Some of the important points from the discussions with Hindi wikipedians are captured by Hisham<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Indic_Languages/Hindi/Discussions/2011>. Thought of sharing that here also.
*Motivators for joining Indic Language Projects* - Awareness mostly through search engines not through outreach or media - It's not been about parochial (sic) notions about preserving culture or a language or lofty ambitions about knowledge access; but about core Wikipedia basics of building a knowledge repository - Wanting to stay away from antagonistic, aggressive en-wp edit environment - Helping the Indic language project - as the number of volunteers were low (especially when compared to en-wp which has higher numbers of volunteers) *Community* - Very low community meet up attendance - Not finding meet-ups as they are currently run useful as the discussions are not engaging or relevant - Collaboration is weak (especially on articles) - and more about process *Activities* - Doing a lot of clean up after damage done by bots - Categorisation, copyvio clean ups - Perform a different role on Indic projects (a lot of support work instead of article content) as compared to their roles in en-wp (where they edit articles on subjects of interest) *Barriers* - Technical issues are not *such* a major challenge; though awareness that technical solutions exist is low. - Basic awareness of projects - Lack of reliable sources online *Suggestions* - Media coverage on Indic language media vehicles (e.g., local language newspapers, etc.) to build basic awareness of the very existence of Indic language projects as well as invitation to edit - Tie-ups with education system of various kinds (colleges, teachers, state government bodies, etc.) Shiju On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 12:24 PM, Shiju Alex <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Indic Language Wikimedia Community members, > > As part of the Indic Languages initiative of India > Programs<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Indic_Languages>, > I have been having detailed discussions with a wide range of Indic language > wikipedians for the past few weeks. Yesterday I shared the summary of > discussions with few Assamese Wikipedians which helped us to understand the > current situation of Assamese wikipedia. Thank you for the discussions > and ideas that emerged on the mailing list and the talk page. > > Today I'm particularly excited to share a summary of the discussions I've > been been having with *Hindi wikipedians*. It is available here: > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Indic_Languages/Hindi/Discussions/2011 > > I will be honest and confess that I was not sure about the level of > engagement I would have with Hindi wikipedians because the community is > relatively quiet in public forums. I'm really pleased to report that I was > very pleasantly surprised by the broad-based, insightful, and constructive > communications. Hindi community might be silent but they are active and > full of powerful ideas. We have seen wonderful Hindi wikipedians like > Anirudh in WCI. Even though the current community strength of Hindi > wikipedia might not be good cosidering the huge speaker base of Hindi, I am > sure the situation will change soon. > > > Even if you are not involved in Hindi projects, I invite you to read this > report because the points raised are applicable to all Indic languages. > Personally, as someone who has been passionate about Indic languages for > many years now, I found the discussions very educative and informative and > thought-provoking. I have learnt a lot from these discussions and I hope > you find them as useful as I have. I want to thank Hindi community for > their time and their fantastic inputs. > > Remember most of the issues the Hindi editors raised are applicable not > only to Hindi but for all the Indic languages. So it is important that > other Indic language communities take lessons from it while building the > community. > > As mentioned before, I've edited the discussions to protect > confidentiality as well as to remove any specific personal comments. > > Inviting your active participation in these discussions (either on talk > page or in the mailing lists). > > Warm Regards, > > Shiju Alex > _______________________________________________ Wikihi-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikihi-l
