Tulu Wikipedia celebrates anniversary

Tulu Wikipedia library was inaugurated on the occasion of the first anniversary of Tulu Wikipedia, organised by Karavali Wikimedians at Sri Ramakrishna P U College, Bunts Hostel in Mangaluru, on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion, Karavali Wikimedians secretary Dr U B Pavanaja said that the Tulu Wikipedia was started in 2008 and contains 1,081 articles on Tulu in Kannada script.

The Tulu Wikipedia went live on August 5, 2016. There are 40 editors and around 100 active editors, who upload articles, edit them and add references. Seven ‘editathons’ have been conducted so far. Trained students from various colleges have added articles to the Wikipedia. This apart, there is Wiki Women Mangaluru, supported by Karavali Wikimedians to encourage more women to become Wikipedia editors with 30 members. For the first time in India, three visually challenged persons are editing articles on wikipedia, using text to speech conversion software.

He further said that the Wikipedia library comprises 300 books, of which 150 books are donated by Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy. These are reference books used by Wikipedians to enrich articles.

Dr Pavanaja, meanwhile, felt a need to publish more articles related to science and technology in Tulu. There are plans to distribute printed copies of selected articles on Tulu Wikipedia to schools, he added.

Wikimedia Foundation Emerging Wikimedia Communities senior programme officer Asaf Bartov spoke on how Hebrew was developed through publications. The language which was confined to prayers, has now a university of its own. The works for a Tulu encyclopedia may become an inspiration to Tulu University, he opined.

Prof K Chinnappa Gowda, Folklore University (Haveri) former vice chancellor, who inaugurated the Wikipedia Library, said that we are in a knowledge exposure juncture and it is necessary to spread indigenous knowledge to global level and vice versa. In this regard, identification of sources is very important. The articles should be able to attract the readers and educate them, he added.

Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy chairperson A C Bhandary symbolically handed over the reference books to the College. The books will be used as the sources of reference for Tulu Wikipedia editors.

Karavali Wikimedians Mangaluru president Dr Vishwanatha Badikana, treasurer Dr Kishorekumar Rai Sheni and Sri Ramakrishna Educational Institutions correspondent B Krishnaprasad Rai were present.