Looks like Banglalink is yet another WMF partner that repeatedly disregards Jimbo's "Bright Line Rule".Mancunium wrote:...Wikimedia Foundation signed a partnership deal with Bangladeshi telecom Banglalink...
The IP that pointed out the paid editing on the Banglalink article has been blocked for his pains by one Geni (T-C-L), who writes: "I don't know who you are and I don't care who you are but you aren't a new user which means ever you are trying to play wikipolitics while avoiding having such activities connected to your main account or are block evading."thekohser wrote:Looks like Banglalink is yet another WMF partner that repeatedly disregards Jimbo's "Bright Line Rule".Mancunium wrote:...Wikimedia Foundation signed a partnership deal with Bangladeshi telecom Banglalink...
Jimbo loves it when Wikipedians stay on top of these pervasive COI problems.
Whoa...DanMurphy wrote:The IP that pointed out the paid editing on the Banglalink article has been blocked for his pains by one Geni (T-C-L), who writes: "I don't know who you are and I don't care who you are but you aren't a new user which means ever you are trying to play wikipolitics while avoiding having such activities connected to your main account or are block evading."thekohser wrote:Looks like Banglalink is yet another WMF partner that repeatedly disregards Jimbo's "Bright Line Rule".Mancunium wrote:...Wikimedia Foundation signed a partnership deal with Bangladeshi telecom Banglalink...
Jimbo loves it when Wikipedians stay on top of these pervasive COI problems.
The paid editors have not been blocked by Geni or anyone else.
[...] Ten years on, there’s certainly been a “slowdown” in the growth of this language Wikipedia. And the numbers show this: Compare any of the major language Wikipedias to Kannada, and it’s evident that it’s lagging behind on most fronts. Take the statistics of the quarter ended October 2013, for instance (Wikipedia releases stats on use and contributions on a quarterly basis). Kannada Wikipedia had 13 lakh page views per month, way behind Wikis in the three neighbouring States — Telugu Wikipedia had 21 lakh, Malayalam had 36.8 lakh and Tamil had 63 lakh.
Other revealing metrics include the total number of articles: while Kannada has 15,696 articles, Tamil and Telugu have around 55,000 each, and Malayalam has 33,528 articles. The total number of editors in some of these languages is around 100, while Kannada has around 40 (a number that was in single digit till six months ago, editors say). Further, critical voices from within the community say that subjective metrics — such as depth of each article and quality of the content — are also found lacking. So, what happened to the community spirit that early years of the Kannada Wikipedia saw? Why did the enthusiasm wane? There are differing opinions on this.
[...] Old-timers such as Mr. Nadig say that things were “irreparably damaged” a few years ago, when Google took up a transliteration project in order to enrich the intelligence of its transliteration tool. “In order to make their tool more intelligent, it hired companies or manpower to put English content through the machine, and then manually make corrections on it. This, I believe, overwrote some of the old content, and before this process was brought to a stop, a lot of damage was done. Then, the community had to work hard to undo the damage; a lot of this remains broken till this day,” he says. He adds that other language Wikipedias too faced this, but some communities were stronger and stopped this much earlier. Om Shivaprakash, an active Wikipedia editor, agrees. “It is true that till date a lot of these pages need corrections. And there wasn’t enough of a community to be able to do this.”
But, he contends, the problem was much larger. “There just wasn’t enough interest around Wikipedia here, primarily because there wasn’t enough awareness about it. Wikipedias in Malayalam and Hindi, for instance, have a lot of active and dedicated editors …this was first led by the free and open source community that was very active around these languages,” he says. By contrast, he adds, the Kannada Wikipedia community is hardly well-defined, and being from different fields is a disconnected lot with involvement that is sporadic. [...]
Globalisation may be bridging worlds that seemed far apart. But while English is the common umbrella under which we’ve gathered, local languages are becoming a fast dying breed, both online and offline. With the information explosion on the internet bringing together cultural diversities by erasing physical boundaries, many have been trying to resurrect the former glory of the many regional tongues. For enthusiasts of the Telugu language, Wikipedia, the largest web encyclopedia, offered a platform to accumulate as much knowledge in Telugu as possible. Started in 2003 by Venna Nagarjuna, a Telugu software developer from US, the Telugu Wikipedia has more than 54,000 essays, the largest number of essays posted in any regional language after Hindi. [...]
Says Rehamuddin Sheik, a 26-year-old who works at a technology firm in Bengaluru, he never lost motivation ever since he joined the initiative in 2007. “So far, I have contributed more than 2,000 write-ups, which also includes edits. I mostly write on science, bio-diversity, geography and technology. At times, I work continuously for days for contributing essays,” he shares. K Vishwanath, who runs an internet cafe in East Godavari district, is a testament to the fact that their enormous love for Telugu language drives them beyond anything to extend support to the project. The 34-year-old who mainly documents pilgrim centres in Andhra Pradesh, says, “Generally, someone posts that they are interested in writing about a particular topic on te.wikipedia.org website. Then it draws other like-minded people who are interested in the topic. The group will go on to set a deadline to finish that project,” explains Vishwanth who is working on documenting Indian women scientists. [...]
“The senior administrators and leaders are all elected through democratic process to coordinate the project. The role of these seniors is to ensure that the essays are written in proper format. The work is divided among various teams which take care of language and grammar corrections, technology assistance and others,” he adds. Quite pleased at how far they’ve come in these years, the team also knows they’ve just barely grazed the tip of the iceberg. [...]
Many are not aware of the existence of Odia Wikipedia and other Indian language Wikipedias. But Odia Wikipedia has been growing gradually all these years and has become the most searched website and largest online encyclopedia in Odia language. Initiated in 2002 Odia Wikipedia saw its first edit in 2004 and suffered from low contribution for almost seven years. But slowly the gloomy scene changed with the first workshop in Bengaluru which started initiating more consecutive Wikipedia training workshops in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Nalconagar, Baleswar, Dhenkanal and many other cities. Over these years after many outreach workshops individuals who are experts in different subject areas and organizations and institutions like Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal and KIIT University have been associated with the Odia Wikipedia editor community.
After Gopal Chandra Praharaj's Purnachandra Ordiya Bhashakosha and Binod Kanungo's Jnanamandal no such progressive encyclopedic compilation was done in Odia. Where the encyclopedias take years for reprinting which is also negligible in regional languages Odia Wikipedia articles get revised every now and then. “This has been possible because of the collaborative writing mechanism of Wikipedia All of us keep editing the articles that refine the content and make it free from biased and incorrect facts.”, says Mrutyunjaya Kar, one of the very active Wikipedians. Some time ago noted linguists like Natabara Satpathy and Deepak Kanungo raised questions about the authenticity and writing standards of the articles on Odia Wikipedia.
