Re: [Wikimedia-l] How to educate participants of an edit-a-thon so it sticks?

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

What we try to do in Malayalam community generally:

1. We have a Wikipedia / Wikimedia Handbook (some 80 pages in Malayalam
language format: sub-A4 Ref: http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:HB ) that was
compiled a few years ago. By now, it's somewhat outdated particularly
because it doesn't touch the visual editor or wikidata topics. We are
desperately looking forward to update it at the earliest.
The handbook contains a detailed introduction to open knowledge, WM project
concepts and copy right issues, very descriptive notes on most of the
essential editing skills, details on Commons uploads etc.

We find that the fresh editor retention rates are much better when they are
supplied with a pulp copy of this hand book.

2. In addition to this, we also used to hand out a  rather thicker quick
cheat sheet with the most essential wiki markups and simple templates. Many
fresh users keep this sheet near to their workstation or in the laptop bag
as an instant reference.

3. During most editathons, we set up a particular topic that is readily
connected to the attendees in some way and a list of such articles to be
worked upon (created new or improved existing ones). This approach
motivates the new editors to continue working out further upon those
articles even later in the following weeks. We make them feel sharing some
ownership for those topics.

4. If there is an opportunity and privacy is not an issue, we try to talk
out loud/announce about the event through social media and also mention
some of the work accomplished by those new users in our social media
groups. Such simple acts often encourages the new user to stick onto the
learning and improving process.

5. Every time a new user is created in mlwiki, a bot adds a welcome message
to his/her talk page (eg.
https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Sportsfan_1234 ) . The message
contains a concise help capsule and direct links to additional help pages.

6. The check-list idea you mentioned seems great! We are going to test it
out very soon! Thank you, Romaine!

regards,

-VP



On Thu, 31 Jan 2019 at 19:50, Romaine Wiki  wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> A few days ago we organised an edit-a-thon in what we had participants
> write about important women.
>
> With most edit-a-thon we start with a group of people that know Wikipedia,
> but are fully new to editing on Wikipedia. We usually start with an
> introduction, which includes telling about:
>
>- Do not copy paste from other sources, but write in your own words.
>- For all facts sources need to be added.
>- Link keywords to other articles in Wikipedia.
>
> and some more things...
>
>
> The participants usually do their best, but usually also forget something.
> Like for example that a participant forgot to add a source for a sentence.
>
> In our recent edit-a-thon we tried something new: besides the presentation
> given and the handout of some instructions, we also created a checklist for
> the participants to use at the end of their writing so they did not forget
> anything.
>
> That gave us better results than what we have got with similar groups in
> the past.
>
>
>
> This leads me to my question: when you organised an edit-a-thon, what kind
> of cheatsheets, tricks, ... do you use so that the articles of participants
> have a higher quality?
> (Or that they are more inspired/enthusiastic, more aware, ..., etc)
>
> Good examples?
>
>
> If we can share those, we all can learn from good ideas and examples!
>
> Thanks!
>
> Romaine
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Emerging Communities: a proposed new definition

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

I find it a lot difficult to explain the phrase 'Emerging communities'
among my crowds during any outreach event.
The phrase still doesn't get to pass on the idea of 'knowledge empowerment'
or 'open digital access'. Rather it still make people think it's all about
economic and technological advancement.

My two fast bits.

-User:Viswaprabha


On 27 September 2017 at 22:58, Asaf Bartov  wrote:

