IITians step in to improve state’s presence on Wikipedia

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 17

Himachal has over 20,000 villages, numerous rivers, mountains, institutions and industry but still its presence on Wikipedia is negligible (about 0.75 per cent).

A study by the founder and former director of the IIT-Mandi, Prof Timothy A Gonsalves, reveals that there were only 13 articles on Himachal villages on Wikipedia in August 2020, and the number was increased to 152 in July 2021 by the IIT-Mandi Wikimedians — a group of faculty, students and alumni of the institute.

A comparative study has revealed that all 534 villages of New York (USA) are covered in Wikipedia and so are 100 per cent villages of Kerala, while only 152 of over 20,000 villages of Himachal are covered and 13 of 3,338 villages of Mandi district figure on Wikipedia.

However, after the initiative of Wikimedians, new articles on the IIT-Mandi, EWOK, Kamand village, Khanahr (Salgi) village, Losar Khas village and other gram panchayats in Himachal were created for Wikipedia and Wikipedia Commons, besides improving the already existing articles, Gonsalves told The Tribune.

Photographs and articles on the Spiti river, Black Kite, Kuthachi village in Mandi, Jagannathi Temple in Kullu, the waterfall at Marhi in Manali, and the Prashar Lake were also uploaded, he said. The IIT uses Wikipedia for technical and non-technical information and once looking for villages, we found nothing and decided to contribute, he added.

Wikipedia could have an article on every legally recognised village, every river, mountain and institution of public importance but strangely Himachal has little presence on it, he said.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.