The Centre for Internet and Society
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Wikimania 2013: The International Wikimedia Conference
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikimania-2013
<b>Wikimania is the annual international conference of the Wikimedia movement. It's organized by a different local team each year. In 2013 the conference took place in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Wikimania allows the community and the general public to learn about and share their experiences with free knowledge initiatives all over the world. T. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi participated in the event.</b>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://wikimania2013.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_page">Click to read the details published on the Wikimania website</a>.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">The previous conferences were held in <a class="extiw" href="http://wikimania2005.wikimedia.org/wiki/" title="wm2005:">Frankfurt, Germany</a> (2005), <a class="extiw" href="http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/wiki/" title="wm2006:">Boston, USA</a> (2006), <a class="extiw" href="http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/" title="wm2007:">Taipei, Taiwan</a> (2007), <a class="extiw" href="http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/" title="wm2008:">Alexandria, Egypt</a> (2008), <a class="extiw" href="http://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/" title="wm2009:">Buenos Aires, Argentina</a> (2009), <a class="extiw" href="http://wikimania2010.wikimedia.org/wiki/" title="wm2010:">Gdańsk, Poland</a> (2010), <a class="extiw" href="http://wikimania2011.wikimedia.org/wiki/" title="wm2011:">Haifa, Israel</a> (2011), and <a class="extiw" href="http://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/" title="wm2012:">Washington, D.C., USA</a> (2012).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Picture: <a class="external-link" href="http://wikimania2013.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_page">Wikimania 2013</a>. Official site, CC-BY-SA 3.0<span class="post-meta-key"></span><br /><br /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikimania-2013'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikimania-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-08-29T06:30:54ZNews ItemWikimedia Asia Meeting
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikimedia-asia-meeting
<b>T.Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi from the Access to Knowledge team at CIS participated in the Wikimedia Asia meeting in Hong Kong on August 10, 2013. </b>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">Note: An unedited transcript of the entire conversation can be downloaded below.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikimedia-asia-meeting.txt" class="internal-link">Click to see the file</a> (Plain Text, 7Kb)</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikimedia-asia-meeting'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikimedia-asia-meeting</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-08-29T10:14:36ZNews ItemWikipedia writes a new script
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/thegoan-joyce-dias-august-24-2013-wikipedia-writes-a-new-script
<b>Wikipedia is available in over 30 Indian languages. Add Konkani to that list. The Centre for Internet and Society has just completed a programme of training students to write for Konkani Wikipedia.</b>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.thegoan.net/Goa/Goenkar/Wikipedia-writes-a-new-script/05585.html">published in the Goan</a> on August 24, 2013.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">They sat listening to Subhashish Panigrahi, learning how to seamlessly flow from English to Konkani. Panigrahi walked around the room, 40 sets of eyes and ears followed him eagerly, latching on to his every word. Then the team moved into a small conference room at the new Central Library, where they sat down to work on a few articles in Konkani. The reason: Because Wikipedia has a new language – Konkani.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">When on February 4, 1987, Konkani in Devnagri script was declared the official language of Goa according to the Goa Daman and Diu Official Language Act, 1987, little did the officials know that one day, one of the largest web-based encyclopaedias would want the encyclopaedia to be available also in Konkani for the 30, 00000 or so Konkani language speakers over the world.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedia, a multi-lingual, web-based, free content encyclopaedia is available in over 30 Indian languages and several languages of other nations. The project to begin a Konkani Wikipedia began in 2006. “Sadly, even after seven years of inception, Konkani Wikipedia has only 90 articles,” says Nitika Tandon, of the CIS-A2K (Centre for Internet & Society, Access to Knowledge) team. The CIS is a movement for open access to web-based information. “Rather than being open receivers of knowledge, we want people to be active producers of knowledge,” she adds. The CIS has selected five Indian languages to uplift and Konkani is one of them.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Carlos Fernandes, the Curator of the Central Library said, “We supported it because this will maintain the culture and develop the language using technology. Articles in Konkani language will be available to people all over the world and thus should one want to research something in Konkani, his search will not be limited to the books of the library.” Another project by the CIS team to make Konkani more well-known is digitising the 4-volume Konkani encyclopaedia published by the Goa University. “This encyclopaedia will be uploaded by this team and will be available under the creative commons licence,” says Dr Gopakumar, the university Librarian.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The programme covered aspects like how Wikipedia works, how to edit articles, how to type in Devnagri, how to create a new article, etc. “We are learning how to about editing and writing in Wikipedia. The 40 students are of MA part 2, and the group is divided into two. The first 20 will work on the first two days and the others will work on the last two,” says Fr Luis Xavier Gomes who is doing his MA in Konkani at Goa University. Fr Gomes will be writing on Konkani tiatr and Konkani cantar after having researched and referenced about the same.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/thegoan-joyce-dias-august-24-2013-wikipedia-writes-a-new-script'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/thegoan-joyce-dias-august-24-2013-wikipedia-writes-a-new-script</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-09-04T06:27:27ZNews ItemKrishnarajapet Wikipedia Workshop (Coverage in Prajavani)
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/prajavani-august-12-2013-krishnarajapet-workshop
<b>Prajavani covered the Kannada Wikipedia workshop organised by the CIS-A2K team and the Kannada Sahitya Parishat of KR Pet., on August 12, 2013. A scanned version of the report is produced below.</b>
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<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/PrajavaniWikiWorkshopMandyaAug122013.png" alt="Prajavani Wikipedia Report" class="image-inline" title="Prajavani Wikipedia Report" /></th>
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</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/prajavani-august-12-2013-krishnarajapet-workshop'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/prajavani-august-12-2013-krishnarajapet-workshop</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopOpenness2013-09-05T05:50:24ZNews ItemKannada Wikipedia Workshop at SDM
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/kannada-wiki-workshop-sdm
<b>The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, SDM College, Ujire is holding a wiki workshop on September 15, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja from CIS-A2K team is participating in this workshop.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The workshop is being held to teach post-graduate students studying Journalism and Mass Communication on contributing and editing Wikipedia. The students will be particularly trained to edit Kannada Wikipedia.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">More about SDM College, Ujire <a class="external-link" href="http://www.sdmcujire.in/">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/kannada-wiki-workshop-sdm'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/kannada-wiki-workshop-sdm</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopOpenness2013-09-12T06:16:36ZNews ItemKonkani Wikipedia makes headway
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/epaperoheraldo-august-24-2013-diana-fernandes-konkani-wikipedia-makes-headway
