AdaCamp Bangalore

'''Update: Chinmayi attended AdaCamp Bangalore on behalf of WMIN. A detailed report will be published soon.'''

Wikimedia India is looking for a female representative to participate in AdaCamp Bangalore.

The representative


 * Need not be a chapter member. But, we will look forward you to become a member in future and take an active role in our Gender Gap SIG.
 * Shall submit a report to the chapter about the event and participation.
 * Shall fulfill the expecatations of AdaCamp's usual selection process.
 * Shall avail travel scholarship from the chapter.

Please express your interest below in the following format:

(If you don't have a user account here or unable to edit, please send the details by mail to ravidreams at wikimedia dot in.)


 * Name you prefer
 * Email (you may drop a mail to ravidreams at wikimedia dot in to protect privacy)
 * Location (indicate if you need travel assistance)
 * Your experience in open technology and culture
 * Your thoughts and experience around feminism
 * Any other unique experiences or expertise you would bring to the event?

Candidate 1

 * Name: Krutikaa Jawanjal
 * Email: krutikaa05@gmail.com
 * Location: Thane, Maharashtra (I need travel assistance)
 * Your experience in open technology and culture: Hi, I'm a student and Ive been a user of open technology for the past 2 years. My journey with open technology and culture began with volunteering at Wikipedia. Wikipedia and other wiki-related projects not only introduced me to open culture, but at a personal level its developed me as an individual who believes in philosophies like sharing, contributing, collaboration, volunteering, participating etc. Although, it began with Wikipedia, and organizing various Wikipedia events with the community, there was much more to it. I'm, now, totally a fan of open culture. Further, I'm a part of Barcamp Mumbai as a team member. Its wonderful how people share their knowledge in an unconference. Most of my experience around open tech and culture is as a user, promoter and contributer(in case of WIkipedia). I have also interned at The Playce, which is a co-working scape, hackerspace, etc and have been involved with a open community events around tech, knowledge sharing, etc.
 * Your thoughts and experience around feminism: Feminism, the world needs it. There is a huge gendergap in almost every area of the society. I'm working at an NGO, Point of View, which amplifies the voices of women and remove barriers to free speech and expression. The project that I'm working on is Erotic India. EROTICS India explores the connections between sexual rights, gender rights and internet rights. It understands the internet as an important and emerging public and democratic space, especially for the advancement of sexual rights. I became aware about gender gap in technology and online space while volunteering at Wikipedia. That's when we began editing workshops, only for women to lessen the gender gap. Furthermore, at Point of View, it was much more. I came across issues related to privacy, online abuse, gender and tech. Its much more widespread than I'd tought. Its insane when we come across knowledge like "Use of mobile phones among sex workers in India!".
 * Any other unique experiences or expertise you would bring to the event? I taught mom to use laptop and internet. I was inspired to teach her how to use it while I began working at Point of View. It wasns't so difficult. She enjoyed it. If possible, I'd like to share this experience.

Comments
Hi Krutikaa,

Thank you for applying! Your profile is inspiring, especially where you mention about teaching your mom to use the internet. It is awesome that you have been in touch with many organizations related to gender and tech apart from Wikimedia. Would you be interested in conducting an edit-a-thon or a workshop for the members of these tech spaces (Erotics/Point of View/The Playce or any other group you are comfortable dealing with)? The Gender Gap SIG will provide all possible support. You can also request for grants from Wikimedia India and the WMF (PEG and IEG grants) if you need funds to cover the expenses. I would also suggest you to edit articles related to internet activism on Wikipedia as I understand from your profile that you are greatly interested in this topic. All the best! --Netha Hussain 23:26, 2 November 2014 (IST)

Hi Netha! Thank you for the worderful comment! We had conducted a workshop at The Playce while I was interning there. Also back then when we had done the Mumbai Women Workshop, we had plans for further conducting workshops at various NGOs in Mumbai. I'd be really glad to work on the same.Thank you for the lovely advice. Editing and contibuting to Internet Activism related articles would be a great boon to my work and my knowledge about the same. --Krutikaa 01:05, 8 November 2014 (IST)

Candidate 2
Name you prefer : Chinmayi  S K

Email : c**** @ yahoo.co.in, c**** @gmail.com

Location : Bangalore ( Don't need travel assistance )

Your experience in open technology and culture

I have worked with various open source communities.I have contributed to opensolaris and meego as a part of my work. I have also mentored GSOC 2014 as a part of systers. I have been an open source evangelist for the past 7 years. In college I also ran a Open Source Club to evangelise the use of open source technologies and contribute to them. Now i am a part of Random Hacks of Kindness where we work towards building open humanitarian technologies.

