> Nikita should boost the efforts. I personally would like to see more people 
> like Srikeit (who's presently helping out with the program) who've 
> contributed immensely on Wikipedia, and have known the community for quite 
> sometime being given opportunities to help steer this program. I met Srikeit 
> during Wikimania and he was mighty excited about his role where he could put 
> to use his long time experience being part of Wikipedia.

Absolutely.  The more Nitika and I look at the program, the more we are 
convinced that full time Fellowships (maybe of a 3 month duration) will be 
required when we move to other cities.  Getting this kind of a program going is 
back breaking stuff and requires enormous co-ordination and follow-up.  
Experienced Wikipedians can make enormous contributions.  
> 
> I would be extremely keen to know more about the conversations happening 
> between the mobile companies and the Foundation. What is the current picture? 
> As more and more people increasingly access information from mobile here, 
> this is going to be an important channel worth exploring rigorously, and with 
> focus on Indian languages. 
> 
I'll be keeping the community posted on this, as always.

> And the independent public trust -- I know that I'll be hitting a sensitive 
> topic by even stirring this, but I can't help but wonder how the dual power 
> house model would work. A common Wikipedian from here would have several 
> unanswered questions, and few very simple and obvious questions like whether 
> two different entities are actually required for the same region, or about 
> whom to approach for help in improving projects in the region or for 
> assistance of any kind. It sort of puts up good deal of confusion for the 
> community. Between just the chapter and the foundation's office (transformed 
> into a legal entity of 'trust'), while there's just too many things to be 
> done in this nascent community, isn't co-ordination going to be unnecessary 
> overhead and something that is eating up into each of your's time? How do you 
> plan to address these? And when the chapter was established, it was decided 
> to go for a 'society' model for obvious reasons, and for of how democratic it 
> would be. 

The potential in India is massive - and so is the effort required to realise 
this opportunity (as you indicated.)   It will require resources and 
capabilities and the Chapter and Foundation will both contribute.  As far as 
who should be reached for assistance of any kind, do reach out to whoever and 
however many you want to reach out to.  (An email to this mailing list for 
example is a great way - or feel free to reach out to the Chapter directly or 
to me directly or both!)  Co-ordination between the Chapter and the Foundation 
is not an overhead; we need to do it and it will be well worth the investment 
of time and effort.
> 
> There are several more questions that would prop in the minds of Wikipedians 
> who've seen times when there was no chapter, no WMF assistance during the 
> earlier years (2002 - ) to the years now of conspicuously towering interest 
> in the region. There were times when we put our own money to organize 
> Wikipedia related activities, not having anyone here to help. So, this change 
> is welcoming, the kind of interest we're seeing now in India is huge for 
> every Wikipedian from this country. However, there is uncertainty about where 
> this is headed. 

Loud +1 to Gautam's point on this.

> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Hari Prasad Nadig 
> http://hpnadig.net 
> http://twitter.com/hpnadig
> http://flickr.com/hpnadig 
> 

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Minutes of the Wikipedia Mumbai Meetup 12

[Hisham Mundol]

Just to clarify, Naveen, the project page is WP:INDIAEDU

Also, though I suggested otherwise, the template you've put up is going onto 
pages of people who already are participating in the project and is redirecting 
them to a different page. Apologies for my oversight in my earlier mail.

On Aug 23, 2011, at 12:29 PM, Hisham Mundol wrote:

> Great idea, Naveen.  Will do.
> 
> Hisham Mundol
> 
> Wikimedia India Programs
> skype : hisham.wikimedia
> gtalk : hmun...@wikimedia.org
> twitter   : @mundol
> 
> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
> of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!
> 
> On Aug 22, 2011, at 11:20 AM, Naveen Francis wrote:
> 
>> Sure Hisham,
>> 
>> Can you please ask all those who are involved in this project to keep {{User 
>> WikiProject India Education Program}} in there user page ?
>> 
>> I have passed this message to few via following template.
>> 
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:India_Education_Program/Invite
>> 
>> 
>> Naveen Francis
>> Signature powered by WiseStamp
>> 
>> On 22 August 2011 09:14, Hisham Mundol  wrote:
>> Thanks for the kind words, Naveen!  I agree fully (though I may be slightly 
>> biased!  :-))  ...Don't forget the superstar Campus Ambassadors!!!  Details 
>> at WP:INDIAEDU!  Send them some WikiLove as well!
>> 
>> Hisham Mundol
>> 
>> Wikimedia  India Programs
>> skype: hisham.wikimedia
>> gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
>> twitter  : @mundol
>> 
>> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the 
>> sum of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!
>> 
>> On Aug 21, 2011, at 7:36 PM, Naveen Francis wrote:
>> 
>>> There are many star students and star teachers from India Education 
>>> Programme.
>>> Just loves how the program is turning out. 
>>> 
>>> Naveen Francis
>>> Signature powered by WiseStamp
>>> 
>>> On 21 August 2011 17:44, Hari Prasad Nadig  wrote:
>>> On Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 11:16 PM, Pradeep Mohandas 
>>>  wrote:
>>> 
>>> [..snip..]
>>>  
>>> 5. After the round of introductions, Hisham Mundol from the Wikimedia 
>>> Foundation India office provided an update. 
>>> 5. a. He said that two members were added to office staff - Nitika Tandon 
>>> and Shiju Alex. Nitika would be working with the Pune Education Program. 
>>> Shiju will join them in the end of October. 
>>> 5. b. He said that the Educations Program was successful. They expected 250 
>>> students but have now got about 1000 students. They are working on how to 
>>> manage this larger than expected outcome. One of the things they are 
>>> considering is having more Campus Ambassadors in Pune. 
>>> 5. c. The office is also (hopefully) to be registered as a public trust 
>>> soon.Various options were considered before they reached this decision. 
>>> They are also looking for premises in the National Capital Region.
>>> 
>>> (emphasis mine)
>>> 
>>> This is big news! 
>>> 
>>> Thanks for the update, Pradeep. 
>>>  
>>> 5. d.  Hisham introduced Nitika Tandon to the members present.
>>> 6. Nitika provided an update on the India Education Programme.
>>> 6. a. She said that she had recently taken up her work at posting in Pune.
>>> 6. b. She has also been talking to 2-3 colleges in Pune but they have been 
>>> taking it slow since they have to manage the current student count.
>>> 7. Hisham suggested that one of the star students is user:basic.atari 
>>> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Basic.atari) who has been great and 
>>> requested Mumbai community members to send him some wikilove. (How? - Once 
>>> you log in, click on the heart in the top right of the user page to whom 
>>> you want to send wikilove and be led through some steps to send people 
>>> wikilove)
>>> 8. Achal gave a small talk on Oral Citations project. We were (Again) not 
>>> able to show the video.
>>> 8. a. Achal said that the Wikipedia before ~2004 did not have citations and 
>>> they grew as the Wikipedia project grew over the years.
>>> 8. b. He said citations currently was currently done from the publications 
>>> industry which has stronger and wider presence in European and North 
>>> American countries.
>>> 8. c. This combined with the limitations on what are rules on what could 
>>> get cited, could be 

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] WMF, India Office and Chapter - Update

[Hisham Mundol]

On Aug 26, 2011, at 4:37 PM, Naveen Francis wrote:

> Can community use the same ? Then this will be easy :)

Not sure I understand the question, Naveen.  It's an open page for everyone.  
Students and teachers and Campus Ambassadors use it to plan the program, manage 
their activities, get help and track progress.  Right now, we've put in only 
the participants from the Pune pilot but eventually, i see this page expanding 
to include other cities as the program rolls out.
> 
> Naveen Francis
> Signature powered by WiseStamp
> 
> 
> 
> On 26 August 2011 16:36, Hisham Mundol  wrote:
> Naveen: There's a project page already in place for the Wikipedia India 
> Education Program.  It's WP:INDIAEDU
> 
> Srikanth : Thanks for clarifying
> 
> Hisham Mundol
> 
>> Signature powered by WiseStamp
>> 

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] WMF, India Office and Chapter - Update

[Hisham Mundol]

Naveen: There's a project page already in place for the Wikipedia India 
Education Program.  It's WP:INDIAEDU

Srikanth : Thanks for clarifying

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

On Aug 26, 2011, at 12:07 PM, Naveen Francis wrote:

> Yup Srikanth,
> 
> But we can discuss in WP:INEI talk and create new projects for this purpose. 
> I believe many in WP:INEI or WP:IND will be happy to help this new project.
> 
> Naveen Francis
> Signature powered by WiseStamp
> 
> 
> 
> On 26 August 2011 12:02, Srikanth Lakshmanan  wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 11:57, Gautam John  wrote:
> On 26 August 2011 11:50, Naveen Francis  wrote:
> 
> > If it is English, WikiProject Education in India will give a try, we are 40 
> > in numbers now ..
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:INEI
> 
> Oh! Thanks Naveen. We'll definitely keep you guys involved with this.
> 
>  
> Err, both of you are totally disconnected.
> 
> Naveen,
> Education program is about interacting with colleges about use of Wikipedia 
> included in teaching learning process, like Campus Ambassador program where 
> people edit as part of curriculum.
> 
> Gautam,
> WP:INEI is a WikiProject aiming improvement of articles in English wikipedia 
> related to education in India and has goals like improving coverage of Indian 
> education related articles. 
>  
> Ofcourse, if one student who participates from each college on education 
> program writes / improves his/her own college article, WP:INEI can also 
> improve !
> 
> -- 
> Regards
> Srikanth.L
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
> 
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs-Monthly IRC: Welcoming Nitika & Shiju - Thursday August 25th @ 9pm IST (#wikimedia-office)

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

As I mentioned earlier, we're scheduling the Monthly IRC of India Programs 
tomorrow (Thursday August 25th) at 9pm IST.  This will be on the 
#wikimedia-office channel.  (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)

The main agenda items are to give an update on India Programs - and also for 
Nitika and Shiju to introduce themselves, and for you to get to know them 
better.  For those who missed the earlier mail exchanges on this, Nitika Tandon 
and Shiju Alex have joined the Wikimedia Foundation's team in India.  (Nitika 
has already started and Shiju will be starting shortly.)  I'm really excited 
about the additions to the team and I invite you to come join us tomorrow night 
to welcome them aboard!  

Hope to see many, many of you tomorrow.

Best

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikimedia-IN-PUN] [Press] : Sakaal Times : 1, 000 city students selected to write for Wikipedia

[Hisham Mundol]

On Aug 22, 2011, at 4:35 AM, CherianTinu Abraham wrote:

> It is actually tricky. Words do mean differently in different parts of the 
> world...
> 
> Even the foundation sometimes uses the word "recruit" officially. Last seen 
> at Sue Gardner's  keynote address at Wikimania Haifa too. 
> 
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wikimania_2011.pdf&page=18
>  
> 
> sometime back , I had tried to convince that the word recruit in India 
> carries a different meaning  in Comm-com list.  
> 
> Well, I guess the headline is usually  the "creative" of the editors, and not 
> the privilege of the actual reporter who writes the article. 

Or the words of the person they actually spoke to!!!  :-)

> 
> -TC
> 
> On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 3:51 PM, Hari Prasad Nadig  wrote:
> The article and the title specifically sounds like the students have been 
> 'commissioned' to edit Wikipedia. Doesn't this send a wrong statement across? 
> 
> On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 2:46 PM, CherianTinu Abraham  
> wrote:
> 
> -- 
> Hari Prasad Nadig 
> http://hpnadig.net | http://twitter.com/hpnadig
> http://flickr.com/hpnadig 
> 

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Minutes of the Wikipedia Mumbai Meetup 12

[Hisham Mundol]

Great idea, Naveen.  Will do.

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

On Aug 22, 2011, at 11:20 AM, Naveen Francis wrote:

> Sure Hisham,
> 
> Can you please ask all those who are involved in this project to keep {{User 
> WikiProject India Education Program}} in there user page ?
> 
> I have passed this message to few via following template.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:India_Education_Program/Invite
> 
> 
> Naveen Francis
> Signature powered by WiseStamp
> 
> On 22 August 2011 09:14, Hisham Mundol  wrote:
> Thanks for the kind words, Naveen!  I agree fully (though I may be slightly 
> biased!  :-))  ...Don't forget the superstar Campus Ambassadors!!!  Details 
> at WP:INDIAEDU!  Send them some WikiLove as well!
> 
> Hisham Mundol
> 
> Wikimedia  India Programs
> skype : hisham.wikimedia
> gtalk : hmun...@wikimedia.org
> twitter   : @mundol
> 
> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
> of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!
> 
> On Aug 21, 2011, at 7:36 PM, Naveen Francis wrote:
> 
>> There are many star students and star teachers from India Education 
>> Programme.
>> Just loves how the program is turning out. 
>> 
>> Naveen Francis
>> Signature powered by WiseStamp
>> 
>> On 21 August 2011 17:44, Hari Prasad Nadig  wrote:
>> On Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 11:16 PM, Pradeep Mohandas 
>>  wrote:
>> 
>> [..snip..]
>>  
>> 5. After the round of introductions, Hisham Mundol from the Wikimedia 
>> Foundation India office provided an update. 
>> 5. a. He said that two members were added to office staff - Nitika Tandon 
>> and Shiju Alex. Nitika would be working with the Pune Education Program. 
>> Shiju will join them in the end of October. 
>> 5. b. He said that the Educations Program was successful. They expected 250 
>> students but have now got about 1000 students. They are working on how to 
>> manage this larger than expected outcome. One of the things they are 
>> considering is having more Campus Ambassadors in Pune. 
>> 5. c. The office is also (hopefully) to be registered as a public trust 
>> soon.Various options were considered before they reached this decision. They 
>> are also looking for premises in the National Capital Region.
>> 
>> (emphasis mine)
>> 
>> This is big news! 
>> 
>> Thanks for the update, Pradeep. 
>>  
>> 5. d.  Hisham introduced Nitika Tandon to the members present.
>> 6. Nitika provided an update on the India Education Programme.
>> 6. a. She said that she had recently taken up her work at posting in Pune.
>> 6. b. She has also been talking to 2-3 colleges in Pune but they have been 
>> taking it slow since they have to manage the current student count.
>> 7. Hisham suggested that one of the star students is user:basic.atari 
>> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Basic.atari) who has been great and 
>> requested Mumbai community members to send him some wikilove. (How? - Once 
>> you log in, click on the heart in the top right of the user page to whom you 
>> want to send wikilove and be led through some steps to send people wikilove)
>> 8. Achal gave a small talk on Oral Citations project. We were (Again) not 
>> able to show the video.
>> 8. a. Achal said that the Wikipedia before ~2004 did not have citations and 
>> they grew as the Wikipedia project grew over the years.
>> 8. b. He said citations currently was currently done from the publications 
>> industry which has stronger and wider presence in European and North 
>> American countries.
>> 8. c. This combined with the limitations on what are rules on what could get 
>> cited, could be one of the reasons for decrease in the growth of new editors 
>> on Wikipedia.
>> 8. d. The limitation on citation and deletion of articles without good 
>> citations turned off new Wikipedia users and also took away some of the 
>> revolutionary ideas around which Wikipedia was born. Other form of citations 
>> were thus to be considered.
>> 8. e. Wikipedians in India and South Africa worked on the Oral Citations 
>> project - http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Oral_Citations 
>> 9. The meeting was concluded at 6 pm. 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Pradeep Mohandas
>> How Pradeep uses email - http://goo.gl/6v1I9
>> 
>> -- 
>> Ha

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Rescheduling of Monthly IRC / Introductions for Shiju & Nitika

[Hisham Mundol]

On Aug 21, 2011, at 4:03 PM, Hari Prasad Nadig wrote:

> Hisham,
> 
> What channel on is this on? 
> 

#wikimedia-office

For those on this mailing list, you can use this link: 
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#wikimedia-office

I'll send out an invite soon for the Thursday chat.


> -- 
> Hari Prasad Nadig 
> http://hpnadig.net | http://twitter.com/hpnadig
> http://flickr.com/hpnadig 
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Minutes of the Wikipedia Mumbai Meetup 12

[Hisham Mundol]

Thanks for the kind words, Naveen!  I agree fully (though I may be slightly 
biased!  :-))  ...Don't forget the superstar Campus Ambassadors!!!  Details at 
WP:INDIAEDU!  Send them some WikiLove as well!

