Kolkata, Jan 8 (IANS) Contributors to the Bengali Wikipedia from India and Bangladesh will gather at a two-day conference here beginning Friday to exchange ideas and celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Bengali Wikimedia community.
The objective of the meet would be to spread the word so that more volunteers can be inducted to take the Bengali domain on a par with the English Wikipedia in terms of popularity and growth.
To that effect, over 200 delegates from the two countries will participate in workshops, discussions, essay writing, photography competitions and photo walks at Jadavpur University here Jan 9 and 10.
It has been organised by the Wikimedia India community and School of Language and Linguistics of the university.
"Though reasonably successful so far in its own right, it is dwarfed in growth and popularity by its English counterpart, mostly because of a lack of awareness about it among the general populace of the two Bengals," a release from the university said.
Highlights on the first day will be workshops for the differently abled and sessions on typing, editing and creating new articles for the Bengali Wikipedia.
Open to all, the event will also be a learning experience on ways to contribute to other projects like Wikisource and Wiktionary in Bengali, the release said.
A large-scale editing marathon - Bengali Wikipedia Ediathon - will give new users a golden opportunity to have their compositions edited and selected.
Wikipedia started 14 years ago and now has over 34 million articles spanning 287 language editions. A quick and handy source of information, its USP lies in the fact that anybody can write for it.
The Bengali domain (bn.wikipedia.org) began January, 2004. Ten volunteers from Bangladesh and West Bengal work as administrators for it.
It presently hosts over 33,000 articles, accessed by about 500 active users every month.
"Our main aim here is to change this situation by improving the quality and reach of its content and spreading the word, so that more and more volunteers come forward to help take this edition of the Wikipedia to a level of popularity comparable to the English Wikipedia," the release said.
At present, 20 editions of the Wikipedia are in Indian languages, while 20 more are awaiting approval.
However, Indians have so far contributed about 1.3 percent of the overall edits of Wikipedia and only four percent of Wikipedia users are from India, the release said.
India's can make Distinctive Contribution to Paris Climate Conference (Comment: Special to IANS)
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) meeting to be held in Paris (COP-21) in December 2015 is expected to establish a new international
The economic crisis in Sri Lanka: Police fired at protesters in the Rambukana area, one dead; 12 injured
One person has been killed and 12 injured in police firing in the town of Rambukana, about 100 km from the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. Sri Lankan police confirmed the shooting, saying protesters were
One-week lockdown in Iran's capital Tehran, with President Hassan Rouhani suspected of 25 million infected in the country; More than 6 lakh deaths in the world
So far 1 crore 43 lakh 5 thousand 650 people have been infected with coronavirus in the world. Of these, 85 lakh 45 thousand 834 have been cured and 6 lakh 1 thousand 654 have been killed. Meanwhile,
Chief Minister Gehlot said - a conspiracy is being done to topple the government, but we are strong; Those who cheated can return and apologize to Sonia Gandhi
Amid the political uproar in Rajasthan amidst the ongoing political upheaval in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has said that there is a conspiracy to topple the government, but we are strong.
Jat leaders meet PM over reservations
New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) A delegation of Jat leaders met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday morning over quashing of the OBC quota for the community, official sources said.The meeting
Apart from UAE, these two countries can now have remaining matches of IPL 2021, claims in reports
After the postponement of IPL 2021, the question in the mind of all cricket fans is when and where the remaining matches of the tournament will be played. According to reports, the BCCI is considering
Gujarat Vidyapith: Appointment of in-charge Vice Chancellor after High Court's instructions, Professor Bharat Joshi will take charge
A senior professor from Gujarat Vidyapith has been asked to take over as its Vice-Chancellor-in-charge. Based on a report of the University Grants Commission, the High Court had ordered the Vidyapeeth
Current financial year: Government expenditure of 18.24 lakh crore in the first half, revenue 12.03 lakh crore
During the first half (April-September) of the current financial year, the government has spent Rs 18.24 lakh crore. Its revenue during this period has been 12.03 crores. With this, the fiscal deficit
Mangalore church attacked by anti-social elements: Minister
Mangalore, Feb 25 (IANS) A church was attacked here by some "anti-social elements", Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Minister U.T. Khader said Wednesday.The minister, who visited the site in the
RBI Monetary Policy Updates: Repo and Reverse Repo rate did not change but the growth estimate was reduced, Shaktikanta Das gave these reasons
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced the growth forecast in the monetary policy review meeting. Now it has come down from 7.8 percent to 7.2 percent. Also, the prime interest rates have not