As a sysop, significant contributor and presently an avid observer on
Kannada Wikipedia, I can say that it is true that the user activity has
returned to pre-education programme levels within a month or faster than
that. In fact, there has not been considerable increase in quality or
momentum on par with organic growth despite CIS shelling close to 17 Lakh
rupees (correct me if I'm wrong) - much of it constituting a percentage of
Dr. U B Pavanaja's salary at CIS.
There have been tens of such events being announced in a nutshell and
carried out without definitive impact.
What is more concerning is that the media reports (which is quite easy to
get in this part of the world) being used to cover up the lack of
definitive impact.
Perhaps we should hear more from the fellow Wikimedians who're neutral and
friends on Kannada Wikipedia mailing list who're neutral to assess the
actual impact than from CIS's partners (Christ College as on this thread,
for instance).
On 20 May 2014 09:58, sankarshan <foss.mailinglists(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, May 20, 2014 at 9:31 AM, Pavanaja U B
> <pavanaja(a)vishvakannada.com> wrote:
> > The very first email in this thread by Ravi had two main queries –one was
> > about Tulu Wikipedia workshop and another one about Christ University
> > project. I have answered both of them. Since both questions were asked in
> > the same email, I answered both of them in same reply mail. Vikram also
> > answered about the Christ University project. Complete report of CIS-A2K
> > activities and outcome is available on meta and I am sure all the people
> who
> > have been active in this thread have thoroughly gone through them. I
> don’t
> > think we will be gaining anything more by doing further hair-splitting on
> > this.
>
> I am not entirely sure that the above is a correct summary of things.
> If <
> http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2014-May/011351.html
> >
> is the first email on the thread (from Ravishankar), then the points
> raised were:
>
> [+] Section 1.3 of
> <
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2013-10-02/News_…
> >
> provides a set of observations in the form of "Lessons Learned"
>
> [+] Ravishankar's point is that although the lessons were recorded,
> there are more instances where similar has occurred and lessons have
> not been implemented. To quote from that email "Yet, CIS seems to be
> repeating sich negligible impact outreach programs many times in March
> and April 2014. This includes Tulu workshops where there is active
> editor community at all."
>
> I am not sure whether than phrase "Tulu workshops where there is
> active editor community at all" was meant to read as "no active editor
> community at all". Since no clarification or, amendments were
> provided, that line is kept dangling - but the reference to Tulu does
> not obvious ask for stats.
>
> [+] The mail thereafter goes to cite
> <http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediaKN.htm> which is a more
> broad update of the status/stats for Kannada and positions this in
> contrast to a news article
> <
> http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/wikipedia-tap…
> >.
> The objective for the comparison is to provide data for the assertion
> that "when you look at Kannada Wikipedia stats, the user activity has
> returned to pre-education programme levels within a month".
>
> In short, the original email, if that is the first on this thread,
> neither asked about Tulu and nor did it ask about the Christ
> University project.
>
--
Hari Prasad Nadig
http://hpnadig.nethttp://twitter.com/hpnadighttp://flickr.com/hpnadig
Fellow Wikimedians,
As you all know, Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore has sought
funding of about *1.8 Crores* through the FDC process from Wikimedia
Foundation to carry out work on seven local language projects in India that
includes Kannada, Telugu among others. [1]
The funds primarily cover the salaries of the people belonging to the
CIS-A2K team among other administrative expenses and other expenses as
outlined on their proposal page.
The proposal was up for Community review and comments until April 30th and
many have recorded their response about it [2]. Several community members
have come forward in pointing out that the staff salaries being paid and
that being proposed - are quite on the higher side (which is up to 2.4
Lakhs per month per person).
Apart from the concerns on extremely high salaries for Indian norms of the
team members of CIS-A2K team, there have been some serious concerns raised
about some apparent Conflict of Interest [3] and non-compliance with the
local laws (mainly Karnataka Societies act and the Foreign Contribution
Regulation Act).
However, looks like the proposal has moved forward through the FDC process
for funding despite the concerns raised and has gotten through to the next
stage.
More concerns have now been raised by several community members on the
Staff Assessment discussion page here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/…
I invite you to participate in the discussion and help steer this in the
right direction.