Your thoughts and experience around feminism

I lead a community(the bachchao project) which creates open technology tools to fight gender based violence. I am a passionate advocate of equal society and feminism is definitely important for a equal society.

Any other unique experiences or expertise you would bring to the event?

I have been a mentor at systems and grace hopper and other communities has given me the experience of mentoring young women in technology.Also, my work with various communities has given me an unique understanding of the gender gap in tech and what could be done to bridge it.

My intent to apply for this

I have been wanting to be a part and contribute the wikipedia community. I think with this I can use my expertise to contribute better by encouraging more women to work with wikipedia.

My user page with wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Chinmayisk

Comments
Hi Chinmayi,

Thank you for applying to participate in Ada Camp as the representative of Wikimedia India Chapter. It is nice to meet someone who has been involved with Systers and GSoc. I hope that you continue to mentor several women to help them get started to contribute to open tech and Wikimedia. I am sure your extensive experience will help us to document a lot of best practices and device strategies to bridge the gender gap in Wikimedia. I would invite your contributions to this page. Please also sign up on the initiatives mentioned in this page which you think are interesting. Looking forward to collaborating with you, --Netha Hussain 23:32, 2 November 2014 (IST)

Candidate 3
Name you prefer: Parul Thakur

Email: s**** @ gmail.com

Location: Bangalore, I am already attending AdaCamp this year and I do not need any assistance

Your experience in open technology and culture

I started editing Wikipedia this February. I led the Women Parliamentarians and Scientists edit-a-thon during Women’s History Month in March. I was also a part of the LGBTQI edit-a-thon in Bangalore and contributed by creating articles. I was quoted in Times of India this March. I have also blogged about my experience on Wikipedia, and about PRIDE on my personal blog.

Your thoughts and experience around feminism

I am a woman and I am aware of the struggles a woman goes through right from the day she starts realizing she is not like her brother, she can’t roam freely, and can’t dress as she wants. I am a strong supporter of women’s freedom and rights. My personal blog also tries to breaks molds and shares personal stories to help women do what they want in life without trying to get an acceptance from anyone else. My first Wikipedia event was an eye opener and that was where I realized women do so much but have hardly any presence online. Through my efforts on Wikipedia or otherwise, I want to have women equal representation and the rights that men have.

Any other unique experiences or expertise you would bring to the event?

I am an Engineer, and this was when women were starting to get in technology. I chose mathematics as a subject when we were just two girls in a class of 20 boys. I pursued my passion and left my job to go back to school to study HR. I feel my parents was so supportive of everything I chose to with my life that I feel I am self-made. An online magazine Smart India women published my interview here.

My Wikipedia user page is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ParulThakur

Comments
Dear Parul,

Congratulations on having been selected to participate in Ada Camp already! I would like to invite your attention to this Wikimedia India supported event to increase the number and quality of articles related to LGBTIQA people. The event is likely to have an online component, about which more details will be available on the event page. Please also keep blogging about Ada Camp and Wikimedia events as always. See you in Bangalore soon, --Netha Hussain 23:58, 2 November 2014 (IST)

Candidate 4

 * Name:Anupama
 * Email:anupama.2312.bmsit@gmail.com
 * Chennai, I would need travel assistance
 * I have experienced the benefits of open source, community projects such as Fedora,Ubuntu,Processing,OpenClipart as a user. I have been a part of Wikipedia sessions by FSFTN and FSMK
 * FOSS communities are taking initiatives to bridge Gender Gap and more women are exploring newer avenues.I'am not an ardent feminist but strongly believe in gender equality

Comments
Dear Anupama,

Thank you for applying to participate in Ada Camp as a WMIN representative! I'd like to invite your attention to the Wikipedia article about feminism which describes feminism as a movement to establish equal rights for women. Please edit this page with your views about feminism if you are interested! Please also consider organizing a workshop or an edit-a-thon for women at the open source organizations you are active in. WM-IN and WMF will be able to support genuine events which have a potential to create an impact. Please recognize yourself as a program leader and help bring more women to Wikimedia! --Netha Hussain 00:06, 3 November 2014 (IST)

Candidate 5
Name: Richa Mishra

Email: r******@gmail.com

Location: IIT Bombay, Powai (I need travel assistance)

Your experience in open technology and culture

Hi, I'm a student and Ive been a user of open technology for the past 4 years. I have the experience of using Ubuntu for almost all the projects I have undertaken.

