Grants:IEG/Growing Kannada-language Wikimedia projects with a digital library/Timeline
This project is funded by an Individual Engagement Grant
Timeline for Growing Kannada-language Wikimedia projects with a digital library edit
| Timeline | Date |
| Start date | 15th December 2015 |
| Identify additional metadata information that can be captured. | December 2015 |
| Prepare the guide, ensure the required templates etc are created and made available. | December 2015 |
| Contact prajavani to get the book reviews released under Creative Commons | January 2015 |
Monthly updates edit
Please prepare a brief project update each month, in a format of your choice, to share progress and learnings with the community along the way. Submit the link below as you complete each update.
15th December 2015 to 15th January 2016 edit
December edit
Preliminary preparations'
- We worked on creating the list of Books in Wikiformat
- Started clearing up Samooha and Pustaka Sanchaya platforms to meet the requirements for the Wiki activity - includes code cleanup, planning/strategizing development activity
- Prepared workflow to be discussed with community for review
- Discussion with community members about the workflow to gather the changes to workflow. Inputs taken on how the content categorization can be optimized. (Ex: Various stages of literature development for Kannada can be categorized as Halegannada' (English:Old Kannada), Nadugannada (English: Middle age Kannada), Navya Kannada(English:Modren Kannada) Literature and so on.)
- Workflow modification initiated based on the discussion
- Infobox Book - Template was used, localized further - metadata was matched to have all required fields - based on this we realized that we need to collect more data through one more set of crowdsourcing activity
- Possible implication of allowing wiki page creation through the project was discussed in detail:
- Workflow might look clumsy in case we ask them their username again and again (As we intend to introduce more number of new users we can retain this step)
- Workflow allowing user to create article on main namespace might not allow them to learn the suggested work flow - ie. use sandbox to learn -> once you're good move the articles to main space. We planned to adopt this workflow. Might add additional challenges.
January edit
- Initiated applying the workflow to the platform
- Modifications to the metadata table initiated to accommodate more fields - such as Print edition, Print Type, Price, Printer, Preface etc which we had not localized.
- Review tool updated to match the above metadata fields initiated.
- Requested subject matter experts and community to help us choose books which should have a wiki page, possibly find valuable additional information to be added to the wiki.
- Requested Prajavani Newspaper editorial board to help the activity by releasing the book reviews published in their weekly special under Creative Commons. Mail was sent to them on January 26, 2016. Response awaited.
What didn't work�
- We wanted to make the crowdsourcing wiki page creation at this stage but the modifications to metadata and other activities made it impossible to make this happen.
- We also found that the metadata had issues with respect to publisher names - Due to the bad scanning from the scanning centers who were responsible & the state at which the books were found in libraries, many front pages/bindings were missing/drenched in water. This issue found to have confused the community to use printer's name in place of publishers. - Challenge is to get this fixed before we use this information.
Blog Post'
February edit
- Localized the project page for Kannada Wiki for better collaboration with Community. ಸದಸ್ಯ:Omshivaprakash/ಯೋಜನೆಗಳು/ಕನ್ನಡ_ವಿಕಿಮೀಡಿಯ_ಯೋಜನೆಗಳನ್ನು_ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್_ಲೈಬ್ರರಿಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ_ಬೆಳಸುವುದು
- Crowd sourcing project pages reviewed to fix the flow.
- Requested community members & external resources to help us review the best books which should have a page in wiki
- Out of copyright books list created to be pushed to wiki source.
- Seeked further information on License issues - DLI and OUDL mark books as OUT_OF_COPYRIGHT which are questionable. Need better source to identify the books copyrights. \
- Initiated tests and activities to push the books to Internet Archive & to Wiki commons
- Requested help from community to get the commons books to wiki source.
- Officially requested Prajavani and other news paper agencies to share the E-Book information under Creative Commons license to build wiki pages effectively.
- Follow-ups done to check the status of content collaboration from news papers.
- Tested article creation on wiki - moved the new page creation to sandbox as stub articles are a big no for Kannada Wiki. Using sandbox would be a best start to train new wikipedians to build a complete page before pushing the articles to main namespace.
- Metadata review has been speeded up.
March edit
- Out Of copyright books have been pushed to Internet Archive here. There are around 200 Books uploaded from OUDL library.
- DLI Out of copyright book uploads are being sorted to be uploaded here.
We are planning to upload them to Wiki Commons and then To Kannada Wiki Source using URL2Commons.
Issues Faced -
DLI And OUDL Websites have been go offline for off-hours/weekends making it hard to collaborate. We have been checking feasibility of working in a single place to use downloaded books for review activities.
April edit
Learnings & Activities around pushing books to Wiki Projects:
- Blog Post 1 : IEG: Copying books from Internet Archive to Wiki Commons & Kn Wikisource
- Blog Post 2 : OUT_OF_COPYRIGHT Books to Internet Archive & Wiki Projects
- Blog Post 3 : Making Kannada Books available on IA – A Quick WikiMeetup with ITFC team
'Meetups
- April 23rd, 2016 - Met IT for Change team which works with State schools to collaborate in teaching Wikipedia Editing using the crowdsourcing tool we have developed. This turned out to be a good meetup to teach how wiki can be taught quickly to the trainers. We could easily involve them into the project due to the love they have for the Kannada books.
Issues faced
Activities planned around schools didn't take place due to Final Term exams, Financial year ending & Summer holidays. Timelines have been pushed for these activities.
May edit
- DLI changed its website and the core software to DSpace. This disrupted the activities around DLI as all our metadata needed a clean up and review. This activity been initiated.
June edit
- Got a principal approval for making E-Books related content available under Creative Commons license from a leading newspaper. Official news will be out during their new site launch. Expecting similar
- DLI Book review with fresh metadata has been initiated. July 1st week should be able to start pushing DLI books wiki commons and wikisource. Also the Kannada wiki page creation project will be initiated.
OUDL Books on Commons
- 200+ Books are now on Wiki Commons and Kannada Wikisource. Commons category for OUDL books can be checked here.
Much of this came through excellent coordination provided by Vijaykumar Kukanur and Yogesh
Is your final report due but you need more time?