Commons:WikiProject Nature and conservation in India
Do you have images, videos, or audios of nature/wildlife and conservation in India? Contribute now to the largest free, educational image and media repository in the world! You can also help improve the world's largest online encyclopedia.
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Overview
[edit]Welcome to WikiProject Nature and conservation in India, an interactive and collaborative WikiProject, initiated on 5 September 2016, to gather relevant content and contribute to improving Wikipedia's articles and coverage about topics related to nature and conservation within the geographical scope of India.
This project's scope includes:
- Contributing to the repository of images and other media on Wikimedia Commons relevant to nature and conservation in India
- Contributing to and expanding Wikipedia pages on Indian wildlife and nature topics using rich media
- Providing a smooth workflow and platform to encourage Indian nature/conservation organisations to move their media collections onto Wikimedia Commons; making their contributions available to wider community as well as retrievable to these donor organisations in a categorised way
Motivation
[edit]Having openly accessible images, information, data, and other media can greatly support participatory nature documentation and conservation efforts in biologically diverse countries like India.[1][2] In India, a lot of media (including photographs, videos, and sound recordings) are routinely collected by field biologists, social scientists, and nature/wildlife photographers in course of their work. Although these may be of wide interest and relevance, the files often tend to remain within institutional repositories and/or individual storage devices. Often, there is no explicit intention either by individuals or by institutions to keep these restricted either because of institutional policy or for copyright reasons. However, they remain inaccessible merely due to lack of robust, tested and long-term platforms for making them available with due credits to individual uploaders/institutions. As indicated in this Wikipedia Signpost suggestion, "...contributing to Wikimedia Commons helps... learn and remember plant identification while also helping others including researchers needing images for their publications; and avoiding catastrophes from hard-disk failures.". Through this project, we aim to identify individuals within institutions who can facilitate transfer of useful and educational media held within researcher/photographer or institutional collections onto Wikimedia Commons. This is valuable in itself and can in addition be used to develop better content on Wikipedia on nature and conservation in India.
Categories
[edit]Creating the category hierarchy for this WikiProject
[edit]To help locate images and other media and ensure that they appear in the category hierarchy for this Wikiproject, we offer a short guide for (a) individual users and (b) users who are also contributing collectively as an institution or other group. See Commons:Categories for general guidance on how to use categories so that your contributions are indexed in the best possible way.
Individual users: Create a category for your images such as "Photos by Username" or "Media by Username" replacing 'Username' with your desired name/nickname/initials or username. Once the category is created (or if you already have such a category), edit the Category page to add this text at the end of the page: [[Category:WikiProject Nature and conservation in India]] This will make your media a sub-category and it should then appear under the subcategories here Category:WikiProject Nature and conservation in India
Institutional contributors: Create a category for your images such as "Photos contributed by Institutionname" or "Media contributed by Institutionname" replacing 'Institutionname' with the institution's name/nickname/initials or username. Once the category is created (or if you already have such a category), edit the Category page to add this text at the end of the page:
[[Category:WikiProject Nature and conservation in India]]
Individual users within an institution whose contributions are being aggregated for the institution could add the following text at the end of their personal user category page:
[[Category:Media contributed by Institutionname]]
This will create a category hierarchy like "Photos by username" → "Media contributed by Institutionname" → Category:WikiProject Nature and conservation in India
Making your images appear as thumbnails on higher category pages
[edit]Note that creating categories and sub-categories as above automatically creates the hierarchy but does not automatically make your images appear as thumbnails under the relevant category pages such as Category:WikiProject Nature and conservation in India. To do this, for each image that you wish to contribute to this WikiProject, you must also add the relevant higher category to the image file such as:
- for individual users: add the Category "WikiProject Nature and conservation in India"
- for institutional contributors: add the Category "Media contributed by Institutionname" and the Category "WikiProject Nature and conservation in India"
Ideally, only files you wish to contribute to the Wikiproject need to be categorised as above (all files in your "Photos by username" user category may not be relevant). You can add these categories for multiple files at once using available edit/batch process Wikimedia tools. If you need help with assigning categories to multiple files, see the Gadget Cat-a-lot which you can activate in your user preferences (Or see help page).
Adding other directly relevant categories
[edit]Wherever possible, add directly relevant categories for each uploaded image/media besides the user categories indicated above. This will help index your contribution in the best possible places across Wikimedia Commons. Here are some suggestions for categories:
- Latin name of species (for images of individual species); example: Category: Buceros bicornis
- Other directly relevant categories; example Category:Birds of the Anaimalai Hills
Usually higher-level categories are not needed as it may be against Commons:Categories#Over-categorization guidelines.
