On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 12:10 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan < parakara.gh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Yuvi, > Is it possible for the upload wizard to automatically 'detect' the > filetype based on the extension and offer to convert it into the required > filetype? > This would be great for audio and video. > It is technically possible and something that WMF is looking at (IIRC). However, the troubles are mostly legal in nature - MP3 and H264 (major audio and video formats) are patented and have a lot of restrictions involved in them. Navigating through those is quite a mess, and I'm not sure if they can even be navigated at all (considering the 'free everything' philosophy). What we *can* do is have a third party tool that converts audio/video from any source into a 'free' source that commons will accept. This also has legal issues, however. But they will be towards the third party providing the tool, rather than towards Wikipedia itself. This is primarily a legal problem, rather than a technical problem. I'm not particularly sure how to handle this. > > On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 5:20 AM, Yuvi Panda <yuvipa...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hey bala! >> >> On Tue, Mar 27, 2012 at 8:25 PM, Bala Jeyaraman <sodabot...@gmail.com>wrote: >> >>> >> >> An online tool/gadget/extension for conversion of .wav/.mp3 to ,ogg files >>> is required. This could be made part of the commons upload wizard itself >>> (where people click an extra option while uploading a .mp3/.wav file and it >>> gets saved as a .ogg file). >>> >>> >> Building such a server (that does conversion) is a relatively simple >> technical process, and something I'm willing to start undertaking. What >> kind of UploadWizard integration are you looking for? >> >> >>> >>> - >>> Bala >>> >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Mar 27, 2012 at 8:01 PM, Konarak Ratnakar >>> <konarak...@live.com>wrote: >>> >>>> Hi guys, >>>> Congratulations on the success of the Chennai Unofficial Wikimedia >>>> Hackathon. >>>> I have two requests. >>>> >>>> 1. Can Shrinivasan (or anyone else) provide us with english subtitles >>>> or english audio of the video that you uploaded on Youtube? >>>> 2. Can Shrinivasan update the Readme file on >>>> voice-recorder-for-tawictionary / repo? >>>> >>>> Regards, >>>> Konarak Ratnakar | kondi >>>> >>>> PS: Yuvi Panda that mail I accidently sent you was supposed to be sent >>>> on this list. >>>> >>>> > From: yuvipa...@gmail.com >>>> > Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:47:29 +0530 >>>> > To: wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org >>>> > Subject: [Wikimediaindia-l] Chennai Unofficial Wikimedia Hackathon >>>> Report >>>> >>>> > >>>> > The Chennai Unofficial Wikimedia Hackathon Report >>>> > >>>> > Apologies for the delayed email. Work ate me. >>>> >>>> > >>>> > TL;DR: 13 completed hacks, including 2 core mediawiki patches, 3 >>>> > tawiki userscript updates and 2 new deployed tools. It was super >>>> > awesome and super productive! >>>> > >>>> > The 'Unofficial' Chennai Wikimedia >>>> > Hackathon(http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Chennai_Hackathon_March_2012) >>>> > happened on Saturday, March 17 2012 at the Thoughtworks office in >>>> > Chennai. It was a one day, 8 hour event focusing on getting people >>>> > together to hack on stuff related to all Wikimedia projects - not just >>>> > Mediawiki patches. >>>> > >>>> > The event started with us sailing past security reasonably easily, and >>>> > getting setup with internet without a glitch. People trickled in and >>>> > soon enough we had 21 people in there. Since this was a pure >>>> > hackathon, there were no explicit tutorials or presentations. As >>>> > people came in, we asked them what technologies/fields they are >>>> > familiar with, and picked out an idea for them to work on from the >>>> > Ideas List ( >>>> http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Chennai_Hackathon_March_2012/Ideas). >>>> > This took care of the biggest problem with hackathons with new people >>>> > - half the day spent on figuring out what to work on, and when found, >>>> > it is completely outside the domain of expertise of the people hacking >>>> > on the idea. Talking together with them fast to pick an idea within 5 >>>> > minutes that they can complete in the day fixed this