> Dear Wikimedians,
>
> Years ago, as part of the first Strategy process of 2009-2010, a
> distinction entered our lives, between Global North and Global South
> countries.  That distinction was borrowed from a United Nations agency
> named ITU, and it was used as shorthand to refer to communities the
> Foundation considered to need additional resources and help to achieve
> impact on our mission of creating and sharing free knowledge.
>
> However, the distinction was never a very good fit for us.  It was based on
> UN notions like the Human Development Index, and gave much weight to
> nation-wide economic conditions.  Its binary nature did not allow for
> distinguishing between countries where Wikimedia work is possible and
> happening, albeit with difficulty, and ones where no Wikimedia work, or
> next to none, is happening, or possible.  It also looked only at geography,
> whereas much of our work is defined by language communities and not by
> geographies.  And it was political and alienating to many people.
>
> In short, it was both not as useful as we needed it to be as well as
> unloved and rejected by many.
>
> The Community Resources team at the Wikimedia Foundation has been thinking
> about replacing that distinction with a more nuanced one, that would be a
> much better fit with our needs, would take into account the actual state of
> editing communities, would consider multiple axes beyond geography, and
> would be less controversial.
>
> We began using the term "emerging communities" two years ago, first as a
> replacement for the term Global South, but it has always been our intention
> to define Emerging Communities ourselves.  Finishing the proposed
> definition took a back seat for a while due to other priorities, but we are
> ready to share the proposed definition today:
>
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Engagement/
> Defining_Emerging_Communities
>
>
> We welcome your thoughts, on the talk page (ideally) or on this thread.
> The definition is already our working definition, but we are open to
> incorporating changes to both wording and substance through October 31st.
>
> Be sure to take a look at the FAQ supplied at the bottom of the page, too.
> :)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Asaf
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimania-l] Scholarships for people whose visa were declined

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

Great gesture and so much re-assuring of the spirit that's called Wikimedia
revolution!

Kudos!
-user:Viswaprabha


On 11 August 2017 at 19:02, Chris Keating 
wrote:

> Sounds very sensible!
>
> Chris
>
> On Fri, Aug 11, 2017 at 2:26 PM, Andy Mabbett 
> wrote:
> > Katherine Maher just announced at Wikimania 2017 that all scholarship
> > recipients who were unable to obtain a visa, will be automatically
> > granted a scholarship for Wikimania 2018.
> >
> > --
> > Andy Mabbett
> > @pigsonthewing
> > http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
> >
> > ___
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>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Looks familiar?

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

On the other hand, we should think of creating a mercantile toy / SWAG of
the same style. :)

On 21 July 2017 at 14:33, Itzik - Wikimedia Israel 
wrote:

> Ammm.. Anyone know where I can buy such a globe? ;)
>
>
> - Sent from mobile
>
> On Jul 18, 2017 16:28, "Trey Jones"  wrote:
>
> Searching google images for *jigsaw globe* or *jigsaw sphere *gives many
> similar images. I don't think Wikipedia owns the rights to the idea of a
> sphere made of jigsaw pieces.
>
> The particular image on the cover of that book is derived from a stock
> photo:
>
> https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/jigsaw-globe-
> puzzle-on-white-47983681
>
> So, familiar? Yes. Concern? I don't think so.
>
> —Trey
>
> Trey Jones
> Software Engineer, Discovery
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
> On Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 3:37 AM, Gordon Joly 
> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0119PZ7F2/
> >
> > This image looks very much like the Wikimedia graphic?
> >
> > Gordo
> >
> >
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikipedia.org portal page update!

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

Let me elaborate my case a little bit:

Here is the scenario:

*I spent a lot of time luring fresh internet users into the terrains of
free knowledge, principally WM projects, and specifically WP, in a bustling
Global South region, interlaced with several local language projects.
*I have always treated Wikipedia, first for the readers, next for the
builders. Without more people becoming readers, there is no way more
builders turn in.

*Most of these people are aware that Google will fetch them needed
information quickly.
*A nominal percentage of them are aware that there is Wikipedia, in English.
*A thin percentage knows that there is wikipedia (however thin they may
be), in their native language too. If only they knew, they would even be
eager to explore more and venture into enriching it further (as new
editors). (Editing English Wikipedia is too complicated,  and bureaucratic,
let's admit it!. esp. if a topic is only of local interest and notability)

*Many among them are quite good in handling their native language. Some are
good in reading and comprehending English. But thin is the population who
can use English as a creative writing language.
*Most people use a PC or Mobile device which is not necessarily equipped
with their native language IME and/or rendering features. Most often, they
can read a web page in their language but can't type in (for want of a
suitable IME). But they can copy paste a string into a search box!

