The Hindu: LEARNING THE ROPES To extend the reach of Tamil Wikipedia
Sri Sritharan
Started in 2003,
many are unaware that a Tamil Wikipedia exists. Prince Frederick on the
fresh initiatives to popularise it
LEARNING THE ROPES To extend the reach of Tamil Wikipedia.
Photos: K.Pichumani
Imagine a giant tree with its branches spread across the globe. That’s
what the Wikimedia Foundation is like. Wherever it drops seeds, small
trees called Wikipedias come up. Depending on where they fall, the
Wikipedias grow to differing heights. The fruits of knowledge they bear
are in proportion to their growth and are in the local language.
Yes, given the number of Wikipedias in the world, the Foundation can
be pleased with the progress of this multilingual encyclopaedia
project, started in 2001.
But there is cause for concern — some
Wikipedias are stunted in growth. Tamil Wikipedia
(http://ta.wikipedia.org) is one of them.
Not many editors
Tamil Wikipedia, which sprouted in 2003, today has only 247 editors. Of them,
64 are active and 20 very active
The rest are desultory contributors.
"There are 18,102 stories. No doubt a decent number, but not anywhere what should have
been. Ninety-five per cent of these Tamil Wikipedians are members of
the Tamil Diaspora. It’s a pity that we don’t have many editors from
Tamil Nadu," says Kiruba Shankar, who is engaged in efforts to evolve
Indian Wikipedias.
But as a positive sign, a team of active Tamil Wikipedians has
started a set of initiatives.
They are working towards a year-end
target — 1000
Tamil editors. When the founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales visited
Chennai over five months ago, a meet was organised at a community hall
to popularise the Tamil Wikipedia. The invitees included mediapersons.
"The media can help us by spreading the word. Ignorance is our
biggest enemy. Most of the Tamil speaking people are not aware of the
Tamil Wikipedia. A majority of those who are, don’t know they can write
and edit articles. Then, there are those who don’t know to type in
Tamil," says Shankar.
To tackle these problems, Shankar leaves his office at Virugambakkam
open on Sundays for anyone to make use of the resources to master
typing in Tamil and add articles to the vernacular Wikipedia. When a
volunteer is around, the ‘trainees’ can also learn how to place Wiki
tags, a complicated procedure common to all Wikipedias.
"Writing a simple body of text is easy. But when you have to create
tables, it gets complicated. A mastery of Wiki tags is required to make
a page with boxes and complex blocks of information."
This Sunday school programme would be more effective if more
volunteered to be teachers.
The school has a few enthusiastic teachers
such as Ravi Shankar, who has completed his Masters in Germany and
gives his time liberally to the cause, and Saravanan, a student of
business administration, who chose to do his internship with Tamil
Wikipedia, instead of big companies that were willing to accommodate
him. But the school will do a lot better, with more teachers.
Other initiatives include approaching Tamil bloggers; going to
schools and colleges to give a picture of the Tamil Wikipedia and how
students can contribute to its growth; and visiting villages in Tamil
Nadu and creating resources whereby the people there can contribute to
the Tamil Wikipedia.
"Tamil bloggers can be our biggest asset. They already have a love
for the language and would become Tamil Wikipedians with a little
persuasion."
For example, Mayooresan from Colombo is a blogger, keen on
promoting Tamil Wikipedia. L.K.Natkeeran from Canada, whose love for
the language is evident from his personal website, is a senior editor
of Tamil Wikipedia. "His contribution is immense."
The Wikipedia project
is driven by the spirit of volunteering. "For Tamil Wikipedia to grow,
we need more
Sundars (Banglore-based Sundar is a prolific
contributor)Ravis andNatkeerans
For more details about Tamil
Wikipedia, call (+91) 99431 68304 or ravishankar...@gmail.com.
Prince Frederick
http://www.thehindu.com/mp/2009/05/21/stories/2009052150760100.htm
Visit: http://ta.wikipedia.org
செல்வா
The Hindu.
Unfortunately the reporting is not a fair one in my view.
1) Without R. Mayooranathan (of UAE) and Sritharan Kanagu (of
Australia),
with their almost daily contributions of real substance,
there is no Tamil Wikipedia and I'm sorry that they are not mentioned.
I am glad that at least one of the most active editors
Natkeeran is mentioned.
2) The Tamil Wikipedia is not stunted as mentioned so abruptly in the
article.
It is a leading Wiki among the Indian languages, if one
takes into account the quality measures.
A newspaper account is often taken as some sort of record of events or
developments
in this respect these two flaws make it such a defective reporting.
The "wiki tags",are not that complicated as made out and there is no
encouraging tone
in this introduction.
But I'm happy that there is at least a small piece in the Hindu on
Tamil Wikipedia.
Regards
Selva