"But I think we have overcome those issues of poor quality content. And the very thing Wikipedia got is the gradual growth of articles in terms of amount of information and accuracy. Something that attracted me to Odia Wikipedia is the way one liner stub articles grow to good quality articles in few days", says Subhashish Panigrahi, Programme Officer to Centre of Internet and Society's Access To Knowledge program that is working for the growth of Indian languages. Many of the valuable aspects of Odisha's history, diverse languages, cultural heritage and tourism are being documented and shared for free on the internet which otherwise would not ever come to the limelight. [...]
Wikisangamotsavam: linkAs part of the Wikisangamotsavam, annual conference of Malayalam Wikimedians, which will begin at Alappuzha this week, Malayalam Wikimedians organized 'Alappuzha Loves Wikipedia', a photo walk for uploading copyright-free images of the place. [...] Through the programme, Wikimedians aimed at improve quality and quantity of articles related to Alappuzha in Wikipedia. [...] Wikisangamotsavam will be held in Alappuzha from December 21 and 22 at Radha convention centre. Wikimedians from around 14 language Wikipedia are expected to attend the programme. Wiki students' conference, seminars, workshop for differently-abled, paper presentation, Wiki hackathon etc will be held as part of the Wikisangamotsavam.
It's AMAZING! It's a miracle! And it's beautiful! And the Wikimedia Foundation has found another Bangladeshi partner!Mancunium wrote:I include Bangladesh in the thread because, in addition to the 150 million Bengali-speakers in that country, there are another 95 million Bengali-speakers in the Indian state of West Bengal; it is one of the world's most widely spoken languages. So who better than Carolynne Schloeder to explain why control of the Bangla Wikipedia has been turned over to a Bangladeshi in the same week that the Wikimedia Foundation signed a partnership deal with Bangladeshi telecom Banglalink?
Wikipedia Zero
A righteous initiative for accessing free knowledge
Daily Star, 2 December 2013 linkCarolynne Schloeder, Director of Mobile Programs at Wikimedia Foundation, carve up the benefits, goals and expectations of this initiative with Shahriar Rahman from ‘Bytes’ on the eve of launching Wikipedia Zero in Bangladesh.
SH: What’s the long term plan regarding this particular program?
CS: We would like to reach 1.5 billion people through our partnerships. And then our secondary plan is to make sure then people use Wikipedia. Wikipedia Zero is a mean to an ends; the end is the impact the way that knowledge can support education and help people improve their lives. So ultimately what we are looking at is IMPACT. And when I talk about access to knowledge, it’s not just people reading Wikipedia. Rather knowledge must be multi-directional.
SH: Many researchers have shown that disproportional amount of contents are entered in Wikipedia from developing countries compared to the rest of the world. For example: There are nearly more than double articles in Antarctica than the entire African continent. Do you think this initiative is going to help enrich the contents in Wikipedia from developing countries?
CS: We are hoping as people use Wikipedia more and there is such a bigger audience people will be inspired to join the movement and actually contribute articles. So this is part of the overall initiative to raise awareness and bring Wikipedia to people through which very naturally people will follow and join the local chapters in the movement.
SH: Do you think being free is going to enrich Wikipedia’s content in the long run since all the editors and contributors are unpaid?
CS: Wikipedia worldwide exists on volunteer labor and it’s AMAZING. It’s a miracle actually since people wants to donate their time to spread knowledge. And it’s beautiful. So, yes! We don’t pay people to do it (chuckled).But it’s because we trust in the human nature of helping others.
SH: Have you ever been to Bangladesh before?
No, this is my first time in Bangladesh.
Offer valid for three months only, purchase of Opera Mini required. Grameenphone is owned by Telenor, of course, and is a scofflaw that makes itself rich by lending money to the very poor using its "money transfer" trap: Grameenphone (T-H-L)Grameenphone said its customers can now enjoy access to Wikipedia, the largest free online encyclopaedia in the world, free of mobile data charges. They can browse zero.wikipedia.org without incurring data charges using Opera Mini browsers. Opera Mini users have the added convenience of Wikipedia on speed dial for quick access. The offer will be valid for three months from the launch. [...] Free access to Wikipedia, the fifth most visited website in the world, will enable the people of Bangladesh to gain knowledge and move ahead, according to Grameenphone's press release.
This article may contain promotional material and other spam. Please remove any content which is not encyclopedic, and any promotional external links in accordance with the external links guideline. (November 2013)
Wikipedia will soon be enriched with a lot of data on the backwaters of Kerala. A group of youngsters and students will undertake a backwater cruise named ‘WikiJalayatra’ in Vembanadu lake on December 23 to closely study the many attractions of backwaters. It is organised as part of ‘Wikisangamotsavam,’ an annual conference of Malayalam Wikimedians, which will begin here on December 21.
T.K. Sujith, convener of the event, said, “as of now, the Wikipedia has very little information on the backwaters of Kerala. Of late, it has set apart a slot exclusively for wetland-related articles. Therefore, the tour could help improve the quality and quantity of articles related to the backwaters in Alappuzha, the Venice of the East. The pictures taken by the volunteers during the cruise will be uploaded on ‘Wikimedia Commons,’ a space for pictures,” he said. “The tour will be conducted by about 250 volunteers, including 100 students from across the country. The participants will talk to the local folks to get a sense of the habitats,” he added. “It’s planned as a model initiative,” he said.
Wikisangamotsavam will be held at Radha convention centre here from December 21 to 23. Wikimedians from 14 language Wikipedias are expected to attend the programme.
[...] “When I started contributing to Wikipedia in 2005-06, it was predominantly in English,” recounts Tinu Cherian, a veteran Wikipedia editor, administrator and former Wikimedia India chapter board member. Cherian has started over 2,000 articles and has 50,000 edits to his credit. “But over the last few years, the trend has changed. There is a marked increase in local language enthusiasts, who regularly contribute in their native languages.” Wikipedia is currently available in 20 Indian languages, including in Pali; the resource is in incubation stages for another 20 languages. The Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil Wikipedias have tens of thousands of articles — respective wiki communities recently celebrated their 10th anniversaries — while pages in Hindi are close to over a lakh. “To keep language sections updated is a challenging task, and it is to the credit of our volunteers who dedicate hours ensuring accurate information is accessible,” explains Cherian. [...]
