Submissions/Video tutor of Wikipedia technology and development for engineering students

After careful consideration, the programme committee has decided not to accept the below submission at this time. Thank you to the author(s) for participating in the Wikimania 2013 programme submission, we hope to still see you at Wikimania this August.

Submission no.: 5023
Subject no.: T1

Title of the submission: Video tutor of wikipedia tchnology and development for engineering students

Type of submission: Presentation

Author of the submission: Santosh Shingare

Country of origin: India

Affiliation: Research Assistant, IIT Bombay

E-mail address: santosh.shingaregmail.com

Personal homepage or blog: Github

Abstract

Video tutorials are a technique to create powerful documentation for software packages. This approach is especially useful for free or open source software. A large number of students in developing countries have good analytic,programming skills but they don’t know how to contribute to Wikipedia project. Suppose Wikipedia develop such kind of tutorial, its an efficient way to train beginners or engineering student in India or world.

Detailed proposal

A Wikipedia is well known across the world as source of information,but very few people in developing countries are aware about wikipedia technologies and way to contribute for improvement of wikipedia. India is worlds largest software and software services industry,and boast of having few of worlds finest talents in software and programming,but people don’t know how to used/handle Wikipedia project or technology and that the reason why India has only 10% of wikipedia editors. India is developing country, new generation have good flair for technology and enthusiasm also but they don’t know way to go ahead. In India every year 750,000 student pass engineering. basically its good raw material, If we catch them young i.e in college and encourage them to contribute in open source (like Wikipedia) it will be a huge pool of talent available for wikipedia as well as these students will get hands on practical experience on various technologies. Large number of Indian students who may be interested in helping wikipedia to improve its services, but could not do so or contribute as they don't know how to use wiki technology. Suppose student want to play wikipedia API but he may not be aware about how to use API, how to use sandbox, install extension,modify any extension,or develop self extension.I propose a solution to solve this problem and can help wikipedia to grow in developing countries. Supose we design a video tutor, it may make be helpful to student, they can learn the basic

Case study:- India have its own tutorial and reflection of its on student.

In IIT Bombay Spoken tutorial project going on. Basically spoken tutorials are an efficient way to train beginners on software,this will have a great impact on free and open source software, as these tutorials can be made by almost anyone who know that technology, no special infrastructure is required to create these tutorials. The training workshops started in July 2011. These have spread across several Institutions, Schools, NGOs, Govt. Offices and even some Corporates. By 3rd quarter 2012, around 100,000 students and teachers from all states of India, the training conducted in over 1500 colleges. Students from rural places have also benefited from this training. Students are using Linux, Python, PHP & MySQL and Scilab in their curriculum. Several colleges are going for Lab Migration, which is switching from Matlab (proprietary) to Scilab. Academia is using the de facto standard for technical writing, LaTeX. We have dedicated students who are working as workshop Promoters and colleges acting as RESOURCE centers in all states of India.

Advantages of Video Tutorial

Videos can work as ice breakers for introducing new technology. When joining a long running project after the main developer had left I was told that the documentation was in screen casts. My first reaction was to think that all the information is trapped in video. But watching the main developer talk through the UML diagram bouncing back and forth between the code I saw the relationship between the classes a lot quicker then stepping through the code myself. It provided the intent type information missing from the in-line comments. Videos can help you understand the thought processes of other developers. One common theme I see on SO is people recommending to improve your development skills by working with others. Watching developers solve problems when building software on video can be nearly as good as having an extra person or resource. Especially if you have a small team or just want to see a different approach.

Why video is a marvelous medium to convey information. We had faced many problems, when we had organized wiki-classes. After completion of classes if students have some problem, they used to contact us through e-mail. But some time it is difficult to solve his problem on mail. Then we realized that if we have video tutor then any body can watch and try to solved his problem after watching video tutor.

Here are some reasons why video is preferred over text

Video does not interfere with the learner's time. He can watch at his own pace, wherever and whenever he wants.
With video, it is expected to capture nearly 100% of the learner's concentration. People will watch these training videos, because they are unique presentations.
Video can show how tasks are performed, something which written materials cannot do. It can bring training to life and learning will never be boring.
Video is an excellent way to teach a subject that has any degree of complexity. The learner is literally looking over the trainer's shoulder on how he carries out a task.
Videos are the most powerful communicative tools in history. Video allows the trainer to communicate his message quickly and effectively, while holding the learners' interest.
Video presents standardized information for every viewer, every time. This is especially important in training applications, because it allows the viewer to go back over areas they missed.
One of the reasons why video is such a powerful medium is because it involves the learner's emotions. Even for training purpose, the ease of learning can alleviate a person's fear to a particular subject.
Producing a training video often costs no more than writing an ebook. In fact, video is able to give a great deal of information in a short amount of time.

Wikipedia technical tutorial We have already done similar type of work in India but for different technologies and we are quite successful in spreading knowledge. I am optimistic that the wikipedia video tutorial will also be a success not only in India but in any part of world and it will fulfill its purpose of educating people and transfer of knowledge.

Track: Technology and Infrastructure

Length of presentation/talk: 25 Minutes

Language of presentation/talk: English

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?

Yes, depending on scholarship approval.

Slides or further information (optional)

Not uploaded

Special requests

None

Interested attendees

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Udamkhor (talk) 04:47, 24 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Patilvipula (talk) 08:41, 25 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Tusharmumbai1985 (talk) 09:22, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
GastelEtzwane (talk) 16:01, 4 May 2013 (UTC) May be an interesting tutorial for use with younger students as well, could calibrate it for their age.[reply]
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