Images
[edit]Some of the main kinds of images relevant to this WikiProject (focus: India) are listed below.
- Images of species
- Individual species portraits
- Groups and assemblages of species
- Plant-animal interactions and other inter-species connections
- Images of landscapes, habitats, vegetation types, ecosystems (terrestrial and aquatic)
- Images of human interface and interactions with nature
- Farming, livestock grazing, forest produce collection, traditional uses
- Habitat destruction, fragmentation, degradation, impacts of industry, infrastructure growth, mining etc
- Conservation efforts by communities, habitat protection, restoration
- Artist renderings, posters, cartoons, educational material etc (check license before sharing)
- Photographs of people related to nature and conservation in India (see guidelines Commons:Photographs_of_identifiable_people)
Videos and audio
[edit]Videos need to be saved in the ogg format which technically means that content is in an ogg container file with the video compressed using the Theora compression algorithm while audio needs to be in oga/ogg with Vorbis compression (since mp3 and mp4 are proprietary). The open source software Audacity can be used for manipulating and saving sound recordings in the ogg format. For handling videos of any format make use of this
- https://tools.wmflabs.org/video2commons/ to automatically convert and upload to commons - it is a two step process and the steps can be followed by reading along.
Pages adopted by Wikiproject for improvement using media/content
[edit]- Human–wildlife conflict
- List of birds of India
- List of mammals of India
- Deforestation in India
- Environmental issues in India
- Linear infrastructure intrusions
- Butterflies of Kerala
- Odonata of Kerala
- Amphibians of Kerala
- Reptiles of Kerala
- Birds of Kerala
- Mammals of Kerala
Sample pages improved using Wikiproject media/content
[edit]- Cullenia exarillata
- Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary
- Basai Wetland
- Aravali Biodiversity Park, Gurgaon
- Threatened and endangered trees of Western Ghats: Critically Endangered species: Dipterocarpus bourdillonii, Phyllanthus anamalayanus; Endangered species: Cryptocarya anamalayana, Dysoxylum malabaricum, Orophea thomsonii , Palaquium ravii; Vulnerable species: Diospyros paniculata, Drypetes wightii, Myristica beddomei, Syzygium densiflorum, Vateria indica.
Wikidata
[edit]Wikidata is another project within the framework of Wikipedia, Commons etc. that acts as a semantic database that maps entries across languages and describes them in ways that allow for querying. It too needs work and updates. Do check this query that lists all the protected areas of India that have proper coordinates and other required statements in Wikidata. Click the "try-it" link below and run the query to show a map. Hopefully this can be made up-to-date.
#defaultView:Map
SELECT ?itemLabel ?itemDescription ?coord WHERE {
?item (wdt:P31/wdt:P279*) wd:Q473972.
?item wdt:P17 wd:Q668.
?item wdt:P625 ?coord.
OPTIONAL { ?item wdt:P18 ?image. }
SERVICE wikibase:label { bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "[AUTO_LANGUAGE],en". }
}
Resources
[edit]- CC-licenced scientific journals (always verify license before uploading).
- Herbaria and floras
- Indian Virtual Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India]
- Digital Herbarium of Angiospermic Plants of Western Ghat Regions of Maharashtra
- Herbarium of the Kerala Forest Research Institute
- Herbarium of FRLHT, Bangalore
- Digital Flora of Karnataka
- BIOTIK Trees of the Western Ghats
- Pitchandikulam Forest Virtual Herbarium
- Forest Research Insitute Herbarium (DD)
- Digital Archives of the Botanical Survey of India
- Others
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/System-search.svg/25px-System-search.svg.png)
Checklist for workshops
[edit]- Make an announcement on the Events page below
- Assess expectations of participants, how wiki-literate are they? Do they need "convincing" to contribute nature/biodiversity material? If yes, assess existing presentations. This one by User:Shyamal is excellent.
- If participants are ready for a direct hands-on demo, then start with:
- Intro to Commons (distinguish from Wikipedia), basic structure of Commons (talk, watchlist, history)
- Choosing images appropriate for Commons, Licensing
- Categorisation and how it works, cat hierarchies in this wikiproject, user and hidden categories
- Create accounts, choosing gadgets and editors in preferences (Cat-a-lot for example)
- How to use images they upload into Wikipedia pages
- General discussion on broader integration with other repos such as IBP, eBird India portal
- Downloadable workshop resources
- Step-by-step guide for uploading photos on Wikimedia Commons. PDF
Participants
[edit]All those who wish to join, please feel free to edit this and add your names and interests at the bottom.
