summaryThe main goal of this project is to promote, support and develop cross-border collaboration between various Hindi organizations (government and non-government), thematic organizations, Hindi Wikimedia user group, chapters, projects and other Indic language communities across the globe.
Wikimedia projects are not sufficiently engaging the Hindi language community or India in general.
In 2016, Wikimedia Foundation researched the understanding and usage of Wikipedia in India and found that both were quite low.
Hindi is the world's 4th most spoken language. Around 258 million (258,000,000) people reported Hindi to be their native language. Hindi Wikipedia is biggest Indic Language Wikipedia with over 1,20,000 articles.
However, on the other hand Wikimedia projects have only few (less than 50) active regular editors. Hence, it is felt that Hindi Wikipedia needs more offline activities and partnerships with like-minded organizations for its improvement.
Interestingly, according to Google-KPMG Report - Hindi internet users are expected to outnumber those accessing the web in English by 2021, Hindi users are estimated to reach 201 million (20.1 crore) as against the English user base of 199 million (19.9 crore) in 2021.
With the view of above points, developing Hindi Wikipedia Community and projects is an important without any doubt since it will serve more than about 310 million people.
Why Hindi?
Language
Number of
Speakers
(millions)
Fraction of
World
Population
Number of
Wikipedia
Articles
Wikipedia
Start
Year
Spanish
405
5.85%
1,350,713
2001
English
360
5.52%
5,465,879
2001
Hindi
310
4.46%
120,768
2003
Estonian
1.1
160,226
2002
Danish
5.5
230,862
2002
Hindi community never formed any partnership with any organizations in the past. Major language communities conduct workshops, form partnerships and organize offline activities to engage new readers/contributors to Wikipedia.
Also gender-gap exists on Hindi Wikipedia as found on other Wikipedia.
Hindi Wikipedia readership as well as Wikipedia awareness can be increased by partnering with existing Hindi-promoting organizations
Because there are so few regular active contributors in Hindi, even recruiting a few partner organizations would have a big impact. The time to start awareness and outreach campaigns is now. This project proposes to do outreach to organizations which already manage international Hindi outreach programs.
There are many organizations which promote Hindi language across globe. We are doing the same thing for the same reason, for the same people, in the same medium. Here are some Hindi based organizations which have staff who have expressed willingness to host Wikimedia programming in their existing community partnership offerings. To accept their offer, this Wikimedia grant request is asking for funding for a program manager to facilitate events where these organizations and Wikimedia community members can collaborate. Beyond the events, this grant will document and publish work of good journalism (print and video) so that these events can set the necessary precedent so that other Hindi organizations can respect Wikipedia partnerships and see the value in them for Hindi language communities
The Indian Constitution under Article 351 says,
“Directive for development of the Hindi language It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule……”
Indian Embassy in New York - Apart from handling visas, Indian Mission has taught Hindi to more than 3,000 people in New York in last three years.
World Hindi Secretariat - The organisation was set up by the governments of India and Mauritius to promote Hindi across the world.
World Hindi Conference - The conference involves many Hindi scholars, writers and laureates from different parts of the world to contribute the Hindi language.
The main goal of this project is to promote, support and develop cross-border collaboration between various Hindi organizations (government and non government), thematic organisations, Hindi Wikimedia user group, chapters, projects and other Indic language communities across the globe.
This goal is based on following theory of change: By getting people from the same language communities together and engaging them in real life discussions, workshops and social events, communities are strengthened and capacities are developed, partners become part of language development collaboration, and the public as well as government agencies gets engaged with wikimedia projects, so that we build an established language network of global Wikimedia affiliates and external partners, with wider public engagement
Form partnerships and start a dialogue with following organizations
A specific measurable goal of this project is to produce journalism and program reports for Wikipedia partnerships with high profile organizations. Right now, partnerships are challenging to negotiate because no organization wants to be the first to take risks with Wikipedia. More important than the programs and events themselves, this project will publish reports including text, photographs, and videos of organizations which collaborate with Wikimedia projects. Reports will be in Hindi and English.
