The Indian chapter of Wikipedia will be established soon in Bangalore, the authorisation for which has already been given by the Wikipedia Foundation. This was announced by a group of Wikipedians (volunteer writers for Wikipedia), which gathered on Thursday to celebrate the website’s 10th anniversary.
It was on July 25, 2009 when 25 Wikipedians came together and met at the residence of a techie, Tinu Cheriyan. That was the first attempt to unite Wikipedians in the city, and now the community has grown to such a level that the Indian chapter has become a dream come true. However, the exact number of contributors from Karnataka is not known clearly.
“Most of the plans for starting the Indian chapter have been completed. It is only a matter of time that the chapter is set up in Bangalore,” said Cheriyan.
To mark the anniversary, an event is being organised at the Indian Institute of Science on January 15. People like Cheriyan, who are closely associated with the Bangalore community, as well the Wikipedia Foundation are hoping get more people involved with the functioning of the website in the state, especially in the city.
The volunteers meet on a monthly basis, where ideas are shared and discussed. “We meet during the second Sunday of every month. We discuss new tools available for volunteers and the new topic which needs to be given attention,” said Cheriyan.
According to Hariprasad Nadek, one of the prominent editors of Wikipedia Kannada, those subscribing to the Kannada website are well versed in English too. “It is the emotional attachment to their mother tongue that has brought them towards this. It is not just the readers who have increased over time on Wikipedia Kannada, but also those involved in editing the articles,” said Nadek.
He said that there are certain concepts which are best conveyed in Kannada. “Certain ideas are difficult to be translated into English and they have to be in Kannada. Over the years, we will be working on getting many concepts dear to Karnataka into Wikipedia,” said Nadek.
The group’s future plan is to reach out to smaller towns to gather and provide more information on the country’s rich culture to the global audience.
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