<b>The first floor of the Krishnadas Central Library has been bustling with activity for the last four days. A closer look reveals the concentration, thought and precision that is put into each letter of the Devnagri script Konkani they type. Still further and you realise it’s a Wikipedia site that final year MA Konkani students of Goa University are busy with.</b>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">This article by Diana Fernandes was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.epaperoheraldo.in/Details.aspx?id=10641&boxid=155915750&uid=&dat=8%2f25%2f2013">published in OHeraldO</a> on August 24, 2013. Nitika Tandon is quoted.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Detail" id="lblmatter"> </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A follow up to the Konkani Wikipedia workshop that was held earlier last month at St. Xavier’s College, Mapusa and King’s school, Margao, the Centre for Internet and Society ( CIS) in its Access to Knowledge ( A2K) initiative were back to try and bring to life a seven year incubation Konkani Wikipedia page.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The final year MA Konkani students were busy typing away at their screen as I went to pay them a visit. Nitika Tandon, Goa in- charge from the CIS- A2K team says Goan students have shown the most interest so far. Priyadarshini Tadkodkar, Head of Department at Goa University says she’s thrilled for the project as it will not only help students update and reach out to other writers but also help in popularising Goa’s mother tongue.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“ So far there was nothing in Konkani on Wikipedia. There are so many articles about Goa in English but not in Konkani. Those who do not know only to read or develop their Konkani skills can probably use this.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Also for the students it’s an opportunity for them to discuss their thoughts with other editors,” says Tadkodkar.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The last time she was in the state, Tandon says people were more inclined to hear of the English Wikipedia rather than Konkani, but sees this workshop as a definite success story.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Students were visibly interested in not only writing about Goa but to change the way people look at Goa. “ Goa is only seen as beaches, parties and cheap liquor. There is so much more. Like Goa’s unique cuisine or its famous personalities like D D Kosambi,” says Supriya.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“ People say that Konkani will die in another 20 – 25 years. I see this as an opportunity to save it,” says another student John.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Articles written by the students will be assessed by Madhavi Sardesai, editor of Jaan, a Konkani literary journal, after which students will be asked to make the corrections online.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A total of 38 students attended over the span of two days. Each session comprised eight hours of training a day. Topics discussed during the workshop included basics of Wikipedia and the status of Konkani Wikipedia as well as typing in Devnagri script, the sort of articles that are required for the site and using references other than Facebook and how to site them in the article.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“ Forty- two pages of content were generated in two days and have already been put up on the site. The students love it. Students who came in the first batch wanted to join the second one simply because they want to write. Though they don’t get credit for this workshop as part of the syllabus students are indeed interested,” says Tandon.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Though a total of 140 articles on topics ranging from Goa’s heritage, culture, traditions and famous personalities have been uploaded, she says it requires at least five contributors to add to the existing database regularly.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/epaperoheraldo-august-24-2013-diana-fernandes-konkani-wikipedia-makes-headway'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/epaperoheraldo-august-24-2013-diana-fernandes-konkani-wikipedia-makes-headway</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopOpenness2013-09-17T06:07:54ZNews ItemGoa University to make available online Konkani Wikipedia, within 6 months
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/jagranjosh-september-30-2013-goa-university-to-make-available-online-konkani-wikipedia-within-6-months
<b>Thick heaps of the four volumes of Konkani language ‘vishwakosh’ or encyclopedia , till now available only in hard copy, will now attain a modern access. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This blog post was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.jagranjosh.com/articles/goa-university-to-make-available-online-konkani-wikipedia-within-6-months-1380517611-1">published by Jagran Josh on September 30, 2013</a>. CIS signed an MoU with Goa University for digitizing Konkani Vishwakosh under Creative Commons license.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">The four volumes of encyclopaedia work, initially started by prominent Goan writer and academician late Manoharrai Sardessaiat of Goa University, will now be accessed in digitized format, alongside forming a base for a Konkani Wikipedia.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As mentioned by officials, the Konkani Wikipedia is to be ready to access within upcoming six months. With this, Goa University has turned out to be the first varsity in the nation to enter into a creative commons licence that will permit copyrighted produced data by an Indian university accessible to internet users and open to modification (wiki), making Goa University a victory of sorts of free information.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The university has signed a three-year MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge Programme. This centre represents Wikipedia in India, and now also the Konkani Wikipedia project.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After Google, Facebook and Yahoo, Wikipedia is the fourth most used asset on the internet which operates as an internet based encyclopaedia. Over Wikipedia, any of the users can upload new information and can also update or amend an existing topic. The Konkani Wikipedia is also planned to offer similar privileges to its users. GU's Konkani department and the centre will manage the development from the university campus.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"The Konkani vishwakosh covers all realms of knowledge like any other encyclopedia. The Konkani Wikipedia will act as a digitized repository of knowledge for future generations and Konkani speakers across the world. I look forward to the pleasure of going to the internet and clicking away to access a Konkani Wikipedia," GU vice-chancellor Satish Shetye said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Shetye told, GU is delighted to relate with Wikipedia, which has become a global trend breaking the monopoly of publishers and transforming the way of sharing of knowledge into a democratic process.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">GU registrar Vijayendra Kamat mentions, "At present, it takes time for a page with information in a regional language to download because they are usually found in the form of scanned pages, which are accessible as images and not text. The Konkani Wikipedia will make the text accessible as is the case of any English text on the internet”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Konkani vishwakosh, containing four large volumes of total of 3,632 pages, is a work of period of 14 years. It was edited by late Manoharrai Sardessai followed by the editor Tanaji Halarnkar. For the compilation process, GU Staff members, Ranjan Naik, Kalpana Naik, Kanchan Mordekar, Surekha Naik, Mukesh Thali and Shailendra Mehta contributed to it.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Konkani vishwakosh or encyclopedia covers, concisely presented world information with special weight given on information on Goa, Konkani, Goan culture, folklore, history, geography etc. The Wikipedia is offered in 20 Indian languages that includes Telugu, Assamese, Marathi, but not in language Konkani so far.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Interested Students, Professors or anyone else could contribute to this Konkani Encyclopaedia project by enrolling online at bit.ly/konkanivishwakosh, before 05 October 2013.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/jagranjosh-september-30-2013-goa-university-to-make-available-online-konkani-wikipedia-within-6-months'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/jagranjosh-september-30-2013-goa-university-to-make-available-online-konkani-wikipedia-within-6-months</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaKonkani WikipediaOpenness2013-10-03T09:35:55ZNews ItemInfrastructural Needs of Indian Language Wikisource Projects
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/research-infrastructural-needs-of-indian-language-wikisource-projects
<b>This is a short study on identifying the infrastructural gaps on Indian language Wikisource projects, and potential strategies to address the same. The study was undertaken by Jayantha Nath, Puthiya Purayil Sneha and Satdeep Gill, with writing and editorial oversight by Puthiya Purayil Sneha and an external review by Divyank Katira. This is part of a series of short-term studies undertaken by the CIS-A2K team in 2021-22.</b>
<p>Read this report on Wikimedia Meta-Wiki <a class="external-link" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Infrastructural_Needs_of_Indian_Language_Wikisource_Projects"><strong>here</strong></a>.</p>