[1] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_C…
[2] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/…
[3] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_J…
Thank you,
--
Hari Prasad Nadig
http://hpnadig.nethttp://twitter.com/hpnadighttp://flickr.com/hpnadig
Dear Pavanaja,
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
You have received an annual compensation of about *17 Lakhs* last year
(that also excludes travel and other reimbursements) as per the declaration
made by Vishnu on the talk page of this proposal [1]. This came from the
funds granted to CIS that was received from WMF through FCRA. And this will
be increased by 20% for this year?
Further, for Kannada alone, *12.3 Lakhs* seem to be set aside out of which
you seem to be the primary beneficiary. [2]
And all this while, you have been a columnist for Prajavani.
This seems to be a clear violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act
as outlined by Srikanth on the copied email.
Regards,
[1] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/…
[2] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_J…
On 13 May 2014 22:29, Srikanth Ramakrishnan <rsrikanth05(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Pavanaja,
> as per the FCRA:
> 3. (1) No foreign contribution shall be accepted by any- (g) association
> or company engaged in the production or broadcast of audio news or audio
> visual news or current affairs programmes through any electronic mode, or
> any other electronic form as defined in clause ® of sub-section (I) of
> section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 or any other mode of mass
> communication; (h) correspondent or columnist, cartoonist, editor, owner of
> the association or company referred to in clause (g).
>
> Writing a weekly column, as a freelancer makes one a columnist.
>
>
>
>
> On 13 May 2014 15:52, Pavanaja U B <pavanaja(a)vishvakannada.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>>
>>
>> There is a factual error. I am not employed with Prajavani. I write just
>> one column per week as freelancer.
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Pavanaja
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* wikimedia-in-blr-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:
>> wikimedia-in-blr-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org] *On Behalf Of *Srikanth
>> Ramakrishnan
>> *Sent:* 13 May 2014 12:50
>> *To:* Wikimedia India Community list
>> *Cc:* Kannada Wikipedia Discussion List wikikn-l(a)wikipedia.org; Mailing
>> list for Wikimedians / Wikipedians in Bangalore, India
>> *Subject:* Re: [Wikimedia-in-blr] [Wikimediaindia-l] On CIS's grants
>> request from Wikimedia Foundation
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi all, I have one important question here.
>>
>> The Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act prohibits money received from
>> abroad to be used as payments or salaries to anyone employed with the press
>> or media.
>>
>> I believe Dr. Pavanaja is a columnist for Prajavani. How does this work
>> out?
>>
>> It's just a preemptive question.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 12 May 2014 17:45, Hari Prasad Nadig <hpnadig(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Fellow Wikimedians,
>>
>> As you all know, Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore has sought
>> funding of about *1.8 Crores* through the FDC process from Wikimedia
>> Foundation to carry out work on seven local language projects in India that
>> includes Kannada, Telugu among others. [1]
>>
>> The funds primarily cover the salaries of the people belonging to the
>> CIS-A2K team among other administrative expenses and other expenses as
>> outlined on their proposal page.
>>
>>
>>
>> The proposal was up for Community review and comments until April 30th
>> and many have recorded their response about it [2]. Several community
>> members have come forward in pointing out that the staff salaries being
>> paid and that being proposed - are quite on the higher side (which is up to
>> 2.4 Lakhs per month per person).
>>
>>
>>
>> Apart from the concerns on extremely high salaries for Indian norms of
>> the team members of CIS-A2K team, there have been some serious concerns
>> raised about some apparent Conflict of Interest [3] and non-compliance with
>> the local laws (mainly Karnataka Societies act and the Foreign Contribution
>> Regulation Act).
>>
>> However, looks like the proposal has moved forward through the FDC
>> process for funding despite the concerns raised and has gotten through to
>> the next stage.
>>
>> More concerns have now been raised by several community members on the
>> Staff Assessment discussion page here:
>>
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/…
>>
>> I invite you to participate in the discussion and help steer this in the
>> right direction.
>>
>>
>> [1] -
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_C…
>> [2] -
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/…
>> [3] -
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_J…
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> --
>> Hari Prasad Nadig
>> http://hpnadig.net
>> http://twitter.com/hpnadig
>> http://flickr.com/hpnadig
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
>> Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Regards,
>> Srikanth Ramakrishnan,
>>
>> What goes around, may not necessarily come around, it may simply bounce
>> back.
