TNI Bureau: In our contemporary digital era, where mobile and internet technologies thrive, Wikipedia stands as a vital reservoir of reliable free knowledge.
Recognizing the need to fortify the Wikipedia communities in India and train its dedicated volunteer leaders, the Center for Internet & Society- Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K), based in Bangalore, Karnataka – has been organizing “Train the Trainer” (TTT) workshops since 2013. This year’s 9th edition was held with great success in Bhubaneswar, Odisha from October 18 to 20, with commendable coordination support from the Odia Wikimedians User Group.
The two-day national workshop saw participation from 35+ enthusiastic Wikimedians, representing various linguistic communities across India, including Odia, Assamese, Punjabi, Santali, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Bengali, Tulu, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, and other Wikimedia projects like Wikimedia Commons and FOSS.
The program kicked off on October 18 with a city tour, featuring a visit to the beautiful “Kalabhumi” Museum. On October 19 and 20, a series of diverse sessions, panel discussions and thematic training were conducted at the Hotel Hindusthan International.
The CIS team, including Executive Director Tanveer Hasan, A2K – Program Manager Pavan Santosh, Program Officer Nitesh Gill, Nivas Ramishetty, Subodh Kulkarni, Medini Subhu, and Christina, participated actively.
Key contributors from the Odia Wikimedians included Mrutyunjaya Kar, Jnanaranjan Sahu, Chinmayee Mishra, Sangram Keshari Senapati, Gayatree Tripathy, Sailesh Pattnaik, and Abhijit Patro, who played pivotal roles in organizing and managing the event.
The event spotlighted the efforts and achievements of the Odia Wiki community, along with sister projects like Wikidata, Wikisource, Wiktionary, Commons Wikimedia, Lingua Libre, with notable contributions by Dr. Subash Chandra Rout, Subhasis Panigrahi, Pritiranjan Tripathy and others were discussed.
On the evening of October 19, Odia and Santali Wikimedians based in Bhubaneswar joined the participants for a casual dinner. The event concluded with a celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Odia Wikisource, where volunteers and CIS-A2K members commemorated the occasion by cutting a cake and congratulating newly approved Admin Sangram Keshari Senapati.
This program marks a significant milestone for the Wikimedia movement in India, fostering a spirit of collaboration and learning among its diverse linguistic communities and tech enthusiasts.