The volunteer base itself is extremely diverse. Editors are as young as 14-year-olds and as senior as those in their late 70s. “They represent varied backgrounds and some even work despite limited Internet access. Their dedication is awe inspiring,” says Cherian. [...] But Wikipedia's inclusivity goes beyond local languages. Wiki editor Aniruddha Kumar explains this best on his page. He says: “Wikipedia is one of the most beautiful things in the world. It takes the concept that everyone has a basic right to information and makes it into something real — a tool that’s free for anyone to access.” Aniruddha Kumar is among the most active editors on Wikipedia and he is blind.
Five rare Indian languages revived on Wikipedia
Bishnupriya Manipuri 25,138 articles
Sanskrit 9,399 articles
Divehi 3,664 articles
Pali 2,807 articles
Romani 543 articles.
Moodbidri, 20 Dec 2013: Alva’s Vishwa Nudisiri Virasat - 2013, four-day national and international cultural extravaganza organized by Alva’s Education Foundation ® began with grandeur at Sundari Anand Alva campus, Vidhyagiri, here on Thursday December 19. Earlier, Nadoja Bomma Gowda flagged-off the grand procession depicting the splendor of coastal district’s folk art at Chowta’s palace. Over 110 folk groups with over 5,000 folk artistes participated in the grand procession that concluded at the venue. Alvas Educatin Foundation ® chairman Dr M Mohan Alva in his introduction address said, ‘My wish is to make our culture reach far and wide. I have been planning for Alva’s Vishwa Nudisiri Virasat - 2013 from a long time by inviting the former presidents and the plan has worked without any roadblock. Through Nudisiri programmes, we strive to showcase our cultural splendor, our discipline and attachment to our culture. This has motivated us to keep on organizing this event in the future too,’ said Dr Alva. [...]
Well-known litterateur, researcher, poet, and retired vice-chancellor of Hampi Kannada University and Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) Dr B A Vivek Rai presided Alvas Vishwa Nudisiri Virasat – 2013. Dr Vivek was conferred with Alvas Vishwa Nudisiri Virasat – 2013 Award during the programme. Dr Vivek in his acknowledgement address said, ‘I was born in Punacha of Puttur taluk. After completing my school, PU and BSc in Puttur, I did my MA in Kannada and PhD in Mysore University. I have done research in the field of language and culture, written books, poems, novels, etc and bagged a number of awards. My parents taught me Tulu and it is my world. Since first standard I started learning Kannada and I am still learning. Kannada is still attracting me to new things. Because of caste, creed and race our Kannada has shattered. Through our Vishwa Nudisiri Sammelana our political parties, religious organisations and social organisations should strive to promote Kannada,’ said Dr Vivek. [...]
‘In the past 9 years, students and people from different states have been taking part in ’Alva’s Nudisiri’ and this is a proud moment for everyone. To spread Kannada to other countires, we have to first lay down a strong foundation for Kannada in Karnataka. Kannada must be taught in every school and college. Wikipedia is one of the world’s best directory and Wikipedia is available in Kannada since 2003. There are more than 15,000 articles in Kannada Wikipedia,’ said Dr Vivek. [...]
KOLKATA: In an effort to enthuse people to become regular contributors to its site, Wikipedia will launch a campaign at the Kolkata Book Fair next year. It has already booked a stall and lined up an awareness programme to sign up volunteers. Incidentally, Kolkata fares poorly when it comes to contribute to the world's biggest online encyclopedia. At present, the city has only five contributors.
Wikipedia needs people from Kolkata to contribute voluntarily not only to the mother website but also to its Bengali link, Banglapedia. "We would hold workshops where we would give presentations about how to edit existing material on Wiki/Banglapedia. The biggest incentive for any contributor is that, the moment he/she writes a piece or edits something, it gets updated and is published for the world to see," explained Jayanta Nath, chief of Banglapedia.
The Book Fair authorities have already sealed the deal and are looking forward to this heavyweight participant. "Wikipedia's participation will add glamour to the fair," said Tridib Chatterjee, general secretary of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild.
On 4 November 2013, "the formal announcement came declaring Mr. Nurunnabi Chowdhury Hasib" of Bangladesh as "The 13th Administrator of Bangla Wikipedia: link,Kolkata: The 38th edition of Kolkata International Book Fair will help enrichment of Bengali literature via Wikipedia, the world’s largest multilingual free internet encyclopedia. According to Publishers and Booksellers Guild, the organisers of the annual event, Wikipedia is to launch a campaign all throughout the 12-day festival to sign-up volunteers who can contribute to enrich its Bengali link (Banglapedia) database, besides the mother site. “The site approached us asking for help since the number of articles published in Bengali is very less. The primary idea of the fair is to promote reading and literature amongst people in any format. We are happy to help,” said Tridib Chatterjee, secretary of the Guild. “The Wikipedia stall will occupy a prime spot in the fair,” he added.
Students of Bengali literature are excited about this opportunity. “It is a very rare opportunity especially for students and new writers who will be able to exhibit there works all over the globe. More so in an era where Bengali literature which flourished globally is now diminishing as English has take centre stage even in Bengal,” said Paromita Sengupta, a research student on linguistics. “In today’s world internet is a very strong weapon to reach out to the world. We must ensure we use to wisely for maximum benefits to individuals and for the development of language,” said professor of Bengali literature in Calcutta University.
Zoloft wrote:This is where Wikipedia should be lending its will and money. More than a billion people, dozens of languages, worlds of opportunity for cross-language article migration, and for Wikipedia to be a powerful force for good.
If they don't drop the ball.
To expand its database in Bengali, Wikipedia has put up a stall at the ongoing Kolkata Book Fair seeking vernacular editors for the world’s largest free online encyclopedia available in over 280 languages. “This is for the first time that Wikipedia is participating in any book fair any where in the world. The stall serves many purposes but the central idea is to motivate net-savvy youngsters to volunteer and contribute Bengali articles,” Jayanta Nath, member of the executive committee of Wikimedia India, told PTI. [...] Available at http://www.bn.wikipedia.org, the Bengali edition has only 28,000 articles while the main English one has more than 45 lakh pieces. Banglapedia has less than 200 editors of which more than 150 are from Bangladesh, while only ten are from West Bengal.
“We want more editors and reviewers from Kolkata and the book fair is the perfect place to reach out to such people. Anyone who has knowledge about the subject and is net-savvy can be a contributor,” said Rangan Datta, one of the Wiki editors. A team of volunteers manning the stall, at the book fair which was inaugurated yesterday, are demonstrating to visitors on how to edit and review articles. “Many people think that typing in English is easy on a computer but not in Bengali. We are showing how typing softwares have made the task very simple,” said volunteer Sumantra Mukherjee.
