Bidar Wikipedia project, an initiative by the Bidar district administration, has led to creation of several articles on the historic district. Mind you, not only in English.
Due to the efforts of Wikipedians from around the world, around 50 articles have been uploaded on Wikipedia till now. These have been translated into 30 languages including French, Arabic, Polish, Mandarin and Sanskrit. A major portion of the articles were written by volunteers from Bidar.
It began with a meeting of students from Bidar with members of the Wikimedia foundation, in the office of the Deputy Commissioner in January this year. A team of 20 students led by Channaveer Patil, faculty from the GND engineering college, participated in the meeting and began writing articles. These were edited, value-added and translated by Wikipedians and writers from around the World.
A Wikipedia edit-a-thon will be held in the second phase on April 12. Students and interested staff from colleges and universities will participate. H.L. Omshivaprakash and other active Wikipedian from Bengaluru will speak at the workshop to be held in Sharada RUDSETI, in Pratap Nagar. Students will be trained in writing for Wikipedia and taking and uploading pictures.
Invites have been sent to Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, College of Horticulture, post graduate campus of the Gulbarga University, GND, BKIT, BKEC and Lingaraj Appa engineering college, and all first grade colleges in the district.
“It is the interest shown by the volunteers that has led to creation of content,” P.C. Jaffer, Deputy Commissioner, said. “Next, we will tap its tourist potential. We will put up boards containing excerpts from the Wikipedia article and Quick Response Codes in front of tourist places and monuments,” Dr. Jaffer said. The first QR code will be installed in front of the Bidar fort on April 12.
“We are probably the only district in Karnataka to have so many articles on Wikipedia in so many languages,” Kishor Joshi, assistant director of tourism said.
This is a voluntary effort, without financial implications to any of the stakeholders. The district heritage committee headed by the DC is organising the event in association with Rotary Club of Bidar and college students, says Khaja Mohteshamuddin, secretary of the Club.
