CIS-A2K/Reports/CIS-A2K Quarterly Report 6/Kannada

Overview

University of Mysore re-released Vols 7 to 14 of their famous Kannada Vishwakosha (encyclopaedia) under CC-BY-SA during this period in which CIS-A2K played a crucial role for the license migration. They have previously released Vols 1-6 under CC-BY-SA. MoU for partnership with Guru-G Learning Labs was signed for taking Indian language Wikipedias in the classroom. Partnership with Department of State Educational Research and Training of Govt of Karnataka, popularly known as DSERT, has been initiated. CIS-A2K will work together with DSERT to enhance the quality of training imparted to the Teachers in Karnataka and introduce them to digital resources. 8 outreach programs at various parts of Karnataka were conducted to instill growth in Kannada Wikipedia and also create increased awareness about Kannada Wikipedia among general public and media.

Key Highlights

Institutional partnerships

Release of Kannada Vishwakosha under CC - University of Mysore released Vols 7-14 of Kannada Vishwakosha (encyclopaedia) under CC-BY-SA during this period. Vols 1-6 were released under CC-BY-SA last year. CIS-A2K played a crucial role for this license migration. This is one of the outcomef of CIS-A2K's continued partnership with University of Mysore.
Christ University Partnership - The partnership with Christ University continued this quarter also. second semester UG students digitised 636 pages from the Mysore University encyclopaedia in Kannada Wikisource. Fourth semester students wrote articles in Kannada Wikipedia on topic from their subject of study (science, commerce, etc.). A total of 93 articles were added by these students to Kannada Wikipedia.
Partnership with Guru-G Learning Labs - Guru-G Learning Labs is a company focused towards building products and solutions in the education space. They work very closely with many NGOs working in education sector along with education departments of state governments. A MoU has been signed with Guru-G Learning Labs for taking Indian language Wikipedias in the classroom.
Partnership with St Aloysius College Mangaluru - The partnership continued during this quarter also. CIS-A2K conducted workshop for students and faculty on editing Kannada Wikipedia as part of implementing Wikipedia in UG Education program at their college.
Partnership with DSERT - A partnership with Department of State Educational Research and Training of Govt of Karnataka, popularly known as DSERT, has been initiated during this period. The partnership will strive to enhance the quality of training imparted to the Teachers in Karnataka, to bring the resources created and commissioned by DSERT in the field of Teacher Training and Content improvement into the Open Knowledge Resources and to inculcate in the teachers skills of critical analysis and research skills by involving them with various Wikimedia projects. CIS-A2K will offer technical support and training to all the staff, faculty and students of DSERT. All material developed and produced under this partnership will be released under CC-BY-SA.
Partnership with SDM College Ujire - The partnership continued during this quarter as well. CIS-A2K member gave presentation about the Kannada Science articles project running in Kannada Wikipedia. Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted for the students of MCJ who will be writing articles in Kannada Wikipedia as part of their assignment, similar to the last year students.

Community development

CIS-A2K was instrumental in telecasting an interview with Prof Vishwanatha Badikana along with a student of St Aloysius College, Mangaluru by Spandana TV, a local TV channel of Mangaluru. Prof Vishwanatha Badikana is anchoring the Wikipedia in UG education program at St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, is also an active Kannada and Tulu Wikipedian.
One Kannada Wikipedian actively participated in the Train The Trainer Program 2015 from Feb 26 to Mar 1, 2015.

Wiki Women’s Editathon

CIS-A2K took active interest in the Wiki Women’s editathon during the month of March to conicide with International Women's day. A project page was created in Kannada Wikipedia for this. Lot of publicity was given in social media for this. An edit-a-thon was conducted at Christ University where some students wrote articles on Women related topics in Kannada Wikipedia.

Outreach programs

Workshops need to be conducted on regular basis for the growth of Kannada Wikipedia and the community. Simple talks and presentations are needed on regular basis to create and increase the awareness about Kannada Wikipedia among general public and media. All together 8 such sessions were conducted during this period. Some notable among these are -

Presentation and demo of Kannada Wikipedia to the participants of a workshop of science teachers of Karnataka at Mangaluru. Explanation about the Kannada science articles project running in Kannada Wikipedia was given.
Presentation and demo of Kannada Wikipedia to the participants of a UGC National seminar of Kannada teachers of Karnataka at Bettampadi, near Puttur. Kannada science articles project in Kannada Wikipedia was demonstrated.
Presentation and demo of Kannada Wikipedia to the participants of a National seminar on Knowledge Text creation in Kannada organised by National Translation Mission (CIIL Mysuru) and Mangaluru University.
Talk on Kannada Wikipedia at the 81st All India Kannada Literary Conference organised by Kannada Sahitya Parishat at Shravanabelagola.
Organised and managed a stall on Kannada Wikipedia at Shravanabelagola during the 81st All India Kannada Literary Conference organised by Kannada Sahitya Parishat. Some Kannada Wikipedia community members also participated in managing the stall. The brochure that has been created for this purpose can be used for such programs in future.

Statistical analysis

This section depicts the statistics for Kannada Wikipedia during this quarter compared with previous quarter as well as with the same quarter of year 2014.

(Note: March 2015 statistics were not available at the time of writing this report. Some data were obtained using scripts and some are estimated for March 2015).

Total Editors

Total number of editors in Kannada Wikipedia during Jan-Mar 2015 compared with the previous quarter and the same quarter of 2014

Total number of editors grew by 96 which is a good growth compared with other quarters. There is a good contribution from the partnerships towards this growth.

New Editors

The number of new editors was 25, 37 and 34 respectively for January, February and March 2015. These are far better than the previous quarter. Again this growth is due to the partnerships.

Active Editors

The number of active editors was 69, 99 and 111 respectively for January, February and March 2015. These are far better than the previous quarter. Again this growth is due to the partnerships.

Very Active Editors

The number of very active editors was 6, 9, and 6 respectively for January, February and March 2015. There is no remarkable change in these numbers compared to the previous quarter.

No. of Articles

Total number of articles in Kannada Wikipedia during Jan-Mar 2015 compared with the previous quarter and the same quarter of 2014

Total number of articles in Kannada Wikipedia increased from 19026 to 20451 in this quarter which is an increase of 1425. The increase during the previous quarter was 905. The number of new articles per day was 20, 13 and 7 respectively for January, February and March. Many articles were deleted during this period as part of the quality improvement program in Kannada Wikipedia.

Overall the statistics for Kannada Wikipedia has improved slightly in this quarter over the previous quarter.