Most of the volunteers are students from different streams or editors/contributors to Wikipedia. Biswarup Ganguly, who contributes photos for Wikimedia Commons said they are explaining on topics like how to add a reference to an article, licensing terms under the Creative Common Policy and how to avoid any case of copyright infringement while writing. “The Bengali edition is not necessarily a translation from the English version of Wikipedia. In many cases like that of Rabindranath Tagore, the articles are written exclusively in Bengali and are even better than the English one as it caters to a specific Bengali-reading audience. The content gets very localised in vernacular languages,” Nath of Wikimedia said.
Run entirely on donations, the Wikimedia Foundation is also accepting contributions at the bookfair stall to run its projects. [...]
Mancunium wrote:The Wikimedia Foundation is begging for alms in Calcutta.
HRIP7 wrote:Mancunium wrote:The Wikimedia Foundation is begging for alms in Calcutta.
We don't have enough coverage of the Almish on this forum.EricBarbour wrote:HRIP7 wrote:Mancunium wrote:The Wikimedia Foundation is begging for alms in Calcutta.
വിക്കിഗ്രന്ഥശാല linkSome of the rarest of Malayalam literary works has transcended the physical barrier and have started a new life in the digital era, all thanks to the active participation of more than 200 Wikimedia users from around the globe. This has been part of a digitization contest organized by Malayalam Wikimedia to celebrate a decade of Wikisource. [...] Among the books that were digitized include Keralabhasha Vyakaranam (1877) by Vaidyan Pachumoothatu, Gangavataranam (1892) by Kodungalloor Kunjikuttan Thampuran, Malayazhmayude Vyakaranam (1863) by Rev George Mathen. Also featuring in the list are books such as Sampshepavedartham (1772), which happen to be one of the oldest known Christian works written in Malayalam language, Hastalakshanadeepika (1892) along with magazines such as Rasikaranjini and Mangalodayam.
Odia Wikipedia celebrated it’s 10th birthday at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) Bhubaneswar and 29th at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal. Odia Wikipedia, the largest Odia encyclopedia on the internet is turning 10 years this 29th. It was started in 2002 and saw its first edit on 29th January 2004. Remaining dormant for almost nine years it got most of its contribution after 2011. Few of the youngsters from Odia diaspora in Bangalore took the initial pain of reviving it and bringing more editors to the project. That spread the message and more contributors started contributing from Odisha. Wikipedia editors who are also known as Uikiali in Odia and Wikipedian in English are volunteers who keep creating new encyclopedic entries on Odia Wikipedia find it more useful than even contributing to magazines or newspapers. [...]
Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal has informally integrated Wikipedia as a key learning activity for the students who contribute to the college newspaper and other newspapers and mass media. “So far students have been only consumers of Wikipedia, but now it is time for them to contribute. I am so happy to see the tribal students and the faculty contributing to Odia Wikipedia”, says Dr. Achyuta Samanta while inaugurating the “Documenting Tribal Language and Heritage Project” at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar earlier this month. [...]
Renowned educationalist and linguist Padmashree Dr. Debiprasanna Patnaik will be formally inaugurating this event at KISS. “Odia Wikipedians are planning to meet Department of Mass Education, Odisha Government's Chief Secretary Usha Padhi at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal to discuss how digital media could be a key player in imparting knowledge to students in their native language”, explains Centre for Internet and Society's Subhashish Panigrahi who works for the Access To Knowledge Program that helps regional language Wikipedias grow with more resource and voluntary contribution in India. Odia Wikipedia recently crossed 5000 article mark and is available online at or.wikipedia.org. People who are interested to join could get more information at http://bitly.com/odiawiki10
Andhra Pradesh Official Language Commission Chairman Mandali Buddha Prasad lauded the efforts being made for expanding Telugu Wikipedia and taking it closer to people. He promised to extend his support for that initiative while trying his best to promote the language through all possible means. Participating in the Telugu Wikipedia’s 10th anniversary celebrations held at KBN College here on Saturday, Mr. Buddha Prasad said it was good that the founding fathers of Wikipedia shared their knowledge and lent a helping hand in setting up its local editions across the world. Telugu Wikipedia came as a boon for Telugu-speaking people and every effort should be made for expanding its reach and enriching its content from time to time.
On his part, Mr. Buddha Prasad suggested to the Andhra Pradesh government to convert its departmental websites into bilingual ones (English and Telugu) to help the common people understand the information posted thereon. The government was working on it under the aegis of Minister for IT Ponnala Lakshmaiah, he added. Mr. Buddha Prasad said that the Telugu Wikipedia would be a valuable database by having ancient manuscripts and other such material included in it. The government could get its Archives Department (State Archives and Research Institute) to digitise the information at its disposal and link it up with the Telugu Wikipedia. Such measures should be taken for enhancing the public knowledge and providing it as a tool for academic pursuits, he said. [...]
Good for you, India! You don't need a herd of ignorant arrogant untouchable Inglistani imperialists telling you what is Truth. Truth Is.[...] the Indian government has launched a unique and comprehensive information website, Vikaspedia, for the local population. Given the wide linguistic and cultural diversity of the country, Vikaspedia offers information in five local languages: Hindi, Assamese, Marathi, Telugu and English. The government will eventually add 22 Indian languages so more people across India can access the website and reap the benefits. [...]
By the way, the project is to be run by the Indian government’s Department of Electronics and Information Technology: DEITY.[...] It features the ability to register with the project as a content contributor, although this seems weighted towards official institutions and organisations rather than individuals. [...]
Good, hope it makes some leeway. Without the WMF and the WM India nitwits involved, it might prove to be better-run.Mancunium wrote:India launches its very own VIKASPEDIA
The Register, 19 February 2014 link
This project is still in its early days, but if China can create a Baidu_Baike (T-H-L) to drive 1.4 billion people away from Wikipedia, there is nothing to stop India from liberating another 1.3 billion people from the pernicious thralldom of Wikipedia.Did you always long for an India-focused Wikipedia that would provide all relevant information about the country? Well, you are there, almost. A couple of days ago, the Indian government has launched Vikaspedia, a multi-lingual portal that enables access to crucial information across six key areas - agriculture, health, education, social welfare, energy and e-governance. The site also features a handful of G2C (government to citizen) and G2B (government to business) services besides discussion forums, impact stories/case studies, learning resources, mobile app downloads, and news & events. Vikaspedia is currently available in five languages including Hindi, English, Assamese, Marathi and Telugu. But going forward, there are plan to make it accessible in all 22 Indian languages. [...]
