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CIS-A2K/Work plan July 2015 - June 2016/Publicity, Research and Documentation

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CIS-A2K

CIS-A2K (Centre for Internet and Society - Access to Knowledge) is a campaign to promote the fundamental principles of justice, freedom, and economic development. It deals with issues like copyrights, patents and trademarks, which are an important part of the digital landscape.
If you have a general proposal/suggestion for Access to Knowledge team you can write on the discussion page. If you have appreciations or feedback on our work, please share it on feedback page.

Work plan July 2015 - June 2016

 Main page  Language plans  Movement resources  Budget  Stand alone projects  Community strengthening

Many of the Indic Wikimedia projects in spite of being in existence for more than 10 years have not received adequate publicity. Many of the long time Indic Wikimedia volunteers have, during our interactions, expressed the need to increase the publicity about the Indic Wikimedia projects so that there is increased public awareness. CIS-A2K has left no stone unturned to get print and electronic media publicity for Indic Wikimedia projects and communities in last two years. Because of our efforts there were about 100 news items the print media[1] and about 10 programs on electronic media[2] in the last year.
Also the Wikimedia movement in India could benefit with more systematic research and documentation. It should be noted that CIS has been doing research about the Wikimedia movement way before the Access to Knowledge programme got a grant from Wikimedia Foundation. Researching on various elements of the Wikimedia movement is not something new for CIS and the team will continue its efforts in this direction. In addition to action research, we undertook systematic documentation of the movement during the last year. More concerted efforts will be put even during this year as per the below plans.

Publicity

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Work done so far

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During the year of 2014-15 CIS-A2K put significant efforts to increase the visibility of the Indic Wikimedia projects through traditional media and social media. In the four focused language areas (Kannada, Konkani, Odia and Telugu) there was an extensive and unprecedented coverage of Wikimedia community and projects in media like never before. Konkani Wikimedia community received more than 20 media mentions since July 2013. While the Telugu community got more than 20 print media and 7 electronic media coverages in the last year. Odia community has got 14 print and 18 electronic mentions. Similarly, Kannada community received 70 mentions in various media during 2013-14. We have also managed to help other Indic communities in getting media coverage for their events. There was also increased coverage about Indic Wikimedias in the mainstream English media.

In addition to getting the traditional media coverage CIS-A2K tried to effectively use social media in building community spirit among the various Indic Wikimedia communities and to draw in some new users. CIS-A2K has started and revived Kannada Wikipedia, Konkani Wikipedia, Telugu Wiki and Odia Wiki Facebook groups. All these are maintained in collaboration with the respective Indic Wikimedia communities. Our Access to Knowledge Facebook page has grown organically and showcases important milestones and happenings on the Indic Wikimedia projects. We have also started Twitter handle @WeAreWikipedia, [3] which works on a rotation curation model, involving Wikimedians from across the world.

Plans for July 2015-June 2016

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  • We will ensure that each of the 5 focus language areas get at least 10-15 print media coverage and 3-4 electronic media coverage during this work plan period.
  • We will actively involve the community to give them visibility in the media such that it motivates potential Wikimedians.
  • We will focus on showcasing long time committed Indic Wikimedians by doing case studies and stories and publish them on various blogs including CIS and Wikimedia Foundation Blog.
  • We will organize press-meets (involving Wikimedia India Chapter and volunteers) for all major events.
  • We will continue to regularly send out press-publicity material about Indic Wikimedia projects, communities and events.
  • We will work towards training some enthusiastic community members to emerge as PR leaders. CIS-A2K will seek help from successful volunteers like Tinu Cherian to do this.
  • We will continue with our social media activities and explore creative utilization of social media channels to get new editors and keep motivating the existing editors.

Research

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CIS has deep interest in researching the Wikimedia movement. Even before the Access to Knowledge programme got a grant from Wikimedia Foundation CIS has been researching the movement. CIS's Digital Humanities initiative[4] as one of the components of its work is exploring how the Wikipedia which is the largest user generated content website stands as a figurehead of digital turn in reconfiguring the modes of knowledge production, distribution and dissemination and the existing pedagogic practices of higher education. Our research outputs could benefit the Wikimedia movement globally in general and specifically entities like WMF, Wikimedia Education Foundation (WEF), University Grants Commission (UGC), Universities and other Higher Education institutions in India.

Work done so far

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Below is the list of some of the key research outputs on Wikimedia produced by CIS.

