The Wikipedia… Making it Happen in Konkani

As you might be aware, the Dalgado Konkani Akademi and the Centre for Internet and Society Access to Knowledge Programme (Bangalore) are jointly organising a two-day Konkani Wikipedia Workshop to promote Romi Konkani in cyberspace, and on the Wikipedia in particular.

The workshop will be held on November 16/17, 2013 at the Krishnadas Shama Central Library, Pato, Panjim. But even if you’re far from Goa, you can help take this initiative forward.

What you can do to help:

• Get in touch, pick up suitable articles to translate into Romi Konkani.
• Work to locate sharable articles suitable for Romi readers.
• Share your photographs via the Wikipedia, that can feed into this effort.
• Edit articles in Romi Konkani, if you have the skills here.
• Encourage others to contribute and share their skills and knowledge.
• Pass the word around specially in colleges and among students.

To participate in the workshop, contact Jose Salvador Fernandes, Secretary of the Dalgado Konkani Akademi 9881810832 or dkakademi@gmail.com

If you cannot make it to Goa or cannot join the workshop, but would like to volunteer from afar, contact me (FN, SMS 91-9822122436 or fn@goa-india.org ) and we’ll see how best we can match your skills with the needs.

It’s also possible to contribute to the Wikipedia in other languages and scripts. Build knowledge and make it happen…

Tears of Salt

Technorati Tags: salt, goa, traditional sector, west coast of india

Salt has been an important produce of coastal Goa for centuries, and has been exported from here to countries in Africa and the rest of Asia. But today, the traditional salt sector lies decimated and threatened by extinction, says a new book on the subject.

“Goa once was a hub of salt making. Salt was the currency that allowed Goans to import essential commodities. Today, the very same occupation lies derelict, its spine truly broken by a century and more of official polices, governmental apathy, low social status…,” says a book authored by Benaulim-based sociologist Dr. Reyna Sequeira.

Sequeira, who did her Ph.D. on the salt making communities of Goa and is an associate professor at Quepem, says in the book that traditional occupations must be remembered “not as a tapestry in a museum merely to be viewed, but as a living part of our society”.

Her field work, spread over a couple of decades involving both her Masters and doctorate on this often ignored subject, looks at salt makers in three villagers scattered across diverse pockets of coastal Goa — Agarvaddo (Pernem), Batim (Tisvadi) and Arpora (Bardez).

Besides focussing on the salt making communities, she highlights the “geography, history and politics” of salt in Goa. In the first two, one gets a hint of how the area of salt extraction has shrunk particularly over recent decades, but also since the late nineteenth century and the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty.