If you have ever faced problems editing Wikipedia, you can seek help from this academy, which teaches you how to make additions to the popular online encyclopaedia
If you have ever faced problems editing Wikipedia, you can seek help from this academy, which teaches you how to make additions to the popular online encyclopaedia
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Sharing Thoughts: Jimmy Wales, chair emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation, with Kiruba Shankar of the Wikipedia Academy pic/flickr.com |
India's own Silicon Valley has played a big role in shaping the IT landscape of India, and now it is helping shape the online world of Wikipedia too. Though the Wikipedia Academy was set up by Kiruba Shankar, CEO of Business Blogging Pvt Ltd in Chennai, the idea was hatched in Bangalore where Kiruba met Jimmy Wales, chair emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation.
u00a0"I first met Jimmy Wales in Bangalore during a Wikipedians' meet. That's when I invited him to attend WikiCamp, India's biggest Wiki conference. He flew in to be the keynote speaker and was very impressed with the event, which attracted over 350 participants.u00a0 This sowed the seeds for a bigger outreach program and that was how the Wikipedia Academy came to fruition," explains Kiruba.
Not any academyThis academy belies the popular notions of an academy because it involves just a room with a computer, where ardent Wiki users learn the basics of editing Wikipedia and uploading content. The academy helps users familiarise with various Wikipedia tags with which they can edit.
"The academy is a first of its kind in India, though there is something similar in Germany. India ranks at the top when it comes to accessing Wikipedia. But only a small number of people edit Wikipedia because they don't know that it's editable or that their knowledge can be shared," says Kiruba, who is spearheading the Wikimedia Foundation activities in India.
Interesting profileThe profile of those coming to the academy is interesting. "From an 84-year-old retired army man wanting to Wiki to engineering students to professionals, we get a wide range of people," says Kiruba, adding that anyone with a room and a PC can start an academy anywhere in India. He says the academy is meant for those people who are uncomfortable with editing and adding information to the site.
"There is one orthopaedic surgeon in Chennai who is now happily sharing his wealth of knowledge in his domain with the world after he learnt the basics from the academy," said Kiruba.
According to him it is unfortunate that the knowledge of people doesn't get shared just because they don't know the Wikipedia tags. "For instance, my dad is a sugarcane farmer. His knowledge on sugarcane farming is fantastic. What if the same knowledge is shared with the world?" he asks.
Explaining his fascination with Wikipedia, he says, "I am basically fascinated with Wikipedia. Additionally, Wiki founder Jimmy Wales is a good friend of mine." The academy's classes, which are free, are held two to three hours every month.
Future plansThe foundation is planning to set up Wikipedia academies across India. The Wikimedia Foundation India encourages more contributions to regional language Wikipedia pages like Bhojpuri, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu, among others.
"The foundation will also take up fundraising for various Wikimedia projects.u00a0 We will focus on encouraging both individual donations and institutional donations. We will also be lobbying with state and central government to include Wikipedia usage in schools and colleges. The foundation will encourage many translation efforts from English to regional language Wikipedia," he said.
QUICK TAKE
>>While we use Wikipedia, Indians don't add a lot of content
>>The Wikipedia Academy wants to change this
>>The foundation is planning to set up Wikipedia academies across India