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

On Aug 21, 2011, at 7:36 PM, Naveen Francis wrote:

> There are many star students and star teachers from India Education Programme.
> Just loves how the program is turning out. 
> 
> Naveen Francis
> Signature powered by WiseStamp
> 
> On 21 August 2011 17:44, Hari Prasad Nadig  wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 11:16 PM, Pradeep Mohandas 
>  wrote:
> 
> [..snip..]
>  
> 5. After the round of introductions, Hisham Mundol from the Wikimedia 
> Foundation India office provided an update. 
> 5. a. He said that two members were added to office staff - Nitika Tandon and 
> Shiju Alex. Nitika would be working with the Pune Education Program. Shiju 
> will join them in the end of October. 
> 5. b. He said that the Educations Program was successful. They expected 250 
> students but have now got about 1000 students. They are working on how to 
> manage this larger than expected outcome. One of the things they are 
> considering is having more Campus Ambassadors in Pune. 
> 5. c. The office is also (hopefully) to be registered as a public trust 
> soon.Various options were considered before they reached this decision. They 
> are also looking for premises in the National Capital Region.
> 
> (emphasis mine)
> 
> This is big news! 
> 
> Thanks for the update, Pradeep. 
>  
> 5. d.  Hisham introduced Nitika Tandon to the members present.
> 6. Nitika provided an update on the India Education Programme.
> 6. a. She said that she had recently taken up her work at posting in Pune.
> 6. b. She has also been talking to 2-3 colleges in Pune but they have been 
> taking it slow since they have to manage the current student count.
> 7. Hisham suggested that one of the star students is user:basic.atari 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Basic.atari) who has been great and 
> requested Mumbai community members to send him some wikilove. (How? - Once 
> you log in, click on the heart in the top right of the user page to whom you 
> want to send wikilove and be led through some steps to send people wikilove)
> 8. Achal gave a small talk on Oral Citations project. We were (Again) not 
> able to show the video.
> 8. a. Achal said that the Wikipedia before ~2004 did not have citations and 
> they grew as the Wikipedia project grew over the years.
> 8. b. He said citations currently was currently done from the publications 
> industry which has stronger and wider presence in European and North American 
> countries.
> 8. c. This combined with the limitations on what are rules on what could get 
> cited, could be one of the reasons for decrease in the growth of new editors 
> on Wikipedia.
> 8. d. The limitation on citation and deletion of articles without good 
> citations turned off new Wikipedia users and also took away some of the 
> revolutionary ideas around which Wikipedia was born. Other form of citations 
> were thus to be considered.
> 8. e. Wikipedians in India and South Africa worked on the Oral Citations 
> project - http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Oral_Citations 
> 9. The meeting was concluded at 6 pm. 
> 
> -- 
> Pradeep Mohandas
> How Pradeep uses email - http://goo.gl/6v1I9
> 
> -- 
> Hari Prasad Nadig 
> http://hpnadig.net | http://twitter.com/hpnadig
> http://flickr.com/hpnadig 
> 
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
> 
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikimedia-IN-PUN] [Press] : Times of India : " Editing Wiki is now part of CoEP's syllabi"

[Hisham Mundol]

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

On Aug 18, 2011, at 8:27 AM, Anirudh Bhati wrote:

> Thank you for posting this, Tinu.
> 
> Hisham, it is really heartening to know that we are making inroads into the 
> higher education system of India beginning with these institutes.
> 
> Can you tell us more about the agreement that the WMF has entered into with 
> the colleges?  Thanks so much.

:-)

Strictly speaking, there's not been any agreement between WMF and any of the 
colleges.  It's an MoU between WMF and individual teachers / professors.  It 
outlines what we'd like them to do as part of the program and, on sucessful 
conclusion, we award them recognition in the form of a honorary "Wikipedia 
Teaching Fellowship."  This is to acknowledge the additional efforts they have 
put in.

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Rescheduling of Monthly IRC / Introductions for Shiju & Nitika

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

I had initially suggested that we'd hold the monthly India Programs IRC at 9pm 
on Thursday Aug 18th - to formally introduce Shiju & Nitika..  ...I'm 
requesting a change in this because there are some urgent meetings with the 
Campus Ambassadors at Pune that have come up which unfortunately can't be 
rescheduled.

Can I therefore propose Thursday August 24th at 9pm IST pls.  (I'll send out a 
reminder closer to the day.)

Sorry about this.

Best

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Welcome to the India Team! : Shiju & Nitika

[Hisham Mundol]

Subha

Your wonderful and warm story & comments are what make me so excited to have 
Shiju on board!

Warmest Regards,

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

On Jul 29, 2011, at 5:22 PM, Subhashish Panigrahi wrote:

> Wow!
> 
> I am so happy to see Shiju. Heartiest congratulations to both Shiju and 
> Nikita.
> 
> Shiju is the guy who initially invited me to his house to teach the basics in 
> the month of February when I first joined Wikipedia as an Editor and kind of 
> pushed me into organizing the first Workshop for Odia Wikipedia in Bangalore 
> and 2nd in Bhubaneswar and handled almost everything. I am so overwhelmed to 
> see him on-board. Name any Indic Wiki initiative and you'll find Shiju being 
> the first guy to take initiative. A long time Malayalam Wikipedian, and being 
> part of the outreach programs in Indic initiative, Wikipedia India could 
> never have the great opportunity to get someone work for the foundation as a 
> staff.
> 
> Just came to know about Nikita from Hisham's mail, will look forward to 
> meeting the new staff members in any Bangalore meetups.
> 
> @Tinu, I would like to suggest we can have a small talk from Shiju in the 
> coming meetup.
> 
> Cheers
> Subha
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Welcome to the India Team! : Shiju & Nitika

[Hisham Mundol]

Yes we do, Gaurav!

Someone from the community in Delhi will be in touch with you shortly!

btw, if there's anyone else on the list in Delhi who's interested in getting to 
know more about the movement and projects and the community, do shout out!  
...I'm marking the Delhi community list as well.

Best

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

On Jul 29, 2011, at 6:10 PM, Gaurav Garg wrote:

> Guys do u have any community members in Delhi to meet and learn from?
> 
> Sent on my BlackBerry® from Vodafone
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: Subhashish Panigrahi 
> Sender: wikimediaindia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org
> Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:22:52 
> To: Wikimedia India Community list
> Reply-To: Wikimedia India Community list 
> 
> Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Welcome to the India Team! : Shiju & Nitika
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Offline-l] Wikipedia Offline Opportunity: ~20k laptops to reach potentially 200k people: Need Help!

[Hisham Mundol]

Mr Yadava

Can you let us know the timelines for this?  Specifically, when is the last 
date by which you will need the content?

I will be in touch with separately you also on how we can help providing 
technical support on building capacity for translation.

Many thanks.

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

On Jul 19, 2011, at 11:57 PM, M K Yadava IFS wrote:

> Dear All,
> Thanks a lot for the great efforts. To start with, we can think of English
> as medium, and then slowly fill up the gaps with local language
> translation (say in assamese) in course of time with some local support
> and technical guidance from wikimedia.
> 
> Yours,
> MK Yadava
> MD, AMTRON
> ---
> Please exchange editable Office documents only in ODF Format. No other
> format is acceptable. Sending such information in other formats is at your
> own risk. Please be assured that non ODF formats will not be opened.
> 
> To get a free editor supporting ODF, please visit http://www.openoffice.org/
> ---
> Visit my blogs at http://letsbetteroursociety.blogspot.com/
> 
> 
>> On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 7:09 PM, Martin A. Walker
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> This is an excellent project!  If there is anything that the English
>>> Wikipedia 1.0 team can do to help, please let us know.
>>> 
>>> If you are looking for a list of important Indian topics to check
>>> through,
>>> I'd propose using a slightly amended toolserver list sorted by points
>>> rather than importance, available here:
>>> 
>>> http://toolserver.org/~enwp10/bin/list2.fcgi??namespace=&importance=&score=&sorta=Score&run=yes&pagename=&sortb=Quality&projecta=India&showExternal=on&limit=250&quality=&&offset=1
>>> 
>> 
>> Good suggestion, Martin.
>> 
>> Question about this: is there a way to "hide" those articles that are
>> already included in the selection? That is, is there a way to filter OUT
>> those articles which are included in the Wikipedia for Schools selection?
>> I
>> am not sure if that database is integrated into this selection tool or
>> not,
>> but it could be helpful in parsing out which articles would be additive.
>> 
>> - Jessie
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> *Jessie Wild
>> Global Development, Manager
>> Wikimedia Foundation
>> *
>> ___
>> Offline-l mailing list
>> offlin...@lists.wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l
>> 
> 
> 
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list
> offlin...@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Update on Wikipedia India Education Program & Invite to Meet Campus Ambassadors @ Monthly India Programs IRC (Thursday July 28th @ 9pm IST): #wikimedia-office

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

I wanted to share an update on the Wikipedia India Education Program.  As of 
today, we have 15 teachers from 4 colleges participating.  The most exciting 
part is that we have nearly 800 students (and counting) who are going to work 
on about 1200 articles in this semester.   (Do note these numbers may fluctuate 
as the actual editing in classrooms starts - which is only to be expected.)

Please see the project page at 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:India_Education_Program - and do go 
through the sub-tabs for Ambassadors and courses.)

I think it will be a great idea if the Campus Ambassadors had a chance to 
introduce themselves to you and you had a chance to interact with them.  Can we 
do it on the India Programs Monthly IRC  this Thursday (July 28th) at 9pm IST 
on #wikimedia-office.  (I apologise that we are late on this month's IRC.)

You can also hear from them about their experiences.  They've having 1-on-1 
discussions with faculty members to identify potential articles to work on and 
conducting editing workshops for students in classrooms.

I look forward to as many of you attending as possible - and for a wonderful 
interaction with the Campus Ambassadors.  They are great guys and have done 
amazing stuff so far.  They're going to need your help and encouragement.  Drop 
in and say hello, and a little more!

Warmest Regards,

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum 
of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Offline-l] Wikipedia Offline Opportunity: ~20k laptops to reach potentially 200k people: Need Help!

[Hisham Mundol]

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

On Jun 23, 2011, at 4:05 PM, Federico Leva (Nemo) wrote:

> Hisham Mundol, 23/06/2011 11:54:
>> T*here are 19,000 laptops*that will be distributed in this initiative.
>> (These are on Ubuntu Linux - and very reasonably configured.)
> 
> How much disk space do they have? It shouldn't be too difficult to add a 
> Kiwix installation with English language (and indic languages) Wikipedias 
> ZIMs, if there's space enough.

320GB so space isn't a problem.
> 
>> Assam has traditionally had a problem with infrastructure and Internet
>> access is a problem. Someone who is supporting Amtron has asked the
>> Foundation if we can give them an offline version of Wikipedia to
>> pre-load onto these computers. Given that it is for 15-16 age group, it
>> does need to be of appropriate content.
> 
> Uh? What sort of Wikipedia content could ever be unappropriate for 15-16 
> years old boys and girl? I can't imagine any. :-/
:-)  Would suggest we err on the side of caution.  majorly on the side of 
caution.

> 
> Nemo

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia Offline Opportunity: ~20k laptops to reach potentially 200k people: Need Help!

[Hisham Mundol]

Yes, it would be great if we could support this as well.

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

On Jun 23, 2011, at 3:35 PM, Arun Ganesh wrote:

> There's a slightly more nuttier scheme brewing in the south, where 900,000 
> laptops are going to be distributed to students next year [1]. Let me see if 
> i can access someone in the TN govt regarding this.
> -Arun
> 
> [1] 
> http://ibnlive.in.com/news/free-laptops-will-have-tn-logo-burnt-on-chips/160602-60-118.html
> 
> -- 
> j.mp/ArunGanesh
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia Offline Opportunity: ~20k laptops to reach potentially 200k people: Need Help!

[Hisham Mundol]

cross posting to Offline & Wikimedia-India.

Hi

I'm working on the Wikimedia Foundation's initiatives in India and I'm reaching 
out for help on a really exciting opportunity.   Assam is a state in the 
North-East of India.  The Government has an interesting scheme to give laptops 
to deserving students leaving secondary school (i.e., completed 10 years of 
education and about 15-16 year olds.)  This scheme is being managed by an 
organisation called Amtron - who have issued a Tender for the procurement of 
these laptops.

There are 19,000 laptops that will be distributed in this initiative.   (These 
are on Ubuntu Linux - and very reasonably configured.)  

Assam has traditionally had a problem with infrastructure and Internet access 
is a problem.  Someone who is supporting Amtron has asked the Foundation if we 
can give them an offline version of Wikipedia to pre-load onto these computers. 
 Given that it is for 15-16 age group, it does need to be of appropriate 
content.  They'd like it to have topics of academic interest covered (e.g., 
classical sciences, humanities, literature and accountancy.)   Ideally we'd 
like them to also have articles on India (e.g. history, geography, culture, 
etc.) as well as other areas of general interest (e.g., music, sports, etc.)  
Currently, everything is required in English only.

While these laptops aren't going to necessarily be in classrooms, given that 
they will be with some students, it's safe to assume that other students, 
friends and relatives would access these.  Given the context of Assam, I thank 
we can easily assume that 10 people would access these computers.  That adds up 
to improving access for nearly 2,00,000 people!  I'm really inspired by the 
potential of this partnership because because it allows us huge scale with 
efficiency in effort.  

I understand that  Wikipedia for Schools is readying for release sometime in 
July 2011 - and the timing couldn't be better.  

Can you help us out with 
a) how you could help on adding the additional articles that this initiative 
would require?   (You could also sign up on the Volunteer Page)
b) how fast this can be given to Amtron?  (They are looking for the inputs in 
July 2011.)
c) any other ideas that you think might be useful?

Many thanks.

Best,

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Update on Wikipedia India Education Program: Report & Project Page

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

Here's a report on the Wikipedia India Education Program: 
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/India_Campus_Program_Reports#Roll_Out_Visit:_May_31st_.E2.80.93_June_17th.2C_2011

In (very) short summary, it's been an action packed 4-5 weeks, the team has 
done a huge amount of groundwork - and there appears to be significant 
potential. Do go through the report for further details.

...I've tried to make the report as interesting to read as possible - and focus 
on the learnings and implications for a national roll-out (instead of making it 
a random list summarising various activities.)  

Do let me have your views on the mailing lists or the Talk Page. 

(A project page has also been set up at 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Pune but I hasten to add that it is in 
early stages of construction. ...but do keep visiting it.  Finger crossed, it's 
going to get very busy, very soon!)

I'd like to thank everyone from the community who have helped out so amazingly!

Best

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] WikiPatrika is now released - Volume 2 , Issue 1 - 2011 June

[Hisham Mundol]

This is a tremendous effort - and the output is wonderful!  Congratulations to 
everyone who've been involved!  