Your thoughts and experience around feminism

The country needs equality on gender issues,that is all I understand and stand for.

Any other unique experiences or expertise you would bring to the event?

I have continued to go for the field i am interested in, which is completely male oriented. And therefore, I can share my experience on working in the environment full of challenges and small day to day achievements. And about the changes a girl student,teacher or activist can bring in their vicinity.

Comments
Hi Richa,

Thanks for applying! Since you found your way through male dominated STEM fields in a top institute in India, I guess you will be interested in contributing to Wikiwomen's Collaborative by documenting your experiences and best practices. Another platform to write about issues related to gender and tech would be the Geek Feminism wiki. Please also have a look at the poorly written tech-related articles on Wikipedia and expand them! Happy editing! --Netha Hussain 00:16, 3 November 2014 (IST)

Candidate 6
Name: Hemaprathaban

Email: h******@gmail.com

Location: Chennai(I need travel assistance)

Your experience in open technology and culture:

Hi, I'm house wife and I have been a user of open technology for the past 6 years. My journey with open technology and culture began with organizing free code club in my college. Although, it began with small work, and organizing various Events with in the college. I'm, totally a fan of open culture. I am the first person from India to be selected for OPW internship. I have done my internship in thermal a sensor driver, Jacob pan as my mentor. https://01.org/blogs/tlcounts/2013/open-source-interns-outperform-industry-heavyweights-linux-kernel-contributions

Your thoughts and experience around feminism

Feminism, the world needs it. There is a huge gender gap in almost every area of the society. A woman can do anything, if she got right opportunity and exposure. My life is an example. Completed BE. Got married at age if 22. I thought my technical life is an end. But it is false. This OPW started a carrier in my life. Now being mom. still I am contributing to open source, Right from my home. Thrust to learn never ends.

Comments
Hi Hema,

Congratulations on being selected as an OPW intern! Wikimedia has job openings related to engineering which you might be interested in applying. Please keep an eye on this link to find out the current job openings. Did you know that Wikimedia is also a participating organization for OPW? Your feedback and suggestions will be highly appreciated by the new batch of OPW interns. Please consider spending your free time to write code for Mediawiki. --Netha Hussain 00:23, 3 November 2014 (IST)

Candidate 7
Name: Priyanka Tiwari

Email: priyankabtiwari@gmail.com

Location: Pune, Maharashtra (I need travel assistance)

Your experience in open technology and culture

Hi, I'm a software developer, working in Pune. I have worked in open source related technologies. I have done my internship project for engineering in Red Hat.

Your thoughts and experience around feminism

For me, feminism is equality and the right to freedom to work on the things you like. Every women, girl need such liberty.

Any other unique experiences or expertise you would bring to the event?

As I have done what interests me and continue to do so, despite hurdles, I can share my views and troubles faced in my field. I also have come across different women from different fields and backgrounds. So, I can benefit the event with a huge number of views to share.

Candidate 8
Name : Thamarai Krishnamoorthi

Email : t******@gmail.com

Location : Chennai (don't need travel assistance )

Experience in open source and culture

I Attended a workshop regarding free software culture and technologies conducted by FSFTN(Free Software Foundation Tamilnadu ) also wiki women session in 2013. That is how I came to know about open source and free software. From then on i'm a volunteer for FSFTN. Have been a part of FSFTN's events. The culture of knowledge sharing and the experience is amazing.

Your thoughts and experience around feminism

I think feminism is more about women knowing their rights and educating them. Being a student i have experienced the gender gap well during my UG where we were not given department event responsibilities just because we are girls. And there is a myth that women can't work like men. we were equally educated like our class mates (guys) still my staffs strongly believed that myth. When there can be so much of gender gap in an Educational institution, what will be the case in places of illiteracy!! feminism is a need to know for every women and fight for their rights.

Any other unique experiences or expertise you would bring to the event?

I'm basically an Engineer, I experienced gender gap well during my college days. So i can share my experience and tell how I was able to break some of those barriers.

Candidate 9
Name: Srividya C

Email: s*********@gmail.com

Location: Yadgir, Karnataka

Experience in Open technology and Culture:

I have been using various application of FOSS from 3 years. I started contributing to FOSS through localization from past 1 year. I came to know about OSM 6 month back and liked the idea of open geodata and started to improve it from past 3 months where I have been mapping my area of locality extensively. Also used OSM data to create maps in QGIS. Apart from these I have also used FOSS graphics and multimedia tools like GIMP, Inkscape, Scribus, Openshot Video Editor to create Videos, flyers, posters and cards for my organization.