Earlier, fast, hassle-free access to real-time and crucial data was quite unthinkable and people had to pay for it as well. But from now on, most of it will be made available for free. [...] Moreover, the portal gives you a fair idea of what's currently happening in the e-governance space. The section on 'Mobile Governance' is especially relevant, given the fact that India has around 110 million mobile Internet users, out of which 25 million are in rural India. In fact, 70% of rural India's active Internet population access the Web via mobile phones while 42% of rural India's users prefer using the Internet in local languages. [...] The site also features a number of utility apps for free download including Ask An Expert, SHELTOR (Student HostEL locator) and MOTHER (MObile based maTernal HEalth awaReness), an app for monitoring maternal health. [...]
Those still pining for an Indian Wiki will be pleasantly surprised when you find a few similar features even on Vikaspedia. For instance, you can register here as a content contributor that will allow you to add a new page of content, edit the existing content and create discussion topics. We are still not sure if the portal is open to content crowdsourcing and editing just like Wikipedia does, but this option looks quite suggestive. [...] at the initial stage, only authorised institutions/organisations can deliver and edit content, instead of individual contributors. But even then, an interactive repository of developmental data (after all, members can still participate in discussions and provide feedback), along with easy access, could just be the first step towards more transparent governance and people empowerment. Vikaspedia can bridge the knowledge divide and therefore, the opportunity divide, which may gradually ensure the economic and social well-being of India's 1.3 billion-strong population.
Two introductory sessions on how to edit entries on Wikipedia (“edit-a-thons”) will be held at two separate venues in [Mangalore] in the coming days. While one edit-a-thon will be held in Roshni Nilaya School of Social Work on Wednesday, another will be held at the office of Jagotik Konknni Songhotton (JKS) on April 6. The workshop in Roshni Nilaya is being held to familiarise people with editing the Wikipedia entries so that they would be able to contribute effectively in March for a month-long programme (to mark International Women’s Day on March 8) that aims to increase content on women-related issues in Wikipedia [...]
Shobhana N., Lecturer, Department of English, Roshni Nilaya, who is the event coordinator for the edit-a-thon, said students often take information from Wikipedia but such an effort will make them read deeper. Participating in the workshop could also help them see the lacunae in Wikipedia and how they could be resolved. She said she wanted the workshop to “open doors” rather than only be a window to information. Eric Ozario, General Secretary, Jagotik Konknni Songhotton (JKS) said 20 to 25 people have expressed their interest to participate in the Wikipedia editing session to be held in Shantinagar on April 6. He said, “We are focusing on Konkani but what they learn can help them edit Wikipedia in any language.” [...]
Accurate information? How will Wikipedia compete?The Indian government has launched an online encyclopedia for social sectors, and software tools to develop internet-based content in local languages. Fashioned Vikaspedia, the website contains both user-generated as well as government-supplied articles on agriculture, health, education, social welfare, energy and e-governance. The articles broadly cover different aspects of each. For example, the agriculture section will help farmers or those interested in home farming with information on soil and seed treatment, bio-fertilizers, and livestock care. Anyone can sign up for being a contributor and will have to state their expertise in two chosen fields. The government says it will also keep adding more information as it becomes available. Borrowing a page from Wikipedia, the government plans to develop Internet content in regional Indian languages - Hindi, English, Assamese, Marathi and Telugu are presently available- through Vikaspedia. “The portal at present can be accessed in five Indian languages. There is plan to make it accessible in all 22 Indian languages as we move forward,” DeitY Joint Secretary Rajendra Kumar said. [...]
So how does content get uploaded onto Vikaspedia? It can be uploaded on the portal by the approved contributors, state agencies, experts and expert organisations. Users can also register as content contributor here. According to the website’s policies, users are expected to upload information that is authentic, accurate, up-to-date, comprehensive and relatively easy to find and understand. [...] It should be noted that the Vikaspedia model isn’t exactly like Wikipedia given that you can only create pages for the sections shown on the site for now and the process for uploading content, seems to involve quite a number of steps and reviews. However it does sound like an interesting project given that it have some very India-specific information and it will also be available in Indian languages. For those look for comprehensive data on agriculture, education, social welfare in India, this might be a good place to explore, rather than Wikipedia.[...]
Let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend.It is learnt that the Punjabi University, Patiala has launched “Punjabipedia”, an exclusive online treasure relating to Punjabi language. [...] Taking a leaf out of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia’s book, the university has published Punjabipedia to help internet users get details relating to the state’s history, culture, literature, traditions and other information in Punjabi. Introducing the project, Devinder Singh, director, planning and monitoring, who is also coordinator of the Punjabipedia, said that though Punjabipedia had been designed on the pattern of Wikipedia but it would be more authentic and reliable as the entries will be controlled and monitored by the university staff and not by the public in general as in case of Wikipedia. [...]
Users are not allowed to alter the contents or entries of Punjabipedia. At the most users can submit their suggestions via Punjabipedia website, which may be considered by team managing Punjabipedia. Information on Punjabipedia is primarily taken from books/ encyclopaedias published by Punjabi University Patiala. He said at present Punjabipedia contain more than 72,000 entries. Its database will soon be enlarged to cover topics relating to not only Punjabi language, art and culture but other subjects as well. “It can be reached through Google and other search engines, it can also be directly accessed at punjabipedia.org/ punjabipedia.net/ punjabipedia.co.in . The data is available in Gurmukhi script “, he said. [...] Encyclopedia of Sikhism, also a four-volume publication with a total of nearly 20,000 printed pages, comprises nearly 3,500 entries on various aspects of Sikh history, philosophy and customs. Social, religious movements, art, architecture and shrines also found place in the contents of Punjabipedia. [...]
Celebrations of Jagannath involve a huge cart; worshippers sometimes get crushed under its wheels as it trundles along. This is the origin of the term "juggernaut". Hmmm, seems familiar somehow.Mancunium wrote:
Puri, in Odisha, is the home of Jagannath, The Lord of the Universe
Being physically crushed by Jagannath has never been likely. At the sight of The Lord of Universe it is far more probable that He will violently seize you by the throat, fling you through the air and out of space and time, and crush every bit of ego in your mind and body.Poetlister wrote:Celebrations of Jagannath involve a huge cart; worshippers sometimes get crushed under its wheels as it trundles along. This is the origin of the term "juggernaut". Hmmm, seems familiar somehow.Mancunium wrote:
Puri, in Odisha, is the home of Jagannath, The Lord of the Universe
Nhasive (T-C-L)Close your eyes first. Now try to think of a world without Wikipedia. Surely your heart skipped a beat. Because that is how significant role Wikipedia plays in your life. [...] Last year, mobile based visits boosted up to 51%. Keeping the pace Bengali Wikipedia has also crossed 28,000 articles. Recent research reveals that Bengali Wikipedia got 46% increased hit in Dec'12-Dec'13. And this year it's celebrating its 10 years anniversary. In the last decade, many Bengali speaking people have contributed to the enrichment of Bengali Wikipedia. Sadly, the rate of entry of article is not proportionate with the number of visitors. We have more readers but fewer contributors. Thus volunteer organizations like Bangladesh Open Source Network, Wikimedia Bangladesh, Open Knowledge Foundation Network are working heart and soul to raise awareness and get the commoners involve to enrich this knowledge base.