*Many articles have a rather better expanded version in a local wiki than
EN, if the topic is more notable in their community. But sometimes, it can
be the other way too.

*People gets turned off from a web site they have encountered for the first
time, if it gives them results not that encouraging. They might never visit
it at least for a long time to come. They have no time to waste.


Now, how this may be helped off:

1. I know a portal wikipedia.org or even en.wikipedia.org
2. I see a news item in a local language web page about a local entity. I
want to know more facts about this entity.
3. I get to the portal and inject this string (or type in this string) into
the search box.
4. There comes a few links: The first among them is an article in my
language about the entity. Following are versions of the same article (if
they exist) in other language wikis.
5. I directly choose, click and get to read what I wanted. I am happy and
decides to visit this portal again as a regular routine.

What, possibly, mediawiki / wikipedia can do behind the walls:
1. Gets a search string.
2. Identify the language.
a) Pick up the index for that language and process.
b)Goto Wikidata links and find an equivalent link / article in other
language projects for this string. pick index and seek.
c)Harvest and show case the results (optimized in certain ranks say first
article titles, then inline occurrences, then media etc.)


I can vouch positively that this itself will boost our counts to a great
extend, at least from regions where WP is yet to make a significant impact.

From a casual user's perspective, I have still not understood why our
computing resources should get strained for this simple extra steps.

-Viswaprabha















On 12 March 2016 at 05:40, Carlos Mora <lcharles.m...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Good work :D
>
> 2016-03-11 19:39 GMT-04:30 Samuel Klein <meta...@gmail.com>:
> > Lovely work.
> >
> > On Mar 11, 2016 5:32 PM, "Dan Garry" <dga...@wikimedia.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> On 11 March 2016 at 10:52, ViswaPrabha (വിശ്വപ്രഭ) <vp2...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >> >
> >> > Failed my dream :(
> >> >
> >> > Any string in any language in any wikipedia project. How far is my
> > dream?
> >> >
> >>
> >> I share your dream! :-)
> >>
> >> Unfortunately, the dream is quite far away from reality. Querying every
> >> search index would put a big performance strain on the search servers.
> >
> > Perhaps you could do this w two queries, one to a composite index that is
> > only updated weekly.
> >
> >> Additionally, it would likely return you a bunch of really irrelevant
> > results,
> >
> > Make this opt-in, add a different background color for results from the
> > all-language index, & divide their search-relevance by a
> > language-prominence factor...
> >
> > +SJ
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikipedia.org portal page update!

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%E0%B4%B6%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%A4%E0%B5%BB+%E0%B4%A4%E0%B4%AE%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%AA%E0%B5%81%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BE%E0%B5%BB=Go

Failed my dream :(

Any string in any language in any wikipedia project. How far is my dream?



On 11 March 2016 at 23:48, Deborah Tankersley 
wrote:

> Hello!
>
> I'm very pleased to announce that we've updated the Wikipedia.org
>  portal page with a brand new search box that is
> more prominent and will now display meta data with images (as available) in
> the search results (link
>  >).
>
> This was a large effort by the Discovery Portal team to develop a
> JavaScript-only version of the language picker, so that JavaScript enabled
> browsers will see all the new meta data. Alongside that effort, we also
> ensured that in JavaScript (JS) disabled browsers (or older Internet
> Explorer versions), our visitors won't have a bad experience when choosing
> a language to search in. (Note 1: in older IE versions and JS disabled
> browsers, the type-ahead and meta data search results information will not
> be displayed.)
>
> We also implemented a shorter language code (ie: EN for English, ES for
> Spanish, etc) to allow for more characters to be typed into the search box.
> When a user toggles the language selector, the full language name will be
> displayed in the dropdown for easy finding of the language you prefer to
> search in. For the more technical minded - I've also uploaded, to Commons,
> a screenshot
>  of
> one
> of the ways we test our code, visually.
>
> We're interested in hearing your feedback or if you have any questions!
> (Note
> 2: My apologies for not getting this email out yesterday, but I had had
> issues with size limitations of my screenshots.)
>
> On behalf of the very happy Wikipedia.org Portal Team,
>
> Deb
> --
> Deb Tankersley
> Product Manager, Discovery
> Wikimedia Foundation
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

Congratulations, Katherine!
And thank you, the entire board, staff and community, for being so amicable
among yourselves after some shady weeks and monnths!

Looking forward to great days ahead.
Come on, we have a lot of pending home work now to cover...  :)
-ViswaPrabha


On 11 March 2016 at 09:48, Ed Erhart  wrote:

> I think this is a brilliant idea, both personally and professionally. I'm
> incredibly thrilled that I'll be (continuing to) work under Katherine.
> Bravo.
>
> --Ed
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 11:15 PM, Rosemary Rein 
> wrote:
>
> > Thank you Katherine for your service and leadership  at this critical
> > junction for the organization and our community.
> >
> > Rosemary
> > On Mar 10, 2016 6:56 PM, "Patricio Lorente" 
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Hello all,
> >>
> >> I’m happy to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation leadership team has
> >> proposed an interim Executive Director, and the Board has given our full
> >> support. Starting on March 14th, current Chief Communications Officer
> >> Katherine Maher (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Katherine_(WMF))
> >> will step into the role of interim Executive Director. We thank the
> >> C-levels for their careful consideration in this process, and Katherine
> for
> >> stepping up during this period of transition.
> >>
> >> In choosing an interim ED, the C-levels started by identifying immediate
> >> priorities for the coming months, including building trust, improving
> >> communications, and filling key leadership positions. They felt, and we
> >> agree, that Katherine is the right person to lead the organization
> while it
> >> addresses these and other important issues. Additionally, this will
> allow
> >> the rest of the executive team to focus on critical organizational
> >> functions, including community and engineering management, fundraising,
> and
> >> strengthening our human resources function. You can read more about our
> >> process and thinking here:
> >>
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/March_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
> >>
> >>
> >> Katherine has been with the Foundation as Chief Communications Officer
> >> for about two years now. During that time, she has developed a versatile
> >> and effective team that serves the needs of the organization and
> movement,
> >> collaborating closely with other departments and the community. She has
> >> thoughtfully introduced new capacities and led her team through
> >> transitions, and played a critical role in shepherding the strategy
> process
> >> and the annual plan, in collaboration with other C-levels. She is known
> for
> >> listening to and empowering the people that she works with.
> >>
> >> For those who don’t know Katherine, she’s been a longtime advocate for
> >> global open communities, culture, and technology. She previously led
> >> advocacy for the international digital rights organization Access Now,
> >> where she worked on freedom of expression, access to information, and
> >> privacy. She has supported the efforts of citizens and governments
> around
> >> the world to deepen transparency and participation in her roles at the
> >> World Bank, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and
> >> UNICEF (where her team built wikis for youth participation in major
> global
> >> issues). She is a member of the advisory board of the Open Technology
> Fund.
> >>
> >> With interim leadership in place, our next step as the Board is to move
> >> quickly to plan and implement the search for a permanent Executive
> >> Director. We will be working together over the coming weeks to clarify
> >> roles and responsibilities in this search, and identify the best way for
> >> community and staff to participate.  We want this process to be
> inclusive
> >> and incorporate many voices. We look forward to sharing an update on our
> >> progress toward the end of next week.
> >>
> >> As interim Executive Director, Katherine will report to the Board. Geoff
> >> Brigham will continue serving as Board Secretary, and Jaime Villagomez
> as
> >> Board Treasurer, reporting to the Board in those capacities. As of March
> >> 14, Katherine's reports include the C-team: Geoff Brigham, Jaime
> >> Villagomez, Maggie Dennis, Lisa Gruwell, Joady Lohr, and Wes Moran. The
> >> Communications team will continue to report to Katherine for the time
> >> being, with support from the leadership of Juliet Barbara and Heather
> >> Walls.
> >>
> >> Thank you,
> >>
> >>  Patricio
> >>
> >> Translation notice - This message is available for translation on
> >> Meta-Wiki:
> >>
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/10_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
> >> --
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ___
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> >> wmf...@lists.wikimedia.org
> >> 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Anybody alive?

