User:Subodh (CIS-A2K)/Progress report 2020

Re-licensing edit

What?
CIS-A2K focused on re-licensing of reliable and quality source material from individuals as well as thematic organisations. Total 83 books & 12 images were re-licensed and uploaded on Wikimedia Commons during July to December 2020.

Why?
In this era of knowledge explosion on internet, people need reliable material from trusted sources. Therefore content donation drives among individual authors, publishers and thematic organisations are important to bring such material under CC-BY-SA in Wikimedia projects.

How?
The online re-licensing sessions were conducted for organisations, Chaitanya and Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS). In these sessions, copyright issues, licenses and OTRS process were explained. The organisational process requires approval from the trustees and key office bearers. The calls were arranged to clarify the doubts of all the stakeholders and then proper documentation was completed. The procedures like resolution to appoint representative and declaration were completed on official letterhead. Chaitanya has initiated content donation with one book on cooperative movement leader in India. Tarun Bharat Sangh is involved in Project Jalbodh to create content on water & rivers for the last two years. Considering the importance of releasing the source material under free license, they have re-licensed 75 books in Hindi and English related to rivers. The books are uploaded in Wikimedia Commons under Category Tarun Bharat Sangh.

The Marathi author Bhaskar Girdhari released seven books and Jitendra Raghuvir released 12 images of Magician Raghuvir under CC-BY-SA.

Follow-up
Process has been started for re-licensing of more books published by Chaitanya and TBS. TBS is also organising their images of rivers and water conservation programmes for re-licensing.

Wikimedia Commons and WLM workshops edit

What?
On the occasion of 'Wiki Loves Monuments 2020 contest in India', CIS-A2K mobilised five groups of active Wikimedians and citizens across Maharashtra state. The members of these groups were trained in copyright rules, contest guidelines and uploading process through series of workshops. Total 16 members from different places contributed 324 images on Wikimedia Commons.

Why?
Heritage documentation plays crucial role in history and civilisation studies. Due to expansion of settlements, encroachments, renovation projects and apathy, the heritage structures are being destructed and demolished. There is a need to document these places and structures properly to pave way for further conservation and research. The alert citizens in the vicinity can be major role in this process.

How?
The groups were involved in listing of monuments, acquiring official lists from Government departments and on-Wiki documentation. These groups consisted of INTACH Pune & Solapur Chapter, photographers from Satara, Wikimedians in Ichalkaranji and Vigyan Ashram, Pabal Wikimedians. Online training workshops were conducted for five groups on encyclopedic content, copyright issues, licenses and uploading process. INTACH, a national organisation working on heritage conservation also actively collaborated for building heritage lists and uploading images.

Follow-up
INTACH Pune & Solapur Chapter are eager to collaborate for donating their database and images in Wikimedia projects. The workshops for this are proposed in next quarter. The groups are interested in developing Wikipedia projects also around this theme. The follow-up sessions for the same are planned.

Wikimedia Commons Project was introduced to us by CIS-A2K member primarily for uploading photographs of lesser known heritage buildings, monuments and places of Solapur region. Actually it is a quite easy process, but no one had ever tried it. CIS-A2K conducted an online session for the core team of INTACH Solapur to introduce the process, which highlighted not only the steps of upload but also the need to do such exercise. The amazing reach of technology and the possibility of creating an online repository of images and information is quite exciting. We would surely want to create an online archive of all the data regarding heritage buildings and places that we have collected in the past decade for the benefit of thousands of Wikimedia project users. - Seemantini Chaphalkar, Convener, INTACH Solapur Chapter


Online training sessions edit

What?
CIS-A2K conducted online training sessions on various topics according to interests of Wikimedians. The sessions were conducted for experienced editors, new enthusiasts and thematic organisations willing to develop free knowledge in Wikimedia projects. Total nine such sessions were conducted in which 180 members participated.

Why?
Due to pandemic situations, the offline events are suspended. We need to bring in new editors as well as build the skills of existing users. It is also important to explore and cultivate new institutional partnerships in this difficult times.

How?

Follow-up
CIS-A2K is working closely with these potential individuals and organisations to design activities for the next two quarters. The efforts to engage experienced Wikimedians according to their interests are in progress. Some peer to peer skill building sessions are planned to groom newbies.