>>
>>
>>
>> Please sign this petition for Volvo buses in Coimbatore:
>>
>>
>> https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/the-transport-minister-tamil-nadu-in…
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
>> Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Regards,
> Srikanth Ramakrishnan,
> What goes around, may not necessarily come around, it may simply bounce
> back.
>
> Please sign this petition for Volvo buses in Coimbatore:
>
> https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/the-transport-minister-tamil-nadu-in…
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
>
>
--
Hari Prasad Nadig
http://hpnadig.nethttp://twitter.com/hpnadighttp://flickr.com/hpnadig
Dear Ravi,
On Wednesday 14 May 2014 01:02 PM, Ravishankar wrote:
> Vishnu,
>
> //Please note that CIS has never kept its documents closed to open
> them again. //
>
> //We had also thrown open all our document to the general public for
> scrutiny during May 2013. I have written to members on this list and
> other Wikimedia lists, inviting them to come and scrutinize all our
> documents during this Open Week.//
>
> Please let me know when is this open week for 2014.
It was done as part of the CIS's 5th anniversary. I am not sure if we
will have a similar open week for 2014. But should we get the FDC
funding, I would like to explore means by which the community can also
take part in financially auditing the A2K expenses. We could discuss
this separately, later?
>
> I would like to come and have a look at the MoU you signed with WMF.
As stated earlier on this mailing list, we are unable to share this MoU
as WMF has given us a clear instruction not to do so.
>
> Since WMF is silent on answering crucial questions on the MoU, could
> you please answer one question:
>
> What is the exit clause for your working partnership with WMF?
The Grant agreement is for two years.
Best,
Vishnu
Hi,
There is a factual error. I am not employed with Prajavani. I write just one column per week as freelancer.
Regards,
Pavanaja
From: wikimedia-in-blr-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimedia-in-blr-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Srikanth Ramakrishnan
Sent: 13 May 2014 12:50
To: Wikimedia India Community list
Cc: Kannada Wikipedia Discussion List wikikn-l(a)wikipedia.org; Mailing list for Wikimedians / Wikipedians in Bangalore, India
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-in-blr] [Wikimediaindia-l] On CIS's grants request from Wikimedia Foundation
Hi all, I have one important question here.
The Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act prohibits money received from abroad to be used as payments or salaries to anyone employed with the press or media.
I believe Dr. Pavanaja is a columnist for Prajavani. How does this work out?
It's just a preemptive question.
On 12 May 2014 17:45, Hari Prasad Nadig <hpnadig(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Fellow Wikimedians,
As you all know, Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore has sought funding of about 1.8 Crores through the FDC process from Wikimedia Foundation to carry out work on seven local language projects in India that includes Kannada, Telugu among others. [1]
The funds primarily cover the salaries of the people belonging to the CIS-A2K team among other administrative expenses and other expenses as outlined on their proposal page.
The proposal was up for Community review and comments until April 30th and many have recorded their response about it [2]. Several community members have come forward in pointing out that the staff salaries being paid and that being proposed - are quite on the higher side (which is up to 2.4 Lakhs per month per person).
Apart from the concerns on extremely high salaries for Indian norms of the team members of CIS-A2K team, there have been some serious concerns raised about some apparent Conflict of Interest [3] and non-compliance with the local laws (mainly Karnataka Societies act and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act).
However, looks like the proposal has moved forward through the FDC process for funding despite the concerns raised and has gotten through to the next stage.
More concerns have now been raised by several community members on the Staff Assessment discussion page here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/…
I invite you to participate in the discussion and help steer this in the right direction.
[1] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_C…
[2] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/…
[3] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_J…
Thank you,
--
Hari Prasad Nadig
http://hpnadig.nethttp://twitter.com/hpnadighttp://flickr.com/hpnadig
_______________________________________________
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
--
Regards,
Srikanth Ramakrishnan,
What goes around, may not necessarily come around, it may simply bounce back.
