Good work, Keep it upP :) On Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 5:25 PM, Mitra sharma <mittyko...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey Noopur, > > Have figured out the procedure, will get it done at the earliest. Am > looking forward to contributing and interacting with wiki members in Delhi > :) > > > On 26 December 2011 17:17, Noopur <noopur.ra...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Dear Mitra, why don't you join the chapter and we can work something out >> for Delhi too :) Hope to catch up with you in Delhi! >> >> >> On Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 4:51 PM, Mitra sharma <mittyko...@gmail.com>wrote: >> >>> Quite heart warming to hear about this... hope we have something like >>> this in Delhi soon :) >>> >>> On 26 December 2011 14:01, Sudhanwa Jogalekar <sudhanwa....@gmail.com>wrote: >>> >>>> Report on Wikipedians participation in CMDA IT Expo, 2011- (15 to 18 >>>> Dec. 2011) >>>> >>>> >>>> About CMDA: >>>> CMDA, Pune is an association of Computer and Media dealers in Pune. It >>>> is a registered organisation and is ISO 9000 certified. Recently, it is >>>> declared as the best Computer dealers association across India by DQ Week >>>> magazine. Website: www.cmdapune.org >>>> >>>> *About IT Expo: * >>>> CMDA organises IT expo every year. This was 14th year of the expo and >>>> was held during 15-18 Dec 2011. As per CMDA organisors, the no. of visitors >>>> this year was about 40000. >>>> >>>> About our activities: >>>> CMDA gave us a 2m X 2m stall. The usual cost for the stall is about Rs >>>> 25,000. However, considering that we are not doing any business activities >>>> and are working for a social cause, this was given to us GRATIS. The stall >>>> allocation was confirmed at a very late stage. As such, the call for >>>> volunteers was also sent very late and we were running short of people to >>>> man the stall. >>>> >>>> On day 1, (15th Dec), user:Mahitgar, Sudhanwa, Hisham and Nitika >>>> started the activities in the morning session. Flex banners were put up and >>>> the printed handouts were ready to be distributed. Hisham and Nitika came >>>> all the way from Delhi for this. They also got some T shirts for >>>> distribution to the right people. Our stall was the last stall in the expo >>>> and was adjoining the seminar hall. After the inauguration, people started >>>> visiting our stall. The chief guest was visiting all the stalls and he >>>> visited our stall also. He was pleasantly surprised to see our activities >>>> (non-commercial, social cause) in the expo. >>>> >>>> On day 1, second half was handled by Ashwin and Mahitgar. We had >>>> printed a handout to create a generic awareness about Wikipedia. This was >>>> in English on one side and about Marathi Wikipedia on the other side. >>>> Initially, we had about 200 handouts printed as the response was not known >>>> to us. Ultimately, we had to make many copies many times as the response >>>> went on increasing day by day. >>>> >>>> Day 2 (16th Dec) was managed by Mahitgar, Ashwin, Abhishek and some >>>> other CA volunteers. For the CAs, it was a great experience to interact >>>> with the people face to face and answer all kinds of their queries. This >>>> was totally different from the usual CA activities where they interact with >>>> people who are already much aware of Wikipedia and editing and may be other >>>> projects too. Abhishek and some others managed the stall till afternoon and >>>> later on by Sudhanwa and some others like Pratik. In the evening, Mahitgar >>>> gave a talk on the topic “Marathi Wikipedia- Challenges and Future” in the >>>> seminar hall which was received very well. >>>> >>>> Day 3 (17th Dec) was a hectic day being Saturday, the weekend. Mahitgar >>>> and Sudhanwa handled the 1st half. Ashwin joined with his spouse for a >>>> couple of hours. Mandar joined in the 2nd half till the day ends. There was >>>> really an energetic crowd who visited the stall and asked many many >>>> questions. >>>> >>>> Day 4 (18th Dec) Mandar handled the stall since morning for whole day. >>>> He was alone there till lunch time when some more volunteers including >>>> Ashwin, Mahitgar came to help him out. >>>> Being a Sunday, the fourth day was very hectic and most crowded. Some >>>> more volunteers like Lochan Makheja (Hindi Wikipedian from Pune) were also >>>> added but it was still difficult to address all the visitors to our stall. >>>> Even with 4 volunteers at a time, we were not able handle the running crowd >>>> at peak hour on Sunday evening. >>>> >>>> We had kept a notebook at the stall and noted down names and contact >>>> details of the people who were interested in further Wikipedia related >>>> activities. During the 4 days of expo, we have collected names and contact >>>> details of the interested people and that number is about 250!! That is big >>>> enough to have multiple wiki-academies in Pune in the next few months. Our >>>> guesstimate of the no of people visited our stall is about 3000. >>>> >>>> While many visitors knew what Wikipedia is, most were not aware that it >>>> is also available in Indian languages, especially Marathi. The few who were >>>> aware of both were not aware of other projects like Commons, Wikisource >>>> etc. People were mostly unaware of the implications of copyrighted and >>>> freely licensed information.The expo gave a very good opportunity to >>>> interact with the people directly and get a feel of what the common people >>>> understand/know about Wikipedia. Here are some USUAL questions that we >>>> faced in the expo. >>>> >>>> 1. What is the price of Wikipedia? I want to buy some copies. :-) (to >>>> be specific - Wikipedia kitne me bech rahe ho.... ) >>>> 2. You are not selling anything here? !!! Then why are you in the expo? >>>> 3. You are