- Shankar Raman Initiator. Contributing Indian birds, mammals and landscapes. See contributions
- Prashanthns contributing birds, plants, arthropods and people in conservation. See contributions
- PJeganathan , Indian mammals, birds, other life forms and landscapes. See contributions
- SS contributing images on forests, landscapes, wild animals and plants. See contributions
- Jeevan Jose, concentrates on arthropods and herbs of Western Ghats. See contributions
- Aparajita Datta concentrates on flora/fauna from Northeast India especially Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. See contributions
- Ksuryawanshi contributing images from Transhimalaya, wildlife and landscapes. See contributions
- Divya Mudappa contributing images on plants, fungi, other wildlife and landscapes. See contributions
- Manoj Karingamadathil (Talk)
- User:Shyamal
- A. J. T. Johnsingh, WWF-India and NCF contributing images on wildlife and habitats. See contributions
- Kalyan Varma contributing images on wildlife and conservation issues. See contributions
- Vinayaraj (talk) 04:25, 29 January 2017 (UTC) All things living. See Contributions
- Satabdi Datta contributing images on nature, landscapes and wildlife in West Bengal. See contributions
- Geetha Ramaswami contributing (mostly) plant images contributions
- Suhel Quader, with a few (rather poor quality) photos, mostly of birds and insects. See contributions.
- Stanzin (Stakpa) contributing images on nature, landscapes and wildlife in Himalaya. See contributions
- Vena Kapoor See contributions
- Garima Bhatia contributing (mostly) images of birds. See contributions
- Jenis Patel contributing (mostly) images of insect. See contributions
- Ananya Mondal contributing images on arthropods, nature, landscapes and wildlife of West Bengal.
- Arghyadeep Das contributing images on arthropods, nature, landscapes, birds and wildlife of West Bengal.
- Rasikapriyaa contributing images of wildlife and landscapes. See contributions
- Ashwin Bhat Kemthuru contributing images of nature and wildlife. See Category:Ashwin R Bhat Photography
- Pooja Pawar contributing images on wildlife and landscapes. See contributions
- Suhridam Roy contributing images of wildlife, landscape. See contributions
- Aparna K contributing images on wildlife, landscape and conservation issues. See contributions
- M. D. Madhusudan See contributions
- Pooja Rathod contributing images on wildlife, landscape and conservation issues. See contributions
- Rohit Naniwadekar I contribute photos of wildlife, landscape and conservation from India.
- Gopi Sundar contributing content to update accounts of waterbird species, and contributing a few photos.
- David V Raju contributing photos of wildlife of different taxa. See contributions
- Selvaganesh contributing images on wildlife, landscape and conservation issues. See contributions
- Vengolis.See contributions
- Harsha Jayaramaiah contributing photos of wildlife. See contributions
- Payal Mehta contributing photos of wildlife. See contributions
- Anand Osuri contributing photographs of wildlife and ecosystems. See contributions
- Nanda Ramesh contributing images on wildlife, landscape and conservation issues of India. See contributions
- Peroth Balakrishnan contributing contents and images on wildlife and habitats. See contributions
- Ganesh Raghunathan contributing images on wildlife and landscapes. See contributions
- Seshadri K.S contributing content about ecology and natural history of wildlife, including in some cases, plants. Primary interests are in birds, amphibians, reptiles and impacts of humans on nature. See contributions
- Uday Kiran contributing images of wildlife and landscapes taken at different places across India. See contributions
- Vardhan Patankar contributing underwater images of seascapes and marine life across India. See contributions
- Neethidoss writing up a new tamil essay/editing an available one.
- Subramanian Sankar contributing images on birds and bird calls. See contributions
- Firos AK See contributions
- Sathish Kumar contributing images mainly from Anaimalai hills. See contributions
- Haneesh K M See contributions
- Sumita Roy Dutta See creation of category and sole contribution in Category:Birds near Jamnagar railway station, Category:Birds of Sattal.
- Vijay Karthick contributing images in the theme of wildlife (mostly frogs), landscapes and conservation issues. See contributions
- Abhirami C contributing images of flora and fauna of Western Ghats.
- Saniya Chaplod contributing images in the theme of wildlife, landscapes and conservation issues. See contributions
- Sidharth Srinivasan contributing photographs of wildlife (mostly birds) and landscapes. See contributions
Requesting others to contribute in same categories.
