Submissions:2018/North America's role in Hindi language Wikipedia


 * Title: North America's role in Hindi language Wikipedia


 * Theme (optional): Relationship Building & Support / Editor Recruitment & Retention / Inclusion & Diversity


 * Academic Peer Review option:  yes


 * Type of submission: presentation


 * Author: Abhishek Suryawanshi


 * E-mail address: i.abhishek.suryawanshi@undefinedgmail.com


 * Wikimedia username: en:User:AbhiSuryawanshi


 * Affiliation(s) (optional): Indian Mission to the United Nations


 * Abstract:

320 million people speak Hindi as a native language. Hindi is the most prominent Indic language yet also it has an underdeveloped Wikipedia relative to the size of its audience and their interest in its content. Reasons for lower Hindi language wiki engagement include the difficulty in organizing the Hindi language Wikipedia community, the tendency of Hindi speakers to engage with English language Wikipedia instead, and a slow start in global Wikimedia collaboration with India as compared to other parts of the world. From late 2017 these historic barriers are becoming less.

Recent trends are making Hindi language Wikimedia projects more prominent both for Hindi speakers and for the global community. In January 2018 Hindi language Wikimedia editors convened for a workshop to trade skills and plan for promotion. The Wikimedia Foundation aired a Hindi language television advertisement to promote Wikipedia. Around the world more Hindi users have been connecting with the global Wikimedia community in Hindi to collaborate. Universities in India continue to be a base for editor organization, such as with Wikipedia Club Pune as a student organization. In New York City Indian people resident in New York are using Wikimedia projects to showcase the contributions and culture of India, from the perspective of Indian people, in the context of being a non-resident Indian. The growing network of collaborations between Wikipedia and United Nations-affiliated organizations, including WikiProject:United Nations, WikiGap, and the routine participation of people who work with UN organizations and edit Wikipedia, are building a body of contributions which make it easier for new editors to join.

This presentation will share stories from the Hindi language Wikimedia community in India, the Hindi language community outside India, how we are bringing Wikimedia projects to Internet users in India, and also how we are bringing Wikipedia to people in India offline in the case that they do not have Internet access.


 * Length of presentation: 15 minutes


 * Special requests:


 * Preferred room size: 25-50


 * Have you presented on this topic previously? If yes, where/when?: no


 * If you will be incorporating a slidedeck during your presentation, do you agree to upload it to Commons before your session, with a CC-BY-SA 4.0 license, including suitable attribution in the slidedeck for any images used?: yes


 * Will you attend WikiConference North America if your submission is not accepted?: yes

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