Increase the visibility of the activities of Hindi Wikimedians on international level to enhance awareness of free culture and free knowledge
Reach out to more Indians to increase their understanding of how Hindi Language Wikimedia projects work, and enable them to pass this knowledge on to others.
Host workshops for Indian communities.
Increasing visibility, reach and access to Wikimedia projects amongst Indian Americans, especially in students.
Improve awareness of WikiProject Medicine and recruit more editors to write about healthcare on Hindi Wikipedia
Sign up students interested in our various activities & any other training workshops planned.
Conduct outreach sessions in universities, student fests, fairs etc.
A Wikipedia introductory workshop is done during staff meeting.
World Secretariat staff members and volunteers has created a Wikimedia user accounts and start to contribute on Wikimedia projects for creating or improving articles.
Offline Wikipedia, WikiProject Medicine, Kiwix and other useful programs or tools are promoted.
Partnership agreement between World Hindi Secretariat and Hindi Wikimedia Community.
Abhishek and Abhinav will form partnerships with mentioned international Hindi organizations and Indic chapters who are willing to host local workshops for Indian languages: months 1-3, ongoing.
Abhinav and Suryawanshi will finalize partnerships with university collaborators. University collaborators must be willing to commit to hosting at least one Indic language workshop and generate Hindi language content for Wikipedia in coordination with the workshop: months 1-3.
An informal user group will be formed. This group will conduct meetings and offline events: months 1-3 and ongoing.
Local partners will be tasked with forming volunteer groups (consisting of 3-6 volunteers each). groups will be tasked with conducting local one-day workshops (3-5 hours) at 1-3 schools. Each workshop will be attended by an estimated 20 students. The logistics of workshops will be managed by regional partners and collaborators who will report results to project key personnel no later than one month following the workshop(s): months 3-6.
Electronic instructional workshop guides - described in more detail below - will be created and provided to partners: month 3. 5a. Workshop Guide - An electronic workshop guide will be provided to all local workshop facilitators to assist them in hosting local Indic language and culture outreach sessions 5b. Partner Training - All registered and finalized partner organizations must participate in a formal orientation session. If organizations cannot attend in person, they will be required to Skype into the session 5c. Partner and Facilitator Practice Sessions - All partners and facilitators must conduct one practice session before hosting outreach events. Practice sessions must be recorded and provided to Abhishek Suryawanshi one month in advance of scheduled workshop.
Suryawanshi and Srivastva will collaborate with local Indic chapters and editors in New York to improve Offline Wikipedia in Hindi languages: months 1-6, ongoing.
Suryawanshi will host workshops for Indian languages in the New York, Mauritius and Delhi. Partners committed to hosting local workshops will connect to at least one major workshop by way of Skype classroom-to-classroom: months 2-6.
Suryawanshi and Srivastva will identify groups of specialized U.S. Indian medical students who are committed to providing healthcare special content on Hindi Wikipedia: months 4-6.
Partnerships will be formalized with U.S.-based organizations and private supporters dedicated to improving South Asia’s Open Knowledge movement: months 4-6.
Video documentation will be done throughout the process and short film will be released at the end of the project: months 1-6
Forming an initial partnership with above organizations is a one-time major time investment. After the first round of meeting, government organizations can start including Hindi Wikipedia in their curriculum.
The World Hindi Conference is a global Hindi conference attended by thousand Hindi speakers, After first pilot - every conference we will get same partnership opportunities.
The New York India Mission is having access to 1,000 Hindi speaking passionate community members through their training program. They can use same Hindi Wiki presentation during every workshop. Increasing readership is a sustainable goal.
An other Hindi organization might adopt this model easily.
Same programs can be implemented at various Indian Embassies. All major countries have large Indian diaspora.
Government of India is having dedicated funding and resources for such projects, after submitting results of this pilo t project - they might extend support to Wikimedia Community.
