Wikipedia To Increase Local Language Content

Wikipedia turns 10 this January. In 2010, we saw several Wiki Media Foundation bigwigs visit India, hold public meet-ups with the Wiki community and appoint the first Indian to sit on the board of the Wikipedia Foundation, Bisakha Dutta. Apart from the formal Indian Wikipedia chapter, that has been on the anvil for some time now, Wikipedia Foundation has also chosen India to set up its first offshore office.

Why India? The large number of potential Net users here, and the ‘ground support’ that exists in the form of a passionate community of Wikipedians, drive these “offshore efforts”. However, they realize, that the ‘Indian Internet’ is by no means a homogeneous entity. During recent visits to India, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has repeatedly articulated the need to approach Wikipedia growth here from a strictly “localized” perspective — by expanding the user base for the local language Wikipedias.