CIS-A2K/Events/Workshop on FOSS, Unicode & Wikimedia Projects for Publishers, Printers, designers & writers

CIS-A2K has adopted integrated approach towards knowledge generation in Marathi language. With the involvement of various stakeholders in different programmes, the need of comprehensive workshop was felt. The State Govt Language department & All India Marathi Publishers Consortium took the lead to organise this workshop. CIS-A2K facilitated the design and planning process of the workshop.

Background

CIS-A2K has taken initiative to design Workshop on FOSS, Unicode & Wikimedia Projects for Publishers, Printers, designers & writers in collaboration with State Govt Language department & All India Marathi Publishers Consortium. First such workshop was conducted on 7 September at Fergusson College, Pune.

Objectives

• To evolve the comprehensive approach towards open knowledge in Marathi by involving various stakeholders
• To spread awareness about Unicode, FOSS tools for publishing
• To get reference value content in Wikimedia projects
• Hands-on training of DTP operators

Event details

• Date : Friday, 7 September 2018
• Time : 11AM to 6PM
• Venue : Fergusson College, Pune

Participants

• 80 (Consists of publishers, printers, designers & writers)

Agenda

1. Using Unicode on computers - Unicode settings, fonts, input methods, Google & Github resources
2. FOSS and Design - GIMP, Inkscape, LaTex
3. Digitisation - Scanning, formats, OCR, e-books, Wikimedia Projects
4. Social marketing - Book formats for various gadgets

Report

The workshop content was delivered by Prof. Madhav Gadgil (scientist & writer), Prof. Sunil Lawate (writer), Vivek Sawant (MD-MKCL), Dipak Shikarpur (IT expert & writer), Laxmikant Deshmukh (Writer & ex-IAS), Sushant Devalekar (Linguist), Manish Bavkar & Rohit Kokil (Designers) & A2K coordinator. The workshop was actively attended by 80 participants in publishing field. The consortium ans state dept have decided to conduct such workshops region-wise across the state. Some of the publishers have offered the books for Wikisource. The first step was taken by renowned writer Laxmikant Deshmukh on the occasion. He has released his 5 books under CC-BY license. Five writers and translators have started editing on Wikipedia. They have requested for a special workshop for them.
Experts from concerned area were identified for hands-on training. The parallel sessions were conducted for DTP operators/designers and publishers/writers. The hands on sessions on Unicode, GIMP, Inkscape and Google OCR were well received by the participants. The tour of Wikimedia projects was also enriching for all the members. The interactive session for almost an hour was important in documenting the hurdles and opportunities. The process of development of Unicode fonts and spellchecker in Marathi was also discussed at length.

Follow-up

The publishers' consortium has taken decision to arrange such workshops in major publishing hubs of the state. Some authors have expressed their willingness to re-license the books. This process will be started. The special interest groups were formed on unicode fonts, spell-checker, localisation of GIMP etc. Monthly meetings are planned to speed-up these processes.

Gallery

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  Workshop on FOSS, Unicode & Wikimedia Projects for Publishers, Printers, designers & writers