Existing active editors (5 edits per month) involved at any capacity (planning, executing, participating) during the project duration
We expect to involve at least 10 active editors (according to the definition 5 edits per month) in the executing and participating. Many active editors have endorsed this proposal (see below). It is one of the goal to build local leadership.
All people participating in the project (organizers, users, attendees, etc.)
Besides the 10 active editors we would invite some Hindi language experts. Other attendees will participate to the event for for an expected total of 200 people.
# of images uploaded to Commons and added to Wikipedia articles or other Wikiproject pages
During the World Hindi Conference we will organize an edit-a-thon by involving a Hindi institutions. We expect to collect images with authorization from the institution involved. We hope to trigger 500 images.
We will document the experience in Hindi (and from the perspective of a Government organization) so that other agencies in Government of India can replicate/adapt this project
We will produce a small documentary video in about this experience and publish a small booklet in order to promote this type of work in other Embassies across the world.
We are working on this proposal from past three years. Before the drafting of this final proposal, proposers conducted community consultation with experienced Wikipedians, admins, active editors, government agencies and Institutional representatives in Hindi community. By answering a set of questions regarding the outreach expectation, the community members had provided valuable feedback through telephonic discussions, personal meetings, and mail communication.
Indian Wikipedians at Harvard Business School (Boston, USA 2015)
Hindi Wikipedians discussing Outreach Plans at Hindi Wiki Conference (Delhi, India 2015)
Community members after discussing outreach plans (Pune, India 2016)
Snapshot of board with Hindi Wikipedia outreach plans (Delhi, India 2015)
After workshop, getting feedback from participants (Nashik, India 2016)
Language experts giving feedback on proposal (Nashik, India 2016)
Discussions during Wikipedia Day (Boston, USA 2016)
Language school discussions and feedback session
With Nashik Mayor and Deputy Mayor - Understanding government perspective (Nashik, India 2016)
This Project was discussed at following offline community events -
Abhishek Suryawanshi : Abhishek is a rural Indian native. He credits Wikipedia and technology as primary sources of his learning. Impacted by his experiences in rural India, Suryawanshi works in close collaboration with Indian communities around the globe. To improve education outcomes in rural India, he started Spoken Wikipedia for Indic Languages, which seeks to reduce language and technology barriers in rural areas. Currently, he works with New England Wikimedians; previously he served as Vice President of Wikimedia for Wikipedia, New York City and as an Ambassador for the Wikipedia Education Program. He was also team member of Wiki Conference India 2011 and Wiki Conference USA 2015 and 2016. In addition to his service in the education industry, Suryawanshi is an innovator whose research and outcomes have been showcased at national and international conferences. He represented Maharashtra on National Television for Hum Honge Kaamyyab - T.V. series for Young Scientists. His work was presented at the National Science Congress, where he was acknowledged by then President Hon. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Suryawanshi also served as Curator and Founder of TEDxPune, the initiative dedicated to bridging education gap in underprivileged communities through localized translated TEDTalks in Hindi. He hosted 60 TEDx events for slum communities. He received fellowship from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for his educational work in rural communities. He represented Wikipedia community at U.S Embassies and United Nations in last few years. Suryawanshi is the program lead and will provide on-the-ground program implementation.
Abhinav Srivastva : Abhinav is an independent freelancer. He has a Wikipedia account since 2007 but has been officially editing from 2011 onward. Abhinav was a student during India Education Program 2011, he further received scholarship for 2011 Wiki Conference India. Subsequently, he has served as the member of the executive committee for Wikimedia India. Abhinav was one of the organizing committee member for Wiki Conference India 2016. He has been part of the core organizing team for Wiki Loves Earth in India 2016, Wiki Loves Monuments in India 2016 both competition received one the highest image counts. Abhinav has also been part of several offline activities such as Hindi Wiki Conference 2015, etc.