Your thoughts and experience around feminism:

I am part of Women in Free Software and Culture(WFS) - India. Participated in the Poster Competition conducted on Women, LGBT and Gender related issues. It was very bad that only two women in all India could send the entries created using Libre/Open source software. From then, I have been encouraging my college juniors and colleagues to be part of such feminist groups and there by increasing their participation. Some of the biggest issues facing women are lack of awareness and confidence level among us.

Any other unique experiences or expertise you would bring to the event?

Perhaps I might be among very few participants from India who is contributing to project like Openstreetmap(OSM) which has only 3% of total women mappers worldwide.

My OSM profile-- http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/srividya_c

Comments
Hi Srividya,

It is wonderful to know that you are interested in open maps apart from contributing to Wikimedia! I would like to urge you to take a look at this IEG project which aims at creating a Wikimaps Atlas. Please consider undertaking similar projects to help Wikimedia! You should also meet Susanna, another maps enthusiast like you, if you haven't met her yet. See Susanna's slides about Wikimaps here. --Netha Hussain 00:33, 3 November 2014 (IST)

Candidate 10
Name : Yeshaswi Menghmalani

Email : *******@gmail.com

Location : Pune (I need travel assistance)

Your experience in open technology and culture

'Knowledge would only increase as you give it out' is what I has been imbibed in my mind since my childhood days when my parents would encourage me to teach whatever I'd learnt in the school each day to our maid's daughter who was not fortunate enough to join school. I believe having open technology at our disposal plays a huge role in the way we can innovate and deliver. I am one of the brigade using google and wikipedia in the quest for answers to each of those 'out of the box' questions that teachers never understood. I am an engineering student and have been using open platform softwares since the past few years including fortran, c and various other compliers on ubuntu platform. I also am a Mozilla firefox student ambassador at college and the team has been conducting free workshops for the juniors to polish their skills. I would grab each and every single chance to contribute my share of pie in the field of open technology and culture.

Your thoughts and experience around feminism

I believe each person, irrespective of their caste, creed, gender is a hero and has limitless capabilities. I strongly condemn inequality, be it for the gender, color or caste. I would never say "WOMEN" are better than men, i would always stand for the thought that "ALL" are the best. Being from a girl's school and being in a women's engineering college has ofcourse never made me rethink about a woman's potential though!

Any other unique experiences or expertise you would bring to the event?

Me and my expertise(If we can classify it so) speak of only one thing "PASSION". A passionate technocrat, a passionate citizen and a passionate human being I believe I am and that is what I wish to radiate around myself inducing my thoughts in each and every one around. I always wished to lead by example, so  I guess this would be my prime purpose while at the event!

Comments
Hi Yeshaswi,

I am moved by your enthusiasm to teach and learn. Your passion for teaching can be positively channelized via Wikiwomen's Collaborative (WWC). Please go ahead and help Wikimedia to document good practices and propagate open knowledge through WWC. Glad to see an FSA here! --Netha Hussain 00:38, 3 November 2014 (IST)

Selection
Hi, thanks for showing interest to attend AdaCamp Bangalore as Wikimedia India's representative. I asked three active community members from Wikimedia India community to review the applications and provide comments that would help the candidates. The three members are


 * Netha Hussain - Active Gender Gap SIG member involved in various Wikimedia related activities globally and locally.
 * Rohini Lakshane - Former Gender Gap SIG chair.
 * Noopur Raval - Former staff at WMF and CIS-A2K

Netha is also a jury member at AdaCamp Bangalore.

Due to short notice, Rohini and Noopur were not able to provide their comments. I thank all of them for accepting my request to review the applications.

Here are some criteria that guided the selection process:

The representative


 * Shall be a Wikimedian.
 * Shall be interested in becoming a chapter member and taking part in Gender Gap SIG
 * Shall be a local person in order to give representation for the local community and also to save travel cost.
 * Shall have wide range of activities and exposure than being a mere user or evangelist of FOSS and Free Knowledge movement.
 * Shall not be attending AdaCamp Bangalore already as we will lose the opportunity to send another person.

Based on these criteria, Chinmayi S K has been selected as the Wikimedia India representative. I wish her a great time at the event.

I sincerely thank all other applicants who showed great enthusiasm and request them to follow the various resources Netha has posted.--Ravi 17:02, 12 November 2014 (IST)