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The Konkani and Goa Wikipedia project which took a more active turn around a month ago, now has on board Mangaloreans, who will help further the Konkani content on Wikipedia.
In the Goa Wikipedia group’s latest meeting held at Central Library Panjim on November 18, around 20 youth from Mangalore participated in the proceedings via the internet.
Hariette Vidyasgar, a TV producer and journalist from Mangalore got the youngsters together, while Frederick Noronha, motivator-in-chief of the Goa Wikipedia group, expressed hope that with their help, the Konkani Wikipedia would become even richer.
“We hope your enthusiasm grows into a wildfire, and spreads to build Wikipedia content in a language (and region) that needs it,” Noronha told the youngsters from Mangalore.
Noronha however also reminded the newly-inducted that while the mission was to increase Konkani content, language shouldn’t be a barrier that stopped anyone from contributing.
“Based on our experiences in Goa, I would remind you not to focus on language alone, but let everyone contribute in whatever language they are comfortable with, for this helps in growth,” counselled Noronha.
Meanwhile, the Goan contributors also discussed how to get those with good photographs and pictures of Goa to share these on “Wikimedia Commons” (the photo Wikipedia) where the photographer would get credit for his/her pictures, and the Konkani Wiktionary.
For the Konkani Wiktionary, which is a project running parallel to the Konkani Wikipedia project, Isidore Dantas and Denzil Simoes, amongst others, are working towards creating an online Konkani dictionary.
“We are currently working on adding words in Konkani in all three scripts,” Simoes told The Goan, explaining that the ‘Modern English to Konkani Dictionary’ written by Isidore Dantas and Joel D’Souza will be a valuable resource for the project.
Simoes also informed that for the Wiktionary, the team will be including both, words from Konkani to other languages, and words from other languages to Konkani.
Anyone interested is free to join in either of the projects and can get in touch with the team via the Wikipedia tinto on the Konkani Wikipedia.