Volunteer I would be willing to travel to participate as a trainer/lead on workshops/meetings/collaborations for Indic language wikiprojects. अभय नातू (talk) 09:02, 7 October 2014 (UTC)
Researcher It is no secret that India, enriched with diversified languages have a mass audience reach. All forms of literature, audio and visual have been widely followed across the globe. It is important to develop that adequate knowledge outreach on Wikimedia Indian Language Portal with an immediate effect. Abhinav619 (talk) 14:06, 7 October 2014 (UTC)
Volunteer The Indian population at California, with its diversity can help improve Indic language Wikipedia and also assist in translating English articles as they are well versed with it along with their native language. As a volunteer, I would extend my support to these communities to help edit and enrich the Indic Wiki. Pallaviagarwal90 (talk) 17:30, 7 October 2014 (UTC)
Advisor As I have been a part of the Wikipedia India Education Program, I feel capable to help with the program dynamics. I would love to help maximize the impact of the program by applying my learnings from the previous program. Pallaviagarwal90 (talk) 17:34, 7 October 2014 (UTC)
Volunteer I am willing to contribute for Indian Language projects. Previously, I have outreach and organizing experience of different Wiki workshops. Abhinavgarule (talk) 09:02, 30 October 2014 (UTC)
Volunteer Odisha belonging people in USA are also in large number . It will help them to get involved to their Mother tongue. Saileshpat (talk) 12:40, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
Volunteer Odisha belonging people in USA are also in large number . It will help them to get involved to their Mother tongue. Saileshpat (talk) 12:40, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
On-ground Support I can provide on-ground support in Washington DC. श्वेता कोकाटे (talk) 07:45, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
Volunteer I understand Marathi and Hindi. I feel that creating awareness about WP can stimulate many people who are willing to work with Indic languages. I can play some role in creating awareness and by understanding and sharing crux of WP. Thanks. --Abhijeet Safai (talk) 19:44, 18 January 2015 (UTC)
Researcher The contains that are available in some languages (e.g. Russian, Polish) and some other languages is astonishing considering the population. Contents in Bengali language needs to increased and Both Bangladeshi and Indians are working towards doing that. This is a good initiative and I can help to maximize it's outreach. Ranjankotha (talk) 21:03, 27 January 2015 (UTC)
Volunteer I am assisting in the compilation of materials needed to finalize this proposal and providing close support to the team securing funding for the project. I seek to support training within the U.S. and internationally and to lead workshops and seminars for Indic language wikiprojects, and can serve also in D.D. if needed. KathleenHamrick (talk) 17:12, 21 November 2015 (UTC)
Volunteer I will be able to give my time for this if needed. I will be able to give on ground support. Considering my interest in Hindi as a language, I will be able to motivate people to read (and hence write) Hindi. Creating / editing about writers and poets in Hindi literature can be considered as a first step towards this initiative. As public speaking is my hobby, I can utilize this hobby to inspire people to contribute in editing Wikipedia, especially in Hindi in this case. -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 07:16, 29 August 2017 (UTC)
Liaison with Wikimedia New York City Wikimedia New York City is a regional Wikimedia chapter. I have been a member of this organization since 2012. Abhishek has a long-standing relationship with Wikipedians in New York City, including a term on the board of trustees and being a lead organizer of the regional North American Conference in 2015. This project has my support. In addition, I can commit to helping Abhishek stay aligned with Wikimedia New York City in terms of grant and budget reporting, staying in communication with the local Wikimedia community, and giving written and in-person spoken presentations about his project's projects. This project is good for the New York City Wikimedia community. It follows other collaborations with South Asian people and language projects in New York City. I would like to see this project advance. Blue Rasberry (talk) 15:54, 17 October 2017 (UTC)
