Critical issues presentations/Institutional partnerships : the way forward

Submission no. 52
Title of the submission

Institutional partnerships : the way forward

Author of the submission
  • Rahimanuddin Shaik
  • Tanveer Khan
Country of origin

India; India

Topics

Outreach, Projects, Research, Technical

Keywords
  • Institutional partnerships
  • Education program
  • Learning and evaluation
  • India education program
  • Metrics
  • Cohort analysis
  • Learning curve
Abstract

Through this paper, it is our intention to discuss the changing nature of knowledge production in India and opening up of Higher Education space like never before. And our efforts of intervening in this space by creating sustainable, productive and futuristic institutional partnerships. These partnerships have aimed to build a community of Wikimedians and free knowledge activists in Indian languages. Due to the provisions laid out in the Constitution of India and the Policy of Affirmative Action followed by successive governments there seems to be an endless demand for Higher Education in India. Where does one get verifiable knowledge, credible resources and qualified personnel to perform this near miracle. Wikimedia platforms come to us as the silverline amongst the dark clouds. We would like to present various case studies of our institutional partnerships and our learning which makes us believe that higher education institutions and students need Wikipedia.

Partnerships in the Indian context usually implies that there is tangible benefit to both parties the one that proposes and the one that implements. To make matters worse, there is a new buzzword doing rounds - "Knowledge Economy."

How does one get an institutional head to give you a patient hearing when there is no profit to be made. Pushing the envelope a little too far, we run our partnerships not only with the idea of no profit but also with no gains. In fact, everything shall be put out for free. Sometimes, (very rarely) to our own surprise, the idea gets accepted.

In the Indian higher education-knowledge ecology scenario we have many such experiences, some are quirky, some are revelationary, and some are just plain strange.

At Wikimania, we wish to learn from the wealth of experience as to how one pitches these ideas, and how one executes them successfully. It is also to learn a thing or two from fellow Wikimedians' experiences and to alert the possible difficulties that lie ahead.

We would discuss our challenges, our interventions, our evaluation strategies, our course correction strategies and like to be rated by a community that believes in the same ideals as we do.

Result

Not accepted