problem and made >>>> > sure people can concentrate on coding for the rest of the day. >>>> > >>>> > People started hacking, and just before lunch we made people come up >>>> > and tell us what they were working on. We then broke for lunch and >>>> > usual socialization happened over McDonalds burgers and Saravana >>>> > Bhavan dosas. Hacking started soon after, and people were >>>> > concentrating on getting their hacks done before the demo time. And we >>>> > did have quite a few demos! >>>> > >>>> > Demos >>>> > ===== >>>> > >>>> > Here's a short description of each of the demos, written purely in the >>>> > order in which they were presented: >>>> >>>> > >>>> > 1. Wikiquotes via SMS >>>> > By: @MadhuVishy and @YesKarthik >>>> > >>>> > What it does: >>>> > Send a person name to a particular number, and you'll keep getting >>>> > back quotes from that person. Works in similar semi-automated fashion >>>> > as the DYKBot. Built on AppEngine + Python. >>>> >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > Deployed live! Send SMS '@wikiquote Gandhi' to 9243342000 to test it >>>> > out! Has limited data right now, however. >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> > >>>> > 2. API to Rotate Images (Mediawiki Core Patch) >>>> > By: Vivek >>>> > >>>> > What it does: >>>> > Adds an API method that can arbitrarily rotate images. Think of this >>>> > as first step towards being able to rotate any image in commons with a >>>> > single button instantly, without having to wait for a bot. Patch was >>>> > attached to https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/33186. >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > It was reviewed on that day itself (Thanks Reedy!). Vivek is now >>>> > figuring out how to modify his patch so that it would be accepted into >>>> > Mediawiki core. Vivek is also applying to work with Mediawiki for >>>> > GSoC, so we will hopefully get a long term contributor :) >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> > >>>> > 3. Find list of unique Tamil words in tawiki >>>> > By: Shrinivasan T >>>> > >>>> > What it does: >>>> > It took the entire tamil wikipedia dump and extracted all unique words >>>> > out of it. About 1.3 million unique tamil words were extracted. Has >>>> > multiple applications, including a tamil spell checker. >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > Code and the dataset live on github: >>>> > https://github.com/tshrinivasan/tamil-wikipedia-word-list >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> > >>>> > 4. Program to help record pronunciations for words in tawikt >>>> > >>>> > What it does: >>>> > Simple python program that gives you a word, asks you to pronounce it >>>> > and then uploads it to commons for being used in Wiktionary. Makes the >>>> > process much more streamlined and faster. >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > Code available at: >>>> > https://github.com/tshrinivasan/voice-recorder-for-tawictionary. >>>> > Preliminary testing with his friends shows that easy to record 500 >>>> > words in half an hour. Is currently blocked on figuring out a way to >>>> > properly upload to commons >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> > >>>> > 5. Translation of Gadgets/UserScripts to tawiki >>>> > By: SuryaPrakash [[:ta:பயனர்:Surya_Prakash.S.A.]] >>>> > >>>> > What he did: >>>> > Surya spent the day translating two gadgets into Tamil, so they can be >>>> > used on tawiki. First is the 'Prove It' Reference addition tool >>>> > (http://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediawiki:Gadget-ProveIt.js). The >>>> second >>>> > one was the 'Speed Reader' extension that formats content into >>>> > multiple columns for faster scanning >>>> > (http://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediawiki:Gadget-TwoColumn.js). Last I >>>> > checked, these are available for anyone with only tamil knowledge to >>>> > use, so yay! >>>> > >>>> > (He also tried to localize Twinkle for Tamil, couldn't because of >>>> > issues with the laptop he was using. >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> > >>>> > 6. Structured database search over Wikipedia >>>> > By: Ashwanth >>>> > >>>> > What it does: >>>> > Built a tool that combined DBPedia and Wikipedia to allow you to >>>> > search in a semantic way. We almost descended into madness with people >>>> > searching for movies with Kamal and movies with Rajni (both provided >>>> > accurate