Thanks Pranav !!
Naveen Francis Signature powered by <http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=footer> WiseStamp<http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=footer> On 9 August 2011 10:30, <wheredevelsd...@hotmail.com> wrote: > Sure - offline or non-english refs are accepted AGF! > > ------------------------------ > From: navee...@gmail.com > Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 07:31:47 +0530 > To: wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Press] : New York Times : "When Knowledge > Isn’t Written, Does It Still Count?" > > > Nice article ... :) > > Hi Tinu, > > One doubt in referencing; can we keep text indic languages as reference in > English wikipedia ? > > Naveen Francis > Signature powered by > <http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=footer> > WiseStamp<http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=footer> > On 8 August 2011 23:13, CherianTinu Abraham <tinucher...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > *NewYork Times : "When Knowledge Isn’t Written, Does It Still Count?"* > > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/business/media/a-push-to-redefine-knowledge-at-wikipedia.html > > > *“MAKING fun of Wikipedia is so 2007,” a French journalist said recently > to Sue Gardner, the executive director of the foundation that runs the > Wikipedia project.* > * > * > *And so Ms. Gardner, in turn, told an auditorium full of Wikipedia > contributors and supporters on Thursday in Haifa, Israel, the host city for > the seventh annual Wikimania conference, where meetings and presentations > focus on the world’s most used, and perhaps least understood, online > reference work.* > * > * > *Once routinely questioned about its reliability — what do you mean, > anyone can edit it? — the site is now used every month by upwards of 400 > million people worldwide. But with influence and respect come > responsibility, and lately Wikipedia has been criticized from without and > within for reflecting a Western, male-dominated mindset similar to the > perspective behind the encyclopedias it has replaced.* > * > * > *Seeing Wikipedia as The Man, in so many words, is so 2011.* > * > * > *And that’s a problem for an encyclopedia that wants to grow. Some critics > of Wikipedia believe that the whole Western tradition of footnotes and > sourced articles needs to be rethought if Wikipedia is going to continue to > gather converts beyond its current borders. And that, in turn, invites an > entirely new debate about what constitutes knowledge in different parts of > the world and how a Western institution like Wikipedia can capitalize on it. > * > * > * > *Achal Prabhala, an adviser to Ms. Gardner’s Wikimedia Foundation who > lives and writes in Bangalore, India, has made perhaps the most trenchant > criticism in a video project, “People are Knowledge,” that he presented in > Haifa (along with its clunky subtitle, “Exploring alternative methods of > citation for Wikipedia”).* > * > * > *The film, which was made largely with a $20,000 grant from the Wikimedia > Foundation, spends time showing what has been lost to Wikipedia because of > stickling rules of citation and verification. If Wikipedia purports to > collect the “sum of all human knowledge,” in the words of one of its > founders, Jimmy Wales, that, by definition, means more than printed > knowledge, Mr. Prabhala said.* > * > * > *In the case of dabba kali, a children’s game played in the Kerala state > of India, there was a Wikipedia article in the local language, Malayalam, > that included photos, a drawing and a detailed description of the rules, but > no sources to back up what was written. Other than, of course, the 40 > million people who played it as children.* > * > * > *There is no doubt, he said, that the article would have been deleted from > English Wikipedia if it didn’t have any sources to cite. Those are the rules > of the game, and those are the rules he would like to change, or at least > bend, or, if all else fails, work around.* > * > * > *“There is this desire to grow Wikipedia in parts of the world,” he said, > adding that “if we don’t have a more generous and expansive citation policy, > the current one will prove to be a massive roadblock that you literally > can’t get past. There is a very finite amount of citable material, which > means a very finite number of articles, and there will be no more.”* > * > * > *Mr. Prabhala, 38, who grew up in India and then attended American > universities, has been an activist on issues of intellectual property, > starting with the efforts in South Africa to free up drugs that treat H.I.V. > In the film, he gives other examples of subjects — an alcohol produced in a > village, Ga-Sabotlane, in Limpopo, South Africa, and a popular > hopscotch-type children’s game, tshere-tshere — beyond print documentation > and therefore beyond Wikipedia’s true-and-tried method.* > * > * > *There are whole cultures, he said, that have little to no printed > material to cite as proof about the way life is lived.* > * > * > *“Publishing is a system of power and I mean that in a completely > pleasant, accepting sense,” he said mischievously. “But it leaves out > people.”* > * > * > *But Mr. Prabhala offers a solution: he and the video’s directors, Priya > Sen and Zen Marie, spoke with people in African and Indian villages either > in person or over the phone and had them describe basic activities. These > recordings were then uploaded and linked to the article as sources, and > suddenly an article that seems like it could be a personal riff looks a bit > more academic.* > * > * > *For example, in his interview with a South African villager who explained > how to make the alcoholic drink, morula, she repeatedly says that it is best > if she demonstrates the process. When the fruit is ready, said the villager, > Philipine Moremi, according to the project’s transcript of her phone > conversation, “we pry them open. We are going to show you how it is done. > Once they are peeled, we seal them to ferment and then we drink.” The idea > of treating personal testimony as a source for Wikipedia is still > controversial, and reflects the concerns that dominated the encyclopedia > project six years ago, when arguably its very existence was threatened.* > * > * > *After a series of hoaxes, culminating in a Wikipedia article in 2005 that > maligned the newspaper editor John Seigenthaler for no discernible reason > other than because a Wikipedia contributor could, the site tried to ensure > that every statement could be traced to a source.* > * > * > *Then there is the rule “no original research,” which was meant to say > that Wikipedia doesn’t care if you are writing about the subway station you > visit every day, find someone who has written reliably on the color of the > walls there.* > * > * > *“The natural thing is getting more and more accurate, locking down > articles, raising the bar on sources,” said Andrew Lih, an associate > professor of journalism at the University of Southern California, who was an > early contributor to Wikipedia and has written a history of its rise. “Isn’t > it great we have so many texts online?”* > * > * > *But what works for the most developed societies, he said, won’t > necessarily work for others. “Lots of knowledge is not Googleable,” he said, > “and is not in a digital form.”* > * > * > *Mr. Lih said that he could see the Wikipedia project suddenly becoming > energized by the process of documenting cultural practices around the world, > or down the street.* > * > * > *Perhaps Mr. Prabhala’s most challenging argument is that by being > text-focused, and being locked into the Encyclopedia Britannica model, > Wikipedia risks being behind the times.* > * > * > *An 18-year-old is comfortable using “objects of trust that have been > created on the Internet,” he said, and “Wikipedia isn’t taking advantage of > that.” And, he added, “it is quite possible that for the 18-year-old of > today that Wikipedia looks like his father’s project. Or the kind of thing > his father might be interested in.”* > * > * > *Ouch.* > > > > > Regards > Tinu Cherian > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > > > > _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing > list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > >
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