Talk:Wikigraphists Bootcamp (2018 India)

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Initial Introduction[edit]

I am planning for Wikigraphists Bootcamp in India, please fill out the survey form to help the organizers. Your responses will help organizers understand what level of demand there is for the event (how many people in your community think it is important that the event happens).

Survey form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehHilsme4iAH2E9LPPgoVmNx0N5DLgPgA8hqzA4x55Ww3NsQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

To start with, English Wikipedia has a dedicated team of editors to work on computer generated images, illustrations, and maps. The platform is referred as the Graphics Lab, and the contributors are called Wikigraphists. Wikigraphists work to improve the quality of the images that have been proposed by the community. This involves work such as extracting key elements from photos, improving the color of images or emphasizing the main subject, stitching multiple images together and often vectorizing images — converting to Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). They also create new drawings, diagrams and maps when requests are made to do so. The Graphics lab functions as Illustration workshop, Photography workshop, and Maps workshop, depending upon the type of request by a user.

However, the use of SVG format, and other above mentioned graphic techniques are not seen much seen in practice among the Indian community. The plan is to organize a bootcamp for 3–4 days to train the participants on the above said. The workshop will emphasize on the "Graphics lab" of Wikipedia, and the technicalities and image parameters of Quality images (QI) and Featured pictures (FP), on Wikimedia Commons. At the end of the day, the participants will turn out to have knowledge to create drawings, illustrations, diagrams, maps, graphs, bar charts etc. and get to know to how to tune the images to meet the QI and FP criteria.

Survey form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehHilsme4iAH2E9LPPgoVmNx0N5DLgPgA8hqzA4x55Ww3NsQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talkmail) 12:39, 15 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed changes and discussion[edit]

Hi everyone, as the initial proposed skills are extremely time intensive and may easily spill out out the planned schedule, it has been suggested to scale down the project, and focus on one or two skills. The changes proposed are:

  • All the three days of the event will only focus on creation of SVG images using Inkscape and similar tools. This will rule out the training on both, maps and image processing. This change is suggested because the skill sets required for these are different from each other. So considering this as a bootcamp, the latter skills may be followed up later.
  • In order to maintain a decent trainer to trainee ratio, the scholarships will be awarded as follows: 12 (National) + 3 (International: Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka) + 3 (from Swecha: A regional NGO that we're in collaboration with, for the venue. Also they've professionals working on similar skills, and have organized such workshops in the past; please see the last section of http://summercamp.swecha.org/hyderabad/)
  • Two experts on Inkscape to "moderate" the program
  • The participants will be selected in the ratio of; Intermediate skill level and above: Beginner and equivalents=1:1
  • i.e. at least 9 participants will have have done some work in this area, and rest will be the ones who're in need of this training, and have identified themselves to work in a specific area of illustrations. Also the beginners, will be asked to go through the basics of Inkscape, and practice a bit from the online resources, before they actually attend the event. I think in this way, we can ensure that the learning curve isn't too vertical.

