WikiConference India 2016 Starts Friday in Chandigarh

Advertisement
By Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: 4 August 2016 17:24 IST
Highlights
  • The conference will take place from August 5-8 in Chandigarh
  • The event will also include 'hackathons' and 'edit-a-thons'
  • Wikipedia notches often among the highest results when information is searched online
India, a key growth area for Wikipedia, is gearing up for a national conference "for Wikimedians in India to meet and share their views, discuss challenges and exchange useful tips, best practices and other information".

While the conference is open to "Wikipedians" from across the globe, organisers announced here that it would have a "very distinct Indian flavour and will deal primarily with issues relating to India on Wikipedia and its sister projects".

Wikipedia, founded in 2001, is the world's sixth-most popular website in terms of overall visitor traffic. Its worldwide monthly readership totals almost 500 million.

Since 2011, the Wikipedia has been working to expand its growth in India, and it held its first Indian conference in Mumbai in November that year, which was attended by 700 persons and addressed by website founder Jimmy Wales.

Advertisement

This year, the meet takes place from August 5-8 in Chandigarh, the city and a Union territory of a million population that serves as the capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana.

Advertisement

"The main objective is to reduce the gap between different communities and get help from other community members on technical issues and other things like best practices in decision making and how we resolve the disputes in the community," the organisers said.

Those attending including Wikimedia Foundation executive director Katherine Maher, board member Nataliia Tymkiv, senior programme officer for emerging Wikimedia communities Asaf Bartov, language engineering team international manager Runa Bhattacharjee, Punjabi poet Dr Surjit Patar, and Wikipedia education programme senior manager Tighe Flanagan.

Advertisement

From India, participants will include The Centre for Internet and Society executive director Sunil Abraham, and Wikimedia India president Yohann Varun Thomas.

This event includes "hackathons" and "edit-a-thons" - collective workings towards improving the content available online. It will also see sessions on the Wikimedia movement in India, examples of its use in education, innovative tech solutions from India, content translation, a "gentle introduction" to Wikidata, gender gaps, and case studies from various Indian languages.

Advertisement

Participants are coming from the Wikipedias in languages including Punjabi, Kannada, Odia, Tamil, English, Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam, Urdu, Sindhi, Hindi and Chinese.

Because of its widespread popularity - and contrary to fears that a website "anyone" can edit will not have quality - the Wikipedia notches often among the highest results when information is searched for on the world wide web.

It is a project supported by the Wikimedia Foundation and based on a model of "openly editable content". As the site explains: "The name Wikipedia is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning quick) and encyclopedia."

 

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.

Further reading: Apps, Hackathon, India, Internet, Wikipedia
Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Redmi 15C 5G Chipset Details Leaked, Could Launch in India at This Price
  2. OnePlus Ace 6T Launch Timeline Revealed; Will Sport This Snapdragon Chip
  3. Raktabeej 2 Arrives on OTT Platforms This November: All You Need to Know
  4. Here's When the Nothing Phone 3a Lite Will Launch in India
  5. Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro Leak Hints at New Design, Head Gestures Support
  6. Oppo Find X9 Series Price in India Leaked Again Ahead of Debut
  7. Xiaomi 17 and Xiaomi 17 Pro First Impressions
  8. Steak 'n Shake Heads to El Salvador as Bitcoin Strategy Gains Momentum
  9. Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold Testing Begins in US Ahead of Imminent Launch
  10. Vivo X300 and Teleconverter Kit India Prices Tipped Ahead of Launch
  1. AI in Space: Why Elon Musk, Google, and Amazon Want to Make It the Next Frontier?
  2. Bison Kaalamaadan OTT Release Date Confirmed: When and Where to Watch This Tamil Sports Action Drama Online?
  3. Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold Testing Commences in the US Ahead of Imminent Launch: Report
  4. Steak ‘n Shake Expands to El Salvador as Bitcoin Strategy Gains Momentum
  5. Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro Leak Hints at Refreshed Design, Head Gestures Feature
  6. Redmi 15C 5G Price in India, Key Specifications Leaked Ahead of Launch: Here’s How Much it Might Cost
  7. India Begins AI Adoption: 47 Percent of Enterprises Use AI for Multiple Use Cases, Says EY
  8. Nothing Phone 3a Lite India Launch Date Confirmed: Expected Specifications, Features
  9. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Draws Flak Over Alleged GenAI Use as Steam Player Count Underwhelms
  10. Apple Ordered to Pay Masimo $634 Million in Apple Watch Patent Dispute
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.