CIS-A2K partnered with educational institutions, like minded organizations in order to either involve them on Wikimedia projects or improve the projects by their direct support such as content donation.
Partnership with Maharashtra State Government language departmentedit
What?
CIS-A2K successfully conducted workshops at various universities and organisations for the last two years i.e. 2017 & 2018, during period - language fortnight (1–15 January) upto language day (27 February). This year Maharashtra State government has issued notification which officially recognises CIS-A2K as a resource agency for Wikipedia related activities across the state. CIS-A2K is collaborating with State Language department - Rajya Marathi Vikas Sanstha also in this process. It is a good opportunity for active editors to act as trainers during these events. CIS-A2K also involved community members in these workshops as part of leadership building.
When and Where?
The Marathi Language Fortnight event is a series of five workshops hosted at different districts in Maharashtra. CIS-A2K started collaborating with State language dept. from year 2017. In the first series of workshops, we conducted three workshops. In the second series in 2018, we conducted six workshops out of total 17 workshops conducted across the state. In the year 2019, the awareness spread to more educational institutions located in different regions of the state. In this third series, CIS-A2K conducted five workshops out of total 21 workshops conducted. We facilitated the process and supported some workshops remotely.
The users created the account and learnt the editing and image upload on Commons. The editors practiced manual of style, providing links & references etc., on their sandboxes before working on main namespace articles. The editors mostly worked on locally relevant topics. In one of the workshops, references and images were added to existing articles about local heritage, tourist places and personalities. The images were uploaded here and here on Commons.
Impact made
In these workshops, 125 active editors improved 310 articles and created new 27 new articles. They also uploaded 72 images on Commons. The awareness about Wikimedia projects was spread across Maharashtra state due to this expansion. The Government notification was instrumental in increased involvement of institutions across the state. The notification also ensured that the Wikipedia workshops will be the feature of Government language day programmes.
Followup plan
The refresher sessions are planned on a quarterly basis. WhatsApp groups were created to share the resources and further discussions. This cadre of Wiki Guides would facilitate the programs for other students.
Learning
The expansion of the programme created leadership opportunities for the community members. The government intervention has opened up new sectors for knowledge creation. The educational institutes face difficulties for the follow up activities due to tight academic schedules. Therefore some slots in the vacations need to be planned.
Demonstration session in Shivaji University, Kolhapur
Participants working in workshop at Karanja (Lad)
Editing in progress at Sangli workshop
Conference about Telangana culture, literature, language and festivalsedit
CIS-A2K collaborated with the Language and Culture Department of the Government of Telangana and DigiTel Telangana to organise a conference about “Telangana culture, Literature, Language and Festivals in Digital Medium" on 12–13 October 2018. CIS-A2K organised this event with the collaboration of Telugu Wikimedian User:Pranayraj1985, who was the main coordinator of the conference. Along with User:Pranayraj1985 another Telugu Wikimedian User:Ajaybanbi actively participated in the event. During the conference, nineteen Telugu Wikipedians were felicitated by the Government of Telangana for their contribution to improve knowledge in the digital world in the Telugu language.
During the conference Mamidi Harikrishna, director of Telangana Language and Culture Department announced to re-license 8 Telugu books and oil paintings of 38 Telangana luminaries into CC-BY-SA license. A2K will work on the OTRS process in order to actualise the announcement.
Learning
Working with mission-aligned government departments will help to sustain Wikimedia activities and impact on a bigger level.
Workshop on FOSS, Unicode & Wikimedia Projects for Publishers, Printers, designers & writers
Marathi writer Sunilkumar Lawate with re-licensed books
Telugu Wikimedians being felicitated by the Government of Telangana for their contribution
When Punjabi Wikisource became live project there was a little number of books available in the Punjabi language. CIS-A2K conducted a content enrichment program coordinated with Punjabi Wikimedians through scanning the rare books from different libraries and different organizations.
When? & Where?
CIS-A2K started working on this project from September 2018. All the books were scanned and uploaded by collecting them from different parts of Punjab.
How?
CIS-A2K uses Scansnap SV600 scanner for scanning and we have found books from local libraries, Bhai Kahn Singh Library of Punjabi University Patiala and by using local contacts. Before the scanning process, we checked out the license of the book and then we did the post-processing after scanning. After editing the book and creating pdf, we have uploaded it on Wikimedia Commons. So after that, we have created the Index page of the book on Punjabi Wikisource.
Impact made
CIS-A2K uploaded 71 books on Punjabi Wikisource. The category of these books can be seen here.
It is difficult to scan the book with Scansnap SV600 because it is not for large size books.
It was learning for CIS-A2K to encourage the author to release their books under a free license. Punjabi author Balram released three books under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0.
CIS-A2K has taken an integrated approach towards Marathi language and open knowledge creation. With this approach, all the stakeholders in this area are being oriented in regular sessions. The re-licensing sessions for OTRS process and uploading of books are being conducted for authors.
When? & Where?
The first session for publishers in environmental field was organised by Parisar on 25 July 2018. Total of 15 members participated. CIS-A2k facilitated in the second workshop organised by Rajya Marathi Vikas Sanstha on 7 September 2018. Total 80 members consisting of publishers, writers, designers participated actively in this workshop. The re-licensing and uploading sessions for the content donation were conducted in December 2018, March & April 2019 at Kolhapur, Thane and Pune.
How?
The two workshops on Unicode, FOSS tools and Wikimedia projects were conducted. The participants were trained in hands-on skills regarding these aspects. The analysis of existing Unicode fonts in Marathi was also done. The list of major reference books & authors in various areas was prepared in these workshops. The sessions with authors were conducted in various places.
Impact made
The awareness about the FOSS tools, Unicode and Wikimedia platform was generated among major publishers and writers in Maharashtra. The publishing community is adopting Unicode fonts, Open source tools like GIMP and Inkscape. The National level Consortium of Marathi Publishers has taken the initiative to organise the workshops to promote these concepts. Due to this awareness, five authors have re-licensed and uploaded total 32 books on Commons. The links of the books are given below -
Bi-monthly regional workshops for content donation are planned in 2019-20. The monthly re-license sessions of publishers and authors are in progress.
Learning
The commercial interests in fonts and software oppose the open-source and knowledge movement. The old authors are not conversant with the internet, so it is difficult to process the OTRS and uploading on Commons.
What?
When and Where?
How?
Demonstration session in Shivaji University, Kolhapur
Participants working in workshop at Karanja (Lad)
Editing in progress at Sangli workshop1.jpg)
Workshop on FOSS, Unicode & Wikimedia Projects for Publishers, Printers, designers & writers
Marathi writer Sunilkumar Lawate with re-licensed books
Telugu Wikimedians being felicitated by the Government of Telangana for their contribution
