वापरपी:Titodutta/Konkani Wikipedia/Konkani Wikipedia inauguration event

The Konkani Wikipedia inauguration event was organized on 18 July 2015 at Goa University, Konkani department seminar hall. This event was attended by 50+ people (mostly students of the Goa University, Konkani department).

First rough report

This was my first rough report that I prepared right on 18 July. This was a quick rough report.

We conducted post-event peer review discussions. Dr. Pavanaja explained the importance of having Village Pump and Help Desk. I talked on these things, Wikipedia contribution valuation procedure, RFA.
I have gathered/collected feedback from Wikipedians (at least 1 edit with a registered account on any Wikipedia).
We have discussed the role and activities of CIS-A2K (and also WMF)
Following our previous discussion, I asked them to fill the "feedback form" very early and started reading their answers almost immediately. I found that at least 6-7 people wrote just/only/mainly "we need financial help from CIS-A2K".
After a brief discussion with Dr. Pavanaja, we explained to them in details about our "Request" page etc.
As they have just started, they will need assistance to set-up and expand their Wiki. Dr. Pavanaja and we will help them at every step.
"Follow up" of their "feedback" has already been started.

Second rough report

I prepared this report on 21 July 2015. To avoid en:WP:OUTING, I am removing some portions from this report.

These are the four main recommendations I made in the core-Wikipedians' meeting:

My first recommendation

No off-wiki admin selection

I have strongly recommended not to do/follow any "go and just give admin rights" or "deciding admins on Facebook/Whatsapp group chat" process.

My second recommendation

Female admin candidate

I have also talked about the "gender-gap' issue on Wikipedia. I feel it would be great if we can have a female editor as our first/one of the first admin(s). Of course, she needs to be a "deserving" candidate.

My third recommendation

Brief admin training

I have proposed 1 to 1 admin training sessions. This is an En-Wiki thing, where an experienced editor/admin trains someone to become an admin, however the goal is never to become an admin, but to understand the process and responsibilities in a much better way. Note: [Real name removed] and [Real name removed] have shown interest to join this training. It'll be an online/remote training.

My fourth recommendation

Adminship should not be gifted

There was a proposal from the community that some high-profile/white-collar people will be made admins even if they have no edits on Wikipedia (first of all, I don't know how they were planning to do it, is there any bureaucrat or steward who'll entertain such request? Anyway, the only way to do it is getting a "clear" community consensus to do so). I have strongly recommended NOT to consider anyone for adminship, unless they actually work on the Wiki and need admin tools
The potential editors are:

[Real name removed]: Talked to her, ready to take responsibility.

[Real name removed]: Talked to him, he is ready to go ahead

[Real name removed], he is also ready

We need to talk to

[Real name removed]: Was not reachable after the event, [Real name removed] will contact

[Real name removed]: her father is ill/hospitalized, we'll talk to her later.

[Real name removed]: [Real name removed] will talk.

These people have not agreed to become admin

[Real name removed]: she says that she is not ready OR she wants to do content-creation work OR she did not understand ([Real name removed] has said he will persuade once again. She could be a strong admin candidate. However [Real name removed], please don't keep on requesting.].

Note

The list of potential admins was slightly revised later and a new name was added.

My suggestions and ideas

I attened the event as a resource person. These are some of the things I told there either during my session or later in the core-Wikipedians' meeting or one-to-one talks.

Wikipedia environment

I started my talk by giving a brief details of the Wikipedia culture and what makes the Wikipedia different from the other websites. I mainly focused on the "free environment" of Wikipedia.

A Wikipedia in Konkani language

Next, I told that it was an achievement of the Konkani people to have a Wikipedia in their own language.

Synopsis

(Indian) people want to read content on web in their own language. If there is an article in both English and Konkani (or Kannada or Telugu), we may be sure that a good number of people will read the Konkani (or Kannada or Telugu) article. The problem is we do not have huge amount of content in our mother-tongues. We want to read but we do not have any option. Now, this Konkani Wikipedia is a platform, whcih is attempting to address this issue. Now Konkani Wikipedia is newly created and does not have too many article. But by and by, it'll surely be an asset for the community.