मराठवाड्यात पाणलोट विकासाची काम खूप झाली. एक दिवस गुगलवर सर्च करत असताना मी एका खूप चांगल्या काम केलेल्या गावाचं नाव टाकलं तर मला नवल वाटले. या गावाबद्दल व त्यांच्या चांगल्या कामाबद्दल अजिबात माहिती सापडली नाही. मराठवाड्यात अशा शंभरावर गावांनी चांगली काम केली.दुष्काळा विरुद्ध लढण्याची ही मोहीम खूप प्रभावीपणे अमलात आणली गेली. परंतु त्याच्याबद्दल कुठेही नीट लिखाण नव्हते. CIS-A2K च्या मार्गदर्शनाखाली आम्ही प्रशिक्षण घेतले व अशा चांगले काम केलेल्या गावांची माहिती विकिपीडियावर टाकण्यास सुरुवात केली. आता ही सुरुवात आहे. येणाऱ्या काही महिन्यात अनेक गावांची माहिती अपलोड केली जाईल. विकिपीडियावर लिहिलेले हे लिखाण अनेकांना चांगले काम करण्यासाठी प्रेरणा देणारे तर आहेच त्यासोबत चांगल्या कामाचा एक चांगला दस्तावेज तयार होत आहे. - Prasad Chikshe, WikiProject Ambajogai

Other edit

Research:Mapping GLAM Institutions in Maharashtra edit

CIS-A2K published the research report on a study of seven GLAM institutions located in two districts (Pune and Kolhapur) in Maharashtra, with the support of three active Wikimedians. The main objective was to document digitisation efforts, views towards making collections free & open, institutional challenges and opportunities. The methods for the study included desk research to identify major GLAM institutions across the state and their online presence, and data collection from seven key institutions through a survey and field visits to document information related to the history and objectives of institutions, archival management practices, resources and challenges, future digitisation plans and potential collaborative projects. The analysis of data and discussions lead to set of recommendations for different stakeholders such as volunteers, GLAM institutions, facilitating organisations and Wikimedia affiliates. These include several learnings on the need for awareness of copyright and open licenses, training resources in local languages, streamlined digitisation practices and better collaboration with policy makers to foster collaborative work in the sector. The blog on CIS website was published on 23 October 2020. The study was published in GLAM Newsletter for October 2020. The links of this report were shared with the community on Marathi Wikipedia village pump, Wikimedia mailing list, Wikimedia India mailing list and Open-GLAM mailing list. The Marathi translation of the report is in progress.

Feedback edit

Thank you so much for sharing this study. While our data mapping project focused on past collaborations between Wikimedians and GLAMs, I see that you have audited the GLAM sector itself in order to understand its needs and preparedness to engage with Wikimedia. This is extraordinarily useful research that I would love to see replicated in other areas in India, and beyond. I agree that you should engage with state and central government around these issues and that it would make sense to place Wikimedians in Residence in the most receptive institutions - Fiona Romeo, Senior Manager, GLAM and Culture (WMF)

Upcoming plan edit

CIS-A2K has been developing institutional partnerships across India for content generation. The proposed activities with these organisations in the next six months are tabulated below. WikiProject Jalbodh is designed for building knowledge resources on water. Therefore the process has been started with thematic organisations like Tarun Bharat Sangh, Manavlok, Pani Foundation and Jnana Prabodhini. Archival projects with two organisations will be completed. GLAM projects with several libraries, institutions and museums are also in progress. The capacity building of community members would be the focus for the next two quarters. The re-licensing process started in Maharashtra will be structured and spread in other states of India. Appropriate community movement resources (CMRs) will be created for all the above activities.

Institutions/Groups Content generation Re-licensing Digitisation Skill building
WikiProject Jalbodh with organisations - Tarun Bharat Sangh, Manavlok, Pani Foundation, Jnana Prabodhini  Y  Y  Y  Y
Archive work with - Shetkari Sanghatana Trust, Lek Ladki Abhiyan  Y  Y
GLAM projects with - Kashibai Madhavrao Gawand Museum, Satara; Kalashram, Adilabad; REWATCH Museum, Arunachal Pradesh  Y  Y  Y
Content generation on Bridging Gender Gap with - Samyak organisation & Jatan group  Y  Y  Y  Y
Vigyan Ashram partnership programme  Y  Y  Y  Y
PAH Solapur University partnership programme  Y  Y  Y  Y
Re-licensing campaign in a structured manner - CMR development, Cross-learning sessions  Y  Y  Y
Capacity building sessions for active Wikimedians on - Relicensing, Copyrights, Partnerships  Y
Working with Citizen groups, Linguists on Audio books & Lingua Libre  Y  Y
Digitisation projects with - Public libraries at Rajgurunagar, Satara, Pune, Ichalkaranji  Y  Y
Documentation of monuments with - INTACH Pune & Solapur Chapter  Y  Y  Y


Research work : Exploring Knowledge repositories on Water resources edit

The objectives of this study are to - Document the nature of major online and offline knowledge repositories on water resources and their impact on creating awareness among civil society, Identify and develop the form of locally relevant digital knowledge resources on water that are accessible in regional languages and to explore the process of building digital archives on water knowledge resources. More details can be seen here.