I request the community members to voice their opinions regarding these changes, and also put forward the kind of illustrations that you or your community is in need of. For example; illustrations of birds, scientific instruments etc. This help us frame the program and also understand the need of illustration skills required. Also, please let us know if you or your community have anything to share with regards to illustrations and SVGs. As the suggestions are to assessed, and relevant changes are to be made to the proposal, this discussion will be open till seven days from now i.e. 12 April 2018. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talkmail) 06:01, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Lahariyaniyathi, Satdeep Gill, AshLin, Yohannvt, Suyash.dwivedi, Saileshpat, Manavpreet Kaur, Jayprakash12345, Biplab Anand, Lokesha kunchadka, Soni, Sushma Sharma, BHARATHESHA ALASANDEMAJALU, Sidheeq, Hindustanilanguage, राजू जांगिड़, Aliva Sahoo, Ravidreams, Afifa Afrin, Satpal Dandiwal, Tulsi Bhagat, Sumita Roy Dutta, Marajozkee, Naveenpf, Kritzolina, Nirajan pant, Rajendra prabhune, Godric ki Kothri, Viswaprabha, UY Scuti, and Sumitsurai: Pining the organizing team, and grant endorsers. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talkmail) 06:19, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Good luck with this initiative! I have always wanted to be a Wikigraphist and even had several illustration ideas myself, but could not yet find time for it. There is a dearth of illustrative images related to medicine on Wikipedia, and I wanted to change this scenario sometime in the past, but it could not work out because of lack of enthusiasm. Although I will not be able to attend the Wikigraphists bootcamp in person, I wish all luck for the event. Would it be possible to record the training session as a video so that those who could not attend in person may be able to follow the event online? Thanks and regards --Netha Hussain (talk) 06:38, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Netha Hussain: Thanks for the comment. Good to see IdeaLab page. Presently, the project is at planning stage, so we can consider to record the training sessions. Also it would be great if you can share the "illustration ideas" you have, in brief may be. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talkmail) 07:07, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Krishna Chaitanya Velaga: - I see no content page associated with this talk page - it seems that anyone getting here will not be able to see any context - perhaps some context is needed or the discussion could have been continued at Grants_talk:Conference/Krishna_Chaitanya_Velaga/Wikigraphists_Bootcamp_(2018_India) Shyamal (talk) 06:54, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Shyamal: Forgot to link that. Thanks. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talkmail) 07:07, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I have taken the liberty to redirect the blank content page to the relevant project proposal. Diptanshu 💬 07:47, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Illustrations like this can greatly enhance the understanding of such concepts: Cell disassembly during apoptosis
Diagrammatic structures might sometimes be applicable
Flowcharts are also useful
@Diptanshu Das: That would help for now. Also since you're quite involved with WikiProject Medicine and related content on Wikipedia, it would wonderful if you can share your thoughts regarding how and what kind of illustrations might be helpful on medicine related articles. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talkmail) 08:43, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Krishna Chaitanya Velaga: The implications of this bootcamp are great and could be of great utility to WikiProject Medicine and WikiProject Physiology where often concepts need to be elucidated. Simple illustrations can therefore improve such articles significantly. As of now such articles are tagged under w:Category:Wikipedia requested images of medical subjects although a definite distinction between images/photos/diagrams does not exist in this category. Articles under WikiProject Pharmacology usually call for illustration of the chemical structures and that too comes under the purview of this bootcamp. As already pointed out by Netha Hussain earlier in this discussion, she too had tried to go ahead with such an idea since the implication upon these medicine-related Wikiprojects is tremendous. Diptanshu 💬 11:19, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Diptanshu Das: Thanks for the detailed comment. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talkmail) 11:31, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
It needs to be mentioned that w:Category:Wikipedia requested images of medical subjects contains about 2000 articles that have already been tagged to require such images, many more articles are there which not been identified and marked. Many of these actually require a flow diagram or some other form of diagram to elucidate some concept. Anaerobic respiration is one such article. Some of the work already done can be found compiled at Medical gallery of Mikael Häggström 2014, Medical gallery of David Richfield 2014 or Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014 at WikiJournal of Medicine. Diptanshu 💬 11:36, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Several of the images in the categories that Dr Diptanshu has posted above are based on 3D modelling - using Blender etc. I wonder if Krishna has looked at the strengths of available resource persons to deal with the generation of these kinds of images. Shyamal (talk) 05:58, 6 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
To continue on this theme - perhaps it would make sense to (1) set expectations on what our final output is going to be based on the available resource persons (2) decide on participant qualifications - perhaps they should be subject-matter-specialists who can envision informative graphics or should be experts in technical translation into Indic languages so as to use pre-existing material - or these two classes of people need to guide others with the skills and resources to produce based on the need - in which case - we have to ask if we are looking for a forum where requests are made (which raises other questions - how do Indic language communities communicate their needs to others who may not speak their language) and handled by others. Shyamal (talk) 08:02, 6 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Shyamal:: Points valid. Let me add that I wanted to put forward the concepts and not really the 3D modelling involved in it. The same concepts can be used in 2D as well. The scope of the workshop may or may not extend to Blender but any training to produce wikigraphists would have great implications. Indeed we need the participation of subject-matter-specialists who can envision informative graphics. Diptanshu 💬 14:14, 8 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Best of luck. I want to attend the program personally. What are the dates? I want to learn illustration of birds along with map. Created some map long before using inkscape but could not do much since not trained. -- Sumita Roy Dutta (talk) 08:30, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Sumita Roy Dutta: If approved, it'll be in the last week of September. Good to know your work. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talkmail) 08:43, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds good--Jayprakash >>> Talk 10:05, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Krishna Chaitanya Velaga: My interest area in wikigraphics are maps. Now it's unfortunate that the maps spilled out from this workshop. However it's great initiative to promote wiki illustrations. Kudos to you.--Godric ki Kothri (talk) 10:27, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Krishna Chaitanya Velaga:, it was good idea. i am interested to know inkscape, gimp and some vlc video editing..--Viswanadh.BK (విశ్వనాధ్) (talk) 13:36, 6 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Krishna Chaitanya Velaga:, I appreciate you getting this to all, i really interested to know more about it. Sushma_Sharma (talk)

