Wow..wonderful story! Thanks for posting..:) On 30 June 2011 09:56, Moka Pantages <[email protected]> wrote:
> Cross-posting. > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Moka Pantages <[email protected]> > Date: Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 9:25 PM > Subject: [PRESS] [Global Voices] India: the Future of Wikipedia > To: Communications Committee <[email protected]> > > > India: the Future of Wikipedia > http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/06/30/india-the-future-of-wikipedia/ > > Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia, celebrated its tenth > anniversary this year, and almost 100 cities and towns in India > registered to host celebrations, the highest number of any country. > Wikipedia is the fourth most popular website in India, and there are > over 20 Wikipedia sites in Indian languages, with more on the way. The > Wikimedia Foundation's India Chapter was recently established in > Bangalore, to help coordinate the Indian language Wikipedia sites. > This year the Foundation will open its first office outside the United > States, in an Indian city as yet to be announced. > > Global Voices has spoken to Tinu Cherian, blogger, active Wikipedian > and an administrator for the site, about Wikipedia in India. > > > Tinu Cherian (photo reproduced with permission) > Can you tell us a little about the Wikipedia community in India? > > The Wikipedian community in India is a nascent but one of the fastest > growing user groups. Wikipedia and other sister projects enjoy top > five website readership in India but the scale of editors and > contributors to Wikimedia is relatively low compared to other > countries. Thanks to being a favorite of popular search engines, and > the lack of other such free knowledge sources, readership has never > been a problem. > > Wikimeetups are real life gatherings or meetups of Wikipedians, which > are now very popular in India. In Sep 2006, Jimmy Wales came to > Bangalore and saw the first Wikimeetup in India. A Wikiconference at > Chennai in 2007 generated lots of interest and enthusiasm but > essentially couldn't keep the momentum. Since July 2009, we have > started regular Wikimeetups in Bangalore, meeting at least once per > month. Wikipedians in India now meet regularly in other cities like > Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad. > > The Wikimedia India Chapter was officially approved by the Foundation > in 2010 and became a registered body in 2011. Over 95 cities and towns > in India registered to host the 10th anniversary celebrations of > Wikipedia in 2011, the largest among all countries. The Bangalore > celebrations witnessed over 250 attendees for the one day programme. > > In 2010, the Wikimedia Foundation identified India as one of the > strategic locations for development of Wikimedia and is close to > setting up its first ever office outside the United States. > > Do you have a sense of how popular the Indian language sites are in > comparison with the English site? Which are the largest Indian > language sites? > > English Wikipedia was always the favorite and best-known Wikipedia in > India but recently the awareness of Indic language Wikipedias has been > on the rise. There are 20 Indic language Wikipedias already and > another 20 are in an incubation state. Assamese, Punjabi, Nepali, > Oriya (Odia) and Malayalam were the first Indian language Wikipedias > to be started in 2002. Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and other languages were > created in the next two years. There is a varied level of activity > among the different language Wikipedias. Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and > Bengali have very active Wikipedia communities. Hindi has the largest > number of articles which is set to cross the 1 lakh [100 000] articles > milestone any time soon. We are now working on building the > communities for the dormant Wikipedias by spreading awareness among > the native speakers of those languages. > > > Malayalam Wikipedia > What about internet access – isn’t Wikipedia dependent on people > having internet connections? > > Wikipedia is all about the sum total of human knowledge available to > all mankind. Unfortunately, it was all web-based. Wikipedians are now > making efforts to bring them to those who don't have access to the > internet, by publishing offline versions of Wikipedia. Malayalam > Wikipedia published the first offline CD of Wikipedia among the > non-Latin script languages. Malayalam is also in the process of > releasing the first Wikisource in any Indian language. > > You live in Bangalore, so we can probably guess the answer to the > question: Mumbai, New Delhi or Bangalore? Which is the best location > for the Wikimedia Foundation in India? > > As a true Bangalorean, personally, I would love to see the Wikimedia > office in Bangalore. Bangalore has a vibrant Wiki community > contributing to different language Wikipedias. Wikipedians in > Bangalore meet regularly, at least once per month. Bangalore is also > the seat of the Wikimedia India chapter. But for the growth of the > pan-India Wikimedia movement, it is advisable to be Mumbai or Delhi. > But it is entirely up to the Wikimedia Foundation to decide where they > find it feasible and suitable. The foundation is now actively > considering it in Delhi or the National Capital Region (NCR). > > You are very active on Twitter, with more than 56 000 followers. Is > there a connection between your enthusiasm for social media and your > involvement with Wikipedia? > > I have always loved to interact with people both in the real and > virtual worlds. I share knowledge on Wikipedia and share news and > other information with others on Twitter. Twitter is my own way of > connecting with a global audience. Of course, I also promote Wikipedia > and Wikimedia events on Twitter too. > > > > -- > Cheers, > Moka > > Moka Pantages > 415.839.6885 x 635 > @moka > > > > -- > Cheers, > Moka > > Moka Pantages > 415.839.6885 x 635 > @moka > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > -- * ସୁଭପାSubhashishPanigrahi ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Odia (Oriya) mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-or facebook.com/OdiaWiki Tweet @OdiaWiki *
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