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

On Jun 8, 2011, at 6:59 PM, WikiPatrika Newsletter wrote:

> Hi Wikipedians,
>The first community newsletter from the Wikimedia 
> India community was released in September 2010. Since that time, various 
> community members have been involved with creating a regular version of the 
> newsletter; today, we are pleased to announce the commencement of 
> WikiPatrika, a monthly newsletter of Wikimedia community, chapter and 
> foundation updates from India. 
> 
> 'Patrika' is the closest pan-Indian word that has roughly similar meaning 
> across the country that also conveys the right spirit; it has a multitude of 
> meanings, but is broadly understood to mean 'journal' or 'magazine'.
> 
> WikiPatrika is an independent publication which is not affiliated with the 
> Wikimedia Foundation or the Wikimedia India chapter. We sincerely thank the 
> Wikimedia India chapter for allowing us to host this newsletter on 
> wikimedia.in . 
> 
> 
> The first edition of WikiPatrika is now released - Volume 2 , Issue 1  - 2011 
> June
> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/WikiPatrika 
> 
> Community News : 
> This month: hear what's happening from Wikimedians in Bengali, English, 
> Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia , Sanskrit, Tamil, 
> Telegu
> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/WikiPatrika/2011-06/Community_News 
> 
> Meetups and Events :
> Meetups in Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Mumbai
> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/WikiPatrika/2011-06/Meetups_and_Events
> 
> Press Coverages :
> As usual, a flood of articles; check in to see where Wikimedia is covered and 
> how 
> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/WikiPatrika/2011-06/In_the_news
> 
> Free culture news : 
> Copyright law changes, government initiatives, and the latest in licensing
> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/WikiPatrika/2011-06/Free_culture_news
> 
> FOSS-MediaWiki Tech news :
> Google Summer of Code, India and Mediawiki. Plus Berlin Hackathon, Wikimedia 
> Commons and UploadWizard
> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/WikiPatrika/2011-06/Tech_News
> 
> WMIN Chapter News:
> Chapter membership opens!
> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/WikiPatrika/2011-06/WMIN_Chapter_News
> 
> WMF India Office news :
> Campus ambassadors hit Pune: find out all about it.
> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/WikiPatrika/2011-06/WMF_India_Office_News
> 
> You can subscribe to wikimedia-in-newslet...@lists.wikimedia.org to receive 
> the WikiPatrika newsletters  ( If you are not subscribed to wikimediaindia-l 
> mailing list). 
> We are are also working on user talk page delivery to your home Wikis in 
> future . 
> 
> We hope that you find this useful. Going forward, this exercise will only be 
> possible with *your* involvement, so if there is something you see that you 
> would like to contribute to, change, or start - tell us!
> 
> Write to us at wikimedia-in-newsletter-editors [at] lists [dot] wikimedia 
> [dot] org
> 
> 
> Regards
> WikiPatrika Newsletter Team  
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Introducing Campus Ambassadors to the Pune & India Community

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Pune / India

As you are aware, India Programs has been working on kicking off the Wikipedia 
India Education Program.  As part of this, we received a huge response from 
hundreds of interested volunteers and we have selected 22 bright, passionate 
and motivated Campus Ambassadors.  They come from an incredibly diverse 
background - and all have impressed us with their potential.

I'm writing to formally introduce the initial set of 22 Pune Campus Ambassadors 
to you.  Their names are (in no particular order)

Gurudas Nulkar
Gurmeet Singh
Arnav Sonara
Prateek Saxena
Ram Shankar Yadav
Kailasam B
Seva Panda
Arnav Chaudhary
Rohit Patnaik
Wasim Mogal 
Deepti Chaudhari
Sandeep Pherwani
Poonam Deshpande 
Pallavi Agarwal
Mihir Khatwani
Kiran Attal
Parag Tambe
Raghavendra "RG" Rao
Sagar Makode
Abhishek Suryawanshi
Alex James
Deepesh Chaudhari

As we go along, I'm sure they will need your help and support and advice and 
guidance and motivation. 

Do welcome them into your fold as you have warmly welcomed everyone else.

(I've marked PJ, Srikeit, Annie & Frank on this mail)

Warmest Regards,

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Update on Meetings

[Hisham Mundol]

We have a couple of interesting meetings yesterday with 2 Symbiosis institutes 
(SIMC & SIBM)

I know I had said we would write daily updates this week - but I'd like to 
change that to a weekly summary because that is probably going to be a better 
way of providing a comprehensive picture.

Trust that's ok!

Best

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs IRC : Thursday June 2nd 2011 @ 9pm IST (GMT + 5:30) : #wikimedia-office

[Hisham Mundol]

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

On Jun 1, 2011, at 12:29 PM, Surya Prakash wrote:

> Hi Hisham Mundol
> 
> Can you make it in-advance? instead of 9 PM, can yo make it 8 PM ?

Hi Surya

Can I request that we keep it at 9pm because I have got feedback from multiple 
people requesting this?  Many thanks!
> 
> If you can easily finish it, think about it. Otherwise ignore this message.
> 
> 
> $U∩
> 
> http://goo.gl/RoMyo.com
> 

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Media Contacts: Pune

[Hisham Mundol]

> 
Hi All

Do any of you have contacts with local media in Pune?  Would love to get name 
of correspondents, name of publication / radio or TV channel as well as  email 
IDs or phone numbers.  Could you share these with me and Moka offline?

We are looking at providing a diverse mix of media with the opportunity to 
cover the Wikipedia India Education Program - and the Campus Ambassadors who 
are associated with this.  

I'm particularly keen on getting local publications (especially Marathi) and 
local radio channels.

Many thanks

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs IRC : Thursday June 2nd 2011 @ 9pm IST (GMT + 5:30) : #wikimedia-office

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

We conduct a monthly IRC on India Programs on the first Thursday of every 
month.  I'm writing to invite you to attend tomorrow's IRC.  I've scheduled it 
for 9pm IST - based on feedback I've gotten from the community when discussing 
this at the various meet-ups I've been attending that this time slot might be 
more convenient.

Something different that I thought we would do in the IRC tomorrow is to have 
some guests.  Specifically, I wanted to invite Frank, Annie, PJ & Srikeit - all 
of who are supporting the Wikipedia India Education Program's Pune Pilot.  
Frank & Annie are with the Foundation.  PJ is from the Campus Ambassador 
program in the US - and has offered to come down to Pune to support this 
initiative for just under the next 3 months.  Srikeit is an existing Wikipedia 
and has offered to support the program for the next 1 year. 

I thought it would be a great way of getting to know them and for you to 
interact with them and to discuss the (very early) signals that we would have 
on the program (given that we are starting formal outreach today.)  We'd love 
to hear your views as well.  

As always, we will also give a quick summary of India Programs and discuss any 
other issues you'd like to.

Do join us!

Best

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikimedia-IN-PUN] Important : WikiPuneri Meetup No 14 - Date changed to 04 Jun 2011 and a special invite to the community

[Hisham Mundol]

Dear Pune Community

I'm writing to update you on the Wikipedia India Education Program.  We (Frank, 
Annie, Srikeit and I) are starting our outreach with universities and colleges 
in Pune today and will be doing this for the next few days.  The following link 
is our agenda.  
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Campus_Program_kick-off_trip_agenda  
(Tomorrow, we'll be joined by PJ.) 

We'll be sharing a daily update to you on progress - every day from tonight to 
Monday (June 6th.) 

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to invite everyone in the community to 
come and attend the social dinner we would like to host on Saturday night (June 
4th).  Please refer Ashwin's mail below.

Best
Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

On May 28, 2011, at 11:23 AM, Ashwin Baindur wrote:

>> Hello friends,
>> 
>> There is a lot happening in Pune next week. We have a lot of visitors in 
>> town who would especially like to interact with the Pune Community. Our help 
>> and cooperation has been sought for the Campus Ambassador training event 
>> next weekend. Our MEETUP DATE IS NOW CHANGED FROM 11 JUN TO 04 JUN 2011 
>> (Saturday) at 1800 hours at SICSR, Atur Centre, Model Colony. Room No 704. 
>> 7th floor.
>> 
>> Hisham Mundol, National Program Coordinator, who is leading the Campus 
>> Ambassador programme, will be in Pune for a week for masterminding the 
>> event. Bishakha Datta, Trustee, will be gracing the event on Saturday. Tinu 
>> Cherian, the quintessential Indian outreach activist, will also be coming 
>> for and participating in the meet - a rare treat for us. I spoke to Arjuna 
>> Rao Chawala and he has promised to confirm attendance by an Indian Chapter 
>> representative soon.
> 
>> We have a number of people visiting us from abroad. Frank Schulenburg, Head 
>> of Public Outreach and Annie Lin, who leads the Ambassador Program are 
>> visiting Pune for the Campus Ambassador training event on 04-05 Jun 2011. We 
>> also have P.J. Tabit coming down to India between June 1st and August 21st 
>> to support the launch of the Wikipedia India Education Program. PJ is a 
>> Campus Ambassador in the US and is on the Ambassador Steering Committee for 
>> Wikipedia. We, the Pune community, welcome Frank, Annie & PJ to Pune and 
>> hope they have a wonderful stay.  
>> 
>> We also welcome any members of the Wikimedian community in India from 
>> outside Pune who are going to be with us for this event. Do let us know if 
>> we can help you in any way.
>> 
>> Broadly speaking, the campus ambassadors will be trained on 4th and 5th Jun 
>> by the outreach team comprising lndian and foreign Wikipedians. In the 
>> evening on Saturday, the campus ambassadors and the outreach team will be 
>> present for our meetup. After the meetup, the Outreach Team has invited the 
>> Pune Wikipedia community for  a SOCIAL EVENING WITH DINNER. Venue for social 
>> evening will be indicated at the meetup.
>> 
>> Coming to another issue, the Campus Ambassadors themselves.
>> 
>> The first batch of Campus Ambassadors has been selected. To those selected, 
>> we say - heartiest congratulations, you will shortly be learning to edit and 
>> to evangelise Wikipedia. It is a most challenging task and we assure you of 
>> the community's support. We invite you to be part of our community and we 
>> promise to help you, guide you and partner you in this extraordinary journey 
>> you will undertake.
>> 
>> We also know that some other aspirants have not been selected this time 
>> round. In most cases, this is due to their lack of Wikipedia skills. To all 
>> of them we say - there will be another round of selection coming up in a few 
>> months, so have a great heart and wait. The fact that all of you stood tall 
>> and came forth means you already belong to the select batch of people who 
>> are doers and achievers. We, the Pune community, invite you to join us for 
>> this meetup and become part of us. We will help you get the skills to make 
>> you ready for the next round of selections.
>> 
>> Many of you all who are interested in becoming Wikipedians are requested to 
>> join all of the above :
>>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mr-wiki/ (Marathi Wikipedia Group)
>>https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l  (Mailing 
>> list for Wikimedians in Pune, India)   
>>https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-in-pun (Mailing 
>> list for Wikimedians in Pune, India) 
>>   

[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: India Education Program: Update to Pune Community

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi

I'm sharing an update that I just sent to the Pune community.

Warm Regards,

Hisham Mundol

Wikimedia India Programs
skype   : hisham.wikimedia
gtalk   : hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter : @mundol

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Hisham Mundol 
> Date: May 18, 2011 3:51:00 PM GMT+05:30
> To: India Mailing list for Wikimedians in Pune 
> 
> Cc: PJ Tabit , Srikeit , Jessie Wild 
> , "Annie L. Lin" , Frank Schulenburg 
> 
> Subject: India Education Program: Update to Pune Community
> 
> Dear Pune Community
> 
> This is a long mail but there is much to cover.  I'm writing with an update 
> on the India Education Program - and to ask for support from you as we roll 
> it out.
> 
> a) Campus Ambassadors
> 
> We have finished going through the ~70 applications we have received from 
> Pune for Campus Ambassadors.  I have interviewed more than half of them.  I 
> am pleased to report that we have asked 22 to join us at this stage in 
> becoming Campus Ambassadors.
> 
> There are other opportunities for the other applicants, as well as the ~20 
> others who enquired but didn't apply.  We will be in touch with them shortly 
> regarding starting Student Clubs or WikiClubs or other means of 
> participation.  In any case, we invited all of them the (very successful) 
> Pune community meet-up last Saturday.  My guess is that at least 40 people 
> attended from the Campus Ambassador applicants/enquirers.  
> 
> This is the first batch of Campus Ambassadors and we will have subsequent 
> batches. Indeed, I have asked some people from the ones who applied to learn 
> more about Wikimedia projects, learn about Wikipedia editing, try their hands 
> at editing and (on your behalf) invited them to join the community - and then 
> consider reapplying if they are not currently ready.
> 
> I'd like to thank Pune Community for making an incredible effort to invite 
> and welcome all applicants/enquirers into your fold.  Ashwin in particular 
> has been amazing!  I know many others have also helped out, so thank you to 
> everyone!
> 
> b) Additional Support
> 
> We have received 2 offers of help from PJ Tabit and Srikeit Tadepalli.  PJ 
> [[User:Pjthepiano]] is from Georgetown University in the US, is an existing 
> Campus Ambassador for the Public Policy Initiative and is part of the Campus 
> Ambassador Council in the US.  In between academic years, PJ has offered to 
> come down to Pune for 2 3/4 months starting June 2011 to support the India 
> Education Program.  Srikeit [[User:Srikeit]] is a long-time Wikipedia and is 
> probably known to many of you.  He is pursuing an academic course in Pune and 
> has offered to work part-time for 1 year starting June 2011.  We are 
> extremely pleased to have both of them support us and you in what is an 
> exciting and challenging program.  Please feel free to reach out to them!
> 
> In addition, Jessie Wild supports Student Clubs at WMF and she's eager to 
> help establish them in India.  Please feel free to reach out to Jessie!
> 
> c) Campus Ambassador Training
> 
> We plan to hold a 2 day Campus Ambassador training session on June 4-5.  In 
> this, we hope to cover the basics of Wikimedia projects, "How to Edit 
> Wikipedia", how to teach students to edit Wikipedia, how to work with 
> professors to implement Wikipedia-editing assignments,  tips around 
> conducting outreach on campus, public speaking & classroom management skills 
> as well as other subjects. 
> 
> d) Meetings & Visits
> 
> I am planning to come down to Pune next week between May 17th to 20th to do 
> some more groundwork for the India Education Program.
> 
> Frank Schulenberg (who heads up the Global Education Program for WMF) and 
> Annie Lin (who heads up the Global Ambassador Program for WMF) will be 
> visiting Pune from May 31st to June 7th.  They are coming to help out with 
> the Campus Ambassador training as well as to hold meetings with education 
> authorities, professors & teachers as well as students to support the Pune 
> Pilot of the India Education Program.  It would be really nice if I could 
> host a community get together while they are here.  I'll be in touch on this. 
>  Please feel free to reach out to them!
> 
> Professor Bob Cummings is also visiting Pune between June 13th - 17th.  He is 
> Director of the Center for Writing and Rhetoric and the University of 
> Mississippi, has participated as a Professor in the Public Policy Initiative 
> and is also on the the Advisory Board for WMF's Public Policy Initiative. 
> He'll be here to hold meetings with education authorities, professors & 
> teachers as well as students to support the Pune Pilot of the India

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Can I apply for this job

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Gerard

Thanks for your mail.  

There are inspiringly passionate people writing in both Indic and English 
Wikipedias.  I'd urge you to look at both postings, i.e., the one for 
Participation and the one for Indic Initiatives in conjunction with each other 
- because that's how I'm looking at them. You'll notice that in the Indic 
Initiatives posting, online ambassadors for Indic languages are specifically 
called out.  It is specifically because the nuances and context and challenges 
of Indic Wikipedias are different from English - and I wanted to make sure we 
don't lose out out on the attention and capability that they require.  (Indeed, 
even within the various Indic Wikipedias, they are in different stages of 
evolution - so there isn't a broad brush for them.)

p.s. please don't be amazed that you can apply.  Apply!  Would love to have 
Wikimedians in the team - and am using this reply as a shameless plug to call 
for (even) more interest from the community!

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On May 8, 2011, at 6:43 PM, Gerard Meijssen wrote:

> Hoi,
> I read the opening for Consultant, Participation - India Programs. To my 
> amazement I find that I can apply for this job. I think I qualify because I 
> have ample qualification when it comes to Wikimedia, projects and what not. I 
> am a well known Wikimedian in India because of my frequent writing about 
> issues with supporting India for the WMF projects.
> 
> Given that the job states that the online ambassadors are to write in English 
> only ... eh ... I can even do their training. But wait a moment, Hisham WHY 
> English only ?? If you ask me the most passionate people about Wikipedia are 
> the ones writing in the languages of India. Why may the languages of India 
> not benefit from the ambassadors program ???
> 
> Hisham, when you hire me as the Consultant Participation, I will certainly 
> train people in English but I promise you that I will tell people that the 
> same techniques, the same abilities the students are learning apply equally 
> to their mother tongue. You know Hisham, the people championing the languages 
> of India would even welcome me because they know they can expect this of me. 
> So even though I am European and have never been to India, I can apply for 
> this job. What do you say?
> Thanks,
>GerardM
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs IRC : Thursday May5th 2011 @ 8pm IST (GMT + 5:30) : #wikimedia-office

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

(cross-posting to reach all-India; apologies if you get multiple messages.)

Our regular monthly IRC on India Programs is on the 1st Thursday of every 
month.  Please do join in this evening (details are in the subject of this 
mail.) 

The agenda is to share an update on India Programs (such as the India Campus 
Program, the Campus Ambassadors initiative and building the team for India 
Programs.)  Needless to say, we will also discuss any other areas that you wish 
to cover.