The process is really simple, to be honest. Anyone can startup an article by themselves. And starting an article does not necessarily mean that you will have to finish it. This is where the beauty of true human spirit lies. When you start, other wikipedians will help you complete your article. Once your article gets approved, other users will come to know about it. This is how we are moving forward. If you are someone who spends hours in social spaces then you are the perfect person to contribute in Bengali Wikipedia. Everyday just take an hour or so to contribute or edit an article. However, before adding anything, it is necessary to decide whether the information is worthy of inclusion in the Bengali Wikipedia. That's why, try to know about the topic in detail and then start writing your article. After starting the article you can ask for help from other Wikipedians. In case of adding images we would recommend to use your own photos. Also you may send us your photo. [...] So we make this open call: Don't hesitate. Join us and start contributing to enrich Bengali Wikipedia, today.
The writer is tech-journalist and an Administrator of Bengali Wikipedia. He can be reached: nh@nhasive.com
"To reach wider audience and for the purpose of documentation, Konkani writers should explore the possibility of going online with their literary works, so that the content is available to the public and they talk about it," said Dr Anil Pinto, registrar, Christ University, Bangalore. He was speaking as a resource person during the Karnataka Konkani Literary Conference organized by All India Konkani Writers' Organisation (AIKWO) at Kalaangann, Shaktinagar here on Sunday, March 16. It was the first in the series of four literary conferences. The remaining three will be held in Kerala in May, Maharashtra in August and Goa in October. Speaking on the topic, 'Harnessing the possibilities of the internet or Konkani in digital era', Dr Anil Pinto asked the writers to make use of blogs, social networking sites and Wikipedia to write in Konkani. [...] Apart from writers, every church should add information about itself in Wikipedia. This way, Konkani will be rich on the internet," he added. Dr Anil Pinto also said that print is the privilege of only a few writers, whereas anyone can make use of websites as a platform to take their literary work to people. "Today, social networking sites are used to criticize and stage protests, and there is instant reaction," he added. Eric Ozario, gurkar of Mandd Sobhann informed that a workshop on Wikipedia will be held at Kalaangann on April 6. [...]
Wikipedia is tapping college students in tier II and III cities in India to increase vernacular content on the web-based encyclopaedia. U.B. Pavanaja, Programme Officer – Indian Language, Access to Knowledge, Centre for Internet Studies (CIS), Bangalore, says there is adequate content on Kannada, Kannadiga, Karnataka on Kannada Wikipedia but on science and technology, the content is a little less. To fill this gap, he is conducting workshops to teach students to turn volunteers for Wikipedia in far-flung places like Ujire and Moodbidri. On Sunday, 47 students attended a workshop at Shri Dharmasthala Manunatheshwara (SDM) College in Ujire. On Saturday Mr. Pavanaja — who has been editing the Kannada Wikipedia for the past 10 years — conducted a similar workshop for 30 students at Alva’s College, Moodbidri. Mr. Pavanaja says contributions peaked in between 2006 and 2008, then declined “due to many reasons” and “picked up last year”. There was a significant increase in the number of editors after 500 students of Christ University, Bangalore, were trained in editing at a workshop held in January this year. He says Kannada Wikipedia has very few women editors. Of the 557 editors of Kannada Wikipedia, who have contributed 16,670 articles till now, 226 are active editors and, of them, five men and three women editors are “very active”. [...]
What is Qwikipedia? Qwikipedia is a game that tries to quench our curiosity. The objective is to get to a particular wiki page, starting from a specific article, using minimal clicks.
Monday's Marauder
World Anti-Doping Agency —> Contact Lens
WADA
[...] The body, an independent organization founded to tackle doping in sports, was formed in 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland. [...]
Switzerland
[...] Blessed with a robust economy - Switzerland being home to several multinational corporations like Nestle, Novartis, The Swatch group, Glencore [...]
Novartis
[...] Apart from cancer drugs, Novartis’ products include vaccines, over-the-counter drugs for various ailments, eye care products such as contact lens. [...]
Contact Lens
So the path that we have traversed today is:
WADA —> Switzerland —> Novartis —> Contact Lens
Three clicks!
Hop over. It’s time for the next question:
Tuesday’s Traveller
Kremlin —> Tatoo
Send in your paths for the above to school@thehindu.co.in with the subject “Qwikipedia”. Do include your name, class and school!
Maybe there's a rule that links via porn articles don't count.Mancunium wrote:The_Hindu (T-H-L) is a respectable Indian newspaper, founded in 1878. For some reason, it is a big fan of Wikipedia (possibly because English is a Sacred_language (T-H-L) in India, and believed to be the key to worldly success). They are promoting a game for young schoolchildren: encouraging them to browse English Wikipedia, with all its gratuitous pornography and obscene illustrations.
Is this a trick question? Tatoo is a redirect to Tattoo.Kremlin —> Tatoo
Send in your paths for the above to school@thehindu.co.in with the subject “Qwikipedia”. Do include your name, class and school!
Odia Wikipedia to digitize 14 booksMancunium wrote:Odia Wikipedia celebrated it's 10th birthday at KISS, IIMC- Dhenkanal
Orissa Diary, 6 February 2014 link
Puri, in Odisha, is the home of Jagannath, The Lord of the Universe
This event is being organized on March 29 at Jayadev Bhawan. RSVP at http://bitly.com/registerodishaday.On the occasion of the 79th Odisha Day, the Odia Wikipedia has decided to take up a new project for the digitization of 11 books of the eminent Odia author Dr Jagannath Mohanty. In a release, programme officer (Access to Knowledge) of Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru Subhasis Panigrahi said the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) would take up the digitization project where KISS students would type them on WikiSource, a sister project of Wikipedia. These books include children’s literature, travelogues and biographical essays penned by Dr Mohanty. Digitization of three more books: two in Odia-”Jati, Jagruti O Pragati” (book on people and culture of Odisha), “Bhasa O Jatiyata in Odia” ( a book based on research on Odia language) and an English book on the literary heritage of Odia, “Classical Odia” will be also be inaugurated on this day.
