Marathi Wikipedia targets schools in villages yet to get internet

Marathi Wikipedia editors plan to take the free online encyclopedia to schools in villages that are yet to be connected to the internet.

The project to put articles from Marathi Wikipedia on CDs that can be used in computers not linked to the Internet will probably start next year, said editors taking part in a workshop on the third and final day of WikiConference India.

The workshop traced the development of Marathi Wikipedia, new projects and its future growth. Like its counterparts in other Indian languages, Marathi Wikipedia is still at a nascent stage with just 30,000 articles, compared to 3 million articles in English. It also has just around 30 editors who write and edit articles.

To improve the information available on Marathi Wikipedia, editors said they have plans to approach news organisations and persuade them to donate content that is lying unused with them.

"We can use this content to create entries in subjects that do not exist now. This is proven content that can be used," said Rahul Deshmukh of Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, who is one of the most prolific Wikipedia editors in Marathi, having created a record of sorts by editing 1,000 articles in a day. Deshmukh has also developed a new font for Marathi Wikipedia. 

Another editor said that a major problem with Marathi Wikipedia was how to retain contributors and editors. "There is not much awareness about the existence of Marathi Wikipedia. When told about it, people's immediate reaction is usually one of pleasant surprise," he said.