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<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This research project is an effort to understand some of the infrastructural needs of Wikisource platforms in India. With a focus on technological capacity, resources and training, this short pilot study collected baseline data from <a title="Indic Wikisource Community" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Indic_Wikisource_Community">Indian language Wikisource communities</a> to identify key knowledge gaps and areas of improvement. The final report here offers an overview of the current challenges in this space, and some learnings and recommendations on potential strategies to address these gaps, including through collaborative intervention and training.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Context</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a title="Wikisource" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikisource">Wikisource</a> projects have been an important part of the open knowledge movement in India, as it is a hub of out of copyright and freely licensed texts in a number of languages from across the world. With a focus on creating a ‘growing free content online library of source texts, as well as translations of source texts in any language', it functions as an important open knowledge repository that supports content development on various sister projects such as <a title="Wikipedia" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a>, <a title="Wikiquote" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikiquote">Wikiquote</a> etc. <a title="Wikisource" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikisource">Wikisource</a> projects in Indian languages have seen tremendous growth, especially over the last decade with increased efforts in content donation under free licences, digitization initiatives and availability of source texts. There have also been several advancements in Indic language computing and availability of digital infrastructure, such as more Indian language fonts, many with Unicode support, and increased flexibility in working with texts due to <a title="en:Optical character recognition" class="extiw" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition">Optical Character Recognition (OCR)</a> technologies. There has also been a general growth in awareness about the need for sourcing and making available more content in Indian languages, and better access to platforms like Wikisource has aided these efforts to a great extent.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">However, several Indian language communities also continue to grapple with persistent challenges in this space, across diverse Wikimedia projects. Similarly, with Wikisource, there have been concerns about a lack of active participation and efforts towards bringing more content on the platform, including translations, and encouraging the use of source texts across projects among others. While a majority of the contributors are comfortable with <a title="wikisource:Help:Transclusion" class="extiw" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Help:Transclusion">transcribing texts</a>, more technical tasks such as importing new books, creating Index pages and transcluding books are left to a very small number of contributors. These point to a lack of not just awareness and resources, but also a need for capacity-building efforts to address the skill gaps, improvements in digital infrastructures to resolve basic issues with platforms, and diversification of the scope of work undertaken. For instance, the most recent <a title="Community Wishlist Survey 2022" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist_Survey_2022">Community Wishlist Survey 2022</a> highlights some basic fixes that need attention− such as bugs with the search and replace function to improve search and mass uploads −to more advanced work such as expanding existing functionality in indexing, integrating structured data and <a title="Content translation group" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Content_translation_group">translation tools</a> and functionalities across Indian languages, to name a few.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">A research needs assessment survey conducted by CIS-A2K last year also highlighted the need for better technological support for Wikimedia projects, and capacity-building in important areas of work in the Indian language communities. While this is not specific to Wikisource alone, observations by community members and active Wikisource contributors over the last few years illustrate that many of these concerns and knowledge gaps are prevalent in this community as well. This study was therefore an attempt to identify these challenges, by collecting baseline data on key areas of work in Indian language Wikisource projects, beginning with a focus on selected language communities, and areas of interest. The attempt was also to enable contributors to achieve a more detailed understanding of the requirements of communities, in the contexts of certain languages, and aid in developing potential strategies to address them.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Research objectives</h2>
<p>The study had two areas of focus:</p>
<ul>
<li>What are the key challenges with working on Indian language Wikisource projects currently? These may include anything from obstacles in Wikisource workflow, policies and open licences, to challenges such as quality of content and lack of community engagement?</li>
<li>What are gap areas and spaces for improvement in the infrastructure of these platforms, especially related to technological capacity, resources and training?</li></ul>
<h2>Research methods</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The study adopted a mixed methods approach, comprising a survey and interviews with community members. The survey focussed on key areas of ongoing work, and potential challenges for Wikisource projects in India - including technological support, skill-building, policies on content donation and curation, and open access and licensing. The survey was opened to all Wikisource communities and publicised on relevant mailing lists and community platforms. Simultaneously, a detailed interview questionnaire was also prepared, along with the selection criteria for interviews with community members. The project team worked with one short-term research assistant over a 2–3-month period for the data collection through interviews and surveys. The research assistant also provided translation support as needed and worked closely in coordinating with community members.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The criteria considered for selection of the language communities for the study were language family and size, amount of content on Wikisource (according to bytes/number of proofread pages), recent activity and a good track record/sustained progress and challenges with the same over the last several years. External factors, such as visibility and prevalence of the languages on other online platforms, technical and cultural resources and complexities of working with certain languages etc. were also considered during the selection process. Keeping these in mind, the languages selected for this study were as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a class="text external" href="https://ta.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">Tamil Wikisource</a> (One of the largest Wikisource communities in India, which has considerable content, is active and has seen steady growth over the last few years)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a class="text external" href="https://as.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">Assamese Wikisource</a> (A growing Wikisource community, which has also seen a lot of activity in recent years)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a class="text external" href="https://ml.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">Malayalam Wikisource</a> (A large and active Wikisource community, which in recent years has some decline in engagement, despite good resources and activity on other Wiki platforms)</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Using a purposive sampling technique, the team identified community members for interviews across these three languages and reached out over the course of six months in order to conduct semi-structured interviews. The criteria for selection of interviewees included a mix of senior/experienced and new contributors, those working across several projects and languages, those with expertise in specific/advanced technical areas of Wikisource, licensing and content donation efforts, and keeping in mind gender parity within the sample. There were however several challenges with this exercise, including basic barriers such as bad internet and phone connectivity, digital fatigue and unavailability of people due to the second wave of the pandemic, and limited time on Wikimedia projects. As a result, this method was unsuccessful, as it managed to gather very limited data for the study. The timeline of the survey was also extended as a result, and it received a total of 21 responses. The survey data offers several insights into some of these key areas of work and challenges, and the following is a report based on an analysis of this limited data set and observations on the same. Given the limited sample size and final dataset, it would be important to note that we may need several steps before the observations/findings may be considered to be representative at any scale.</p>
<h2>Observations and Learnings</h2>
<table class="plain">
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<td>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As mentioned earlier, the dataset comprised of 21 respondents on the survey, many of them contributors across diverse Wikimedia projects including English and Indian language Wikipedia projects, <a title="Wikisource" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikisource">Wikisource</a>, <a title="Wikibooks" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikibooks">Wikibooks</a>, <a title="Wikidata" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikidata">Wikidata</a>, <a title="Wikiquote" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikiquote">Wikiquote</a>, <a title="Wiktionary" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiktionary">Wiktionary</a>, <a title="Wikivoyage" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikivoyage">Wikivoyage</a>, <a title="Wikimedia Commons" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Commons">Wikimedia Commons</a>, software such as Media Wiki, and initiatives like Wikimedia in Education. The respondents ranged across nine languages (in alphabetical order) – <a class="external text" href="https://as.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">Assamese</a>, <a class="external text" href="https://bn.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">Bengali</a>, <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">English</a>, <a class="external text" href="https://hi.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">Hindi</a>, <a class="external text" href="https://kn.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">Kannada</a>, <a class="external text" href="https://mr.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">Marathi</a>, <a class="external text" href="https://ml.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">Malayalam</a>, <a class="external text" href="https://pa.