Volunteer Devnagari font is used by many other languages and few languages are common between India and Nepal (ex- Hindi, Nepali in eastern part of India and Doteli is spoken in North Part of India). Government might be interested in supporting additional languages along with Hindi (specially those who share same Devnagari font_. I can collaborate with local community as well as Embassy to support this project. Janak Bhatta (talk) 13:51, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
Noted my reasons in Potential for Solution section. I am an admin/'crat on w:mr and would love to help drive more content creation on my home project by leveraging this opportunity. I am based in the United States. अभय नातू (talk) 09:00, 7 October 2014 (UTC)
I am based in San Diego and it is evident that San Diego boasts of a huge Gujarati and South Indian community. The communities can help expand the Indic Wiki by helping translate articles in English. The program looks promising in terms of improving the Indic Wiki, which is why I support the idea. Pallaviagarwal90 (talk) 17:42, 7 October 2014 (UTC)
There is a large Indian community spread-out in USA, if proper outreach programs done, we will certainly get a wider user base. DhavalTalk 10:22, 10 October 2014 (UTC)
You might also look at Pittsburgh, PA. Great idea! -- Djembayz (talk) 23:53, 6 January 2015 (UTC)
Keeping in mind the large number of homemakers in the USA, I believe females can contribute considerable amount of time and that there should be outreach programs to get this population involved in improving Indic languages Wikipedia. श्वेता कोकाटे (talk) 07:52, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
I support, it will also help to get more articles in various Indic languages on different foreign cultures etc. --Sukeerti Dwivedi (talk) 15:56, 10 August 2017 (UTC)
There are good strength of Indic Language speaking NRIs so such project will help-- Swapnil.Karambelkar (talk) 16:01, 10 August 2017 (UTC)
I appreciate this idea and support -- Vijay Tiwari (talk) 18:09, 11 August 2017 (UTC)
I appreciate this idea and fully support --Raju Jangid (talk) 01:31, 12 August 2017 (UTC)
I support this interesting initiative. -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 07:16, 29 August 2017 (UTC)
I support this awesome initiative. It has great organizers and would benefit Wikimeida Diversity objectives to boot. -- Shanluan (talk) 21:07, 13 November 2017 (UTC)
Support - I had few questions in the beginning which have been adequately answered in discussion section. I add my support for this program. Hindi is an international language and it does require efforts on international level to add more and more people. Please note that this is my personal opinion and should not be considered as an endorsement on behalf of Hindi Wikimedians User Group, of which I am one of the contact persons. I wish Abhishek and team all the best in this endeavor and will be ready to offer all possible help. Regards. Anamdas (talk) 08:06, 24 October 2017 (UTC)
Comment This Endorsement is after time of community review. This person Anamdas is one of supporter of grantee. person is not natural.-आर्यावर्त (talk) 08:22, 25 October 2017 (UTC)
{{support)) - see the neutral section--Liang(WMTW) (talk) 18:37, 4 November 2017 (UTC)
And also This event is not a part of Hindi Wikimedians User Group Activity. Because I am member of Hindi Wikimedians And there are no Discussion to add this event offically.-Jayprakash12345 (talk) 10:14, 30 September 2017 (UTC)
Comment Big gamble on only one project - WMF clarified that this grant won't affect other Hindi community grants (Reference : Grants talk:IdeaLab/Hindi Wikipedia Outreach#Community questions to WMF). Your oppose and reason behind it - It was a fair argument that this will affect other grants but it is not true. Please read WMF response. -- AbhiSuryawanshi (talk) 17:41, 16 October 2017 (UTC)
Comment Hello This is not reason showing by you. We do not want to spend money this only one project in USA. If we want do it in India first. India is most hindi speaker country in world. After we think about other country. So withdraw this grant proposal. This is only one solution. We are totally oppose to this grant proposal. So do not act like this is answered or solved or clear. Please withdraw this proposal and do not make any grant proposal named hindi wikipedia without pre clear community discussion. Thanks.आर्यावर्त (talk)-23:41, 16 October 2017 (UTC)