All these digitised books will be made available on the Internet with open access through free licenses. More than 5000 pages will be digitized in these two projects, Panigrahi said. [...] a seminar would be held at Jayadev Bhawan in the city here on March 29. Prof Udayanath Sahu, writer Asit Mohanty, litterateur Dr Lenin Mohanty would participate and discuss about spell check for Odia, use of Odia language in the media and tools for typing in Odia. It may be mentioned that the Odia Wikipedia has become a useful tool to access vast amount of knowledge in Odia. Available for free at https://or.wiki.org, it is an online encyclopedia that has about 5000 articles.[...] About 20 Wikipedians are contributing articles on diverse topics. Wikipedia has a self correcting mechanism of experienced editors guiding new ones to proofread and correct language and add citations. So far, about 25 outreach programs have been organized in over 10 educational and community organizations to educate people with two Wikipedia education programmes running for 3-4 months.
OdiaLanguage.com linkDigitization is the only way to ensure preservation of valuable Odia books and old palm-leaf manuscripts for posterity, said eminent linguist Padmashri Dr Debiprasanna Pattanayak while inaugurating the two-day Odisha Day celebration organized by the Odia Wikimedia Community at Jayadev Bhawan here today. “Collaborative effort and open access to knowledge repositories can help enrich our language and culture”, Dr Pattanayak said while taking part in the deliberations. He lamented the fact that the majority of current Odia publications are not available on the net. [...] 11 volumes of eminent Odia writer Dr Jagannath Mohanty were released in free Creative Commons licenses. Besides, a DVD containing a new Odia Unicode free font designed by http://www.OdiaLanguage.com a new Odia input tool, free software and offline Wikipedia were also released on the occasion. KISS will digitize these books by training its students, the organisers said. Odia Wikipedia admin Mrutyunjaya Kar gave the inaugural speech while Subhashish Panigrahi from the Centre for Internet and Society read out the annual report and the vision of Odia Wikipedia. It was announced that the Odia WikiSource project will be activated soon.
Kannada WikiSource: linkA form of poetry in India called Vachana sahitya is part of the popular Indian language, Kannada. It evolved in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th as part of the religious Lingayatha movement. Since that time, more than 259 Vachana writers, called Vachanakaru, have compiled over 11,000 Vachanas (verses). 21,000 of these verses were digitally published into 15 volumes, called Samagra Vachana Samputa, by the government of Karnataka. These volumes were then turned into a standalone project called Vachana Sanchaya; this project was taken on by two Kannada Wikimedians, a Kannada linguist, and the author O. L. Nagabhushana Swamy—to enrich the Kannada WikiSource. This team used Unicode, a standard of consistency for converting text (and code) into a new format.
Swamy was trying to access these poems, and was having trouble because it was in ISCII, an Indian character encoding standard. We began writing scripts to make the Vachanas (poems) searchable by an index. But, in order to do that well, we had to build a platform for everyone to use: the linguistic researchers, students, and the public at large who are interested in reaching this literature. Omshivaprakash, a Kannada Wikimedian, worked on the architecture of the platform, decided the infrastructure requirements, and chose the open source software tools to use. [...] There are thousands of people now who read a Vahana as part of their daily routine. Vachana Sanchaya is not just meant for reading the poems, it is also meant for research. So, we have added a way for researchers to help us review the content and will be adding references from various research papers.
The most commonly searched words are:
ಕರ್ಮ (Karma: English: work/deed)
ಸತ್ಯ (Sathya English: truthfulness )
ನದಿ (Nadī: English: river)
[...] All of the content is currently available to the public through the OpenData API, and once the reviewing the work is complete, it will be distributed in the public domain through WikiSource. This will open up the system for students, developers, researchers, and anyone interested in building linguistic tools for Kannada and other Indic languages. Users will be able to use our code to digitize any book available in the public domain. Early literature in any language is well-respected, so making it available via an open platform allows for reuse of the content for research, publication, and other documentation work. We encourage other projects of this kind to follow our method and use any part of our process that is helpful. Going foward, we would like to:
* initiate Natural Language Processing (NLP) projects if more researches help to tag words and grow the glossary
* continue work on subsequent, similar projects for Sarvagnana Vachanagalu and Dāsa Sanchaya (work has begun) and Vyasa and Muddann (work not yet started)
* extend this platform to other the contemporary literature works available in the public domain
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first Malayalam book printed in the country will soon go online. The Malayalam translation of New Testament, Ramban Bible, printed in Bombay in 1811 will be made available in Unicode format. Malayalam Wikipedia community member Shiju Alex, who was instrumental in bringing out several rare books in digital format, had got the scanned copy of Ramban Bible from Dr Babu Cherian, Malayalam professor at CMS College, Kottayam. [...] Shiju said with this, all books printed till 1824 and mentioned in the history of Malayalam printing would be available in digital format. [...] The first Malayalam Book printed in Kerala, 'Cherupaitangalku Upakarardham Englishil ninnu Paribhashapedutiya Kadhakal', is also set to go digital. Shiju has got a copy of the book translated by Benjamin Bailey and printed at CMS press in Kottayam in 1824. Besides, the first printed Malayalam book 'Samkshepa Vedartham' too will also be made available in public domain soon.
I've noticed that a lot of Christian material is being added to the Kannada, Malayalam and Konkani Wikipedias. Christianity_in_India (T-H-L), particularly the Saint_Thomas_Christians (T-H-L), is a subject that interests me. There are more than 25 million Christians in India, but they represent only 2.3 percent of the country's population.A Wikipedia Workshop for Konkani writers writing in the Kannada script, was organised by All India Konkani Writers’ Organisation (AIKWO) in association with Wikipedia, on Apr 6, 2014, at Kalaangann, Mangalore. Dr U. B. Pavanaja (Programme Officer – Indian Languages, Access to Knowledge Program, The Centre for Internet and Society), conducted the workshop. Harriet Vidyasagar, Wikipedian volunteer, was also present. [...] Dr. Pratap Naik SJ handed-over three research works published by Mandd Sobhann – 1. Konkani Songs Among Mangalorean Catholics, 2. Anthology Of Konkani Literature In The Kannada Script and 3. Mandd Sobhann And Its Impact On Konkani Language And Literature – the representatives of Wikipedia [...] Shri Eric Ozario, Gurkar – Mandd Sobhann, Ms. Irine Rebello, Secretary – Mandd Sobhann and Dr. Edward Nazareth, General Secretary – AIKWO, were present on stage.