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

Think of those lame sheep like me, who just lurk and watch without making
adding a noise of themselves at all. It makes us too feel eerie when the
list suddenly goes mute...
-Viswam



On 25 February 2016 at 02:53, David Gerard  wrote:

> I've just been standing back at a safe distance and watching the
> current disaster with an "ooh, ouch" expression on my face. Still,
> editing Wikipedia is less triggering than editing RationalWiki.
>
> I was only actually shocked at Oliver's resignation.
>
>
> - d.
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcement: WMF to file suit against the NSA

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

Greatly done!
This is not just news. It is a mark that will be recorded in bold letters
in the history of human's quest for knowledge.


-user:ViswaPrabha
https://ml.wikipedia.org


On 10 March 2015 at 18:15, Tomasz Ganicz polime...@gmail.com wrote:

 https is generaly increasing privacy of the users. http can be listen by
 anyone. It is like using walkie-talkie - anyone with radio-scanner can
 listen :-)





 2015-03-10 13:26 GMT+01:00 Comet styles cometsty...@gmail.com:

  for an organization taking on the NSA  for spying..why are we using
  https? doesn't that show that we are already scared of them and
  running with our tail between our legs?
 
  On 3/10/15, Dariusz Jemielniak dar...@alk.edu.pl wrote:
   this sounds exactly as a thing we, as a movement, need institutional
   support of WMF for. Thanks for doing that.
  
   dariusz pundit
  
   On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 8:53 AM, Michelle Paulson 
  mpaul...@wikimedia.org
   wrote:
  
   Hi All,
  
   I’m writing to let you know that today the Wikimedia Foundation[1] is
   filing suit against the National Security Agency
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency, the
  Department
   of
   Justice 
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice
   ,
   and the U.S. Attorney General
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorney_General[2] in
  order
   to challenge certain mass surveillance practices carried out by the
 U.S.
   government. We believe these practices are impinging the freedom to
  learn,
   inquire, and explore on Wikimedia sites.
  
   Since the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures, we’ve heard concerns
 from
   the
   community about privacy on Wikipedia. This lawsuit is a step towards
   addressing the community's justified concerns. We believe that the
   surveillance methods being employed by the NSA under the authority of
  the
   FISA
   Amendments Act
   
  
 
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Act_of_1978_Amendments_Act_of_2008
   
   negatively impact our users' ability and willingness to participate in
  our
   projects. Today, we fight back.
  
   An op-ed
   
  
 
 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/opinion/stop-spying-on-wikipedia-users.html?_r=0
   
   by Lila and Jimmy about the lawsuit, and Wikimedia's stance on
  government
   surveillance, appeared in The New York Times this morning.
 Additionally,
   we
   just published a blog post
   https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/03/10/wikimedia-v-nsa/ with more
   information about the suit. (The post will also up on Meta for
   translation).
  
   Best,
  
  
   Michelle Paulson
  
   Senior Legal Counsel
  
   Wikimedia Foundation
  
   mpaul...@wikimedia.org
  
   [1] We are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union
 (ACLU).
   Other plaintiffs include The National Association of Criminal Defense
   Lawyers http://www.nacdl.org/, Human Rights Watch
   http://www.hrw.org/, Amnesty
   International USA http://www.amnestyusa.org/, Pen American Center
   https://www.pen.org/, Global Fund for Women
   http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/, The Nation Magazine
   http://www.thenation.com/, The Rutherford Institute
   https://www.rutherford.org/, and Washington Office on Latin America
   http://www.wola.org/.
  
