Gujarati Sahitya Parishad is planning to add more Gujarati pages on Wikipedia. The 100-year-old institution will also correct facts related to Gujarati literature on the site. This was discussed at a discussion organised by the literary institution on the issue of Gujarati language, Wikipedia and internet on Sunday. Veteran Gujarati littérateurs like Ratilal Borisagar and Ramalal Soni discussed the authenticity of information posted on Wikipedia.
Secretary of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, Rajendra Patel said, “If we want to pass on a rich legacy of Gujarati language to next generation of Gujaratis, we must use the technology and medium of expression available. Of course, we should check the authenticity of the facts and information posted on the net. Gujarati Parishad is posting Gujarati literature on Wikipedia and as an institution, we would like to check the information available on the site.”
Dhaval Vyas, a UK-based member of Gujarati Wikipedia, who works in a multinational bank, said, “It is the characteristic of Wikipedia that anybody can add, edit or remove information. Of course, there will be people who may distort the content.”
He further said, “The issue of authenticity of the content put on Wikipedia can be taken care of if more and more people start uploading information and verify the content.”
Vyas also argued that while there are millions of pages in English, there are only 21,000 pages in Gujarati available on Gujarati Wikipedia. He also talked about Wikipedia, Wikisource and Wikitionary and stressed for creating more information pages on Wiki.