Reports/Infrastructure Scholarship 2014 - 2016

Wikimedia India chapter runs an infrastructure support program for established Wikimedians to retain and enable them to be more active. The program is developed mainly to remove limitations in contributing for usergroups like students, unemployed, and others facing financial constraints.

(Detailed Instructions on How to apply is here)

Wikimedia India chapter since the program's launch in 2014 has provided support for 7 Equipment lending and support requests as of 2017. Applicants requesting support are generally established editors. So far on an average the requests that Wikimedia India chapter has received are from editors working on Wikipedia for more than 5 years. Over the course of 4 years of the program,
 * Tito Dutta was the first applicant to get an equipment lending support from Wikimedia India chapter. The request was made on December 30, 2014 for a digital scanner and an internet dongle. Following Tito,
 * Satdeep Gill and Charan Gill from Punjabi Wikimedian community applied a grant on May 2, 2015 for three Punjabi language books. The books are still (as of 2017) used by the members of the Punjabi community to create and improve articles.
 * Pranayraj Vangari from Telugu community applied for a laptop which they received on May 3, 2015 following community endorsements.
 * Info-farmar from the Tamil Wikimedia community received a laptop following community endorsements on August 8, 2015.
 * Jim Carter from the English and Bengali Wikimedia community requested for a laptop after community endorsement which they received on September 25, 2015.
 * Bodhisattwa, an active editor/sysop from Bengali Wikimedia projects had requested on December 20, 2015 for monthly payments for their internet charges. Wikimedia India is still providing support to Bodhisattwa.
 * Jkadvoor applied for a camera and camera lens following community endorsements which they received on February 2016. Jkadvoor was the last applicant to receive a equipment grant from the chapter since 2016.

Tito Dutta
Expense - INR 3948

Tito Dutta is an English Wikipedian volunteering on Wikipedia since 2011. Tito is one of the few identified active sysops form Indian community on English Wikipedia with a global edit count of more than 100K. Tito apart from English Wikipedia is also active on Wikimedia Commons and Bengali Wikipedia. In December 2014, Tito Dutta applied for a scanner and a dongle which they received in the same month. The equipment since have helped Tito upload as many as 14 rare Public domain pictures on Wikimedia commons.

List of uploads

 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swami_Vivekananda_1_January_1897.jpg
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swami_Vivekananda_1896_London.png
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swami_Vivekananda_1893_Chicago_Pose_color.png
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ramakrishna_1883_image.jpg
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Birthplace_of_Ramakrishna.png
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paternal_house_of_Ramakrishna_in_Kamarpukur.png
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Raghibir_temple_photograph.jpg
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mahendranath_Gupta_image.jpg
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vishwanath_Datta%27s_handwritten_letter.png
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swami_Vivekananda_letter_1_December_1898.png
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swami_Vivekananda_1896_meditating.png
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Kamarpukur_map_showing_Ramakrishna%27s_house.png
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Dakshineswar_Kali_Temple_map.png
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swami_Vivekananda_1886_Cossipore_black_and_white.png

The scan and upload work halted after April 2015 since the applicant shifted to a new resident.



The scanner is still with Tito Dutta. He suggested to hand over the scanner to other community members if a need arises.

After Tito received the dongle, a quick look on the statistics of the contributions, makes a clear indication of the increased participation. The annual contributions of User:Titodutta appeared to have increased by 13.69% in 2015 compared to 2014. It further increased by 67% in 2016 when compared to 2014.

Satdeep and Charan Gill
Expense - INR 4,449 Satdeep and Charan Gill are two of the most experienced Wikipedians on Punjabi language Wikipedia. They both are well known as content writer. In May 2015 they made a grant requesting three books:
 * 1) ਲੋਕਧਾਰਾ ਵਿਸ਼ਵ ਕੋਸ਼ (8 ਜਿਲਦਾਂ) Folklore Encyclopedia(8 Volumes), National Book Shop, Delhi : 1900 Rupees (Discounted price)
 * 2) ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਵਿਸ਼ਵ ਕੋਸ਼ (12 ਜਿਲਦਾਂ) Punjabi Encyclopedia (12 Volumes), Language Institute, Patiala : 1474 Rupees
 * 3) ਮਹਾਨ ਕੋਸ਼ (3 ਜਿਲਦਾਂ) Mahan Kosh (3 Volumes), Punjabi University, Patiala : 1075 Rupees (Price after 50% Discount)

Given their previous expertise in content creation, the grant request was accepted.