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">Punjabi</a>, <a class="external text" href="https://te.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">Telugu</a> and <a class="external text" href="https://ta.wikisource.org/" rel="nofollow">Tamil</a>. Several of them are also part of user groups working in some of these languages. The experience of the contributors’ ranges from 6 months to 12 years.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Almost all the respondents note that contributions towards proofreading, and bringing more content on the <a title="Wikisource" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikisource">Wikisource projects</a> (including work on related processes by the <a title="Volunteer Response Team" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Volunteer_Response_Team">Volunteer Response Team</a>, previously known as <a title="Open-source Ticket Request System" class="mw-redirect" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Open-source_Ticket_Request_System">Open Source Ticket Request System</a>, and OCR) have been key milestones in their work, either as individuals or communities. Some respondents have also pointed out some new work such as audio books, and working on technological aspects, especially with gadgets and best practices shared by other global communities. The data offers some key insights into the kinds of challenges currently faced by <a title="Indic Wikisource Community" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Indic_Wikisource_Community">Indian language Wikisource contributors</a>, and what could be potential areas of improvement.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As noted in Fig.1, an overwhelming percentage of the respondents noted that ‘capacity-building and training’ (81%) is an area that needs the most improvement, followed closely by ‘community engagement’ (66%) and ‘technological infrastructure’ (57%). These are key areas that show repetitive patterns across the data set, in terms of recurring challenges as well. As noted by respondents, training in Wikisource workflows, procedure and guidance, learning to use advanced templates/techniques, recruiting new volunteers etc. have been key challenges. Community engagement has seen a dip, especially over last year with the pandemic and related decline in activity on projects, as well as events and therefore opportunities to meet. There is a need for more contributors and strategies to encourage work and retain them on the projects. Scanning and post-production processing of scans emerged as a significant challenge, given lack of resources and infrastructure, and related issues such as poor quality of scanned work and no uniformity in the book selection criteria. There are also some areas of technical support such as broken tools on Wikisource projects, missing symbols in some language tool bars, and an abundance of formatting tags which could present barriers for new contributors.</p>
<p>The following are some of the responses and observations in specific areas mentioned above:</p>
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<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_Figure2.png" alt="null" class="image-inline" title="Figure 2" /></th>
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</table>
<h3>Capacity-building and training</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As most contributors would be well aware, capacity-building and technological infrastructure are two closely connected aspects of Wikimedia projects. The responses under this thematic reflect the same, in terms of a need for better training in optimising the use of available and advanced technical skills for Wikisource projects. This includes training on specific skills and processes such as <a title="Scanning old books" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scanning_old_books">scanning</a>, <a title="en:Optical character recognition" class="extiw" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition">text conversion</a>, <a title="wikisource:Help:Beginner's guide to proofreading" class="extiw" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Help:Beginner%27s_guide_to_proofreading">formatting</a>, sourcing, <a title="wikisource:Help:Transclusion" class="extiw" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Help:Transclusion">transclusion</a>, creating gadgets, writing bots. There is a need for better writing and spelling skills to improve the quality of content generated. The survey also suggested potential ways to address these skill gaps, all of which were seen as relevant by a majority of respondents (66.7%). [See Fig 2]</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Community Engagement</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Community engagement ranked second in terms of the challenges noted by respondents on the survey. The survey also looked at engagement in comparison with Wikipedia projects, as it has been observed that the latter see more active participation. This was confirmed by some of the responses as well. Some of the main reasons for lack of participation as noted by respondents is that Wikisource is a specialised project, that needs a specific skill-set and demands time and effort, hence may not appeal to all contributors. Also, it has lesser content and visibility compared to some of the Wikipedias or other projects which may be more easily updated. Thus, there is a need for actively recruiting new volunteers, and capacity-building to enable more contributions, as well as targeted outreach efforts in spaces related to literature and books to enhance discoverability. Some respondents also mentioned that a lack of awareness, coordination and interaction among contributors could be potential reasons. Finally, there are also external factors such as balancing volunteer work with other commitments such as family and financial problems, many contributors being students who move on to full-time careers, effects of the pandemic and paucity of time and interaction, and loss of interest over time in the projects.</p>
<p>Again, efforts to address community engagement need some strategic measures, including but not limited to community interaction, incentives and better visibility for work in, as noted in Fig.3.</p>
<h3>Technological infrastructure</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Technological infrastructure, which is one of the key areas of focus for this study, has also been a persistent challenge for Indian language communities, also given the resource-heavy work any form of computing with Indic languages entails. While some respondents did not notice any specific issues in their communities, there were some patterns or gaps that were reflected across communities. There is a need for basic hardware like scanners and good computers, or rather centralised facilities for scanning and good internet connectivity in order to cover more collections and regional areas. In addition to this, there is also a need for technical improvements such as easy-to-use widgets, gadgets and better tags to enhance formatting work as part of the transcription of texts, incorporating certain signs and symbols within toolbars, spell-checker, full list of syntaxes while proofreading, and stages for fixing mistakes and adding formatting tags. An important observation was that some language communities access and edit Wikisource on mobile phones, so there is a need for a mobile application that can provide a seamless editing experience, and connect more people with the projects. As mentioned earlier, there are also several technical fixes such as a number of pending bugs in projects. A related requirement therefore is for MediaWiki developers with good language skills to work on translation of interfaces. A few respondents also mentioned additional challenges such as improvement of new books, Graphical User Interface (GUI) and page layout, and the functionality to view Wikisource in other formats as well.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Some specific areas of improvement were also assessed on the survey, drawing upon a review of the <a title="Community Wishlist Survey" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist_Survey">community wishlists</a> for the last few years. These included Optical Character Recognition (OCR), translation, visual editor, transclusion, user interface, search function and export of books. While all these functionalities did not receive responses from the entire set, many found these to be key challenges. OCR received the most responses (19), with 31.6% assessing this at 1 (needs minimal updates, functional with space for innovation). Translation received 18 responses, with 38.9% marking this at 4 (major challenges, requires focused work). Similarly, transclusion also received 18 responses with about 27.8% voting at 5 (significant challenges, requires long-term effort and resources). Visual editor, search function and export of books all received 17 responses each, with a majority in all three assessing these as 5. Of these search function had more people assessing the functionality at 5 (41.2%), followed closely by visual editor and export of books (35.3% each). User interface received 16 responses, with 31.3 % of respondents assessing it at 5 as well.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Wikisource.png/@@images/5072e098-7223-42ce-b52b-71503241c5e4.png" alt="null" class="image-inline" title="" /></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Open Access and Content Creation</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In addition to the above, content curation and related aspects of open access and relicensing are also spaces with prevalent knowledge gaps in terms of protocols and best practices, which poses a challenge for content generation on Wikisource projects. Lack of awareness about Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and relicensing in fact has been a significant impediment in content donation efforts, across projects. In this survey, a large number of respondents (42.6%) also said they were either unaware of these issues with Wikisource or about IPR itself, or mentioned that it was not applicable in this context. Among the challenges/issues mentioned, the need for simple, easily accessible advocacy material in print about open access was prominent, in order to encourage content creators/authors to share work on open licences. It was also noted that this process may be difficult for people who are not well-versed in the technical/legal aspects of the project, especially in terms of tracking down individual creators for consent to re-license and share their work. Respondents also noted that this work needs support from institutions to help set up collaborations, such as with educational organisations, publishing houses and authors, as also an understanding of official documentation and wider promotion etc. which may encourage more people to share content on open licences.</p>
