Draft:Bangla WikiMoitree
Bangla WikiMoitree is a network of thematic-linguistic coordination and mutual cooperation between Bengali culture and heritage or the Bangla-speaking Wikimedia community, affiliates and informal groups.
Currently there are two affiliates in this network.
Historical background[edit]
Historically known as Bengal or Bangla, the people of the present-day Bangladesh state and the Indian state of West Bengal share similar history, traditions, culture and language, but have unfortunately been separated for nearly 75 years by an international border drawn by colonial powers. Yet for more than a decade and a half, volunteers from Bangladesh and West Bengal have been working together to build various Wikimedia projects in the various languages spoken in the two regions, including Bengali. Recognized as the national language of Bangladesh and one of the official languages of various parts of India including West Bengal, Bengali is the fifth most spoken mother tongue in the world due to its mother tongue of 300 million people. Volunteers from the Wikimedia community banded together to organize their projects by creating the Wikimedia Bangladesh chapter and the West Bengal Wikimedia User Group in 2017. Wikimedia Bangladesh is currently the only Wikimedia chapter in South Asia. These two cross-border communities have organized various online and offline projects together at various times, one of which was the international conference in 2015 celebrating the tenth anniversary of Bengali Wikipedia. Every year at Wikimania the two Bengali communities meet together for Bangla Wikimedia where discussions take place on how to work more closely together.
Why Bangla Wikimaitri?[edit]
Although earlier various formal and informal online or offline collaborative projects have been organized between Wikimedia Bangladesh and West Bengal user groups and regional communities of Bangladesh and West Bengal, it has always been felt that Bengali language, culture and heritage should be brought closer to each other in digital media. And there needs to be a holistic relationship. Discussions regarding the strategy of the Wikimedia movement provided a golden opportunity to formally develop mutual cooperation in the form of Bangla Wikimaitri. The collaboration is also keen to build an internet network that will create new ones in the states of North-East India including Assam, Tripura, Jharkhand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, etc. and in Bengali-speaking community areas around the world, where there are no Wikimedia communities or volunteer groups yet. Will play a role in community building. This network will help build Wikimedia communities from minority languages in majority Bengali-speaking regions and/or from languages and cultures historically closely related to Bengalis in different regions.
workspace[edit]
Bangla Wikimedia will try to work in the following areas
- Conducting collaborative programs aimed at enriching the Bengali language and all its dialects, culture and traditions through digital media
- Developing timely technology for Bengali language
- Establishing closer links between Wikimedia communities in Bangladesh and West Bengal
- Helping to build new Wikimedia communities and groups in various Bengali speaking regions including Tripura, North East India including Assam, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jharkhand
- Helping diaspora Bengalis living in different parts of the world to build Wikimedia communities and groups
- Providing support to start communities and wiki projects for various minority languages in majority Bengali-speaking regions like Bangladesh, West Bengal and Tripura
- To provide support for community building for languages that have historical links with Bengali culture
- To provide a strong voice for the issues of all communities, affiliates and informal groups associated with this network to the global community.
