Submissions/Dynamics between Indonesian Wikipedia and other sister Wikipedia editions in Indonesia

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 2014 programme submission, we hope to still see you at Wikimania this August.

Submission no.

1003

Title of the submission

Dynamics between Indonesian Wikipedia and other sister Wikipedia editions in Indonesia

Type of submission (discussion, hot seat, panel, presentation, tutorial, workshop)

presentation and discussion

Author of the submission

Gombang Nan Cengka (User:Gombang)

E-mail address

Special:EmailUser/Gombang

Username

Gombang

Country of origin

Indonesia

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)

Wikimedia Indonesia

Personal homepage or blog

http://gombang.wordpress.com

Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)

Indonesian Wikipedia and other Wikipedia editions in Indonesia often share the same pool of editors. Javanese, Sundanese, Banjar and Minangkabau Wikipedia editors usually participate first in Indonesian edition of Wikipedia (only in some cases the editors come from English or Dutch Wikipedia). These editors are usually able to communicate in Indonesian, and in larger cities like Jakarta and Bandung these different regional language editors may be physically close to each other, and can interact offline.

Although now Indonesian Wikipedia has over 300 thousands articles it is still in need of development. Quality active editors are still rather scarce. Activity in Wikipedia like Javanese or Sundanese sometimes means diminished contribution in Indonesian Wikipedia.

Writing good Wikipedia articles is hard. Writing for local languages (e.g. Javanese) maybe take time otherwise can be spent for developing Indonesian language articles.

Focus on Indonesian edition is clearly useful for spreading knowledge. Indonesian is the sole national language, and main teaching language at schools and universities, and is understood by the majority of population. As a standardised Malay variant Indonesian is also understood by Malay speakers in neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, not to mention Timor Leste which still use Indonesian as a working language. Good quality Indonesian Wikipedia will help advancing scientific knowledge in the Archipelago.

On the other hand there's real danger of stagnation and extinction of local languages, and development of Wikipedia in local language is seen as a way to preserve them. While this is a noble cause, saving local languages is not necessarily compatible with advancing free knowledge. Some languages such as Buginese, Banjar or Minangkabau are not quite developed for modern science, and need further language planning to achieve this. Activity in these Wikipedias will be seen as preservation act, but not necessarily effective in spreading knowledge.

This presentation will try to explore the dynamics between Indonesian Wikipedia and other editions for languages based in Indonesia (Malay and Tetum excluded). Problems found will be described. and possible solutions offered. For example Indonesian articles have been sources for translation into Javanese articles (not English articles). On the other hand smaller Wikipedia communities such as Minangkabau Wikipedia may give unusual ideas for developing larger Wikipedias.

Track

• WikiCulture & Community

Length of session (if other than 30 minutes, specify how long)

30 minutes

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?

Yes, conditional on getting scholarship

Slides or further information (optional)

Special requests

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