<p>All of these aspects are further reflected in terms of strategies to address these issues as well, as observed in Fig. 4.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">A similar disparity exists with content curation best practices as well, with a majority of respondents noting that their respective communities do not have clearly defined protocols for content curation. While such benchmarking is naturally difficult given several socio-cultural and linguistic subjectivities of each project, this also means that what makes it to Wikisource in a particular language can be defined by many factors, which also informs the quality, types and formats of content produced. Potential methods to address this include developing guidelines for content creation, and forms of review by experts as well as community members, all of which ranked high in the survey responses. ( See Fig 5)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As we did not receive enough responses on the interview questionnaires, there was not much additional qualitative data that could be gathered. There are however resonances with the survey responses, namely in terms of technical/hardware challenges such as poor quality of scanning, and the need for an app which is user-friendly and will further facilitate mobile editing, especially in areas with limited digital infrastructure and access. Some observations include the importance of the <a title="Volunteer Response Team" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Volunteer_Response_Team">OTRS process</a> in adding new content, and the need for better online and offline training, especially for new volunteers, in technical skills. Similarly, collaborations with educational institutions and local print media could be useful in creating more awareness, and therefore tapping into more content and resources in terms of new volunteers. Additionally, there are also some interesting observations on individual communities working on connecting work across projects, for example Wikisource and Wikiquote.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Conclusions and Recommendations</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">While the scope of the study had to be reduced significantly given several methodological challenges and external factors as mentioned earlier, the analysis of data does offer some significant learnings on the current challenges prevalent across Indian language Wikisource projects. Needless to say, many of these are also fairly contextual and nuanced, depending on how well-resourced certain languages are, given factors such as basic internet connectivity and digital literacy. The following is a short summary of key recommendations from this exercise.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Technological Infrastructure:</strong> Across the board, gaps in development of technological infrastructure have been prominent, ranging from basic fixes to advanced tools and user-friendly apps that may help mitigate some of the issues related to access. It is also notable that early challenges such as OCR and translation do not present as significant obstacles here (but continue to remain areas of ongoing work); features such as the visual editor, search and export functionalities emerged as continual challenges. The need for a user-friendly mobile app is also an important observation here. Some of this work is also quite resource-intensive in terms of funding; it would be prudent to look at collaborations with related organisations and local fundraising efforts that may help facilitate the same.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Capacity-Building:</strong> Similarly, capacity-building efforts need to be strengthened within communities, given the nature of work which is specialised and often quite technical( for example the process of transclusion). In addition to bringing in new volunteers, and equipping them with the requisite skill-sets to contribute effectively, there is a need for contributors with advanced skill-sets who may be able to address more technical challenges. Efforts here could include reaching out to the wider free and open source communities for external expertise, and working on a collaborative model of workshopping around strategic issues, and developing relevant skill-sets. Community-engagement: As noted by many respondents, bringing in new volunteers and their retention on projects has been a continual challenge, also due to the factors mentioned above. Improvements in technical infrastructure and capacity-building would help address some of these challenges as well. In addition to this, as noted by respondents, developing proactive collaborations with diverse institutions and individuals (educational/media/creative practice) would help widen networks, hence creating better awareness and visibility for work, such as through social media content and may also foster better engagement.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Content Curation and Open Access:</strong> As is widely understood, discourse around open access and relicensing is layered, and the protocols often vary widely depending on linguistic factors and cultural context. Instead of developing benchmarks, it may be prudent therefore to develop accessible content on existing, global relicensing protocols, in translation across languages. These may be further used by communities to understand and engage better with efforts in content donation. Guidelines for content curation will again need to be similarly developed and modified, keeping in mind how policies also evolve and change. An important consideration here in addition to quality, is also that of ethics of access and use, especially by communities themselves.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This short study was an effort to map some of the prevalent infrastructural challenges that underlie work on Indian language Wikisource projects. The observations from this report may offer useful insights in thinking through and developing strategies to address these gaps, through collaborative efforts in training and building resources for projects.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/research-infrastructural-needs-of-indian-language-wikisource-projects'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/research-infrastructural-needs-of-indian-language-wikisource-projects</a>
</p>
No publisherPuthiya Purayil SnehaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaA2K ResearchOpen Content2022-10-21T13:21:20ZBlog EntryExploring Knowledge Repositories on Water Resources in India
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/research-exploring-knowledge-repositories-on-water-resources-in-india
<b>This research study explores knowledge repositories on water resources in India, with a focus on how the digital transition has impacted the process of creation & access to these resources and possible collaborations to build open digital repositories around water. The research was undertaken by Subodh Kulkarni, with editorial inputs by Puthiya Purayil Sneha, and Chiara Furtado. This is part of a series of short-term studies undertaken by the CIS-A2K team in 2021–2022.</b>
<p>Read this report on Wikimedia Meta-Wiki <a class="external-link" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Exploring_Knowledge_repositories_on_Water_resources_in_India"><strong>here</strong></a>.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Water is the most precious natural resource for the existence of all living organisms on earth. As human beings have not treated it respectfully in recent years, there are increasing challenges with accessibility and availability of water across large parts of the world today. In India, the groundwater levels are depleting at an alarming rate due to over exploitation<sup>.[1]</sup> The quality of surface water reserves is degenerating due to pollution caused by discharge of wastewater, sewage and untreated industrial effluents.<sup><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Exploring_Knowledge_repositories_on_Water_resources_in_India#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup> The condition of rivers is getting worse due to illegal and unregulated use of these resources across India. Due to damming almost all the rivers flow for only 8-10 months in a year. Above all, the pollution caused due to solid wastes and effluents have destroyed living organisms and aquatic life. Therefore most of the rivers in India are called ‘dying rivers’.<sup><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Exploring_Knowledge_repositories_on_Water_resources_in_India#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup> There have been several discussions and debates happening around this degradation of rivers, especially in the last decade.