@Krishna Chaitanya Velaga:,This is an amazing initiative, a much-required training for wikimedians who want to create illustrations and graphics for the articles. Will surely master the basics of inkscape, if that helps. What will be the criteria for getting selected? --Wikilover90 (talk) 05:52, 9 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Krishna Chaitanya Velaga: Thank you so much for this amazing graphics . I am very interesting for this thing . Personally I want to join ..--Aliva Sahoo (talk) 15:53, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Sidheeq (talk) 10:01, 11 April 2018 (UTC) support, good luck[reply]
it's really great initiative and one of the most needed hands-on workshop, many of Hindi Wikipedia and other Indic language articles needs SVG illustrations text (labels) in their own languages, for example, some of Technical/scientific articles in Hindi Diode Bird and Eye are having English labels which needed to be converted in Hindi/Indic language for better understanding of the subject.Also, the understanding of some basic/advanced photo editing tools/software is required.A collaborative training and learning process will be the great success of this Bootcamp-- Suyash Dwivedi (talk) 15:52, 11 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

Ideal participation[edit]

Dear all, this is an open discussion to help the organisers to select participants for the workshop. Please provide your inputs for the basic question:

Who do you think are ideal candidates to attend the workshop?

Please provide a detailed response, which will be helpful to frame the scholarship application later. You response may include points like what should be the basis of selection, what aspects of the user's Wiki-experience are to be experienced, what kind of knowledge should the user have, diversity inclusion etc. You can also propose specific user with a proper rationale, explaining what makes that user an ideal candidate for the workshop. The discussion will be open until the end of 25 May 2018. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talkmail) 03:48, 21 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

giving priority to Interest and active in wiki projects --Sidheeq (talk) 03:20, 22 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Does Inscape work on Chromebooks?[edit]

I have seen people who benefited from Project tiger also got scholarships. That is really appreciated. Thanks to the selection team. Does inscape work on Chromebook? It is better for them to try before itself. So that we can somehow try to arrange for spare laptops. --Gopala Krishna A (talk) 05:51, 23 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I have a Chromebook and inkscape can't be installed on it. They only way to use inkscape on a Chromebook is to install the chrome extension, which still is quite slow. I would really appreciate if someone could point me to a similar software which might be compatible with the Chrome OS.-- Shypoetess (talk) 04:48, 26 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Also we can't save the file into our Chromebook using the Inkscape extension available in chrome extension. So i use Pixlr and Vectr apps in my Chromebook. Also try Photopea which can used for editing PSD files online. -Jinoytommanjaly (talk) 13:06, 26 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Someone pointed out that you need to follow the suggestions here - https://lifehacker.com/how-to-install-linux-on-a-chromebook-and-unlock-its-ful-509039343 Shyamal (talk) 04:25, 6 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
You can also try, Inkscape on RollApp, which works perfectly fine. However, it is a bit slow. KCVelaga (talk) 12:03, 18 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Installation of Inkscape in Chromebook[edit]

I have checked and verified this in my Chromebook. The first thing to do to install the Inkscape in Chromebook is to convert normal version to developer version(Official).

This can be done by the following steps:

  1. Open the settings page of Chromebook. This can be seen on bottom right corner of the window.
  2. Then in the settings window click left top menu. In the pop-up select the option 'About Chrome OS'.
  3. A new window with the details will be opened. In that window select 'Detailed build information'.
  4. Change the channel from 'Stable' to 'Developer'. Check for the updates and install the updates.
  5. The Chromebook will ask for a restart when package download completes.
  6. After restarting open the settings page again and click on left top menu. You can see a new section 'Linux (Beta)' just below Google play.
  7. Select the 'Linux (Beta)'. Click the Turn on buttom and download the package (300mb).
  8. After installation open the 'Terminal' which is shown in the app list. After opening 'Terminal' you can notice something like yourusername@penguin:~$.
  9. Type 'sudo apt-get install inkscape' without apostrophe after that ( yourusername@penguin:~$ sudo apt-get install inkscape ) and press enter.
  10. After the package gets installed completely it will comes into the position yourusername@penguin:~$.
  11. Restart the OS and open the Inkscape Official.

For video [1] --Jinoytommanjaly (talk) 20:09, 29 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Jinoytommanjaly: Thanks for detailing the procedure. It'll be of great help to Chromebook users. KCVelaga (talk) 17:43, 8 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Laptop Requirement[edit]

I don't have a laptop. I use desktop at home. Kindly arrange one for me for boot camp. --Sushant savla (talk) 03:18, 24 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I have a Chromebook and InkScape does not work on it. So if possible, please arrange the laptop for me too. - Satpal Dandiwal (talk) 05:13, 24 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]