After the grant was accepted at least 279 articles were created by User:Satdeep Gill with-in a year, which is 21% of the total articles created by Satdeep.

Out of 15,820 edits on Punjabi Wikipedia, Satdeep made 5060 edits after receiving the grant.

Charan Gill, the heavy content writer made 508 articles after getting the books. Which is 6% of the total articles created by him.

The books were also used to improve existing articles. Some categories which includes articles that are created or improved using the books are:


 * 1) https://pa.wikipedia.org/wiki/ਸ਼੍ਰੇਣੀ:ਪੰਜਾਬੀ_ਲੋਕਧਾਰਾ_ਵਿਸ਼ਵ_ਕੋਸ਼_ਨਾਲ_ਸੁਧਾਰੇ_ਸਫ਼ੇ
 * 2) https://pa.wikipedia.org/wiki/ਸ਼੍ਰੇਣੀ:ਮਹਾਨ_ਕੋਸ਼_ਦੀ_ਮਦਦ_ਨਾਲ_ਸੁਧਾਰੇ_ਸਫ਼ੇ
 * 3) https://pa.wikipedia.org/wiki/ਸ਼੍ਰੇਣੀ:ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ_ਵਿਸ਼ਾ-ਕੋਸ਼_ਦੀ_ਮਦਦ_ਨਾਲ_ਬਣਾਏ_ਸਫ਼ੇ
 * 4) https://pa.wikipedia.org/wiki/ਸ਼੍ਰੇਣੀ:ਪੰਜਾਬੀ_ਵਿਸ਼ਵ_ਕੋਸ਼_ਨਾਲ_ਸੁਧਾਰੇ_ਸਫ਼ੇ

Pranayraj Vangari
Expense: INR 18,615
 * Pranayraj is a Telugu Wikipedian who received a laptop after a successful grant request in June 2015. After receiving the grant, Pranay's edit count and content creation boomed. He made 56,657 edits in the year following the successful grant request.



214 articles were created on Telugu Wikipedia which is 41% of the total number of articles created by him.



On Wikimedia Commons, Pranay has uploaded as many as 490 files after receiving the grant.

Lokanathan (Info-farmer)
Info-farmer is an editor primarily working on Tamil Wikipedia with a global edit count of 221,210 as of 2017. He is a sysop on two Tamil Wikimedia projects. He received the grant, a laptop on August 8, 2015. Following the grant Info-farmer's edit count increased a lot compared to the previous year – 2014.
 * 2311 files were uploaded after receiving the grant which sums 69.2% of the total uploads on Wikimedia Commons by Info-farmer.


 * As of February 2017, Info-farmer made over 4511 edits on Tamil Wikipedia and have created 46 articles after receiving the grant.

Rudra Pratap Sinha (Jim Carter)
User:Jim Carter volunteering on English Wikipedia had requested for a laptop on September 2015. Since receiving, he has done over 16,000 edits on multiple Wikipedias including English, Bengali, Hindi Fiji, Welsh and Simple English Wikipedia. On their home Wikipedia, Jim Carter has made more than 4012 edits since receiving the grant.

Jim Carter has made over 156 articles since receiving the laptop, which is 86.2 % of the total number of articles they have made.

Bodhisattwa
Bodhisattwa Mandal is a Wikipedian working on Bengali Wikipedia, Bengali Wikisource and Wikimedia Commons.

Bodhisattwa applied for monthly internet recharges support which they are receiving since December 2015.

Since receiving, Bodhisattwa has made over 4000 edits on Bengali Wikipedia. However, the most remarkable impact the grant has resulted is their contribution is on Bengali Wikisource where they made over 17,205 non-automated edits after receiving the support. It is over 85% of the total edits they have made on Wikisource.

Over 1026 files were uploaded on Commons, which is 11% of his total number of uploads.

Bodhisattwa's report on Equipment Lending and Community Support

Jkadavoor
Jkadavoor has uploaded over 661 pictures after receiving the Camera and lens as grant on February 2016. He has a total edit count of 45,425 edit, contributing mainly on Wikimedia Commons.

Raju Suthar
Wikimedia India helped Raju Suthar to apply for a Rapid grant to the WMF which was successfully approved. Raju Suthar is one of the most active Wikipedians on the Hindi Wikipedia with almost 750+ articles to his name. In July 2016, he was also featured on the Wikimedia India website as the Featured Wikimedian of the month.