<sup><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Exploring_Knowledge_repositories_on_Water_resources_in_India#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Efforts by various organisations are afoot to document the state of affairs, spread awareness and undertake activities on the ground with community participation. Citizen-led efforts have also been instrumental in strengthening several water conservation efforts in India. It is seen that these peoples’ movements have been further strengthened due to empowerment through enhanced awareness of these issues around conservation, and better access to knowledge on the subject, especially through scientific studies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">CIS-A2K has initiated <a title="CIS-A2K/Events/Partnerships under Project Jal Bodh - Knowledge resource on Water" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Events/Partnerships_under_Project_Jal_Bodh_-_Knowledge_resource_on_Water">Project Jalbodh</a> in 2017 in collaboration with a few organisations to generate water related content. During one of the ‘River dialogues’, a CIS-A2K member was invited to introduce Wikimedia projects to the organisations working on water resources. In the discussions, it was revealed that there is negligible content about rivers, water pollution, floods, irrigation system etc. in Wikimedia projects. Following this, an analysis of content on these subjects on Marathi, Hindi & English Wikipedia and media on Wikimedia Commons was undertaken. The need to develop structured categorisation of content was also felt. As the organisations are trying their best to disseminate knowledge about water issues, they realised the potential of Wikimedia projects due to the high level of searchable content available on these platforms which can be accessed by the general public. In keeping with these objectives, over the last two years, various workshops were conducted with organisations working at the grassroots to develop the structure of articles, categorisation and re-licensing of source material on these topics across various Wikimedia projects. <a class="text external" href="http://tarunbharatsangh.in/" rel="nofollow">Tarun Bharat Sangh</a> is leading this process, and has uploaded <a title="c:Category:Books published by Tarun Bharat Sangh, India" class="extiw" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Books_published_by_Tarun_Bharat_Sangh,_India">90 books & reports on Wikimedia Commons</a> under free licences, and created articles on rivers in Marathi, Hindi and English Wikipedia projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">During these content generation events it was realised that the organisations are working closely with communities which are conversant mostly with local or regional Indian languages only. The availability and access to water related resources in these languages is therefore an important issue. The communities are in need of simple, accessible and ready to use content in various forms. They also require a platform on which they can document/archive their water conservation efforts for other communities to take lessons and motivation from these projects.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Research Questions</h2>
<p>This study was framed by the following questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>How has the digital transition impacted the process of creation and access to water related resources in India.</li>
<li>What are possible collaborations and processes to build open digital repositories around water, with special reference to rivers.</li></ol>
<h2></h2>
<h2>Methods</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The study adopted a qualitative approach, with the method comprising online/offline, semi-structured interviews with organisations working in the water resources sector. Based on desk research and conversations with existing partners in the sector, a long list of organisations was developed.(See Annexure I). Further, eight organisations were shortlisted for interviews based on their experience and impact of work in the water conservation sector. Due to various constraints, eventually interviews with three organisations were completed. The interview questionnaire focused on the nature, objective and scope of the offline and online resources available, human resources involved, language aspects, documentation practices, methods of dissemination, utility, accessibility, training value of the material, intellectual property rights (IPR) policies and public outreach efforts. These interviews were conducted online and in-person and recorded with consent from the participants, along with a clear explanation on the objectives of the study and the data collection. As mentioned above, there were a few constraints with the research process and methods adopted, as well as external factors. These included restrictions on travel and in-person meetings due to the COVID 19 pandemic, and challenges with online platforms. Some of the organisations were not comfortable with online or telephonic interviews and insisted upon physical interactions. The online interviews were less effective with the organisations as they were unaware about the free & open knowledge platforms like Wikimedia, Internet Archive etc. In addition to this, introductory sessions were conducted to give them a background to the work of the programme and context of the study. A general challenge here was also logistical issues related to scheduling conversations etc. given that personnel were located across different departments.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Description of Organisations Interviewed</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Advanced Centre for Water Resources Development and Management [ACWADAM]'</strong><em> </em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a class="text external" href="https://www.acwadam.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=featured&Itemid=101" rel="nofollow">ACWADAM</a> is an organisation dedicated to establish a groundwater management agenda in India. It is a premier education and action research institution engaged in developing and disseminating knowledge on groundwater management. It is also involved in facilitation of projects on groundwater management through action research programmes, training and policy advocacy, with a collaborative, participatory approach. ACWADAM's mission is to facilitate groundwater management programmes in partnership with various organisations spread across the country. Over the years, it has developed expertise on aquifer-based groundwater management based on the science of hydrogeology.</p>
<div><strong>Action for Agricultural Renewal in Maharashtra [AFARM]</strong></div>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a class="text external" href="https://www.afarm.org/index" rel="nofollow">AFARM</a> was founded in 1969 as an apex Institution to coordinate programmes of voluntary organisations engaged in providing drinking water and agricultural extension services to villages in drought affected Maharashtra. It is one of the pioneering networking organisations in the country working in the areas of sustainable agriculture, irrigation, disaster relief and drinking water resource management. It acts as a platform for several civil society organisations for the promotion of sustainable and equitable development. The emphasis is on capacity building of organisations through action research, advocacy and field projects at grassroots. AFARM is providing support and consultancy at the policy level.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>BAIF Development Research Foundation [BAIF]</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a class="text external" href="https://baif.org.in/" rel="nofollow">BAIF</a> was established on the strong foundation of Gandhian values with the aim to improve quality of life through development research and capacity building. BAIF’s vision is to build a self-reliant rural society assured of food security, safe drinking water, good health, gender equity, low child mortality, literacy, high moral values and clean environment. It is striving towards the mission to create opportunities of gainful self-employment for the rural and tribal families with a focus on disadvantaged sections, ensuring sustainable livelihood, healthy environment, better quality of life and good human values. BAIF believes in field research, effective use of local resources, extension of appropriate technologies and upgradation of skills and capabilities with community participation.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Observations</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Availability of digital datasets on water resource projects:</strong> Many organisations in the sector rely on online information and databases on sites such as – <a class="text external" href="https://censusindia.gov.in/census.website/" rel="nofollow">Census of India</a>, <a class="text external" href="https://mausam.imd.gov.in/" rel="nofollow">IMD</a>, <a class="text external" href="https://earth.google.com/web/" rel="nofollow">Google Earth</a>, <a class="text external" href="https://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in/home/index.php" rel="nofollow">Bhuvan</a>, <a class="text external" href="http://cgwb.gov.in/" rel="nofollow">CGWB</a>, <a class="text external" href="https://gsda.maharashtra.gov.in/" rel="nofollow">GSDA</a>, <a class="text external" href="http://mrsac.maharashtra.gov.in/mahagsda/" rel="nofollow">MRSAC</a>, <a class="text external" href="https://bhulekh.mahabhumi.gov.in/" rel="nofollow">Bhumi Abhilekh</a>, <a class="text external" href="https://www.surveyofindia.gov.in/" rel="nofollow">Survey of India</a>, <a class="text external" href="https://www.indiawaterportal.org/" rel="nofollow">India Water Portal</a>, <a class="text external" href="https://farmer.gov.in/stateagridepartments.aspx" rel="nofollow">Agriculture Department</a>, <a class="text external" href="https://wrd.maharashtra.gov.in/" rel="nofollow">Irrigation Department</a>, <a class="text external" href="http://moef.gov.in/" rel="nofollow">Forest Department</a>, <a class="text external" href="https://maharain.maharashtra.gov.in/" rel="nofollow">Maharain</a> etc. Many of the global datasets on water resources and related topics such as agriculture, population, topography, forestry, climate change etc. are also in the public domain. However, the updating of data is not done regularly. For example, we have to refer to census data for 2011 even in 2022. Many of the datasets are also at a macro level, providing very little granular data. The water resource projects mostly need micro level data which is collected through on-ground surveys.