Comment India vs USA : This query is answered in detail here : Grants talk:IdeaLab/Hindi Wikipedia Outreach#Re-Response. This is an independent project (please check discussion page for more details and reasons). Please feel free to ask more questions on discussion page. AbhiSuryawanshi (talk) 23:33, 23 October 2017 (UTC)
Storng Oppose as per my comment Grants talk:IdeaLab/Hindi Wikipedia Outreach#Some problems. in this Endorsements only suyash dwivedi and raju jangid is active hindi wikipedian. suyash dwivedi onhlod his Endorsements and raju jangid support only for idea. before this Endorsements grant amount not available in this grant page. also also grantee hide this information with community. hindi wikipedia want first do it in india, not USA.--आर्यावर्त (talk) 14:05, 16 October 2017 (UTC) Why US. and cost effectiveness
Comment Answered but not solv. solution is withdraw this proposal and do not make any grant proposal named hindi wikipedia without pre clear community Discussion. Please withdraw this request.-आर्यावर्त (talk) 23:26, 16 October 2017 (UTC)
Community discussion is going on and kindly use discussion page to explain how partnerships will affect Hindi Wikipedia community. AbhiSuryawanshi (talk) 08:07, 17 October 2017 (UTC)
Oppose - It is more beneficial to be done in India compared to other countries. --स (talk) 02:49, 17 October 2017 (UTC)
Oppose High price advertisement it is, in short. Better to invest even a fraction of the amount of this within India rather than abroad to achieve better results. Dharmadhyaksha (talk) 08:28, 10 November 2017 (UTC)
I supported for the Idea (please check the history).Keeping the support on hold, since there are some discussions going on in Hindi Wikipedia due to some recent changes in the proposal, regarding the grant proposal and being a member of Hindi wikipedia user group its my moral responsibility to withhold the support till the things get clear regarding the grant.--Suyash Dwivedi (talk) 17:29, 1 October 2017 (UTC)
Sorry, I have to retract my endorsement. After a deeper review of the background of the organizer's past coordination with other grants, it seems that the possiblity of the idea may somehow not be executed properly is high. --Liang(WMTW) (talk) 12:58, 4 October 2017 (UTC)
@Shangkuanlc: I have hosted more than 20 events without any grant. I am doing outreach from last 7 years. I learned a lot. This is my first Project Grant and second Wiki Grant in general. WMF Blog about my previous grant - Hindi Wiki Conference. Can you please tell me which past coordination you are referring? I would appreciate if you can give us some suggestions about effective execution on talk page AbhiSuryawanshi (talk) 13:55, 4 October 2017 (UTC)
Thank you for explaining the whole thing for me today, AbhiSuryawanshi. Now I understand it's a long planned thing and you are dedicated to this project. I will endorse this project.--Liang(WMTW) (talk) 18:36, 4 November 2017 (UTC)
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Indian Wikipedians at Harvard Business School (Boston, USA 2015)
Hindi Wikipedians discussing Outreach Plans at Hindi Wiki Conference (Delhi, India 2015)
Community members after discussing outreach plans (Pune, India 2016)
Snapshot of board with Hindi Wikipedia outreach plans (Delhi, India 2015)
After workshop, getting feedback from participants (Nashik, India 2016)
Language experts giving feedback on proposal (Nashik, India 2016)
Discussions during Wikipedia Day (Boston, USA 2016)
Language school discussions and feedback session
With Nashik Mayor and Deputy Mayor - Understanding government perspective (Nashik, India 2016)
Done
Support - I had few questions in the beginning which have been adequately answered in discussion section. I add my support for this program. Hindi is an international language and it does require efforts on international level to add more and more people. Please note that this is my personal opinion and should not be considered as an endorsement on behalf of Hindi Wikimedians User Group, of which I am one of the contact persons. I wish Abhishek and team all the best in this endeavor and will be ready to offer all possible help. Regards. Anamdas (talk) 08:06, 24 October 2017 (UTC)
Comment This Endorsement is after time of community review. This person Anamdas is one of supporter of grantee. person is not natural.-आर्यावर्त (talk) 08:22, 25 October 2017 (UTC)
Oppose as per my comment Grants talk:IdeaLab/Hindi Wikipedia Outreach#Big gambling on the only one program-Jayprakash12345 (talk) 09:54, 29 September 2017 (UTC)