I look forward to as many of you as can make it.

Many thanks.

Warm Regards,

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs: Team Selection: Call for Talent!

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi All

(cross-posting pan-india; apologies if you get this more than once.)

A few of you have reached out and suggested modifications / corrections in the 
postings.  I've made these.  Thank you for your inputs.

Please see the revised ones :

Wiki
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Participation_-_India_Programs
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Indic_Initiatives_-_India_Programs

LinkedIn 
http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1592308
http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1592351

Many thanks


Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On May 4, 2011, at 10:06 AM, Hisham Mundol wrote:

> Hi All
> 
> I'm writing to inform you that the selection process for 2 of the 4 potential 
> new team members of the India Programs team has started.  These have been 
> posted on Office as well as LinkedIn.  They can be seen at the at the 
> following locations:
> 
> Wiki
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Participation_-_India_Programs
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Indic_Initiatives_-_India_Programs
> 
> LinkedIn 
> http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1592308
> http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1592351
> 
> Can I request a few things.
> 
> a) India Programs is extremely keen on having existing Wikimedians on board 
> in the team.  I therefore invite and urge anyone from the existing community 
> to respond to either / both of these.  As you will make out from the 
> wordings, there is a clear preference for those who are already involved in 
> the community.
> b) Please do forward this mail to anyone you know who you think might be 
> interested.  While they may not be from the existing community, you are best 
> placed to know your who would fit into the movement and who might be 
> interested.
> c) Please do broadcast these links on any other mailing lists, bulletin 
> boards, various social networks (twitter, facebook, etc.), etc. so that we 
> can reach more potential candidates / remind potential candidates.
> 
> Please do not hesitate to contact me for any clarifications.
> 
> Many thanks.
> 
> Hisham Mundol
> Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
> skype: hisham.wikimedia
> 
> gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
> twitter: @mundol
> 

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs: Team Selection: Call for Talent!

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi All

I'm writing to inform you that the selection process for 2 of the 4 potential 
new team members of the India Programs team has started.  These have been 
posted on Office as well as LinkedIn.  They can be seen at the at the following 
locations:

Wiki
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Participation_-_India_Programs
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/Consultant,_Indic_Initiatives_-_India_Programs

LinkedIn 
http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1592308
http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1592351

Can I request a few things.

a) India Programs is extremely keen on having existing Wikimedians on board in 
the team.  I therefore invite and urge anyone from the existing community to 
respond to either / both of these.  As you will make out from the wordings, 
there is a clear preference for those who are already involved in the community.
b) Please do forward this mail to anyone you know who you think might be 
interested.  While they may not be from the existing community, you are best 
placed to know your who would fit into the movement and who might be interested.
c) Please do broadcast these links on any other mailing lists, bulletin boards, 
various social networks (twitter, facebook, etc.), etc. so that we can reach 
more potential candidates / remind potential candidates.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any clarifications.

Many thanks.

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Advice & Help Sought: Potential Additions to the Community

[Hisham Mundol]

HI Vickram

Many thanks for your comments.  My responses below

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On May 1, 2011, at 3:11 PM, Vickram Crishna wrote:

> 
> 
> On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 5:32 PM, Hisham Mundol  wrote:
> Hi All (cross-posting to make sure I reach as much of India as possible),
> 
> As you're aware, we had invited applications for Campus Ambassadors for the 
> upcoming Pune Pilot of the India Campus Program.
> 
> The response has been fantastic: we've received ~500 applications/enquiries 
> from across India, ~70 of which were from Pune.  This has been really 
> heartening - indicating the desire of many to support the Wikimedia movement. 
> It's also been overwhelming because we need to process all the applications, 
> respond to applicants, etc.! 
> 
> I think, most critically, it also presents an amazing opportunity for us to 
> introduce new people to Wikimedia projects (especially Wikipedia) - and 
> invite them to join the community.I've interviewed quite a few and there 
> is a recurring theme I hear from many of them.  It goes something like, "I've 
> been using Wikipedia for years and years, and I love it.  I want to 
> contribute back to it - but I wasn't sure how.  Then I saw the banner and 
> decided this was a great way to help."  The overwhelming common trait I have 
> noticed in the applicants is that they are bright, well-intentioned and eager 
> to contribute.
> 
> 
> I personally would like to see the nomenclature change: from 'campus 
> ambassadors' etc to 'Knowledge Facilitators', befitting by far two goals. One 
> is the democratisation of knowledge, core to this initiative, and the other 
> is the recognition of anyone of any age as a contributor (implicit in 
> Hisham's characterisation of 'no-one left behind'). 

I think both could work.  Personally, I think "campus ambassador" is a slightly 
less formal term than "Knowledge Facilitator"  but that's just my opinion.  
...As we've already announced the term Campus Ambassador for the campus 
program, I'd suggest we remain with it.  THere are multiple other roles that 
people can play (student clubs, etc.) and I'm sure we will have appropriate 
titles for these.
>  
> 
>   i) they could form student clubs in their respective educational 
> establishments
>   ii) they could form Wikipedia clubs in their workplaces/social groups 
> (as a number of applicants are working professionals, and no longer on campus)
>   iii) they could become individual editors
> 
> Each community, be it one based on educational establishments or any other, 
> could organise informal camps, which we could call wikiups, implying a 
> quickly put together 'camp', where a tiny group, 3 or 4 persons, could 
> collaborate on original contributions or editing. If such meetings could be 
> held on a weekly basis, then perhaps they could alternate between writing and 
> editing, to give each skill a good workout. I am emphasising the importance 
> of working in groups as a way forward from a concern expressed some months 
> back in our meeting in Mumbai, that many youngsters need a helping hand to 
> overcome the fear of failure - that translates into a reluctance to take part 
> - that is unfortunately instilled in much of our school system. 
> 
Agree with you and that's what I tried to bring out  for those towns where wiki 
academies aren't planned.  However, you've articulated it far better than me.

> Frequent regular meetings would also help build an impetus to attend some of 
> the additional work-focused suggestions, attending an 'Academy' session or 
> running 'incubation' programs. It would also lessen the disadvantage of not 
> being able to make it to some infrequently held local Wiki-meetups. It also 
> lends itself to the ease of adding a visiting 'trainer' who can create lively 
> sessions of tips and tricks. 
> 
> 
Could not agree more with you.  Needless to say, this is dependent on available 
community time but it's certainly a powerful idea.

Apologies for the delay; I thought I had replied earlier but just noticed this 
in my drafts folder.

> -- 
> Vickram
> Fool On The Hill
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Advice & Help Sought: Potential Additions to the Community

[Hisham Mundol]

acts of these applicants with the respective communities could reach out 
and invite them.  Alternatively, if you wish this to be done for you, that also 
can be arranged (though it will put some strain on already stretched resources.)

I look forward to hearing from you.  (Please note that we have received 
applicants from every corner of the country - so please don't assume that the 
applicants are only from Pune or only from large cities or only interested in 
English Wikipedia.  (They are literally from everywhere, and no one should be 
left behind!)

Kind Regards,

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] The Marathi language Wikipedia has reached 33, 333 articles on April 24.

[Hisham Mundol]

Congratulations to everyone involved!  It's a nice milestone to celebrate as 
you move on to even bigger and better ones.

Warm Regards,

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On Apr 26, 2011, at 7:38 AM, CherianTinu Abraham wrote:

>  The Marathi language Wikipedia has reached 33,333 articles on April 24.
> http://mr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%B7:%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%96%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%80
>  
> 
> Regards
> Tinu Cherian 
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] MediaWiki selects eight students for Google Summer of Code 2011

[Hisham Mundol]

Congratulations to all of you, and a special one to the Indian guys!

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On Apr 26, 2011, at 8:21 AM, Santhosh Thottingal wrote:

> 
> http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2011/04/mediawiki-selects-8-students-gsoc-2011/
> 
> * Akshay Agarwal‘s “Account Creation, Login Screens and AJAX-ification of
> everything” (mentor: Brandon Harris)
> * Kevin Brown’s “Working Archival for Web References/Citations,” “to
> facilitate the archival of external links used as references in the
> English Wikipedia” (mentor: Neil Kandalgaonkar)
> * Devayon Das‘s “Improving Semantic Search/Semantic Query usability issues
> in SMW” (mentor: Markus Krötzsch)
> * Ankit Garg‘s “Semantic Schemas extension” (mentor: Yaron Koren)
>Salvatore Ingala‘s “AMICUS: Awesome Monolithic Infrastructure for
> Customization of User Scripts” (mentors: Brion Vibber and Max Semenik)
> * Aigerim Karabekova‘s “Extension Release Management” (mentors: Sam Reed,
> Priyanka Dhanda, and Chad Horohoe)
> * Yuvi Panda‘s “Making Offline Wikipedia Article Selection Easier with
> Mediawiki Extensions” (mentor: Arthur Richards)
> * Zhenya Vlasyenko‘s “MediaWiki Extension: SocialProfile – UserStatus
> feature” (mentor: Jack Phoenix)
> 
> Out of 8, 4 students are from India!. Congrats and best wishes to  Akshay
> Agarwal ,  Yuvi Panda, Devayon Das and Ankit Garg.
> 
> Thanks
> Santhosh
> 
> 
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Office Location Update

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi All

I've updated the office location discussions and recommendation.  Please do 
have a look at 
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Office_Location

You'll notice that I've kept the initial discussion document unchanged for ease 
of comparison.  This is under the section "Initial Discussion." The subsequent 
sections are the new ones I've added:-  "Assessment" and "Recommendation"

I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed on this mailing list, Talk 
Pages, offlist and offline.  Really appreciate all the inputs received so far.  
Please have a look at the above link and do please share your comments and 
inputs - through whichever channel you feel most comfortable with.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you.

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Campus Program: Pune Pilot Visit Report: April 20-22

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi

I visited Pune between April 20-22 as part of a preliminary visit for the India 
Campus Program - Pune Pilot.  Thank you to everyone who help with their time, 
inputs and sharing contacts for me to meet.  I'm really grateful.

I've updated my visit report at Pune Pilot Visit Report: Planning: Preliminary 
Visit: April 20-22, 2011

Do have a look at it.  I've tried to capture the many inputs I got in as 
concise and actionable a manner as possible. I'd really appreciate any comments 
you might have.

Many thanks

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Press] : The Telegraph , Calcutta : "Regional Wiki"

[Hisham Mundol]

we were quietly hoping you didn't notice...

:-)

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs 
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On Apr 19, 2011, at 2:08 PM, Bishakha Datta wrote:

> 
> And with my name misspelt, as usual. :)
> 
> Bishakha 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Added a video Tutorial for "How to edit Odia Wikipedia"

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Subha 

This is a fantastic initiative. I just saw the video and it's a really well put 
together.  Even though it's Odia centric, I'd really advice everyone in other 
language projects to take a look at it.  It shows how to edit, basic wiki 
markups, etc. - in an Odia context.  I love the call-out buttons!

couple of comments. 

a) Not sure if it's designed that way, but I don't get sound when I saw it.  If 
it's meant to be that way, that's great because it is really clear even without 
a voice over
b) Would be great if you provide access to it in on the odia wikipedia 
homepage,  all you social networks (eg, you odia wikipedia facebook page, 
etc.), use it in all your outreach sessions (which I'm sure you're planning) 
and socialise it far and wide!

This is really really really impressive, Subha.  Hats off to you - and the rest 
of the Odia Community. 

All the very best!

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs 
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On Apr 18, 2011, at 1:41 PM, Subhashish Panigrahi wrote:

> Here is the link of the file in commons.
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tutorial-How_To_Edit_Odia_Wikipedia.ogv
> 
> The file thumbnail is added to Odia Wikipedia [ http://or.wikipedia.org ]
> 
> Subha
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Geo/Central Notices : Campus Ambassador Pune Pilot

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi All

The Notices for Campus Ambassador have now been taken down.  We've had a really 
positive response - getting in a total of 390 applicants of which 50 were from 
Pune.

We're now in the process of shortlisting resumes, conducting preliminary 
discussions and having final selection rounds.

I'll keep you posted on progress - but this is a good start.

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs 
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Report] 3rd Odia Wikipedia Workshop, Cuttack, on 17 April, 2011

[Hisham Mundol]

Thank you to everyone who took time out to conduct and participate in this 
workshop.  It sounds like very interesting and useful sessions.

Whenever you get some time, Srikant, do share the ideas about building a 
stronger community that were discussed.

I'm quite sure the 714 number will grow rapidly!

Happy Editing!

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs 
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On Apr 18, 2011, at 12:09 AM, Srikant Kedia wrote:

> Hi, here is the report of the 3rd Odia Wikipedia Workshop, Cuttack, 2011, 
> April 03.
> 
> The 3rd Odia Wikipedia Academy has been organized on 17April 2011 at Image 
> Institute of Technology & Management, Cuttack. This was the second outreach 
> academy of Odia Wikipedia in Odisha and the first one organized in the Silver 
> City, Cuttack in order to create an awareness about odia wikipedia and to 
> motivate common mass from different educational and social background to use 
> the same. Odia Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia with a substantial motive of 
> making knowledge freely available  to the masses in Odia Language, was 
> started way back in 2002. It was among the first four Indian regional 
> language wikipedia, other three being Asamese, Malayalam, & Punjabi. But due 
> to the dearth of proper awareness and activism there was a snail pace 
> movement for almost 8 years. Shiju Alex of Malyalam Wikipedia introduced Odia 
> Wiki projects to many fellow Odias which later motivated them to recapitulate 
> the Odia Wiki movement through the first Odia Wikipedia Academy, conducted in 
> Bengaluru on 6 March, 2011
> 
> Sambidhan Mohanty, Founder, Inmohven along with Ashutosh Kar, a Bangalore 
> based software engineer and an alumni of the prestigious National Institute 
> of Design formally inaugurated the event. A Video Tutorial which illustrates 
> and demonstrates the usage & the complete know-how of odia wikipedia was 
> launched on this occasion. A FAQ Booklet was distributed among the first time 
> participants of the Wikipedia Workshop. Cuttack based wikipedian Srikant 
> Kedia took active part in facilitating the event. The whole Academy/Workshop 
> was conducted in 2 main sections, in the first session Mr. Kar & Mr. Mohanty 
> introduced Odia Wikpedia to the audience, giving them a brief overview about 
> the history, development and current status of Wikipedia Movement. The second 
> session, conducted by Srikant Kedia, focused on how to type in Odia using the 
> transliteration/Inscript tool, which has been incorporated recently in odia 
> wikipedia; solving typing issues, searching existing articles, creating 
> articles and editing for improvement of old article. He also demonstrated the 
> technique of adding content to the articles by using the commonly used 
> syntaxes, the methodology for adding pictures and other media files to odia 
> wikipedia. This session was followed by an interactive session in which the 
> audience interacted with the demonstrators and among themselves. Several 
> discussions based on several major issues were carried out as well. The 
> participants included students from the various management & engineering 
> colleges, entrepreneurs, journalists, writers & College students. At the end 
> of the session contributors came forward with several suggestions which 
> included motivating more number of students and freelancers to contribute to 
> Odia Wikipedia.There was a discussion on  how to build a stronger community 
> and the ways to be implemented for improving the articles both in terms of a 
> standard quality and quantity. The participants also put forth their 
> suggestions on the ways to tackle vandalism and monitor the wiki user's 
> activities. Many such activism & events have been planned to be conducted in 
> the coming future with the involvement of people from all fields of life, who 
> are passionate about the development of Odia language on the web. Odia 
> Wikipedia can be accessed at or.wikipedia.org and the Facebook page for Odia 
> Wikipedia is facebook.com/OdiaWiki 
> 
> As of now there are 714 articles in Odia Wikipedia, many of them are yet to 
> be refined & enhanced with more information and references through larger 
> participation. 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Thanks & Regards,
> Srikant Kedia (User:Odisha1)
> Odia (Oriya) Wikipedia Community
> 
> Odia Wikipedia Support Mail ID - odiaw...@gmail.com
> Facebook- facebook.com/OdiaWiki
> Tweet @OdiaWiki
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Press] : The Telegraph , Calcutta : "Regional Wiki"

[Hisham Mundol]

It's a nice article: simple, informative and with a call-to-action.  Thanks, 
Tinu.



Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs 
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On Apr 17, 2011, at 7:40 AM, CherianTinu Abraham wrote:

> 
> The Telegraph , Calcutta : "Regional Wiki"
> http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110417/jsp/calcutta/story_13861947.jsp
> 
> Wikipedia may be one of the most popular websites in the world, but few know 
> that it can be accessed in 270 languages, including 20 Indian ones.
> 
> Wiki Bangla has been around since January 2004, but with little awareness 
> about its existence there have been few contributors. A workshop and 
> brainstorming session was organised by NGO Sanhita along with Wikimedia 
> Foundation at the Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre recently to 
> introduce Bangla Wiki to academicians and NGOS and invite contributions on 
> women’s right and gender-related issues.
> 
> “The Bengali section of Wikipedia has hardly any information on women rights 
> and laws. If we can enrich this section it will benefit many women in rural 
> areas, especially those who are not conversant in English,” said Soma 
> Sengupta, the director of Sanhita.
> 
> Women’s rights activist Vishakha Dutta represented the Wikimedia Foundation. 
> Professors of women studies departments of various colleges were encouraged 
> to select students who can contribute for this section. Some of the 
> participating colleges included Sreerampur Girls’ College, Basanti Devi 
> College, Jaiprakash Institute, Lady Brabourne College and Shibnath Shastri 
> College.
> 
> 
> Regards
> Tinu Cherian 
> 
> P.S. The story is short, but I think it appears on the front page of TT 
> today. 
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] 3rd Odia (Oriya) Wikipedia Academy/Workshop Cuttack, April 17, 2011 at 10 AM

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Subhashish

Will be my pleasure to join in.  

Thanks

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs 
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On Apr 16, 2011, at 2:45 PM, Subhashish Panigrahi wrote:

> 
> Congratulations and wish you all the best for the event. Just, a quick 
> update. Susant Patnaik, a young innovator, awarded by former president of 
> India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, TEDx Speaker and recently secelcted fror a 
> NASA event, hailing from the Temple City of Bhubaneswar is going to speak 
> about opensource and Wikipedia movement in betwen the first and 2nd session, 
> so, please update the same in the event page.
> 
> Secondly, please try to webcast the event so that some of the interested 
> people like me can view it remotely. And I would love Mr. Hisham Mundol to 
> share some of his valuable time and ideas with the audience after the editing 
> session is over.
> 
> Tomorrow Odia Wiki community is going to inaugurate the Tutorial for "How to 
> Edit Odia Wikipedia" in Odia with callouts for further help. This is the 
> first version of the tutorial which will also feature voice over describing 
> the commands. I am uploading and updating you all by this evening.
> 
> Once again wish you all the best again for all your noble effort.
> ___
> Wikipedia Odia (Oriya) mailing list
> wikipedia...@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-or
> 
> facebook.com/OdiaWiki
> Tweet @OdiaWiki
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Campus Program-Pune Pilot: Inputs for College/University Selection:

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi

Frank, Annie & Jessie have started a page to get inputs to select which 
specific colleges/universities to approach for the Pune pilot:- 
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Selection_of_schools_for_the_Pune_pilot

Could you help out and provide your inputs / comments?  Please feel free to 
edit the page and not restrict yourself to the Talk page.

Many thanks.

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs 
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] India Campus Program - Pune Pilot: Update

[Hisham Mundol]

I've updated the India Programs page (towards the end of the Campus Program 
section) with the wording/design of the banner as well as the landing page.

As always, do share any comments on the Talk Page, or on this mailing list or 
directly with me.

Many thanks.

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs 
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On Apr 13, 2011, at 9:23 AM, Hisham Mundol wrote:

> Hi Folks
> 
> Just thought I'd let you know that the goe-targetted banners we are planning 
> for Campus Ambassador recruitments are going live tonight (India time.) 
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Hisham Mundol
> Wikimedia Foundation India Programs 
> skype: hisham.wikimedia
> gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
> twitter: @mundol
> 

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Campus Program - Pune Pilot: Update

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

Just thought I'd let you know that the goe-targetted banners we are planning 
for Campus Ambassador recruitments are going live tonight (India time.) 

Thanks

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs 
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Cheat-Sheet for Fellowships: Campus Program Pilot in Pune

[Hisham Mundol]

Absolutely.

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs 
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On Apr 12, 2011, at 7:23 PM, Anivar Aravind wrote:

> Some of my friends are involved in Designing & Training  a FOSS
> elective in COEP , Pune
> http://www.fosscommunity.in/wiki/Pune/COEP/FOSS_Devel_Elective
> 
> May be we can use those networks for popularizing Campus Ambassadors
> programme through students in such networks to invite more quality
> applications
> 
> Anivar

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Cheat-Sheet for Fellowships: Campus Program Pilot in Pune

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

It's probably slightly ill-adivised to use the word "cheat-sheet" in connection 
with a campus activity - but this comes dangerously close to that!  :-)

I've received a bunch of queries regarding Fellowships (and Campus Ambassadors) 
for the upcoming Pune pilot of the Campus Program.  The document Fellowships 
Proposal Template outlines the Fellowships that are required for this pilot.  I 
thought I would make it easier for those who wish to apply for Fellowships by 
making this document in the format that you can use for a Fellowship Proposal.

Some additional context and the process is outlined in Fellowships.  You could 
write "Design, Implement, Manage & Monitor Campus Program Pilot in Pune, India" 
in the "Create Proposal" option at the bottom of the Fellowships page.  You can 
then cut and replace the proposal from my document.  I have left comments in my 
document to additional material that you can (and ought to) add.  It's really 
important that your individuality and thinking comes through in your proposal 
so please do amend at will while you are submitting your proposal.  If you're 
interested, please do submit proposals as early as you can because the 
timelines are short for the pilot.

Please do share this email with whoever else you think might be interested but 
are not on this mailing list.

As always, feel free to reach out to me if you need any help/clarifications.

Many thanks.

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs 
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Report-32nd Bangalore WikiMeetup

[Hisham Mundol]

Hey Subhashish

I wanted to acknowledge and appreciate your efforts in organising and 
documenting  this meeting.  It sounds like a very informative and engaging 
meetup.

Thank  you and and thanks too to everyone else who participated.

Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Apr 11, 2011, at 10:10 AM, Subhashish Panigrahi wrote:

> The 32nd Bangalore Wikimedia Meetup was organized on 2011April10 at 3 PM in 
> CIS, Bangalore. This meetup was headed by Subhashish Panigrahi 
> [[User:Psubhashish]] and attended by 7 Wikipedians. The speakers of this 
> meetup were Arjun Rao C, Achal Prabhala and Anirudh Bhati.
> 
> 1st Talk: Arjun Rao C/ Experience in Berlin Wikimedia Conference, 2010
> 
> Arjun Rao talked about his participation in the Wikimedia conference held in 
> Berlin. He discussed about the new plans and ventures for Wikimedia projects 
> which will be the current focus for the chapters of several countries. He 
> also briefed the audience about the plans for the proposed projects under 
> Wikimedia India such as:
> Knowledge kiosks in public libraries, Academies, Projects for improvements in 
> Indic language tools, Indic Wiki CD/DVD, improve participation of women in 
> Wiki communities, Wikimania for Indian Wikipedians, etc. Arjun showed 
> pictures of speakers from several countries who he befriended and shared 
> ideal structures of the the Wiki projects in those all countries.
> 
> 2nd Talk: Achal Prabhala/ “Open Citation” & its perpectives
> 
> Achal introduced the audience about his ongoing project on “Oral Citation”, 
> its purpose, authenticity, possible issues and their solutions. He explained 
> the problems Malayalam Wikipedians faced when they have created well 
> constructed articles on several games played in villages, but there was no 
> proper citations as none ever tried to make literature based documentations 
> for them. Even he also stated the similar experiences he has with the 
> “Sapheri” speaking South African tribe where many traditional games were 
> never put under the modern documented rules and regulations but they are 
> great resources for the anthropologists. Many such important heritage related 
> articles could be cited using oral citation which is easier to create, 
> transform, share and cite. He also explained how credibility and authenticity 
> were created by interviewing the people about the dance form/game/any such 
> intended aspect. Most of the verbal conversation could be translated and 
> added to the audio file itself and later can be translated to any other 
> language. The source and copyright info can also be explained in the audio 
> file itself which would make this a very simplistic approach, but potentially 
> more accessible. Audio files would be more self explanatory, easy to share in 
> the form of podcasts and an elaborated audience could be targeted.
> 
> 3rd Talk: Anirudh Bhati/ “Outreach Campaign in North-East”
> 
> Wikimedia India member Anirudh Bhati has organized has visited to NREST 
> (North-Eastern Regional Institute), Arunanchal Pradesh in the festive season 
> of “Mopin”, a regional festival and “Srishti 2011”, NREST's institutional 
> function. Anirudh along with Wikipedian Nikhil Sheth introduced Wikipedia and 
> other WMF projects to almost 110 students and lecturers in CREST. They 
> demonstrated them “Editing in Wikipedia” and students themselves created 
> articles based on the demonstration over there. Surya Vaigunth, a final year 
> student and a computer enthusiast personally took initiative to teach to 
> masses and bring out a set of persistent contributors. Though most of them 
> were interested to see the opportunities of Indic Wikipedias, majority of the 
> critical mass was more interested for English article speculated more about 
> Arunanchal Pradesh and even uploading more picture than content development. 
> He also has demonstrated how to use Indic Wikipedias and editing them. 
> Srikanth added a note to uploading pictures and geotagging them using 
> external maps which would be useful for online searches. As a part of the 
> outreach program Anirudh also explained about the Offline package developed 
> by taking selected Wikipedia articles for school students as a part of SOS 
> Children's Village where Ashwin helped for creating list of important 
> articles. 2 major software programs OpenZIM and Kiwix are used for 
> compilation and running of the offline package respectively where the total 
> package (2.75 GB) could be burnt in a DVD. The team also had a video chat 
> with Portugese Wikipedian Beria Lima who had a talk about “Mirandese language 
> and Gender Gap”, Mirandese, being one of the dying lan

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Uploads to Commons] Geocoding and Multilingual descriptions

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Srikanth

Many thanks for this.  It's very useful.  

Appreciate your initiative!

Also, just read Achal's comments on his interactions with you.  

Inspiring stuff!

Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Apr 11, 2011, at 4:39 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan wrote:

> Heya all,
> Yesterday, at the 32nd Bangalore Meetup, Shubhashish, Ralph, Aniruddh and I 
> had a talk, and I decided to send this mail across.
> Not all people know about geocoding images, or adding multilingual 
> descriptions. I thought I would give a brief introduction to these two 
> concepts.
> Please NOTE : All examples used below are images uploaded by me.
> 
> 1> Multilingual Descriptions:
> While uploading a file, it is best recommended, to add a brief description. 
> By default, the language setting is English. However you cann add as many as 
> you want, and in the order of your preference. I use Hindi first, and then 
> English. EG:  
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Central-Silk-Board-Flyover.jpg
> I suggest adding descriptions in your local language and/or mother tongue 
> apart from English. It is irrelevant whether the language in which you type 
> has any connection the the picture. I have uploaded pictures of Tamil Nadu 
> with Hindi descriptions.
> You can type in Indian languages using http://www.Quillpad.in or  
> http://www.google.com/transliterate/
> Alternatively, you can use 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Keymanweb/Keymanweb on Wikipedia itself. 
> 
> 2> Geocoding images
> Geocoding is a relatively easy process.
> You can use http://tools.freeside.sk/geolocator/geolocator.html to generate 
> geolocation tags.
> The process is simple, open Google Maps/Wikimapia/Open Street Maps, locate 
> the place in question, and copy the link, in Wikimapia, from the address bar, 
> Google maps, click on link, copy the first link, in OSM, click on permalink, 
> copy from address bar and paste it in the box on the link given above. 
> Click on Apply, it'll show the location in the map. Zoom in and give final 
> adjustments, if any to the location and copy the tags below. I suggest 
> {{location}} over {{coord}} as the latter is being depreciated. Among the two 
> {{location}} tags, I use the longer one. 
> Add the location tags to the additional info box while uploading. 
> 
> Note: 
> i] For some images, getting a location is easy. Eg: In 
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RCC-Magic-Box-Hosur-Road.jpg it was 
> easy as the picture's location is an important junction on a major road. 
> Locating it on the maps was an easy task. 
> ii] For some pictures, it wasn't so easy, like 
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NH-209-Dimbam_Ghat.jpg I didn't know 
> where to place the exact marker, so I chose a hairpin bend from the map that 
> seemed most likely or close to the one I photographed. [ For those who have 
> GPS enabled devices with you: Try saving the location, or like I discovered 
> later on, tweet out the something with locations enabled and favourite that 
> tweet for easy access later on. ]
> 
> I bookmarked, the Commons Upload Form, GeoLocator, and the Indic Text tool on 
> my browser bookmarks toolbar so it can be opened as and when I take a 
> photograph.
> 
> If anybody has any problems or issues with the above matter, please let me 
> know. I'll be happy to help you out in any event you haven't understood what 
> I mentioned.
> 
> Regards, 
> Srikanth Ramakrishnan
> User:Rsrikanth05
> @rsrikanth05
> 
> -- 
> Regards,
> ME.
> Wear a Lungi, Support the Movement
>  My infrastructure invasion... plus other images
> too.. on Wikimedia Commons. http://bit.ly/d50SIq
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] A brief Report on OSSCamp at Lucknow, Dated 26-27th March, 2011

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Piyush

Many thanks for your efforts.  Your report is interesting and insightful. You 
sound like you had a good time too, and that's great!

I'm curious about what the student profile was - age, kind of college (IT, 
engineering, arts, commerce, etc.), location of college, and anything else on 
the profile of the students.

It'll be really good if you can stay in touch with those who you met and see 
how they are getting along on editing.  Sometimes, newbies want to edit but run 
into difficulties and need a bit of hand holding.

Thanks, once again.

Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Apr 10, 2011, at 8:38 AM, Piyush Aggarwal wrote:

> A brief Report on OSSCamp at Lucknow, Dated 26-27th March, 2011
> 
> On 26-27th march there was an OSSCamp organised at Babu Banarasi Das Group of 
> Educational Institutions at Lucknow. College has taken
> the initiative to invite the representatives of various OpenSource 
> communities like Wordpress, Joomla, Mozilla Firefox, Drupal, Php etc. 
> Wikimedia volunteers were also invited for the event. The purpose of the 
> event was to make students aware of the various open source technologies and 
> their advantages. Also, it was an effort to motivate students to come forward 
> and contribute.
> 
> Students from various colleges were gathered to learn and explore new and 
> different technologies. I went there to represent Wikipedia. My presentation 
> was scheduled on 26th of March, 2011 in the post lunch session. I talked 
> about the different projects of Wikimedia foundation, some Wikipedia 
> statistics, Wikimedia India chapter and discussed the role of volunteers and 
> in the end I tried to motivate them to contribute.
> 
> Over there, I was surprised to know that awareness of the students towards 
> Wikimedia foundation was minimal.  Most of the students over there were not 
> even aware that they can actually edit the contents of Wikipedia. Only couple 
> of them knew about the other projects of Wikimedia foundation other than 
> Wikipedia like Wikitionary , Wikiquotes, commons etc.
> 
> After the talk, on special request of students I demonstrated the editing 
> process in Wikipedia and took hands on workshop of interested students. 
> Students were very keen and enthusiastic to learn about Wikipedia. The 
> session went on for almost ninety minutes and I had one to one interactions 
> with the students. The inquisitive questions and their high level of interest 
> made me more motivated to explain.
> 
> Pic1: http://tiny.cc/stu1
> Pic2: http://tiny.cc/stu2
> 
> Even after the hands on session, many students contacted with different 
> queries. For me also, it was wonderful learning experience. The college 
> authorities and student organisers namely Nitesh Sinha and Abhinav Upadhyay 
> deserves huge round of applause for their tireless effort for organising a 
> successful OSSCamp. 
> 
> Regards,
> Piyush Aggarwal ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Tamil Wikipedia crossed the 30, 000 articles milestone

[Hisham Mundol]

This is fantastic.  Great show, Tamil Wikipedians!

Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Apr 8, 2011, at 11:03 PM, Shiju Alex wrote:

> Today Tamil Wikipedia has crossed the 30,000 article milestone. With this it 
> has become the 6th Indic language wikipedia that crosses this milestone 
> (after Newari, Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, and Bishnupriya Manipuri)
> 
> Congrats for Tamil wiki community on this achievement. 
> 
> Shiju
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Office Location: Selection Criteria & Invite to Comment

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

As many of you are aware, one of the decisions India Programs needs to take is 
where to locate the office.  On a sub-page tof India Programs 
(http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Office_Location),
 I've put together the selection criteria that are currently going into the 
decision, as well as the list of towns/cities to be evaluated.

Can I request you to have a look these, and share your views on the Talk page 
(or directly with me, if you prefer.)  I'd appreciate any kind of comments, and 
from as many community members as possible.  For instance, you could mention if 
any additional criteria should be included, or if some existing one(s) should 
be deleted, or if any particular weightage(s) is high/low.  Also, I've put down 
the list of towns/cities currently being considered.  I've deliberately kept an 
additional column for "any other location."  Please discuss the name(s) of any 
other town/location.

You'll notice that I haven't actually put the scores down for each town/city; 
that's the next step.

Thanks!

Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia:Meetup /Pune12 on Saturday 9 April 2011, 6:00 pm @ SICSR

[Hisham Mundol]

Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Apr 8, 2011, at 3:51 PM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar wrote:

> Hi Hisham,
> 
> On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 12:30 PM, Hisham Mundol  wrote:
>> Hi Sudhanwa
>> I would love to be able to attend this but had planned to be in Pune next
>> weekend (as was proposed in the IRC meeting last evening.)   Is there any
>> chance I could skype in tomorrow?  ...and meet you folks in person next
>> weekend? (I did have a few things I wanted to convey on the campus program
>> and the proposal for the Pune pilot, and i'd love to be able to address any
>> queries, etc. - and take on board suggestions.)
> 
> 
> I am not so sure if we can do a skype session tomorrow. I will have to
> check out for the net connection and skype availability. However, if
> you can be online during the meeting time, that could be great. If not
> skype, we can do just a gmail chat session.
> 
> You are most welcome to come over to Pune and we will be happy to meet
> you in person.
> 
> We have decided to conduct meetups every month on second Saturday
> around 6-6:30 pm. So, anybody wants to join in, can plan their visit
> accordingly.
> 
> I am forwarding your mail to the Pune list.
> 
> Thanks and regards,
> -Sudhanwa

sure, will be available online.  many thanks!
> 
> 
>> 
>> Many thanks.
>> Hisham Mundol
>> India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation
>> 
>> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
>> skype: hisham.wikimedia
>> gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
>> twitter: @mundol
>> 
>> 
>> On Apr 8, 2011, at 2:02 AM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar wrote:
>> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> This is a confirmation of the Wikipedia meetup Pune12 on Saturday 9
>> April 2011,  6:00 pm @ SICSR.
>> 
>> We will be discussing about the "Wikipedia campus ambassador" project.
>> 
>> Read this for reference :
>> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs#Campus_Program
>> And also this :
>> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/IRC_meeting_2011-07-04
>> 
>> Do join in.
>> 
>> Best regards,
>> -Sudhanwa
>> 

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia:Meetup /Pune12 on Saturday 9 April 2011, 6:00 pm @ SICSR

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Sudhanwa

I would love to be able to attend this but had planned to be in Pune next 
weekend (as was proposed in the IRC meeting last evening.)   Is there any 
chance I could skype in tomorrow?  ...and meet you folks in person next 
weekend? (I did have a few things I wanted to convey on the campus program and 
the proposal for the Pune pilot, and i'd love to be able to address any 
queries, etc. - and take on board suggestions.)


Many thanks.
Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Apr 8, 2011, at 2:02 AM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> This is a confirmation of the Wikipedia meetup Pune12 on Saturday 9
> April 2011,  6:00 pm @ SICSR.
> 
> We will be discussing about the "Wikipedia campus ambassador" project.
> 
> Read this for reference :
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs#Campus_Program
> And also this :
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/IRC_meeting_2011-07-04
> 
> Do join in.
> 
> Best regards,
> -Sudhanwa
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Press] The Hindu : "Malayalam Wiki all set to expand database"

[Hisham Mundol]

Couldn't agree more, Ravi.  Well done, folks!
Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Apr 8, 2011, at 10:52 AM, Ravishankar wrote:

> Hi
> 
> Someone should help create a template to keep congratulating ml wikimedians :)
> 
> Ravi
> 
> On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 7:06 AM, CherianTinu Abraham  
> wrote:
> The Hindu : "Malayalam Wiki all set to expand database"
> http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/article1611002.ece
> 
> The Malayalam Wiki is on a roll. After winning accolades for its innovative 
> endeavours, the Malayalam Wiki continues to hog the limelight with its latest 
> project titled, ‘Malayalam Wikimediayaye Snehikkunnu' (Malayalam loves 
> Wikimedia).
> 
> Inspired by the resounding success of Wiki projects elsewhere—like ‘London 
> loves Wikimedia'—the new Malayalam Wiki project seeks to expand the Malayalam 
> Wiki repositories of free-to-access and use knowledge by adding 
> copyright-free news and feature photographs concerning Malayalam users. 
> “During the two-week project period between April 2 and April 17, we intend 
> to sensitise Malayalam Wiki contributors and users to enrich Malayalam Wiki 
> ventures by contributing free-to-use photographs. Despite boasting over 
> 17,000 articles on a variety of topics, the Malayalam Wiki can't claim to 
> have many copyright-free pictures. Hence the project,” maintains Shiju Alex, 
> Malayalam Wiki activist and coordinator.
> 
> The timing of the project couldn't have been any better, given the 
> forthcoming assembly polls. “This is the time you get to photograph the 
> State's prominent political personalities. We have articles on many of them, 
> but most of their available photographs are copyrighted,” he says. Four days 
> into the project, over 400 free-to-use photographs have been generated by 
> Malayalam Wiki users across the globe and uploaded into 
> http://commons.wikimedia.org and http://ml.wikipedia.org.
> 
> Besides political leaders, the project seeks to obtain copyright-free 
> photographs of places of historical significance; monuments; institutions of 
> governance including local bodies; noted personalities in the State's social 
> and cultural spheres as part of the project. “The two-week project period is 
> just a token observance. The exercise is sure to stay on further,” says Mr. 
> Alex. Contributors are encouraged to provide material besides additional 
> information pertaining to the photographs they upload. They have also been 
> asked to give, if possible, the geo-coding (on-map location coordinates) of 
> the photographs. An FAQ on the objectives and mode of implementation of the 
> project is available on the Malayalam Wiki page announcing it. A help mail, 
> h...@mlwiki.in, has also been set up to field queries. Wiki activists Rajesh 
> Odayanchal and Ajay Kuyiloor have designed a unique logo and advertisement 
> for the project.
> 
> 
> Regards
> Tinu Cherian 
> http://wikimedia.in/wiki/In_the_news
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
> 
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs IRC : Thursday April 7th 2011 @ 8pm IST (GMT + 5:30) : #wikimedia-office

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks

As I had mentioned earlier, we're having a monthly IRC meeting on India 
Programs on the 1st Thursday of every month.  Please do join the IRC meeting 
this evening on India Programs .  (The details are in the subject of this 
mail.) 

The basic agenda is to discuss the India Plan which I shared with you all a 
couple of days ago as well as anything else that you wish to go through.

I look forward to as many of you as can make it.

Many thanks.

Warm Regards,


Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Kannada Wiktionary reaches 1,00,000 words

[Hisham Mundol]

Congratulations, KN wiktionarians!  25k in 6 months is remarkable!
Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Apr 4, 2011, at 3:14 PM, Bala Jeyaraman wrote:

> Hello all,
> 
> Kannada wiktionary has reached the 1,00,000 words milestone, becoming the 
> second indic wiktionary (after Tamil) to achieve 100k. The statistics page is 
> here 
> (http://kn.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%B2%B5%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%B6%E0%B3%87%E0%B2%B7:Statistics)
> 
> Kannada wiktionary has been growing at a phenomenal pace in recent times (25k 
> words in 6 months). Congratulations to all KN wiktionarians who have made 
> this possible.
> 
> regards
> Bala
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Report: 2nd Odia Wikipedia Workshop, Bhubaneswar, 2011April03

[Hisham Mundol]

Thank you, Subhashish and everyone else involved.  I know you all have put in 
considerable efforts.  It's inspiring to note that 30-35 people attended your 
workshop.  That's pretty impressive!  It's great to see that you folks have set 
in motion ongoing outreach and content contribution activities - beyond the the 
workshop day.  

It'll be really interesting and useful to see how those who attended this 
session are getting along.  If I could request you to share an update every 
once in a while, I think it'll tell a fascinating tale.

All the very best to all those in the Odia Wikipedia community.  

Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Apr 4, 2011, at 3:41 PM, Subhashish Panigrahi wrote:

> Hi, here is the report of the 2nd Odia Wikipedia Workshop, Bhubaneswar, 
> 2011April03
> 
> The 2nd Odia Wikipedia Academy has been organized on 3April 2011 at Bharatiya 
> Vidya Bhavan, Bhubaneswar. This was the first outreach academy of Odia 
> Wikipedia in Odisha to bring an awareness andmotivate common mass from 
> different educational and social background. Odia Wikipedia was started way 
> back in 2002 and was one of the four Indian languages, Asamese, Malayalam, 
> Odia, Punjabi. But because of the lack of proper awareness and activism there 
> was a snail movement for almost 8 years. Shiju introduced Odia Wiki projects 
> to many fellow Odias which later motivated them to bring the Wiki movement 
> back to the first Odia Wikipedia Academy, conducted in Bengaluru on. Odia 
> Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia in Odia language to make knowledge 
> available freely for masses.
> 
> Dhanada Mishra of Human Resource Development Management Studies has formally 
> inaugurated this event. A FAQ Booket was released by and distributed among 
> the first time participants of the Wikipedia Workshop. Wikipedians Shiju Alex 
> and Tinu Cherian were also took
> 
> active part in facilitating the event. The workshop was conducted by Odia 
> Wikiali (Odia version of an Wikipedian/User) Subha Pa. The whole 
> Academy/Workshop was conducted in 2 main sections, Subha introduced Odia 
> Wikipedia to the audience, said about the history and the development and 
> current status. The second session was focused on how to type in Odia using 
> the transliteration/Inscript tool which was newly incorporated, solving 
> typing issues, searching existing articles, creating articles and editing for 
> enhancement of old article. In this session he has demonstrated how to add 
> content using the commonly used syntaxes, adding pictures and other media 
> files. This was an interactive session where the audience interacted with the 
> demonstrator and each other and several discussions went on based on the 
> major issues. Several participants from from the nearby management colleges, 
> engineering students, entrepreneurs, college students have also participated. 
> At the end of the session a lotion based core group of active users was 
> formed which will be promoting the Wikipedia movement and bringing more and 
> more contributors to enhance it, make it more user friendly and make it reach 
> to masses. Contributors came with several suggestions such as motivating more 
> and more students and freelancers to contribute and also monitor the ongoing 
> activities and discussing them through the mailing list of Odia Wikipedia. [ 
> http://bit.ly/ormail ]. More and more such activism are expected in the 
> coming future with the involvement of people who are eager for the 
> development of Odia language on web. Odia Wikipedia can be accessed at 
> or.wikipedia.org and the Facebook page for Odia Wikipedia is 
> facebook.com/OdiaWiki
> 
> As of now there are 700 articles in Odia Wikipedia, but many of them are to 
> be enhanced with more information and references. There was a discussion 
> about how to build a strong community to enhance the articles in both quality 
> and standard wise, stop vandalism and monitor the activities.
> 
> Photos • In News  • Facebook
> 
> 
> ସୁଭପାSubhashishPanigrahi
> ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ
> ___
> Wikipedia Odia (Oriya) mailing list
> wikipedia...@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-or
> facebook.com/OdiaWiki
> Tweet @OdiaWiki
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs: Updated India Plan

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Folks


I've updated and detailed out all the sections on the India Plan. *
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs*<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs>


Thank you so much to all who've engaged and contributed to this - on the
talk pages and 1-on-1.


Some key highlights of what I've added:

   - Based on queries I've received, I've added a "Strategic Thinking"
   section that sets out the some guiding ideas for the plan.
   - Updated the various initiatives with learnings and experience from
   around the world (e.g., Public Policy Initiative, Wiki Guides, incubation or
   "greenhouse" as used in Russian & Hebrew Wikipedias)
   - Detailing out the Campus Program, including a proposed pilot city
   - Updated the sections on Outreach Impact and Digital Outreach (formerly
   titled Social Media)
   - Updated team structure / roles  & responsibilities
   - Updated timelines.  (These continue to remain somewhat ambitious, but
   using it at as a starting point.)


Please do take time out and read the page.  As always, I'd love to hear from
you.  Please feel free to share your views on this mailing list or on the
talk page or offlist with me or any other channel you prefer!


Something that I think would be useful would be to present this plan
face-to-face with as wide a group as possible.  If you could let me know
(offlist please) when your next community meet-ups are scheduled (across the
country), I'd love to be able to come down and share the plan with you in
person.


(Also, as agreed in the first India Programs' IRC, there's a monthly IRC
scheduled for this Thursday evening India time.  We could discuss the India
Plan in addition to anything else.  I'll send out a note on that separately)


Kind Regards,



*Hisham Mundol*

*India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation*


*http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs*

skype: hisham.wikimedia

gtalk: hmun...@wikimedia.org

twitter: @mundol
___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] 2nd Odia (Oriya) Wikipedia Academy/Workshop Bhubaneswar, 2011April03, 10 AM

[Hisham Mundol]

Hi Subhashish 

This is an excellent agenda.  I also went through the facebook page and it's 
really good to see you using digital outreach/social networks (whatever you 
want to term it) to increase attendance of the workshop.

I thought I'd share a few comments with you (and I'd love to chat with you and 
Shiju and anyone else who's interested) about them

a) Given that (as I suspect) we might have complete newbies attending, you 
might want to consider having a "basic intro to Wikipedia" and a "how to edit 
wikipedia" session planned in.  The "how to edit Wikipedia" is the session that 
is most likely to be the most engaging to the audience so I would suggest that 
we have it relatively early on (and have a "how to edit Wikipedia Odia" later 
in the schedule as well - to discuss specific Odia language aspects.) 
b) Though it is probably not intended to be so, and it is probably not coming 
out in the agenda - it is crucial to not just inform but also inspire the 
audience to participate in Wikipedia.  The tone of the sessions ought to, 
therefore, be inspiring and fun.  (My personal view and happy to discuss
c) I think a specific aspect you could also incorporate is "what to edit?"  
...This would serve to provide some examples for those who want to start 
editing but are not sure where to begin.  As I'm going to be articulating on 
the India Programs page, the thought I had for the country is to message "Edit 
Bharat" as an overall message.  I'll add more details on the India Programs 
page - but in summary it serves as a big campaignable idea which will serve as 
an umbrella for participation.  You could interpret it as "Edit Odisha."   It 
could be brought to life by  stuff like suggesting editing pages on the state, 
or districts or the larger towns and cities or Odia culture or Odia monuments, 
etc. etc. etc. 
d) It would really be useful to understand from the audience what is the 
takeout of the session.  This could be done by simply asking people to write 
out their take-out in 5 words and having them feedback on the session with a 
simple "Very Good - Good - Average   - Below Average - Poor" scale.
e) Not sure what you have planned to keep in touch with the participants after 
the session but taking their email IDs and on a very carefully chosen frequency 
(maybe once a month for the first 3 months) - asking them how they were getting 
along and if they needed help might be something you considered.  Needless to 
say, this would only happen with their consent.
f) The last point I have is that, in my experience, outreach sessions work best 
when there is a single message that is constantly reinforced during the 
session.  If you chose to have "YOU CAN EDIT ODISHA" - then do consider 
repeating this message multiple times during the academy/workshop - and weaving 
all the sub-topics within it.  
g) You might want to consider involving the local media / press to provide 
publicity to the workshop to increase attendance.
h) You might also want to consider increasing the digital outreach and 
on-ground outreach to increase attendance.  The former could be done by 
activating social networks in schools and colleges in Bhubanewswar and the 
latter could be done by posters and word-of-mouth in these schools and colleges.