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Effectiveness of digital platforms, and challenges with internet coverage:</strong> Organisations have found the use of digital platforms and tools effective for quick exchange of common training modules, process videos, drawings and manuals, as part of their water resource projects. The digital format has also been very effective for dissemination of advisories, alerts etc. through smartphones, which have enabled better access to information on gadgets quickly. However, two-way communication is necessary when timely solutions to queries of the farmers are to be provided, and that has been difficult to set up in a sustained manner through a digital format.<br />Many organisations in the sector also engage in capacity-building efforts for staff, volunteers and communities. When building these communities and mobilising them for action, the process needs spontaneous feedback, live conversations, reading the expressions and actual interactions with each other. All these things are completely missing from virtual interactions. These organisational processes and capacity-building efforts were grossly hampered during the pandemic due to a reliance on online meetings alone.<br />There are still challenges of internet connectivity in rural and remote areas where the communities are involved in water management projects. The consistency of bandwidth is a major issue when it comes to streaming of audio-visual content, uploading of content, online workshops, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Lack of documentation skills, and challenges with language:</strong> Most of the documents used in water resources related projects are technical in nature. The technical team invests more time in the implementation, hence the time and skills required for documentation are limited. This gap between technical skills and documentation skills is challenging. There are ample structures, technological methods, apps etc. for collecting the data but at the same time, the resources for data collection or structured data development are not sufficiently provided. There are also several language-related challenges at the field level. Crucial parts of the training and awareness material need to be translated in the local languages as well.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Mobilisation and motivation for communities and wider public:</strong> The offline and online content is not very effective to mobilise or motivate the people involved in action at the field level in water conservation efforts. The organisers are exploring all the modes of communication and content available, but there is no alternative for human leadership.<br />Some organisations like Paani Foundation have beautifully captured the success stories of these efforts in dramatic short films. These films inspire the public temporarily, but the content can not be used often. Also, the production costs of such content are high resulting in very few options for wider outreach to engage a general audience.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Negligible content about water sector in public domain or Wikimedia projects in local languages:</strong> All the organisations agree upon the lack of searchable content on water related topics on the internet and in the public domain through projects like Wikimedia. The activists looking for solutions on some technical issues, the community searching for good projects in other parts of India or the planners looking for some structured databases on impact of projects, all of them get very little content on the internet. The local language content on water resources has almost negligible presence.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Need for a comprehensive portal giving information to stakeholders at different levels:</strong> The different stakeholders concerned with water resources seek information and data on various levels and diverse formats according to application and purpose. As of now, no such comprehensive platform in multiple languages exists which caters to these needs. The requirements include a wide range like, sample design of water conservation structures, contour maps of region, rainfall data, estimates of raw material, ground water aquifer maps, water pollution parameters, operation of dams, irrigation systems, water policies, water treaties, government notifications, etc. A well structured and categorised knowledge repository and database on water resources is the need of the hour. Such a knowledge base would strongly support the actions on the ground.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Recommendations</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Developing a Process Documentation Strategy:</strong> The continuous changes in knowledge resources and data regarding various topics related to water resources need to be documented from time to time. The dynamic nature of water related issues requires a proactive process documentation strategy for the organisation as well as the citizen science groups in the society. The ideal example is the trajectory of the monsoon season in India every year and the rainfall in various agro-climatic regions. The watershed conservation projects, river rejuvenation programs, pollution control projects are long term processes with long term impacts. The journey of several years is painstaking, needs patience and struggles on the ground with constant motivational efforts. The persons directly engaged in these efforts may not be able to spend time on documentation of the many resources that are a result of these efforts. Hence, a solid process documentation strategy is required. The process documentation is also crucial for assessment of project impact on environment, livelihoods, economy, geography and people. There are also citizen movements which have been active for a long time, which are instrumental in giving birth to new laws, rules, guidelines, notifications, etc. The different milestones and turning points in these processes are to be documented in time. This documentation can guide the larger citizens’ movements to design their strategies and to resolve issues arising during the course of this work, and across different thematic areas as well.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Accessible datasets open for all in the public domain:</strong> There is an important need to compile the datasets on water resources developed by different agencies with people’s participation and government funding for the planning of public works or schemes. The open access to such reliable and factual datasets in the public domain serves the purpose of transparency and accountability of public infrastructure programmes. This facility for society would provide impetus to rigorous analysis, studies, research and innovative designing of public infrastructure. The processing and presentation of data in visual formats, including infographics can boost understanding, awareness, and logical thinking processes among enthusiasts who would like to engage with water conservation efforts. Different perspectives can emerge after relating and comparing datasets. The networking of agencies, organisations, experts and citizen forums would further develop complementary datasets. This synergy will definitely create a community data pool beneficial for everyone.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Digital and open access content development for capacity building of field level activists:</strong> Various organisations have developed training material for field level activists in different formats. Most of this is not online or digitised. Through networking efforts, the integration could be done to develop systematic modules for capacity building. The modules would be hosted as Open Educational Resources (OERs) on Wikimedia projects or other free knowledge platforms. The topic wise categories will make the selection easier. These categories can include local water source, rivers, waste water disposal, pollution, water based livelihoods, water conservation treatments etc. The format combining course work with some hands-on experiments is beneficial to facilitate the process of self-study, self-assessment and self-design. This online repository can be accessed by the field activists working on water resources anytime, anywhere when they need guidance to resolve issues or trouble-shooting on site.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Orientation of organisations towards free knowledge platforms and Wikimedia projects:</strong> Over the years, the organisations working in this sector have created valuable material for wider circulation to create awareness and empower communities. These resources have been used effectively and in a few locations for a certain period of time. The outreach and dissemination through integration of these resources will have more impact in the coming years if digital platforms are utilised efficiently. The basic orientation of the organisations regarding such free knowledge digital platforms, including copyright issues, Creative Commons licences, digitisation process and internet technologies is necessary to kick start this knowledge dissemination movement. Some pilot projects could be executed to demonstrate the potential of Wikimedia projects in database generation, documentation of case studies, audio-visual repositories and reference libraries.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;"><br /></h2>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">References<br /></h2>
<ol><li>"Groundwater". edugreen.teri.res.in. Retrieved 2022-09-28.</li><li>"‘Discharge of untreated industrial effluents, sewage major source of river pollution’". The Indian Express. 2018-12-21. Retrieved 2022-09-28.</li><li>Naresh Singaravelu & Harshita Mishra (6 June 2019). "Rivers in India: a reality check". https://www.thehindu.com/. The Hindu. Retrieved 28 Sep 2022.</li><li>"Living rivers, dying rivers: Everything you wanted to know about rivers in India | India Water Portal". www.indiawaterportal.org. Retrieved 2022-09-28.</li></ol>