Events
[edit]Date | Place | Total participants | New accounts created | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|
15/01/2011 | Valparai | 11 | 6 | During 10 years of WP celebrations globally. The 11 participants includes an endemic thrush. One of the early introduction and discussion on Commons for biologists and editing. Report available on ten.wikipedia.org |
21/01/2017 | Valparai | 6 | 3 | Image upload demo, improved Hill Swallow page, discussed WikiProject |
30/01/2017 | NCF North Bangalore office | 14 | 7 | Created new accounts, uploaded images, edited Wikipedia, discussed WikiProject |
28/02/2017 | NCBS Bangalore | 18 | 12 | With MSc Wildlife students: created new accounts, individual user categories and the higher-level group category NCBS WL7 photos to categorise and organise uploaded images as part of WikiProject, edited Wikipedia pages to insert media, enter content, and citations |
17/09/2017 | College of Forestry, Vellanikkara, Thrissur | 50 | 20 | One-day workshop on "Wikipedia editing on Western Ghats biodiversity". The purpose of the workshop was to enrich the content in the Wikimedia on Biodiversity of Western Ghats. The Students Union of College of Forestry has come forward to support and take it up as a voluntary activity, considering it as their social responsibility. |
23/09/2017 | SCCS Bangalore Conference | 12 | 6 | A half-day hands-on session introducing conference participants (largely biology students at Masters and early PhD level), to Wikipedia editing and media uploads on Wiki Commons. Few photos were uploaded and some articles corrected. See more details about sccs-bangalore here - http://sccs-bng.org/and workshop details (Wikipedia for Conservationists. Why and how?) here - http://sccs-bng.org/workshops/107 |
27/01/2018 | Post-graduate Research Institute in Animal Sciences (PGRIAS), Potheri | 15 | 7 | Part of two-day Wikipedia workshop for bird enthusiasts, to Wikipedia editing and media uploads on Wiki Commons. Few photos were uploaded and articles in English and Tamil edited. See more details here. Organised by Madras Naturalists' Society and PGRIAS, Potheri. |
16/05/2021 | Online Event. Wikipedia Workshop for Biology students mainly from Assam | 16 | 13 | Two hours online workshop on importance of contributing for wiki projects. Step by step demo on how to create account/upload images in wiki commons (also via digiKam software). Discussed Commons:WikiProject Nature and conservation in India. Conducted by User:PJeganathan, Organized by User:Jaywithdev. More details (list of participants and their usernames) here. |
13/07/2022 | Hybrid Event. Wiki Wednesday event for staff of Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) | 6 | - | Wiki Wednesday is an inhouse online session for one hour every Wednesday 16:30-17:30 IST for interested people at NCF who contribute/edit Wikipedia/Wiki commons. Initiated by Shankar Ramanan since Jan 2022. During this period we connect via google meet and do things of our interest (such as uploading images/edit/create page and clarify doubts etc. This is the first time NCF staff met in person at Bangalore office. User:PJeganathan joined online from Tiruppur. During this meet we discussed Commons:WikiProject Nature and conservation in India. Given an introduction about wikipedia and creative commons. We have also demonstrated how to create a page during this event. Conducted by User:Bangal Priti,User:Shankar Raman User:PJeganathan. |
To Do
[edit]- Create Category:Media contributed by NCF and a hidden category Category:NCF photos
Done
- Create a Commons page Commons:Nature Conservation Foundation
Done
- Category hierarchy such that all media in Category:NCF photos is collated under Category:Media contributed by NCF & displayed on the Commons:Nature Conservation Foundation page
Done
- Briefly write up all the sections above on this page
Done
- User:Shankar Raman & User:PJeganathan to add appropriate categories to their images
Done
- Revise the WikiProject definition box at the top of the page, to clarify the scope of project. Could borrow from 'Overview' section and scope.
Done
- Add a slideshow or a dashboard to occupy the blank area to the right side of the contents box? Maybe showcase some media?
Done
- Begin using contributed media on a couple of adopted pages listed above
Done
- User:Kalyanvarma has committed about a 1000 photos. Need to pursue and help with batch upload/categorisation if needed
Done
- Clarify/work on some sections more to add more resources/details. Perhaps borrow images/illustrations showing some of the steps from other projects in Commons
Done
- New members need to list themselves. Especially the ones from the Valparai workshop
Done
- Send out an announcement to other potential participants/contributors/institutions on Wikipedia/Wikimedia and elsewhere about this WikiProject to pull more people/organisations in
- Adding photos to Wikidata taxon items lacking one
- Add a screencast of batch-uploading using Digikam or any photo-editor to help biologists batch-upload images
Related WikiProjects
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Gadgil, Madhav and C. S. Rathore, "Why India needs a Wikipedia-like website on environment", Scroll.in, 13 September 2016
- ↑ Gadgil, Madhav, "Why aren't Indians using Wikipedia to hold the government to account?", Scroll.in, 6 February 2016