   [2] Other named defendants include: Michael Rogers
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_S._Rogers, in his official
   capacity
   as Director of the National Security Agency
   
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_the_National_Security_Agency
  
   and Chief of the Central Security Service; Office of the Director of
   National Intelligence
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_National_Intelligence;
  James
   Clapper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_R._Clapper, in his
  official
   capacity as Director of National Intelligence; and Eric Holder
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Holder, in his official capacity
   as Attorney
   General https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorney_General
 
  of
   the United States.
  
  
   *NOTICE: This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If
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   have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about
 the
   mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation and for
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  more
   on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer
   https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer.*
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[Wikimedia-l] Veteran Malayalam Wikipedian BabuG signed off...

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

Dear Wikimedians all over the world,

One of our stalwarts at ml Wikimedia community, Wikiuser:BabuG
https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Babug (
https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Babug)  expired yesterday night.

Despite having paralyzed due to a severe stroke and severely affected by
several subsequent health problems, he was guided to Wikipedia by his son,
Dr. Ajay, another prominent Malayalam Wikipedian, as a possible remedy to
escape perpetual loneliness.

His real world name was G. Balachandran.He was born on 14th October 1938 in
a small village off North Parur, Ernakulam District, Kerala, the
Southernmost state of India.He  joined the Armed Forces Engineering College
and then continued to serve the Indian Armed forces for long many years.

He started contributing to Wikimedia, particularly to Malayalam Wikipedia,
in the year 2008.

His initial contributions to Malayalam Wikipedia were based upon a
pulp-converted digital Encyclopedia, released by the Government through
GFDL licence then.  He continued to create even more full-featured articles
on his own, later. By 2014 October 18 - the day he edited last in
Wikipedia- he had 1935 full-blown articles initiated and expanded by
himself in ml.wikipedia.org. Besides, he also contributed more than 350
images to Wikimedia commons and a handsome  amount of contributions to
Wikisource, Wikidata and Wiktionary.

He always attributed his renewed energy and life's aspirations to the
Wikimedia mission, for having returned to a meaningful life after a 20-year
long and frustrating solitude while constrained to an immobile chair. Ever
since 2008, he stood up and started walking and moving around. His was an
extreme example for us in Malayalam WP to showcase how Wikipedia can change
lives.

In almost all our Wikipedia Outreach sessions, we utilized this great
example to motivate and excite the newcomers to WP.

Tory Read mentioned about BabuG thus, in a document
http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/india-chronicles.pdf, a  review
on the state of Indian Wikimedia Communities, in 2011:

G. Balachandran, a septuagenarian who lives outside of Ernakulum in Kerala
 state, said that working on Malayalam Wikipedia helped him recover after a
 stroke left him paralyzed. “He’s much sharper now,” said his wife Jagadamma
 K. “He’s made a lot of new friends, and that’s been good for his health.”


For us in Malayalam Wikipedia, today is a black day, for having lost a
great beacon on our voyage to ultimate openness and freedom in knowledge
and wisdom.


Yet, we feel, BabuG has made his life stamped immortal for ever and has
shown us the pathway we should follow in continuing our humble
contributions to the ultimate cause of mankind.


-ViswaPrabha
(On behalf of Malayalam Wikimedia Community)
http://ml.wikipedia.org
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Re-licensing Wikimedia logos on Commons to CC BY-SA 3.0

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

That is wonderful news for outreach evangelists!

A great step indeed!
:)


On Mon, Oct 27, 2014 at 11:21 PM, Yana Welinder ywelin...@wikimedia.org
wrote:

 Hi folks,

 I'm happy to announce that we are re-licensing the Wikimedia logos on
 Commons to CC BY-SA 3.0:
 https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/10/24/wikimedia-logos-have-been-freed/

 I would really appreciate your help with replacing the {{Copyright by
 Wikimedia}}
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Copyright_by_Wikimedia[1]
 templates on the logos with the {{Wikimedia trademark}}
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Wikimedia_trademark[2] and
 {{cc-by-sa-3.0}} https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Cc-by-sa-3.0
 [3]
 templates. But we don't want to replace templates on the MediaWiki
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MediaWiki.svg[4] and the
 Community
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Community_Logo.svg[5]
 logos, which were originally released under free licenses.