results, btw). Amazing search tool that made it super easy to >>>> > query information in a natural way. >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > The code is available at >>>> > https://github.com/ashwanthkumar/structured-wiki-search. Definitely >>>> > would be awesome to see this deployed somewhere, so would be great if >>>> > the community could come up with specific ideas on how to make this a >>>> > specific cool tool. >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> > >>>> > 7. Photo upload to commons by Email >>>> > By: Ganesh >>>> > >>>> > What it does: >>>> > Started with building a tool that will let you email a particular >>>> > address with pictures + metadata in the body of the page, and it will >>>> > be uploaded to commons. This was for the benefit of people with older >>>> > outdated phones *cough*Logic*cough* who would like to use their >>>> > phone's camera to contribute to commons, but can not due to technical >>>> > limitations. >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > He wasn't able to get that to work during the hackathon - too many >>>> > technical issues cropped up. However, he's *very* definitely >>>> > interested in setting it up, and has made progress towards it. I >>>> > hope someone from the community (perhaps people doing WLM?) should be >>>> > able to get in touch with him to see if this tool could be developed >>>> > further with a specific goal in mind. >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> > >>>> > 8. Lightweight offline Wiki reader >>>> > By: Feroze >>>> > >>>> > What it does: >>>> > There is a project called qvido >>>> > (http://projects.qi-hardware.com/index.php/p/qvido/) which was a >>>> > 'lightweight' offline Wiki reader (compared to Kiwix, which is >>>> > heavier). It has been abandoned for a while, however. Feroze took the >>>> > time to revive the project, figure out how to build it (and wrote >>>> > build instructions!) and also fixed a bug so that it can be used to >>>> > demo showing offline Wiki navigation. He was able to demo it showing >>>> > the Odiya Wikipedia dump offline, with working link navigation. >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > There exists a git repo (https://github.com/feroze/qvido) with the >>>> > code + the build instructions. I hope that people interested in >>>> > offline projects check this out and see if it can be made useful, and >>>> > take this forward. >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> > >>>> > 9. Patches to AssessmentBar >>>> > By: gsathya >>>> > >>>> > What it does: >>>> > AssessmentBar is a small widget/tool I'm building to make WP India >>>> > assessments easier (at the request of User:AshLin. Stay tuned for an >>>> > announcement in the next few days). Sathya spent time making the >>>> > backend for it more scalable, so the same server can support multiple >>>> > projects and concurrent users in a better way. Before that he was >>>> > contemplating setting up a hidden Tor node for Wikipedia (he's a Tor >>>> > core contributor) and then playing with data visualizations with WP >>>> > data. >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > There is a pull request (https://github.com/yuvipanda/MadamHut/pull/2 >>>> ) >>>> > that I need to merge :) >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> > >>>> > 10. Parsing Movie data into a database >>>> > By: Arunmozhi (Tecoholic) and Lavanya >>>> > >>>> > What it does: >>>> > It scrapes the infoboxes of all movies from whatever category you give >>>> > it and stores this into a database. This is harder than it sounds >>>> > because parsing wikitext is similar to beating yourself up repeatedly >>>> > in the head with a large trout. They managed to figure out a nice way >>>> > to extract information from all Indian movie pages, and put it in a >>>> > database for programmatic easy access later. >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > I've asked them to put the code up publicly somewhere, and since I >>>> > believe Tecoholic is in this mailing list, he'll reply with the link >>>> > :) These kinds of data scraping can be used to build very nice tools >>>> > that show off how much information Wikipedia has, and perhaps also >>>> > help people contribute back by editing information for their favorite >>>> > movies. I hope the community comes up with a nice idea to utilize >>>> > this, and takes this project forward to its ultimate destiny: A super >>>> > sexy IMDB