User:ManasaRao/WikiSangamotsavam2016

Wikisangamotsavam 2016, the fifth annual gathering of users and well wishers of Malayalam Wikimedia projects, took place between 26 and 28 December 2016 in Kanjangad, Kasargod, Kerala. Updates can also be found on Facebook here.

Wikisangamotsavam, the annual meet-up of Malayalam Wikimedians and well wishers was conducted at Good Shepherd Church auditorium, Padnekkad in Kanhangad, Kasargod district between 26 and 28 December 2016 with various programs. Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia. Wikipedia is accessible in 295 different languages. Malayalam Wikipedia began its journey in 2012 and currently makes an indispensable contribution to the educational zone. Kerala's IT@school tutor Vijayan Rajapuram and few other teachers were instrumental in conducting Wikisangamotsavam 2016. In the initial stages, Vijayakumar Blathur, Sachil Lal and Sajal Karikkan assisted in the event. The session wound up with an expectation of around fifteen new active Wikipedians.

An estimated overview of the Wikisangamotsavam is given below.

Goals

Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went?

WikiSangamotsavam was conducted with some specific aim. Kasargod district is the border of Kerala and Karnataka. So there are various folk arts and cultures which they follow. More than seven different languages are spoken by the people in Kasargod; the district has a lot of village names in Tulu and Kannada. Information related to these villages were either not updated or incomplete on Wikipedia. The main objective of WikiSangaotsavam was to find skilled writers. Around fifteen members registered their names for the event including teachers and students. We have not invited anyone of them. If they are active in editing for at least six months, we can conclude that WikiSangamotsavam was successful. By providing learning camps, we will be able to inspire new users. Another decision was to conduct the Wikipedia meet-ups as a public program so that it will reach the public easily. We were able to provide classes related to Kasargod district during this program.

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets.

Project metrics

Project metrics	Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
-- participants	36 participants
-- events	-- events
5 organizers	4 organizers	We hoped to recruit 1-2 more people to help with organizing the meetups but due to life changes, we only had 4 people that consistently helped plan the monthly events. We'd like to focus efforts next year on recruiting volunteers that are interested in developing their project management skills.

Technological Empowerment of Disabled

The first day of WikiSangamotsavam, 26th began with the class of Sathyasheelan Master on the topic of 'Technological Empowerment of Disabled'. He explained how to overcome visual impairment and participate in Wikipedia. His class was a wonderful experience for all because he explained very well about Wikipedia works with examples even though he is fully blind. He introduced some software for disabled and explained how to type Malayalam, English and Hindi for the blnd as well as to find spelling mistakes. He also explained how to listen to a Wikipedia article to those who cannot read it.

Freedom of Knowledge

Next was the class by M A Rahman Master on the topic Freedom of Knowledge. It was about thinking of free knowledge and features of media that distribute knowledge. He explained about the present condition of the society and environment, where individuals have deep knowledge and libraries with them but not ready to publish.

Open Street Mapping

Next topic was about the possibility of open street mapping which is also as famous as encyclopedia like Wikimedia projects. This class helped the users to think how open street mapping can be used in Wikipedia. Mr. Ranjith explained this can be used in Wikivoyage, another Wikimedia product and we have to make an effort for that.

School Wiki Project

Next was the class about school wiki by Shabhareesh Master. He explained about evaluating the possibility of Wikipedia as well as school wiki. The articles in school wiki are to be increased and information about all schools should be widely expanded. He spoke about the requirement of a media to publish the art work of students like poems, stories, collage, drawings etc. As the software of wiki project and school wiki is MediaWiki, learning editing will be useful for Wikipedia in the future. He concluded the discussion urging Malayalam Wikipedia editors to assist the teachers who work for IT@School, whenever the need arises. He said it was essential to have a cooperation between school wiki and Wikipedia for better achievements.

Main Session

The main session started on 27 December in the presence of Kanganhad Corporation Chairman Mr. V V Rameshan and Kasargod Lok Sabha representative Mr. M P Karunakaran. Mr M P Karunakaran formally inaugurated the function. CIS-A2K representatives Manasa from Chennai and Ting Yi from Thai also arrived for the function. Both Manasa & Ting- Yi was there for the function still the final day.Malayalam Wikipedia started in 2002 December 21st. We celebrated the birthday of Wikipedia by cutting cake and distritributed among the members. Celebration started by Mr. M P Karunakaran by cuting the cake and gave to Aatmika, youngest representative of Sangamotsavam.

Malayalam Wikipedia Activities, Last One Year

Here we discussed about the past one year's wikipedia activities and future programmes and reporting. We have shared the observations and done the documentation. Each and every users participated in this equally. This was very useful for new users. Then we discussed about the last year Sangamotsavam's report in which some errors occured in cost. That affected badly on this year's CIS support. All users perception was, it is good to think this will be the last Sangamotsavam of Malayalam Wikipedia.

Delegacy of Ancient Animals in Wikipedia

This topic was presented by the Wikipedia user Irvin. It was such an amazing presentation which include a photo exhibition. It includes the name of dinosaurs, description and Wikipedia link.These posters were available in Wikipedia Commons. N number of subject based questions arised from the audience shows how excellent the presentation was. Irvin duly answered for all those. This class was informative as well as attracted the new users to Wikipedia.

Wishes by Mr. Anwar Sadath

Next programme was a video speech by Mr Anwar Sadath, a science writer and Executive Director of IT@ school. He explained about the working of Malayalam Wikipedia and school wiki jointly and sharing fredom of knowledge. A small portion of discussion was about the activities of IT@school.