English Wikipedia

I personally strongly feel that the Konkani (or any other (Indian language)) Wikipedia should not blindly follow or copy the English Wikipedias guidelines or policies. Every Wikipedis is different and they (the community) should decide their own rules. I suggested it during the event.

Discussion channels

We discussed on the discussion channels. The importance of having discussion channels like Village Pump and Mailing lists. How the community members can utilize these channels to discuss, announce or ask questions.

Importance of five pillars and policies

Some of the policies and editing guidelines were already discussed/narrated by a couple of other speakers, who presented very well. I talked on importance of having these policies and how they help to maintain the encyclopedia.

Later, during the core-Wikipedians' meeting, we again talked on it and proposed to use the village pump for policy-related discussions.

Admin's role

In the core-Wikipedians' meeting, and 1 to 1 talks, I discussed in details an admin's role and responsibilities, adminship procedure (RFA), importance of having on-Wiki RFA discussion, adminship should not be gifted etc.

Admin training proposal

I proposed an admin-training program, where we'll groom and train the potential editors to become admins. This program has already started here.

Institutional partnership, GLAM, Content dontaion

I talked to a senior Konkani Wikipedian and discussed on-

Institutional partnership,
GLAM,
Content dontaion

They are eager to make contacts with several colleges in Goa, including Goa University and St. Xaviers college. A plus point here will be many of the current Konkani Wikipedians are associated with these colleges. They want to encourage students and teachers to join the Konkani Wikipedia as editors and write articles. In my opinion, this is an interesting ideas.

They have told that they are also exploring other institutional partnerships. They are talking to a Church to donate some old books and documents.

CIS-A2K

I asked editors about their expectations from CIS-A2K and WMF. I also described how to use the CIS-A2K request page on Meta to get help. In the coming six months, the community want these help from CIS:

Help with technical issues
1. Article count not working,
2. Setting up mailing list
Help to organize work-shops or events where they can learn more about Wikipedia-editing

In follow-up emails, this is what I wrote--

Hello,

On 18 July, during the Konkani Wikipedia event you wanted to know how to get help/financial help from CIS-A2K to organize event.
To organize any event or workshop:

You first have to propose it to the community (here "community' means other members of the Konkani Wikipedia). The process of proposing is: go to Village Pump or somewhere where you generally gather and talk to each other and narrate your idea in details. Other members will add their inputs.

If the community finds your proposal useful and agrees to go forward with your idea, create a work-plan/draft of the planned event. It'll include the following things: a) What? b) When? c) Where? -- you will be organizing the event? What will be the impact? AND what type of support you'll require: financial, technical, resource, swags (Tshirts, badges, pens etc.)

Now go to this page meta:Talk:CIS-A2K/Requests and start a new section (similarly you may approach the Wikimedia Foundation too). In this page you can see "requests" made by other people/communities for help.

This was a brief description of "getting help/financial help from CIS-A2K". Please feel free to ask questions.
Regards.
PS. A copy of this email may be stored and internally shared with the core A2K team members.

Feedback gathering

I took a feedback form with me at the event and distributed it among the participating Wikipedians. The form contained a few questions. There I gathered those Wikipedians' feedback.

Sample questions

What type of work you wish to do on the Konkani Wikipedia in the coming six months? (please be as specific as possible)
What type of help you expect from CIS-A2K?

Issues and concerns

These are the issues and problems Konkani Wikipedians are facing

Lack of active editors: Lack of active editors is a problem of Konkani Wikipedia too, like many other Indian-language Wikipedias.
Internet connection: Slow internet connection is an issue in some parts of Goa.
Technical problems: As a newly launched Wikipedia, they are facing a few technical issues such as wrong article count.

These were my concerns (or these were the areas where I thought things can be improved)

Most probably non-public data. Stored in a Google Doc.