type site for Indian Movies with data sourced from Wikipedia >>>> > (I can dream :D) >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> > >>>> > 11. Random Good WP India article tool >>>> > By: Shakti and Sharath >>>> > >>>> > What it does: >>>> > It is a simple tool that shows you one B, A, GA or FA article every >>>> > time you go there. The idea is to provide a usable service for people >>>> > who want to accumulate lots of knowledge by randomly reading stuff, >>>> > but only want good stuff (so stubs, etc are filtered out (unlike >>>> > Special:Random)). I'll also note that neither of them had worked with >>>> > any web service before the hackathon, nor with JSON, nor with the >>>> > mediawiki API, yet were able to build and deploy this tool within the >>>> > day. /me gives a virtual imaginary barnstar to either of them >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > It is currently deployed at http://srik.me/WPIndia. Everytime you hit >>>> > that link, you'll get an article about India that the community has >>>> > deemed 'good'. The source code is available >>>> > (https://github.com/saki92/category-based-search). They are eager to >>>> > do more hacks such as these, and I'm hoping that the community will >>>> > find enough technical cool things for these enthusiastic volunteers to >>>> > work on >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> > >>>> > 12. Fix bugs on tawiki ShortURL gadget >>>> > By: Bharath >>>> > >>>> > What it does: >>>> > The short url service used in tawiki (tawp.in) is shown in the wiki >>>> > via a gadget. It is not the most user friendly gadget - you need to >>>> > right click and select copy. Bharath looked for a solution by which >>>> > you could click it and it would copy to the clipboard, but did not >>>> > find any that would work without flash. Hence he abandoned that and >>>> > started figuring out easier ways of making that happen. He also fixed >>>> > several bugs in the implementation of the gadget, and I expect it to >>>> > get deployed soonish. Thanks to SrikanthLogic for helping him through >>>> > the process. >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > Code is available at >>>> > >>>> http://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%A9%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D:Bharathkaush/shorturl.js >>>> . >>>> > He's still fixing things on the script. If the community needs people >>>> > to come fix up their user scripts/gadgets, Bharath would be a willing >>>> > (and awesome!) candidate! >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> >>>> > >>>> > 13. Add 'My Uploads' to top bar along with My Contributions, etc >>>> > (Mediawiki Core Patch) >>>> > By: SrikanthLogic >>>> > >>>> > What it does: >>>> > Not satisfied with being the organizer of the hackathon, Srikanth >>>> > wanted to flex his programming muscles and spent time fixing a bug in >>>> > core mediawiki (https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=30915 >>>> ). >>>> > He spent a while digging around the proper way to do this, and managed >>>> > to make a proper patch! >>>> >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > It has been committed in gerrit (currently unable to find a link). >>>> > Should be merged in soon. Yay! >>>> > >>>> > Honorable Mentions >>>> > =================== >>>> > 1. WikiPronouncer >>>> > By: Russel Nickson >>>> > >>>> > What it was supposed to do: >>>> > Exactly like Shrini's tool to record word pronunciations and upload to >>>> > commons, but written for Android so people could add prononciations on >>>> > the go. >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > Code is available at https://github.com/russelnickson/pronouncer. He >>>> > ran into technical issues with Android setup (it stops working >>>> > completely if you look at it the wrong way), and was unable to >>>> > complete this. I think this would still be a very useful tool, and >>>> > hope someone from the community steps up to work with Russel and get >>>> > this finished. >>>> > >>>> > --- >>>> > >>>> > 2. Wiktionary cross lingual statistics >>>> > By: PranavRC >>>> > >>>> > What it was supposed to do: >>>> > It was a statistical tool that generated statistics about how many >>>> > words overlap between all indic languages in Wiktionary (as measured >>>> > by interwiki links). >>>> > >>>> > Status: >>>> > The code has been written (I've requested the author to put it up >>>> > publicly, will update