A Presentation on Mozilla

Team from Mozilla gave a very good class. They conducted a question answer session in which first prize attained by Ranjith Siji and second by Achu Kulangara. They affixed a stand and banner on the stage.

An explanation on Mangalam Kali

Afterwards a class was conducted by Mr. Ramachandran Master about Mangalam Kali a traditional folk art of Kasargod. It was the main part of marriage celebration of tribal people. It is played in the middle of marriage pandal arround a piller. Elder people will be present at the occasion. Maximum number of participants in Mangalam kali willbe thirty. He explained Kasargod district is the base of many such folk arts. Many of them left their historical residues and become a competitive item in stages now a days. So this will reduce clarity of Mangalam Kali too. A video presentation of Mangalam Kali was given by Ramachandran master. It was a great experience for outsiders.

Unwritten History of Kasargod

Next was a class given by Prof. Balan on the topic, 'An unwritten history of Kasargod'. He explained about the unknown history of Kasargod on the basis of certain Historical Myths with enough reference. He also explained about the books related to this and available place. As well as the difference between the books for which one or two editions published. He discribed briefly about some Theyyams (Folk art) like Mukri theyyam which introduce unity of religions and some other islam theyyams and present existance of Alamikkali (another folk art). He noticed some Wikipedia users talk in between the class that made him feel like annoying so that he revealed it immedietely. The discussion was about an attempt to bunk from the class. Among the audience active wikipedians are less .

Boat Trip

27th evening it was time for breakup. 28th we have conducted a boat trip like photo walk. It was mainly for uploading photos in commons. Trip started from Nileshwar and destination was Valiyaparamba. Photo shoot was done on first two days from various places. Catogory for upoading these photos has been shared with everyone. It is Wikisangamotsavam - 2016 and Wikisangamotsavam. This will be helpful during the submission of programme report to Foundation. The boat trip started from Nileshwar Kottappuram on 28th morning 10'o clock. The destination place Valiyaparamba is near to the Ezhumala Neval Academy. The boat staff served tea, snacks and lunch for us. The active participation of CIS member Manasa and Ting- Yi from Taywan made the trip more thrilling. The destination place was quiet amazing with n number of monkeys. we supplied eatables to monkeys. It was a nice experience. The trip ended at evening 4'o clock.

Photo Walk

Photo walk was take plac during morning and evening of sangamotsavam as well as on the day of boat trip. Photo Walk was occured under the leadership of Tony Master, sugeesh and Shegil. The next step in this is to upload all photos to commons. Addition of photos in English and Malayalam Wikipedia pages and catogorisation can be done according to their own idea.

Wiki Voyage

The presentation about Wikivoyage by wikipedian sajal was an unique one. The description about the wikivoyage encouraged our 5 members of IT school teachers and they said that wikivoyage will be a good idea to make the wiki editing .

Cool Presentations

The mimikry program that done by sajal was an intresting one. The song sung by IT school teacher santhosh master was an awesome which was pleasant and sings like a good singer. later wikipedian Sajal and manjusha were also part of this programme. The song sung by ting yi from taivan in her native language was wonderful. After that amritha took an opportunity to sing a song. Finally Sebastian from kollam done the vote of thanks. The boating programme ended in kottapuram that will be the end of wiki saghamolsavam.

Learning

What worked well? What didn't work so well? What would you do differently next time?

Having a specific topic of focus for most of the meetups provided necessary structure. While it's always fun to just get together to socialize, we wanted to make the most of the time meeting in person. Meetings were particularly useful for event planning. We organized two skills development meetings, one focused on GLAM-related bots and one on Wikidata. These were especially popular and we have sent out a survey to get feedback on what other skills/topics people would like to learn more about.

Next time we would be sure to have a focus for every meeting, but make time at the beginning in the end for casual socializing. We may need to ask for funds to support space rental if our meetups grow in size.

Finances

Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on. Please email receipts to rapidgrants AT wikimedia DOT org'

The annual meetup of malayalam wikipedia users, Wikisangamolsavam-2016 was conducted from Kanhangad, Kasargod from Padnekkad Good Sheperd Church auditorium for three days.

Accomodation : 50 Members, (2 Days) : 75 Rs per person : 3750
Breakfast : 85 Members, (3 Days) : 45 Rs per person : 3825
Tea :115 Members, (two times a day, two days) : 5 Rs per Tea : 575
Lunch : 115 Members, (Two days) :60 per lunch : 6000
Snacks : 115 Members, (Two days) : 15 per snack : 1725
Dinner : 50 Members, (Two days) : 50 per dinner : 2500
Auditorium, Hall, Sound, Generator : (Two days) :1500
The total cost for Wikisangamotsavam was Rs 20775/- which was given the next day itself.

Cost of Trip

There were total 36 persons participated in the trip. In which the house boat authority gave a 31 persons list except the children’s. They have charged 1000 rupees for 8 persons and the remaining person has to pay 700 rupees for the house boat travel. They have given a discount for the house boat trip so the total expenditure reduced to 23250. There were 3 people in boat for driving, cooking and guiding.

Total Cost

The current figure of money to pay good shepherd church and the house boat will be 20755 rupees and 23250 respectively. According to this total expenditure will be 44025 rupees .In addition the name of people who travel to and from a distance and the amount to pay for the 3 employees the printing charge for dinoser poster and banner and 2 kilo’s of cake to celebrate the wiki birth day. All of the bills currently accurate and the only doubt is regarding in the case of house boat workers. currently we are taking various bills including the ticket.

If there are remaining funds, please list the amount here. Remaining funds must be returned to WMF, reallocated to similar activities or applied to another approved grant. Let us know what you'd like to do.

No funds remaining.

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