Konkani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian states of Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra, and is one of the official languages of India. It was originally written with the Brahmi alphabet, and is currently written with a number of other alphabets: in Goa Devanagari is the official script for Konkani, but the Latin alphabet is also popular. In the state of Karnataka it is written with the Kannada alphabet, in Kerala it is written with the Malayalam alphabet, and Konkani Muslims in Maharashtra use the Arabic alphabet.All India Konkani Writers’ Organisation (AIKWO) organized Wikipedia workshop for Konkani writers writing in the Kannada script, in association with Wikipedia, at Kalaangann here on Sunday April 6. Dr U B Pavanaja (programme officer – Indian Languages, access to knowledge program, The Centre for Internet and Society), conducted the workshop. Harriet Vidyasagar, Wikipedia volunteer, was also present. [...] Eric Ozario, Gurkar – Mandd Sobhann, Irine Rebello, secretary – Mandd Sobhann and Dr Edward Nazareth, general secretary – AIKWO, were present on stage. This one-day hands-on workshop included presentations on Wikipedia in general, and Konkani Wikipedia in particular, and the participants were taught how to add and edit Konkani articles in the Kannada script in Wikipedia.
Odia Opentype UNICODE Jagannatha fontOdia is a 2,500 year old language native to the area of Odisha (formerly known as Orissa). The language has recently gained the status of an Indian classical language. Recently, the Odia Wikimedia community met to celebrate the language's new status in Bhubaneswar. The following is an excerpt from a recent article on the Wikimedia Foundation blog, by Subhashish Panigrahi, sharing information about the Odia WIki community:The Odia fonts can be downloaded for free. The developers of the font say: "We advocate for the use of Odia language in true spirit, in the domain of day-to-day administration, justice delivery, apart from the field of teaching. Besides, we have undertaken the project for developing Odia lexicon,with inclusion of typical odia version of technical words ,so as to avoid dependence on English language."14 copyrighted books have been re-licensed under the Creative Commons license and the digitization project on Odia WikiSource was formally initiated by an indigenous educational institute, the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) [...] KISS is going to digitize some of these books and make them available on Odia Wikisource. An OpenType Odia Unicode font, “Odia OT Jagannatha” designed by Sujata Patel from Odialanguage.com was released under the OFL license. This is the first Odia OpenType font that the community actively tested.
A new Odia offline input tool called “TypeOdia” by Wikipedian Manoj Sahukar was also released for public distribution. DVDs containing the font, the input tool, Odia language dictionaries, offline Odia Wikipedia in Kiwix, Wikipedia editing guide, ISCII to Unicode font converter, various free and open source software packages and Ubuntu operating system [...] A large majority of Odia publications are not available on the internet and readers are devoid of easy accessibility. [Dr. Debiprasanna Pattanayak] discussed the process of digitization for preserving valuable books that are out of print and the old palm leaf manuscripts [...]
English is assembled phrase by painfully-learned phrase, and these phrases are then dropped into any sort of text to indicate that the speaker is sophisticated and employable.thekohser wrote:I wonder, are Indian people who can read English just as confused by much of the English-language text that emerges from India, as this American is? Or do they somehow "understand" things like, "We advocate for the use of Odia language in true spirit, in the domain of day-to-day administration, justice delivery..."?
Valuable Odia publications, hitherto unavailable on web, will soon be available at the click of the mouse. In a bid to preserve precious books that are out of print and not easily accessible on the internet, Odia Wikipedia has started work on digitising them. In the first phase, 11 books focusing on children literature, travelogue and biographies of noted people from Odisha by eminent Odia author Jagannath Mohanty will be digitised. A six-member group consisting of faculty at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) will be training students of the institution to digitise the children’s literature books by Mohanty. This will both enhance their computer learning and proficiency in Odia language and digital domain. After the initial work starts within a month’s time, around 100 students would contribute towards digitising about 5000 pages of all the 11 books. [...]
Besides these 11 books, two books of Subrat Prusty - Bhasa O Jatiyata and Jati, Jagruti O Pragati - will be digitised on Wikisource. “As these two books have been typed with Akruti fonts - a proprietary Indian Script Code for Information Interchange (ISCII) compliant font - this font will be converted to Unicode standards to make the books searchable and accessible universally in all mobile and web platforms on Wikisource,” he added. An English book ‘Classical Odia’ authored by eminent linguist Debiprasanna Pattanayak and Subrat Prusty will also go on English Wikisource. A similar project was earlier undertaken on a large scale by Bhubaneswar-based Srujanika, a voluntary organisation, when old Odia magazines and books were digitised. Odia wikipedia has been trying to popularise use of the language on the Internet since 2002.
Ncell provides free Wikipedia access to subscribersNepalese mobile operator Ncell has partnered with Wikimedia Foundation to offer free access to Wikipedia to Ncell's subscribers. The new service, dubbed Wikipedia Zero, will be effective from 7 May. Ncell said that the service will not be available on Opera Mini, Blackberry and other handsets using native proxy browsers due to technical constraints. [...]
Ncell (T-H-L)Ncell has tied up with the Wikimedia Foundation to provide free of cost surfing of Wikipedia to its mobile subscribers. According to the company, through the new service named “Wikipedia Zero” launched on Tuesday, mobile subscribers can surf the website freely in any smartphone using Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. However, the subscribers will be charged for data service if the website is surfed through other web browsers, the company informed. [...]
Ncell has launched a new product — Wikipedia Zero — which enables its customers to have free access to Wikipedia, the world’s largest online encyclopedia. All customers having Ncell internet will be able to access online resources of Wikipedia at zero cost from Wednesday onwards. There is no service fee attached and activation is also not required, according to Ncell. The product is launched based on the agreement with the Wikimedia Foundation, which has signed a similar agreement with 26 other mobile operators around the world. Addressing the product launch programme, Erim Taylanlar, CEO of Ncell said that Wikipedia Zero is the company’s social initiative to help create a knowledge based society. [...] As per Ncell, due to technical constraint, the facility of free browsing, however, will not be available on Opera Mini, Blackberry and other handsets using native proxy browsers. Accessing Wikipedia through these browsers will be charged at prevailing rates. Likewise, visiting external links available in the Wikipedia is out of scope of this offer and will be charged as per the data plan of the company.
Rudyard Kipling wrote:Still the world is wondrous large,—seven seas from marge to marge—
And it holds a vast of various kinds of man;
And the wildest dreams of Kew are the facts of Khatmandhu
And the crimes of Clapham chaste in Martaban.