list when it is). It, however, requires a lot of >>>> > time to be run. So validation by the community that such stats would >>>> > be useful would, IMO, definitely give Pranav the impetus to finish it >>>> > up and show us the pretty graphs :) >>>> > >>>> > So, in all, 13 demos were produced (+ 2 near misses). I think we can >>>> > call this one a success, no? :) >>>> >>>> > >>>> > Next Steps >>>> > ========== >>>> > Where do we go from here? Random thoughts: >>>> > >>>> > 1. Geek retention - this is reasonably easy. If we keep feeding >>>> > hackers interesting problems that affect a lot of people, they'll keep >>>> > helping us out. Is it possible to have some sort of a 'tools required' >>>> > or 'hacks required' or 'gadgets required' page/queue someplace where >>>> > we can always direct hackers looking for interesting problems to? IMO >>>> > Wikipedia is full of interesting technical problems, so this *should* >>>> > be feasible. >>>> > 2. Follow ups - this time, I am able to do this personally (small >>>> > enough group). Clearly this will not scale. Do we have ideas/methods >>>> > for following up with these people so that they stay with us? >>>> > 3. More of these? This was pretty much a 'zero cost' event - stickers >>>> >>>> > were the only 'cost'. A lot of places around the country would love to >>>> > have their space used for a hackathon of sorts. Should we do more of >>>> > these kind of 'Unofficial' hackathons? >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > Thanks due (in random order) >>>> > ============================ >>>> > >>>> > 1. Thoughtworks/BalajiDamodaran: He graciously hosted us at >>>> > Thoughtworks. The biggest challenge for any hackathon is to find a >>>> > nice place which understands what hackathons are, and provides what is >>>> > considered the lifeblood of a hackathon - working WiFi. Balaji >>>> > (@openbala) was incredibly awesome, and this entire thing would've not >>>> > been possible at all without him and ThoughtWorks. >>>> > 2. Dorai Thodla: He helped popularize the hackathon among the Chennai >>>> > Geeks crowd, and acted as a sounding board at various important times. >>>> > He also connected us with @openbala and enabled us to get the venue. >>>> > Thanks! >>>> >>>> > 3. Srikanth Lakshmanan: The hackathon was his idea, and he made sure >>>> > it was executed in a nice way. He was the official 'organizer', and >>>> > made sure that all logistics were taken care of. Once the event >>>> > started, he was very helpful in helping people technically and in >>>> > picking up ideas, while also hacking on his own patch. This event was, >>>> > in essence, organized and run by him. He took an overnight trip from >>>> > Hyderabad straight out of office just for this. Thanks for making this >>>> > possible! >>>> > 4. Shrini (aka the relentless forwarder): This event wouldn't have >>>> > been as much a success without him either. Evangelism across multiple >>>> > lists, adding a lot of ideas that could be done, helping the people >>>> > there out technically at all times and writing two really good hacks - >>>> > Thank you! I'm glad we get to keep you :) >>>> > 5. Subhashish Panighrahi: For sending us stickers :D (And who all is >>>> > involved in that logistical process too!) >>>> >>>> > >>>> > Most of all, this event was a success because of the quality and >>>> > dedication of the people who turned up, giving up their Saturdays. >>>> > Hope everyone who turned up had a nice time :) I am personally in >>>> > touch with most of them, and I also have their email address, phone >>>> > number *and* permission to contact them again. If anyone here thinks >>>> > that they liked one of the hacks and want to take it further, please >>>> > contact me (User:Yuvipanda on Mediawiki.org or yuvipa...@gmail.com) >>>> > and I'll get you people in touch. If there is a more accepted, >>>> > standard way of handling this type of private information, please let >>>> > me know as well! >>>> > >>>> > Thanks! >>>> > >>>> > - >>>> > Yuvi Panda T >>>> > http://yuvi.in >>>> > >>>> > _______________________________________________ >>>> > 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 >>>> >>>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Yuvi Panda T >> http://yuvi.in/blog >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 >> >> > > > -- > Regards, > Srikanth Ramakrishnan. > > > -- Yuvi Panda T http://yuvi.in/blog
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