 There are also some pages on Commons, like this one
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing[6], that may need
 to
 be updated based on the re-licensed logos.

 Thanks,

 Yana

 [1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Copyright_by_Wikimedia

 [2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Wikimedia_trademark

 [3] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Cc-by-sa-3.0

 [4] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MediaWiki.svg

 [5] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Community_Logo.svg

 [6] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing


 --
 Yana Welinder
 Legal Counsel
 Wikimedia Foundation
 415.839.6885 ext. 6867
 @yanatweets https://twitter.com/yanatweets

 NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical
 reasons I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community
 members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more
 on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Comment time for IEG Grants proposal

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

Thank you for this reminder.

As I see, the IEG system has attracted many innovative ideas on how to
integrate the efforts and wisdom of a multitude of communities and evolve
sustainable long term models that can be scaled up globally. To that
extend, each IEG proposal is worth detailed study not just for a one time
review but as a set of community-derived innovative ideas that can be
probed and analyzed to determine how to move forward in our quest to
collect and show case the entire totality of human knowledge ever generated.

I urge every Wikimedians to go through these proposals and even corroborate
on a secondary level idea generation so that eventually we can start
designing the framework for a Wikimedia version 2.0

-Viswam

On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 9:31 AM, Patrick Earley pear...@wikimedia.org
wrote:

 For our second round of Individual Engagement Grant applications in 2014,
 we have a great crop of ideas. Wikimedians have dropped by to offer
 feedback, support, or expertise to some of the proposals, but many
 proposals have not been reviewed by community members.

 If there is an open proposal that interests you, that you have concerns
 about, or that involves an area where you have experience or expertise,
 please drop by the proposal page to share your views.  This will help the
 proposers better hone their strategies, and will assist the IEG Committee
 in evaluating some of these fresh new ideas to improve Wikimedia projects.
 Working with an IEG proposal may even inspire you to serve as a project
 advisor, or to propose one of your own for the next cycle!  Comments are
 requested until October 20th.

 IEG Grant Proposals
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG#ieg-reviewing

 Regards,

 --
 Patrick Earley
 Community Advocate
 Wikimedia Foundation
 pear...@wikimedia.org
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] photography restrictions at the Olympics

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

May be we should take such anomalies to public forums!

Slash dot? Free knowledge forums? Press? Media?

Olympics is not just a money spinning sponsored affair. Information about
the happenings there is the right of every universal citizen!

The 'long' camera may have something to do with security. But
accreditations?

My 2 cents of thoughts.
-Viswam



On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 1:47 PM, Amir E. Aharoni 
amir.ahar...@mail.huji.ac.il wrote:

 Hi,

 The Olympic games are beginning soon. Apparently, ticket holders
 cannot use photo equipment longer than 30cm and cannot use the photos
 and videos for commercial purposes without accreditation.

 Practically everything that happens at the Olympics is notable and
 should be on Wikipedia, Commons, etc. Does anybody know whether there
 are professional accredited photographers who are Wikimedia-friendly
 and plan to upload their photos? If there aren't any, does anybody
 know whether a Wikipedian can obtain such accreditation?

 This doesn't concern me directly, but there are many, many people who
 write Wikipedia articles about sports in all languages and it may be
 interesting to them. Also, it may be a frequent issue in sports and
 I'm just not aware of it because I rarely follow sports.

 Sources for the restrictions:
 * http://www.tickets.london2012.com/purchaseterms.html
 * PDF: http://j.mp/london2012prohibited

 --
 Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי
 http://aharoni.wordpress.com
 ‪“We're living in pieces,
 I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore‬

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