I'm really happy and eager to explain/clarify and work with you on all these 
points.  I'm going to be reaching out to you.

Last, and most certainly not the least, Good Luck!  I'm sure it will go great.


Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
google talk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Mar 25, 2011, at 9:24 PM, Subhashish Panigrahi wrote:

> Hi All,
> 
> This is Subhashish from Odia (Oriya) Wikipedia.
> 
> It is my pleasure to inform you all about the 2nd Odia (Oriya) Wikipedia 
> Academy/Workshop is going to be organized in Bhubaneswar on 2011April03 at 10 
> AM, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. This is the first of its kind of workshop in the 
> home state Odisha. The first workshop was conducted by Malayalam Wikipedian 
> Shiju A in Bengaluru.
> 
> Main Agenda:
> Session1:
> - Introduction about Wikipedia and Wikipedia Odia
> - Recent developments and new features added in Wikipedia
> - Why Wikipedia Odia?
> - Future deveopment and possible opportunities with Wikipedia
> Session2:
> - Discussion of common problems raised (And by audience)
> - Display and typing issues and solution
> - Building community
> - Translation issues & possible measures to solve them
> - Incubation of new projects for students in Odia Wikipedia
> - Future Projects for Odia Wikipedia
> 
> Anyone from any other language Wikipedias are most welcome to this event to 
> share thei

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] 1 million edits in Hindi wikipedia !

[Hisham Mundol]

This is a really big milestone and congratulations are well-deserved by all 
Hindi wikipedians.  

It also lays the platform for a deeper expansion of participation and quality.  
That's actually one of the things that I would like India Programs to focus on 
- given the sheer number of Hindi speakers.  ...If there are any thoughts, 
please do share them on this mailing list or feel free to write to me directly 
or google chat me on hmun...@wikimedia.org

Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
google talk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Mar 29, 2011, at 4:47 PM, Bala Jeyaraman wrote:

> Hindi wikipedia has reached 1 million (10 lakh) page edits some time in the 
> past week, becoming the second indic language to reach that mile stone 
> (malayalam made it first on January 22)
> 
> Congratulations to all Hindi wikipedians
> 
> regards
> Bala
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Press]: The Hindu : "Malayalam's Wiki warrior"

[Hisham Mundol]

Great article, Santosh.  It's particularly good because it references wikipedia 
in schools and wikisource well.
Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

User:Hmundol
skype: hisham.wikimedia
google talk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Mar 23, 2011, at 6:48 PM, CherianTinu Abraham wrote:

> The Hindu : "Malayalam's Wiki warrior"
> http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/society/article1564461.ece 
> 
> Santosh Thottingal has done wonders for Malayalam computing. He is the only 
> Indian on Wikipedia's recently-expanded language committee
> 
> Santhosh Thottingal has just logged on to the big leagues in cyber world. 
> This young techie's contribution to the Indian language computing scene, 
> along with his numerous contributions to Wikipedia (Wiki) projects, is taking 
> him places. He is the only Indian in Wikimedia Foundation's newly-expanded 
> 16-member language committee, which was announced on February 28.
> 
> Language committee
> 
> “Wiki hosts 279 languages across the world, including 20 Indian languages. In 
> addition, there are 20-plus Indian languages in the incubator. The role of 
> the language committee is to help people start a Wiki in their language, and 
> it is this committee that approves a request for Wiki in a new language,” 
> explains Santosh, a Free Open Source Software (FOSS) activist and fan of GNU, 
> a free Operating System.
> 
> Santhosh has been associated with Wiki projects for two to three years now. 
> “I have done projects for Malayalam Wiki. I created the software for an 
> offline distribution of Malayalam Wiki with 500 select articles. It was the 
> first of its kind from India, and the Government of Kerala distributed the CD 
> containing this to 60,000 schools in April 2010,” says Santosh.
> 
> Chennai-based Santosh, who works for an IT company, is first and foremost a 
> free software developer and is also a project administrator for Swathanthra 
> Malayalam computing, which supports Malayalam for free software.
> 
> For the last five years, he has been working on “Indic language technology 
> development and associated research.” He developed ‘Dhvani,' a text-to-speech 
> system for the visually challenged in India, along with a professor from the 
> Institute of Science, Bangalore. This is a system for 10 Indian languages, 
> and Pashto language too. It won the FOSS India award in 2008.
> 
> Along with his team of volunteers at Swathanthra, Santosh has developed a 
> number of free software for Malayalam computing, enabling the use of 
> Malayalam with GNU and Linux Operating Systems. This project holds the honour 
> of being the biggest free software project in India in this area.
> 
> Literature buff
> 
> Malayalam Wiki has a sister project called Malayalam Wikisource, where books 
> with expired copyrights are available and it helps that Santosh is a fan of 
> Malayalam literature. He helped convert Indulekha, the first novel in of 
> Malayalam, and Keralapanineeyam to Wikisource. The complete works of Sree 
> Narayana Guru is also on Wikisource due to Santhosh's efforts.
> 
> Connecting people
> 
> “Cyberspace in Malayalam is a space for Malayalis all over the world to 
> connect. You see it in Facebook, blogs, Google Buzz, Twitter…. These spaces 
> are utilised, for politics, for fun, for friendship… In all these ways, it 
> connects people. For the first time in history, social networking is making 
> waves.
> 
> “Wiki is one example where Malayalis all over the world have showed their 
> creativity. In fact, did you know that Malayalam Wiki is rated second in page 
> depth – a parameter used to measure the activities and content?” asks Santosh.
> 
> Santhosh was in Poland last year as a representative from Indian Wiki for 
> ‘Wikimania 2010' – Wiki's annual conference. And he is proud about how Jimmy 
> Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, talked about the Malayalam Wiki's activities 
> in his keynote speech.
> 
> In Poland, Santhosh conducted a workshop on creating offline Wiki 
> repositories along with Shiju Alex, who coordinates many advocacy and 
> outreach activities for Malayalam Wiki and Tinu Cherian, who works in the 
> administration of English Wiki.
> 
> Santhosh will soon attend a meeting of the language committee in Berlin and 
> possibly hop over to Israel for this year's ‘Wikimania.'
> 
> This bachelor from Palakkad, son of a farmer and home-maker couple, claims 
> that he is a “home-made product” – a graduate of the 2005 batch of the NSS 
> Engineering College, Palakkad.
> 
> Regards
> Tinu Cherian
> http://wikimedia.in/wiki/In_the_news#March_2011
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Press] : The OPEN mag : Vernacular Wikipedia

[Hisham Mundol]

Hey Tinu

I wouldn't worry too much about the errors.  It's a good article because it 
talks about the range of languages as well as calling out a number of editors.  
Those are both strong messages.  Thanks, as always, for doing a wonderful job 
with media.


Hisham Mundol
India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation

skype: hisham.wikimedia
google talk: hmun...@wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol


On Mar 25, 2011, at 11:21 AM, CherianTinu Abraham wrote:

> + more..
> * Shiju and me are referred as Tamil Wikipedians. 
> * Jim Wales instead of Jimmy Wales 
> * 22 Indian lang Wikipedias instead of 20
> 
> Honestly, It is very rare we can get a completely error free media article , 
> how much ever we help and participate closely. Can't always help it but 
> unfortunately it is the way it is.  Sometimes they make lots of goof-ups that 
> I myself is embarrassed to send it to the mailing list. 
> 
> However glad to see this article at least tried to cover Indian language 
> Wikipedias in focus.
> 
> I was told, that the print edition is already available in Delhi, but for 
> other locations, it may hit the news stands by the weekend.
> 
> Regards
> Tinu Cherian 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 3:29 PM, Gautam John  wrote:
> Thanks, as always, Tinu. And sometimes, the journalists stiill get it wrong. 
> :D
> 
> > And as Arun Ramarathnam, executive committee member, Wikipedia’s Indian 
> > chapter
> 
> Should be Wikimedia, no?
> 
> 
> > That the Indian chapter of Wikipedia is now registered with the Registrar 
> > of Companies also helps greatly.
> 
> Eh?! Karnataka Registrar of Societies.
> 
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Gautam
> 
> http://social.prathambooks.org/
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
> 
> ___
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs Update: Draft India Plan (WIP)

[hisham mundol]

a) I must not blindly rely on spell check
b) I must not blindly rely on spell check
c) I must not bindly rely on spell check...

...just as a matter of abundant clarification, i was referring to the 
minutes invested by the community, and not any weapons of violence.  :-) //

/hisham/
*India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation*

skype : hisham.wikimedia
google talk: hmun...@wikimedia.org


On 3/10/2011 9:19 PM, Pradeep Mohandas wrote:
"One of the biggest constraints on existing outreach efforts is the 
availability of volunteer time. It is therefore imperative *that every 
mine invested* by the community in outreach has the maximum possible 
impact"


Sounds like a terrorist plot! :)

warm regards,
Pradeep Mohandas

On 10 March 2011 20:08, hisham mundol <mailto:hmun...@wikimedia.org>> wrote:


Dear All

One of the first tasks that I've been working on as part of India
Programs is to prepare a preliminary plan for India.  The first
(incomplete, and still work-in-progress) draft is up on meta
athttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_programs


As you'll notice, I've provided some context, outlined objectives
and purpose and wrote out the top 3 initiatives.  I've also left
placeholders for some additional sections that I'm working on. I'm
hoping to have more stuff on it in another day or two.

I'm sharing this because it will be wonderful to get your opinions
and ideas, and also to give you a sense of how the plan's being
evolving..  Please feel free to comment on what's in the plan, but
also elements that you think should be in the plan but are not..

Kind Regards,

-- 
/hisham/

*India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation*

skype : hisham.wikimedia
google talk: hmun...@wikimedia.org <mailto:hmun...@wikimedia.org>


___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
<mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l



___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Next meetup of Pune Wikipedians - 12 March 2011

[hisham mundol]

Hi Ashwin

This agenda sounds great and I'm sure the meetup will be very 
productive.  I'm sorry I won't be able to attend, but do let me know if 
any particular ideas/initiatives emerge for which you require support 
from India Programs


All the Best!
/
hisham/
*India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation*

skype : hisham.wikimedia
google talk: hmun...@wikimedia.org


On 3/8/2011 4:26 PM, Ashwin Baindur wrote:
The next meetup of Pune wikipedians, WikiPuneri, is planned for 
Saturday 12 Mar 2011, from 1830 to 1930 hrs at Symbiosis Institue of 
Computer Science and Research, Atur Centre, Model Colony (near Om 
Supermarket), 7th Floor, Room Room No 704.


The intended purpose of the meetup is:
to set up a long-term plan for a year's worth of activities, with 
detailed planning for photo outreach activities for Wikimedia Commons.


The detailed planning for each project will be done, one project at a 
time. The next project for which planning will be done, Marathi 
Wikipedia, will be discussed in detail in the April 2011 (Pune 12) meetup.


Please sign up here :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Pune/Pune11#Participants

This is a very interesting and important meet so be sure to be present 
to push your ideas about what you would like to do!


Warm regards,

Ashwin Baindur
--


___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs Update: Draft India Plan (WIP)

[hisham mundol]

Dear All

One of the first tasks that I've been working on as part of India 
Programs is to prepare a preliminary plan for India.  The first 
(incomplete, and still work-in-progress) draft is up on meta 
athttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_programs


As you'll notice, I've provided some context, outlined objectives and 
purpose and wrote out the top 3 initiatives.  I've also left 
placeholders for some additional sections that I'm working on. I'm 
hoping to have more stuff on it in another day or two.


I'm sharing this because it will be wonderful to get your opinions and 
ideas, and also to give you a sense of how the plan's being evolving..  
Please feel free to comment on what's in the plan, but also elements 
that you think should be in the plan but are not..


Kind Regards,

--
/hisham/
*India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation*

skype : hisham.wikimedia
google talk: hmun...@wikimedia.org

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] Fellowships: Invite for India Proposals

[hisham mundol]

Hi Folks

I'm writing regarding the Fellowships Program, and specifically to 
invite proposals for Fellowships in India. For those who might not be 
aware of the program, these links are useful:-


1). http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Fellowships
2). 
http://blog.wikimedia.org/blog/2010/09/15/wikimedia-foundation-fellowship-program/


As part of India Programs, Fellowships will play an important role in 
designing, initiating and accelerating initiatives to support the 
community and the various projects.  If you look at the existing 
Fellowships, you will get a sense of the kind of proposals approved in 
the past.  However, please do not limit yourself to these areas alone.  
If there are areas outside these that you might be interested in, go 
right ahead and send a proposal.


Also, please see if you can submit them as early as is convenient - so 
they can be commenced as soon as possible.


As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you need any 
help  clarification on anything.


Kind Regards

--
/hisham/
*India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation*

skype : hisham.wikimedia
google talk: hmun...@wikimedia.org

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] A tale of two workshops

[hisham mundol]

Hi Bala

Many thanks for this.  There are some very interesting points you've 
raised here and I'd second Gautam's questions.  Would love to hear from 
you on what material worked best and which part of the sessions do you 
think were the most engaging for the audience.  Also, would be really 
useful if you could tell us how you addressed the points on "not being 
upto editing" as well as "being shy."


Many thanks.
/hisham/
*India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation*

skype : hisham.wikimedia
google talk: hmun...@wikimedia.org


On 3/8/2011 10:30 AM, Bala Jeyaraman wrote:



Hi all,

This is a brief report on the two Wiki workshops in Tamil Nadu in the 
previous two weeks


==
*Coimbatore - 26 February 2011.*

This workshop was conducted in the PSG College of Technology, 
Coimbatore, as part of their Technical festival Kriya 2011. I arranged 
for this workshop through cold calling - I mailed a dozen colleges in 
the Coimbatore area, proposing a wiki introduction section and the 
students union head of PSG replied with a request for a formal 
proposal to present to their dean. I did so and the workshop was 
okayed. It was a closed workshop - only for students attending Kriya 
2011 and had a registration fee of Rs. 100 (for which the attendees 
got a participation certificate from the college).


150 students had pre-registered for the workshop and about a 100 
turned up on the day. The capacity of the computer lab was 50 and we 
had arranged for three separate sessions. The sessions were about 1.5 
hours in length with 45 of minutes of me talking and another 45 
minutes of editing wikipedia live. All the computers in the lab had 
internet connections and so it was easy to teach them edit directly 
(and earned the lab's IP a couple of warning templates in en wiki). 
The first two sessions had like 75 people and the last one 10 people 
(post lunch only a few turned up). It was a typical engineering 
college crowd - familiar with social networking/file sharing/search 
the internet for assignment "research", but nothing more than that. 
They all had used wikipedia but were unsure about editing it - the 
most cited excuse was they didnt think they were upto it.


The sessions were a mixed success - half the crowd had turned up for 
the participation certificate and it was difficult to retain their 
attention. But the other half was eager to learn something new and 
there were a few very enthusiastic people eager to contribute


(photos and report in Ta wiki - 
http://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%80%E0%AE%9F%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BE:%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%BF_26,_2011_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%9F%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9F%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%88_%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8B%E0%AE%B5%E0%AF%88)



*March 5, Puthanampatti, Trichy

*This was a completely different experience from the previous week. 
While i had arranged the PSG workshop, this one came looking for me. 
Two of the faculty members of Nehru memorial college at Puthanampatti 
near Trichy had attended the NIT -Trichy workshop on Feb 20 and had 
liked what they saw. They asked me if i could do a workshop in their 
college. It is a rural arts and science college sitting in the middle 
of nowhere. It has excellent infrastructure - faculty that cares, good 
labs and a fantastic library but the students are terminally shy.