Please sign this petition for Volvo buses in Coimbatore:
https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/the-transport-minister-tamil-nadu-in…
ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ,
ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಗಳಿಗೆ ಮೀಡಿಯಾ ವ್ಯೂವರ್ (media Viewer) ಎಂಬ ಹೊಸ ಸೌಲಭ್ಯ ಸೇರಿಸಲಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಸದ್ಯ ಇದು ಬೀಟಾ ಆವೃತ್ತಿಯಲ್ಲಿದೆ. ಇದನ್ನು ಬಳಸಲು ನಿಮ್ಮ ಪ್ರಾಶಸ್ತ್ಯಗಳಿಗೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿ Beta fetaures ಎಂಬಲ್ಲಿ Media Viewer ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ಆಯ್ಕೆ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕು. ಇದನ್ನು ಆಯ್ಕೆ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡರೆ ನೀವು ಯಾವುದೇ ವಿಕಿ ಪುಟದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳ ಚಿಕ್ಕ ರೂಪದ ಕೆಳಬದಿಯ ಬಲ ಮೂಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಐಕಾನ್ ಮೇಲೆ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ ಚಿತ್ರವು ದೊಡ್ಡ ರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿ (ಅಂದರೆ ತನ್ನ ಪೂರ್ಣ ಗಾತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ) ಕಂಡುಬರುತ್ತದೆ (ಚಿತ್ರದ ಮೇಲೆ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿದರೂ ಇದೇ ರೀತಿ ಕಂಡುಬರುತ್ತದೆ). ಮೀಡಿಯಾ ವ್ಯೂವರ್ ಅನ್ನು ಆಯ್ಕೆ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡಿಲ್ಲವಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಚಿತ್ರವು ವಿಕಿಮಿಡಿಯ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ ಪುಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಗಿದೆ ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ತೋರಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಮೀಡಿಯಾ ವ್ಯೂವರ್ ಬಳಸಿದರೆ ಚಿತ್ರ ಅದೇ ಪುಟದಲ್ಲಿ ದೊಡ್ಡದಾಗಿ ಕಂಡುಬರುತ್ತದೆ. ಚಿತ್ರದ ಕೆಳಗೆ ಅದರ ವಿವರಗಳನ್ನು ನೋಡಬಹುದು. ಒಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಮೀಡಯಾ ವ್ಯೂವರ್ ಸೌಲಭ್ಯವು ಒಂದು ಶ್ರೀಮಂತ ಅನುಭವವನ್ನು ನೀಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯನ್ನುರಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇದನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯ ನೀಡುವಂತೆ ವಿಕಿಮೀಡಿಯ ಫೌಂಡೇಶನ್ ವಿನಂತಿ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದೆ.
ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ವಿವರಗಳಿಗೆ ಈ ಪುಟ ನೋಡಿ - http://bit.ly/knwpmw
ಸಿಗೋಣ,
ಪವನಜ
namaste,
It is with great pleasure that we announce the re-release of first 6 volumes
of Kannada Encyclopaedia published by Mysore University under Creative
Commons License CC-BY-SA 3.0.
CIS-A2K has been following up with the Mysore University since months
requesting them to re-release the encyclopaedia under CC. Being convinced of
the importance of preserving the rich culture and heritage of Kannada,
Mysore University has approved the conversion into Unicode and re-release of
the encyclopaedia under CC to make it freely available to Kannadigas all
over the world.
This is a great achievement for CIS-A2K programme and Wikimedia India
community. We are extremely thankful to Prof. K. S. Rangappa,
Vice-Chancellor of Mysore University for realising the importance of growing
free and open knowledge in Kannada. Thanks are also due to the Mysore
University faculty and officials, specifically Prof. S. Ravi (Director,
PMEB), Prof C. Basavaraju (Ex Registrar), Prof. N. M. Talawar (Director,
Institute of Kannada Studies), Prof Hati Krishne Gowda (then Chief Editor of
Mysore University Encyclopaedia project) and others.
CIS-A2K will be converting the encyclopaedia into Unicode and uploading it
on Kannada Wikisource; that will feed into articles on Kannada Wikipedia.
Thanks and regards,
Pavanaja
U.B. Pavanaja, MSc, PhD
Programme Officer <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pavanaja> - Indian
languages,
Access to Knowledge program
The Centre for Internet & Society