  • Critical Point of View:A Wikipedia Reader: CIS and the Institute of Network Cultures (Amsterdam, Netherlands) worked together to bring ideas, experiences and scholarship about Wikipedia in a reader that charts out detailed user stories as well as empirical and analytical work to produce. The organisations jointly hosted two separate conferences aimed at building a Wikipedia Knowledge Network and charting scholarship and stories about the Wikipedia from around the world.
  • Digital Humanities Research's interest in Wikipedia as pedagogic tool. The Digital Classroom in the Time of Wikipedia[5]
  • Indic Wikipedia Visualizations [6] [7]
  • Research Analysis of Indic Wikimedia projects.[8] [9]

Plans for July 2015-June 2016

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  • During this year CIS-RAW program will actively look at the Indic Wikimedias as doing Digital Humanities in Indic languages.
  • CIS-RAW program will also look at how Wikipedia could be used as a pedagogic tool in the Indian Higher Education classroom.
  • CIS-A2K will commission an action research project to examine the two largest Wikipedia Education Programs (WEP) that will be rolled-out in collaboration with Christ University and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences. This research will help us understand: a) how to effectively use the Wikipedia in the language classroom; and b) how to track the learning improvement of the students. These findings will help in redesigning the WEP in these institutions. Also the outcomes could benefit the larger movement entities, especially in the Global South that are interested in or implementing WEP.
  • CIS-A2K will also put out analytical reports on Indic Wikimedia projects.

Documentation

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Work done so far

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We been documenting all our activities and programs by issuing monthly newsletters, blogs, quarterly reports and mid-term narrative reports. In addition the team has been documenting the wider movement by publishing videos of expereinced and new Wikipedia editors (Wikipedians Speak), conducting timely analysis of the growth of Indian language Wikipedias and more.

Plans for July 2015-June 2016

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CIS-A2K will under take the following documentation activities during this work plan period.

  1. Monthly Newsletter about the CIS-A2K activities to be circulated on all the India wide Wikimedia mailing lists and to the internal CIS-A2K mailing list of 2,000 people, which is being put together.
  2. Quarterly reports giving update against each of the plans to be circulated on all the India wide Wikimedia mailing lists.
  3. Mid-term detailed Narrative Report to be circulated on all the India wide Wikimedia mailing lists and to the internal CIS-A2K mailing list.
  4. Author and publish about 100 blogs on various Wikimedia activities and events.
  5. Do about 30 video interviews of Indic Wikimedians as part of the CIS-A2K's Wikimedians Speak activity.
  6. Detailed documentation reports of all the key activities undertaken by CIS-A2K.
  7. Track and keep record of all the media mentions about Indic Wikimedia projects.

Budget

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Expenditure Item FDC Support (INR) FDC Support (US$) Other Sources and in kind Support (INR) Other Sources and in kind Support (US$)
1 PA x 60% * 180,000/- 2,908.80 - -
3 PO x 10% * 234,432/- 3,788.42 - -
1 PM x 10% * 105,600/- 1,706.50 - -
1 PD x 10% ** 158,400/- 2,559.74 81,600/- 1,318.66
Total 678,432/- 10,963.46 81,600/- 1,318.66

Notes:
* 60% time of Tito as Program Associate (consultant)
* 10% time of Rahmanuddin, Tanveer Hasan and Subhashish as Program Officer
* 10% time of Pavanaja as Program Manager
** 10% time of the Program Director, CIS-A2K

Notes

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  1. All the four focus language areas during the last year's plan received significant print media coverage because of CIS-A2K's efforts. In addition, even the mainstream English print media did stories on indic Wikimedia projects, which was unprecedented.
  2. There were 6 television programs and 1 radio program on Telugu Wikipedia, 2 television programs and 1 radio interview on Kannada Wikipedia and 1 television program on Odia Wikipedia.
  3. Panigrahi, Subhashish. This Twitter Account Puts a Face to the Unsung Volunteer Editors Behind Wikipedia. Global Voices. (18 June 2014)
  4. Digital Humanities initiative of CIS' Researchers at Work (RAW) program
  5. The Digital Classroom in the Time of Wikipedia
  6. http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indic-wikipedia-visualisation-project-visualising-basic-parameters?searchterm=Visuali Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #1: Visualising Basic Parameters
  7. http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indic-wikipedia-visualisation-project-visualising-page-views-and-project-pages?searchterm=Visuali Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #2: Visualising Page Views and Project Pages
  8. Indic Language Wikipedias — Statistical Report — 2012
  9. Indian Language Wikipedia Statistics (September 2012 – April 2013)