This workshop was organised under a UGC scheme for students appearing 
for govt exams, so the theme was slightly different - how to use 
wikipedia as a learning resource. There were the usual two sessions - 
a couple of hours of me blabbing and an hour of hands on editing. 
Nearly 100 students attended the first session where i introduced 
wikipedia and taught them how to use it as a learning resource 
(chasing the references, ref desk, commons, wikiversity, wikibooks, 
wiktionary etc) and how editing an article on the subject would 
require researching which leads to learning on their part. There were 
a few IAS/competitive examinations aspirants in the audience and i was 
to able to show how wikipedia would help them learn faster than say 
competition success review et al. The intro session went well, but 
when we reconvened for the live session after lunch, the non-computer 
science students didn't turn up at the lab. The organisers said they 
left because they are unsure of using internet. But the compsci crowd 
remained and we spent a good one hour editing Tamil wikipedia. We 
created an article in Ta wiki for their college, added references, 
photos, internal links, external links, categories etc and they got 
the general idea of wiki editing very quickly (which led to a rash of 
experimental articles and an increase in workload of ta wiki admins 
:-)). Since this was the compsci crowd, teaching them wiki markup was 
remarkably easy - they immediately grasped it and started editing 
articl

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Report of the SNDT Women's College, Pune wikipedia session (01 March 2011) (images removed)

[hisham mundol]

Hi Ashwin

Many thanks for this note.  It's extremely insightful.

I am particularly struck by your point on not having an easy-to-source 
and effective-to-use wikipedia/wikimedia introduction.  I'd like to 
volunteer to help put something together.


Can I request whoever has a deck ready to email me a copy of that and 
I'll try to create a deck that can be shared.  ...because of file sizes, 
if it's easier, could you email it to me on hmun...@wikimedia.org.


I'll also try and incorporate learnings from your mail below and from 
community members on other aspects such as duration of sessions, 
planning the editing during an outreach meet, etc.


Many thanks.

/hisham/
*India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation*

skype : hisham.wikimedia
google talk: hmun...@wikimedia.org


On 3/4/2011 4:42 PM, Ashwin Baindur wrote:

Dear friends,

A wikipedia introduction and editing session was held at SNDT Pune on 
01 March 2011. Ádvance notice could not be given to other members of 
the Pune wikipedian community due to short notice and yours truly 
being extremely busy with academics - this is deeply regretted.


Warm regards,

Ashwin Baindur
--

*_WIKIPEDIA SESSION AT SNDT, PUNE (01 March 2011)_*

The Department of Communication Media for Children, SNDT College Of 
Home Science, Pune, recently organised a film workshop called "Filmi 
Chashma" in conjunction with the Comet Media Foundation on the College 
premises. I came to know about it from an email from Bishakha Datta, 
Trustee (Wikimedia Foundation) asking Pune wikipedians to please 
respond to a request from Comet Media Foundation's Chandita Mukherjee 
to conduct an editing session for the particpants. The aim apparently 
was to get the participants, mostly students of the department and 
locals of Pune, to edit in Marathi Wikipedia. The session was to last 
one and a half hours and was scheduled for 01st March 2011, a Tuesday.


Since I am the only "unemployed" member of WikiPuneri, being on a 
sabbatical, while my fellow friends are busy earning their living, I 
agreed to take on the assignment. I was also happy to earn some 
brownie points with my spouse, an SNDT alumnus, albeit from the Mumbai 
college. So I happily went to SNDT following the accurate directions 
given by Dr Radha Misra, HOD and landed up in time for a sumptious 
mid-morning snack with the workshop participants. :-)


Mandar Kulkarni, our local Marathi Wikipedia enthusiast had promised 
to try to make it in his lunch break but was unable to do so due to 
the distance his office was from the location.


I was warmly greeted by Dr Misra and two members of Comet Media 
Foundation - Lajpat Dhingra and Suresh Dhadave. We then moved to a 
computer lab in the Education department. There a Ubuntu :-) laptop 
was connected and my presentation materials were loaded. One of Dr 
Misra's colleagues, Ms Payal Khombhadia, project officer for Filmy 
Chashma, introduced me and we were off.


The presentation began with the three-minute W10 video created by 
JESS3, followed by a short presentation made by me! Which reminds me 
that we need some really good presentations for introduction to 
newbies! Strangely, that doesn't seem to be around! We really need 
improvement in this!


The presentation was followed by an editing session. We had to close 
on time though people wanted to go on as another academic event was 
scheduled in that lab.


One of the motifs put forth was the utility of Wikipedia in the sphere 
of activities of the workshop participants - children. Few people 
realise that how lacking the internet is in interactivity. Wikipedia 
allows children, like it does all people, to edit and the difference 
made to the encyclopedia is not only tangible and highly visible; 
moreso, it is immediately reflected back to the editor. This 
instantaneous response acts like a gratification - a primary reason 
why wikipedia can be addictive. So editing in itself can be rewarding 
for children, especially today when they have short attention spans.


The important point that one should make to children is that this is 
one program where you can actually change the world; by making more 
information available one edit at a time.


There was not much chance to mention schools and wikipedia, or the 
relevant resources on the web, as the thread of discussion drifted 
away to how editors got to learn new skills through editing on 
Wikipedia. I was able to mention the skills I learnt, that a lifetime 
of education including a B.Sc. (PCM), B.Tech. (Electrical), M.Sc. 
(Defence Studies) and now an M.Phil. (Def Studies) had not or did not 
teach me - namely, writing accurately, neutrally, skilfully; with 
proper citation of all kinds of resources, to avoid copyright 
violation; rewriting to avoid plagiarism; how to interact in online 
communities; learning the niceties of English grammar, punctuation, 
and issues pertaining to copy-editing and desktop publishing.


The edi

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs IRC: Today 8pm IST (#wikimedia-office)

[hisham mundol]

Just thought I'd drop you a quick reminder invite to the IRC today 
(Thursday March 3rd) at 8pm (IST) at #wikimedia-office


The broad agenda is to discuss

a) initial thinking on how to improve outreach
b) ideas and suggestions on how the Foundation can support existing and 
proposed community initiatives

c) any other relevant areas

Looking forward to interacting.

Kind Regards,
--
/hisham/
*India Programs - Wikimedia Foundation*

mobile : +91 750 300 1971
skype : hisham.wikimedia
google talk: hmun...@wikimedia.org

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

[Wikimediaindia-l] India Programs: Update

[hisham mundol]

Dear Folks,

I'm writing to update you on the community meets held last week.  (I had 
visited Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore along with Barry.)


First of all, thank you to everyone who came over.  Appreciate your time 
and also the educative, informative, engaging and wide-ranging 
discussions we had.  I look forward to carrying on these conversations 
going forward.  I also look forward to meeting up with the community 
across a wider set of towns and cities.


I also wanted to share some initial thoughts that I had.

a) Communication

   I think it will be useful to open a regular channel of
   communication.  My current thinking is that this could be in the
   form of a monthly IRC, as well as periodic emails (probably once a
   fortnight, but more or less frequently depending on relevance.) 
   Would be good to get your thoughts.  Also, would 8pm (India time)

   for 1 hour on the first Thursday of every month work well for the IRC?

   In addition to the above, my contact details are the bottom of this
   mail.  Do feel free to reach out; I'd love to hear from you.

b) Outreach

   A lot of the discussions that we had were centered around outreach
   activities.  There were 3 stories that I thought were particularly
   insightful which I wanted to share with you.

   * A 67 year old gentleman in Chembur (Mumbai) heard about
 Wikipedia in Kannada from a Wikimedian.  He started
 contributing because he thought it would be an novel way of
 spending his free time.  He said that it now keeps him
 occupied doing something that interests him - and it has
 reignited his family's respect for him.

   * A young student of Symbiosis in Pune said he discovered that
 he could edit while playing an online computer game - when
 some Japanese gamers told him how he could pitch in and
 contribute articles on the game's characters.

   * A young guy in Bangalore spoke about how a friend of his
 attended the 10th do - and came back and told him that he
 could contribute articles in Oriya.  He's started contributing.

   These 3 stories are familiar to many of you, and they are but 3 of
   100s if not 1000s of similarly awesome tales.  They are also
   illustrative of the kind of impact that outreach has.  Personally, I
   found them both inspiring and thought-provoking.  Here's what they
   have triggered in my head.  (...and I must confess I have more
   questions than answers right now!)

   * Outreach takes time and effort.  Given that it conducted by
 volunteers such as yourselves, there's always going to be
 limits to how much you can be devote; you all have day
 jobs/personal lives to lead.  Therefore, how can we improve
 the odds of impact?  It starts of with saying every single
 outreach activity must be regarded as precious and every
 attempt must be made to help realize the fullest potential of
 the initiative.  If that's the philosophy, then how does one
 better understand the audience and, therefore, calibrate
 messages as appropriately as possible.  (Also, and this is
 from my personal experience in community mobilization and
 outreach messaging, it's very easy to get tempted into
 providing multiple messages.  ...even more so when it comes to
 Wikimedia when there are so many incredible stories to tell. 
 ...but audiences very rarely take out more than 1 or 2 key

 points.) /Given this, how does one identify and focus on these
 key messages?  For instance, should the message be different
 when talking to IT versus arts students?  Should the tone of
 the message be different when talking to 18 years olds as
 opposed to 30 year olds?  Can outreach kits be developed?  Can
 these include some kind of capability building?/

   * Outreach requires a feedback loop.  Currently, while outreach
 is happening frequently and widely, it is physically difficult
 to stay in touch after the event. (I heard about an event in
 Trichy where 65 people attended.  It'd be physically
 impossible for one or two individuals to regular communicate
 with all of them.) /Is there a way that we can open some kind
 of simple and low-resource channel to stay in touch with
 people who have attended outreach meets.  This feedback loop
 could potentially include what message they took out from the
 event, whether that got them going to start contributing (and
 if not, why), and if they started, how things were going.  Can
 this be done online in some manner?  How do the results get
 shared with those who conducted the outreach?/

   * Potential contributors are everywhere.  They're not only in IT
 colleges, though these are significant.  Anecdotally, I
 suspect there might

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Bangalore Wikimeetup 30 with Hisham Mundol on 25 Feb 2011

[hisham mundol]

Many thanks for this email, Tinu.

I'm really looking forwarding to meeting the community in Bangalore.

Warm Regards,

hisham

On 2/21/2011 5:36 PM, CherianTinu Abraham wrote:

Hi,
    Hisham Mundol was recently hired [1] as an consultant to 
the Wikimedia Foundation to support the program initiatives in India.
Hisham Mundol will be primarily based in India and will be working 
closely with the Wikimedian community in India.


Hisham Mundol is coming to Bangalore to connect with the Wikimedian 
community in Bangalore.


Date : *Friday, 25-Feb-2011 6:30 PM IST *
Venue:
The Centre for Internet and Society
No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross,
4th Main
Domlur 2nd Stage
Opposite to Domlur Club
Bangalore 560 071
Karnataka

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Bangalore/Bangalore30

Do plan to attend and kindly sign up.

About Hisham Mundol :

/Hisham Mundol's  role will be to design and implement specific pilot 
programs that encourage many more Indians to become contributors to 
our projects in Indic languages as well as English. The National 
Programs initiative will focus on the following areas in the first year:/
/Design and implement an India-wide program to increase Wikimedia’s 
footprint on university and college campuses with students and faculty 
with the aim of encouraging contributions to Wikimedia projects/
/Support the launch and implementation of community-initiated programs 
that seek to increase the editor base for Wikimedia projects/
/Engage with the community and chapter to build a strong relationship 
among these stakeholder groups and create communications forums that 
allow for effective partnerships/
/As a newcomer to the Wikimedia movement, Hisham’s first task will be 
to deepen his understanding of us: our history, goals, values, culture 
and mission. /

/
/
/Hisham was most recently a consultant with the Public Health 
Foundation of India (in a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates 
Foundation). He designed and implemented large-scale national 
 programs on HIV/AIDS prevention. He worked to understand the dynamics 
of hard-to-reach communities by conducting in-depth, on-the-ground 
analysis (ask him to tell you about his experience talking to drivers 
while sitting under their trucks).  The programs he designed and 
implemented sought to convince people in large numbers - 400 million 
young people across the nation - to change very personal behaviours. 
 While we are not tackling issues of such an intimate nature, we do 
aim to convince large numbers of people across the country to 
contribute their personal time to Wikimedia projects.  During this 
assignment, Hisham worked closely with public, private and community 
groups (local and international) to work through the details of the 
programs and build partnerships for implementing them at scale. He did 
so in a manner that used persuasion rather than power to build support 
to move things forward.  We think his experience navigating these 
varied groups position him well to work in the Wikimedia community. 
His earlier career was in marketing and business development with a 
number of well-known businesses: Infosys, Accenture, Cadbury and 
Unilever. This experience positions him well to engage with a movement 
and organization that is global in nature, in particular to work with 
a team that is based halfway around the world. /

( Introduction by Barry Newstead , GCDO , Wikimedia Foundation) [1]

Regards
Tinu Cherian

[1] 
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-February/002239.html 

[2] 
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FAQ_Consultancy_for_National_Programs,_India 

___
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Announcing Hisham Mundol as WMF consultant for National Programs, India

[Hisham Mundol]

Dear All

Thank you for the welcome.

I'm tremendously motivated by this assignment.  Wikimedia's mission is both
noble and inspiring.  I can't imagine a more exciting time and place to be
in.

There's been a huge amount that's already been achieved in India by the
community - and I am eager to learn from the community how this was done.  I
also know that there's incredible opportunity to make even more rapid
strides, and I look forward to working with the community for this.

Warm Regards,

hisham

On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 10:40 PM, Barry Newstead wrote:

>  Dear colleagues, (please feel free to cross-post this to local lists
> within India)
>
> I am pleased to announce the appointment of Hisham Mundol as a consultant
> to the Wikimedia Foundation to support us in our program initiatives in
> India.
>
> As you know, the Wikimedia Foundation declared India to be a strategic
> priority during the strategic planning process [1]. I announced our plans
> for the formation of an office in August 2010 and the Wikimedia Foundation
> Board of Trustees approved the creation of the Wikimedia India chapter in
> June 2010. India is a priority for the Wikimedia movement as it has a strong
> and growing community of Wikimedians building the Indic and English language
> projects. It is a country where the Wikimedia movement can achieve our
> mission and learn important lessons for achieving impact elsewhere. The
> engagement of Hisham will enable the Wikimedia Foundation to pilot new
> initiatives aimed at accelerating the growth of the community in India. I am
> very happy we’ve now reached this point.
>
> As I have mentioned in the past, we have a lot of momentum in India but we
> have a long way to go to achieve our full potential as a movement.  Indians
> represent 4% of the world’s Internet users today (and this share is
> growing), yet they only represent 1.5% of page edits on Wikipedia. We should
> be able to rapidly increase this share - across all projects - and expand
> readership in a corresponding fashion.
>
> Hisham’s title will be Consultant, India National Programs.  He will report
> to me.  His role will be to design and implement specific pilot programs
> that encourage many more Indians to become contributors to our projects in
> Indic languages as well as English. The National Programs initiative will
> focus on the following areas in the first year:
>
>-
>
>Design and implement an India-wide program to increase Wikimedia’s
>footprint on university and college campuses with students and faculty with
>the aim of encouraging contributions to Wikimedia projects
> -
>
>Support the launch and implementation of community-initiated programs
>that seek to increase the editor base for Wikimedia projects
> -
>
>Engage with the community and chapter to build a strong relationship
>among these stakeholder groups and create communications forums that allow
>for effective partnerships
>
> As a newcomer to the Wikimedia movement, Hisham’s first task will be to
> deepen his understanding of us: our history, goals, values, culture and
> mission. To that end, he will be spending the coming weeks (not months!) in
> learning mode: Hisham and I will be meeting with community members in
> Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore on Feb 23-25 and then Hisham will join community
> meetings across the country as they occur. Hisham will also spend time in
> San Francisco with the staff of the Wikimedia Foundation, as well as with
> other like-minded individuals and organizations and he will attend the
> chapter conference in Berlin.
>
> Hisham will be creating a workspace on strategy wiki where he will share
> what he is learning and develop the core elements of the action plan going
> forward. We encourage active community engagement on this wiki. We aim to
> move to action quickly and welcome input and guidance from across the
> community.
>
> Hisham was most recently a consultant with the Public Health Foundation of
> India (in a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). He
> designed and implemented large-scale national  programs on HIV/AIDS
> prevention. He worked to understand the dynamics of hard-to-reach
> communities by conducting in-depth, on-the-ground analysis (ask him to tell
> you about his experience talking to drivers while sitting under their
> trucks).  The programs he designed and implemented sought to convince people
> in large numbers - 400 million young people across the nation - to change
> very personal behaviours.  While we are not tackling issues of such an
> intimate nature, we do aim to convince large numbers of people across the
> country to contribute their personal time to Wikimedia projects.  During