not getting anything from Wikipedia, then why are you >>>> standing for whole day on the stall? >>>> 4. If anyone can edit Wikipedia, what is the assurance that the content >>>> is correct and authentic? >>>> 5. Can you edit Wikipedia in Marathi/Hindi? How? >>>> 6. If I write any article on Wikipedia, will there be my name on the >>>> article? >>>> 7 If I type some search string in Marathi (Devanagari), you get search >>>> pages in Marathi/ Marathi Wikipedia?? !! >>>> 8. If I type in English (Roman) on English Wikipedia,can I get pages >>>> from Marathi Wikipedia? >>>> 9. When and where you meet? I want to join your activities. >>>> 10. What? You can directly edit content on the Wikipedia? >>>> >>>> >>>> Apart from this, in the expo we could interact face to face with >>>> Marathi Wikipedia users and the activity helped in explaining Marathi >>>> typing in more easier way.This interaction will help in improving related >>>> help pages on Marathi Wikipedia. (Marathi Wikipedia sandbox has a good >>>> number of trial and error edits of people trying to type in Marathi using >>>> phonetic facility and still not succeeding in their effort) >>>> >>>> It was also observed that the number of visiting women was good but at >>>> times the stall being small, it was crowded and they could not come forward >>>> to listen amongst the jostling men. Next time we should give a thought to >>>> request and hopefully get additional space (and also women volunteers) for >>>> addressing women. >>>> >>>> The happiest experiences were when school children were stopping their >>>> parents saying “Papa Mummy Wikipedia Stall !!’ and that naturally made >>>> those parents stop at our stall and see what it was all about. it would be >>>> great if we are able to get academic fraternity and more volunteer support >>>> as many such expos will be forthcoming in the near future. It would be >>>> great to arrange such expos in bigger education campuses too. >>>> >>>> Remarkably, this was a second consecutive year for the expo having a >>>> Marathi Wikipedia seminar. Last year’s talk was given by Abhay Natu and >>>> this year Mahitgar spoke on “Marathi Wikipedia: Challenges and Future”. >>>> Mahitgar used the opportunity to focus on areas where Marathi language has >>>> scope to provide significant knowledge. Mahitgar opined that all the >>>> technology is available and volunteers are there to support the activity. >>>> The real challenge is to bring back the confidence of the people that they >>>> can avail all the knowledge in their own language by cooperating each other >>>> through projects like indic language Wikipedias. Thanks to Wikimedia >>>> projects, the key of the future is in their own hands. >>>> >>>> *Expenditure:* >>>> We had asked for a grant to GAC on almost the last minute and it was >>>> sanctioned very quickly. (Money yet to be received in the account) We have >>>> asked for about 11000 INR that includes printing, stationary, CD/DVD >>>> burning, etc etc. Out of this, we spent about 5000/- Rs. (Expenditure >>>> details yet to come from the volunteers) Remaining money was not utilised >>>> as additional activities like CD burning, making some goodies like >>>> stickers, key chains etc. could not be done as all the volunteers were >>>> stuck up at the stall itself. The amount will be used for the given purpose >>>> but for/during our further activities like Wiki-academies. >>>> >>>> *Pictures:* >>>> Abhishek has already uploaded some pictures and will be uploading some >>>> videos also. Sudhanwa is uploading some photos in the category "CMDA >>>> IT Expo 2011, 15-18 Dec" on commons*. We will also try to get some >>>> pictures from the expo organisers.* >>>> >>>> *Conclusion:* >>>> With the kind of manpower we had and the time and money in hand, the >>>> kind of outreach we achieved is extraordinary. Almost 3000 people >>>> interacted and of these 250 showed interest in future activities!! Some of >>>> them are very useful people like librarians. We met some editors also in >>>> the expo. Some of them are from rural area and are doing work in Marathi!! >>>> All of them were unaware of the presence of the Pune Community and we were >>>> able to get some dedicated new members to the community. >>>> >>>> Probably, considering the outreach we had and the response we got in >>>> the expo, it is even worth paying for the stall next year!! >>>> >>>> We can do much better next time if we get enough time span for planning >>>> and execution of activities >>>> >>>> -- >>>> >>>> ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~! >>>> web: www.sudhanwa.com blog: www.sudhanwa.in >>>> Twitter: sudhanwa Check on FB, Linkedin for more. >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list >>>> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org >>>> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit >>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l >>>> >>>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list >>> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org >>> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Noopur Raval >> Student >> Arts and Aesthetics >> Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi >> Ph: 9650567690 >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list >> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org >> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > > -- * *Thanks n Regards Ansuman * ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ * http://twitter.com/smileyansu * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ansumang * * _______________________________________________ * * Wikipedia Odia (Oriya) mailing list wikipedia...@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-or facebook.com/OdiaWiki Tweet @OdiaWiki *
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