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<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/research-exploring-knowledge-repositories-on-water-resources-in-india'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/research-exploring-knowledge-repositories-on-water-resources-in-india</a>
</p>
No publishersubodhAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaA2K ResearchOpen Content2022-10-21T13:23:24ZBlog EntryDocumentation and Wikipedia Contribution — A One Day Workshop
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/events/documentation-and-wikipedia-contribution
<b>On November 14, the CIS-A2K team is organizing a one day orientation workshop on 'Documentation and Wikipedia Contribution' at the Kalinga Institute of Social Studies (KISS), Bhubaneswar from 10.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ରୁ</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱରସ୍ଥିତ ଆଦିବାସୀ ଆବାସିକ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠାନ KISS (କଳିଙ୍ଗ ଇନଷ୍ଟିଚୁଟ ଅଫ ସୋସିଆଲ ଷ୍ଟଡିଜ)ଠାରେ ଏଠାକାର ଶିକ୍ଷକ ଓ ସ୍ନାତକୋତ୍ତର ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀମାନେ ଆଦିବାସୀମାନଙ୍କର ଭାଷା, ଚଳଣି ଓ ଜନଜୀବନ ବାବଦରେ ଅନେକ ଗବେଷଣାଭିତ୍ତିକ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ ଏକାଧିକ ଭାଷାରେ ଲେଖିବାର ଏକ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରାଯାଇଛି । ପ୍ରାରମ୍ଭିକ ପର୍ଯ୍ୟାୟରେ ଏହି ନଥିକରଣ ତିନୋଟି ଭାଷାରେ (ଓଡ଼ିଆ, ଇଂରାଜୀ ଓ ହିନ୍ଦୀ)ରେ କରାଯାଇ KISS ୱେବସାଇଟରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ କରାଯିବ । ଏହି ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗସମୂହ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷ ପରିସରରେ ଥିବାରୁ ଏସବୁକୁ ଉଇକିକରଣ କରି ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗସବୁକୁ ସମୃଦ୍ଧ କରିବା ନିମନ୍ତେ ଏହି ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳାର ଆୟୋଜନ କରାଯାଇଛି । ନଭେମ୍ବର ୧୪ (ଗୁରବାର) ଦିନ ସକାଳ ୧୧:୦୦ ରେ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହେବାକୁ ଥିବା ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳାରେ ୧୨ ଜଣ ଶିକ୍ଷକ ଓ ୩୨ ଜଣ ସ୍ନାତକୋତ୍ତର ଯୋଗଦେଇ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିବା ଓ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ବାବଦରେ ତାଲିମ ଗ୍ରହଣ କରିବେ ।</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Click to read the full details published on the Wiki <a class="external-link" href="https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86:%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%B0%E0%AD%8D%E0%AC%AE%E0%AC%B6%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%B3%E0%AC%BE/%E0%AC%AD%E0%AD%81%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%A8%E0%AD%87%E0%AC%B6%E0%AD%8D%E0%AD%B1%E0%AC%B0/%E0%AD%AD">meta page here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/events/documentation-and-wikipedia-contribution'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/events/documentation-and-wikipedia-contribution</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaOdia WikipediaOpennessEvent2013-11-12T04:20:37ZEventKonknni Wikipedia Workshop
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/events/konknni-wikipedia-workshop-nov-16-17-2013
<b>Dalgado Konknni Akademi in collaboration with Centre for Internet & Society’s Access to Knowledge Programme is organsing a 2 day Wikipedia editing workshop at the Goa Central State Library on November 16 and 17, 2013 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This workshop is free and open for anyone to attend. Please feel free to join hands in the campaign to promote free access to knowledge in one’s mother tongue – Konknni in Romi! This is a brilliant opportunity to showcase Konkani language in Roman script on a global platform such as Konknni Wikipedia!</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/konknni-wikipedia-event.pdf" class="internal-link">Click to download the invite here</a>. (PDF, 64 Kb)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li> Read more on <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalgado_Konknni_Akademi">Dalgado Konknni Akademi here</a></li>
<li>Read more on the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/" class="external-link">Centre for Internet and Society here</a></li>
<li>Read more on <a class="external-link" href="http://www.goacentrallibrary.gov.in/">Goa Central State Library here</a></li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/events/konknni-wikipedia-workshop-nov-16-17-2013'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/events/konknni-wikipedia-workshop-nov-16-17-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaKonkani WikipediaEvent2013-11-15T08:19:50ZEventTenth Anniversary of Kannada Wikipedia: Vijayavani Coverage
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/tenth-anniversary-kannada-wikipedia-vijayavani-report
<b>Vijayavani published a report of the forthcoming tenth anniversary celebration of Kannada Wikipedia on November 17. </b>
<p>The details of the event can be <a class="external-link" href="https://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%B5%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%95%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%AA%E0%B3%80%E0%B2%A1%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%AF:%E0%B2%B8%E0%B2%AE%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AE%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%B2%E0%B2%A8/%E0%B2%A6%E0%B2%B6%E0%B2%AE%E0%B2%BE%E0%B2%A8%E0%B3%8B%E0%B2%A4%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%B8%E0%B2%B5">found here</a>.</p>
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<table class="plain">
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<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/VijayaVani10thAnniversaryCurtainRaiserNov142013.jpg" alt="VijayaVani Report" class="image-inline" title="VijayaVani Report" /></th>
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</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/tenth-anniversary-kannada-wikipedia-vijayavani-report'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/tenth-anniversary-kannada-wikipedia-vijayavani-report</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaOpennessKannada Wikipedia2013-11-20T07:16:23ZNews ItemA Wikipedia Workshop at IISC
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-workshop-iisc
<b>Along with Wikipedian Shiju Alex we supported the Assamese Wikipedians to organize a workshop at IISC. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Assamese Wikipedian Gitartha Bordoloi took a session explaining about Wikipedia. Almost 13 scholars from Assam who are currently researching at IISC took part in this workshop. This also opened a new avenue for us to start an Assamese Wiki community in Bangalore.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Click to <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/assamese-wikipedia-iisc.pdf" class="internal-link">download</a> the original published by Amarasom Gl Publications. The link to the original is <a class="external-link" href="http://amarasom.glpublications.in/Details.aspx?id=15925&boxid=123232281">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-workshop-iisc'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-workshop-iisc</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaWikimediaWikipediaAccess to Knowledge2013-12-31T03:38:30ZNews ItemWikipedia Training Session @ Tiruvur
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-training-session-tiruvur
<b>A Wikipedia training session was conducted by T. Vishnu Vardhan and Rahmanuddin Shaik at Srivahini College in Tiruvur on December 19, 2013. </b>
<p>About 150 - 200 people attended in each of the two sessions. The event was co-organised by CIS-A2K and the Telugu Wikipedia community.</p>
<table class="plain">
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<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/VishnuAddressingstudents5.png" alt="Vishnu at Tiruvur" class="image-inline" title="Vishnu at Tiruvur" /></th>
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<td>Above: T. Vishnu Vardhan addressing students at the Srivahini college in Tiruvur.</td>
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</tbody>
</table>
<p>The following newspapers covered the event on December 19, 2013:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/AndhraprabhaAwarenessonWikipedia.png" class="internal-link">Awareness on Wikipedia, Andhraprabha</a>, December 19, 2013 </li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/EEnaduWikipediaHelpsspreadKnowledge.png" class="internal-link">Wikipedia Helps Spread Knowledge</a>, Eenadu, December 19, 2013</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/SakshiThemanyusesofWikipedia.png" class="internal-link">The Many Uses of Wikipedia</a>, Sakshi, December 19, 2013</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/PrajasakthiAwarenessonWikipedia.png" class="internal-link">Awareness on Wikipedia</a>, Prajasakthi, December 19, 2013</li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-training-session-tiruvur'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-training-session-tiruvur</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaTelugu WikipediaOpenness2014-01-09T09:52:42ZNews ItemKannada Wikipedia Presentation
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-presentation-vijayavani-coverage
<b>The following is a scanned copy of the media coverage for the Kannada Wikipedia presentation at the Kannada Science Writers workshop at Gulbarga on July 29,2014, in Gulbarga edition of Vijayavani Kannada daily, dated July 30.</b>
<table class="listing">
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<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/VijayavaniGulbargaJuly302014.jpg" alt="Vijayavani" class="image-inline" title="Vijayavani" /></th>
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</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-presentation-vijayavani-coverage'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-presentation-vijayavani-coverage</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaOpennessKannada Wikipedia2014-08-06T09:57:48ZNews Item