'Information should be allowed to travel freely'

Wiki-Academy at St Aloysius College

He was speaking at ‘Wiki-Academy,’ a workshop on ‘Use of Indian Languages in Wikipedia, Editing and Its Applications in Academics’ organised by the Mass Communication Department of St Aloysius College, Al Madhyam Media Forum, Centre For Internet and Society and Wikipedians, Bangalore at St Aloysius College here on Saturday. He said that people cannot monopolise information by confining it to oneself. But at the same time information should be allowed to travel freely from person to person, he added.

“Wikipedia is a second generation internet site which is not controlled by the seller. Meanwhile, the end users have control over it,” he said adding that one can register himself to become a Wikipedian and edit information for Wikipedia.

Wikipedia, which started in 2001 has now grown into an extremely popular information site in the world.

 A large number of experts in all fields and students are the end users of Wikipedia, he said and added that the process of information gathering has no end.

Speaking on the occasion, St Aloysius College Principal Fr Swebert D’Silva said that the blogging, which is a recent development in the internet, helps students to develop their inborn talent in writing. Blogspots provide platform for students to express their thoughts, feelings and experiences, along with increasing their writing skill, he said and called upon students to convert ideas into writings.

Talking about Wikipedia, D’Silva said that the site covers all topics and students can download any kind of information required for their studies. He said that earlier people were searching books in the libraries to obtain information. However, Wikipedia made everything simple that people can obtain information at the fingertips.

‘Tvaesha,’ a monthly journal of Mass Communication Department of St Aloysius College, was released on the occasion.

Volunteer editors of the Wikipedia Kannada edition Hari Prasad Nadig and Dr Prashanth delivered talks on the theme as resource persons. Mass Communication Department Head Dr Richard Rego and students representative Anzil Fernandes were present.