User:Shrees1234/GSoC 2014 proposal

(Project title)

 * Public URL: (the page where the full proposal can be found)
 * Bugzilla report: (link to the related report at http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org )
 * Announcement: (link to the announcement of your proposal at the wikitech-l mailing list.

Name and contact information

 * Name: Shikha Shree
 * Email: shreeshikha21@gmail.com
 * IRC or IM networks/handle(s) : shrees
 * Web Page / Blog / Microblog / Portfolio
 * Location: Kolkata, India
 * Typical working hours:

Synopsis
Wikidata-Wikipedia's Game Changer,very well said. And the main idea of this project is to make this possible. Wikidata is not known and understood yet. Project          focuses on a few aspects that can ease the path of achieving the desired goal. Wikipedia is the oldest, and largest, Wikimedia project, predating the Wikimedia Foundation itself. Since the inception of Wikipedia in year 2001, it has become the most popular reference website on the Internet. But a few difficulties stand out in the day-to-day running of Wikipedia, that can be compensated by making people aware of the use of Wikidata. For example, the day to day updates of elections in India is being released in stages. Then the article on Indian elections will need updating separately in each Wikipedia. But with Wikidata the figure will be stored in a database and instead linked to from every article. Thus, a single update will propagate through all Wikipedias. Project        highlights on  overall structure of Wikidata and design  for the beginning with the documentation. Project        also focuses on social media campaign that increase Wikidata's popularity and help it reach among every user.

The hurdle in front of us is that Wikidata is one of the newest Wikimedia projects. It is not known and understood enough yet. Wikidata’s  main objective is to provide a centralized access to the structured data and manage them. In order to do that Wikidata needs a large number of contributors and users. This has not been achieved yet. Project         emphasizes  a social media campaign that will Wikidata one of the most successful project of Wikimedia. Preparing Facebook pages where online discussions, news updates and storytelling related to Wikidata will be done, is the integral aim of this project. This will not only increase the number of users visiting Wikidata but also increase voluntary contributors.

Sharing snippets in Google+ are yet another objective of this project. Linking snippets to Google+ will increase SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of Wikidata. Google+ provides Authorship that verifies the person who shared the post as an author. Hence, Authorship makes it easy to connect with followers and build a network. Any content linked with the snippet will be indexed higher.The quicker we're indexed, the sooner users will find our content. With millions of pieces of content published on a daily basis, Google+ provides some way to stand out from the rest.

Preparing thumbnails linking to Wikipedia and Wikidata simultaneously, is another purpose of Project         .Thumbnails will be prepared that will appear on the screen before the user is directed to Wikipedia pages. One thumbnail will contain the link to Wikipedia while the other to Wikidata on the same to.This will provide w a direct comparison between Wikipedia and Wikidata. This will make them realize when they need to use Wikidata and Wikipedia. Also this will increase the interest of users to Wikidata.


 * Possible mentors : Lydia Pintscher

Deliverables
May 19 - May  29 - Get familiar with the database, overall structure and working with documentation. Continue with editings in my native language, Hindi to increase the number of users who were unable to use Wikipedia due to language barrier.

May 30 - June 17 - Make Wikidata popular in social media. Prepare Facebook page, snippets to share in Google+ that will involve story telling of Wikidata. This will include links to videos/ pdf's to all possible queries related to Wikidata. For example, What is Wikidata?, How to become a contributor to Wikidata and all sorts of queries listed on https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page in an attractive manner.

Linking snippets to Google+ will capture the attention of web users that can encourage more clicks and grow the number of followers, as with Google Authorship it will be easy to connect with Wikidata's followers and build a network.

June 18 - June 25 - Put a site notice in Wikipedia that would link to Wikidata.This will open a page explaining the tag line of my proposal Wikidata-Wikipedia's Game Changer. This will highlight on the few difficulties that stand out in day to day running of Wikipedia, and how things can be made easier with the help of Wikidata. Most common among them is limited to multilingualism of Wikipedia. Wikipedia articles are dominated by four major languages, The English, German, French and Dutch. This leaves many people around the world unable to read the content of Wikipedia. Wikidata rules over this drawback. Wikidata has sidebars, that contain summary data called an item. The information is structured in these items and linked to central databases that every language version of Wikipedia can use. Another common problem arises with the volume of Wikipedia. Suppose a user wants to know about the alma mater of some famous personalities. Using Wikipedia the user may sometimes have to go through the entire educational background. However, in Wikidata several statements follow a particular label (also known as name) through which user can get the desired information.

June 26 - June 29 - Mid term evaluation. Focus  completely on achieving whatever proposed.

June 30 - August 10 -  Prepare thumbnails that will appear on the screen before the user is directed to Wikipedia pages. One thumbnail will contain the link to Wikipedia while the other to Wikidata on the same topic. This will make the user realize how Wikidata can help them to save their time, using Wikidata if they want to know a small information related to a particular topic. Also, this will help increase the interest of user to Wikidata. Hence, increase the popularity of Wikidata. Not only this, thumbnails will provide a direct comparison between Wikipedia and Wikidata. This will make them realize when they need to use Wikidata and Wikipedia.

August 11 - August 15 - Prepare videos and presentations depicting the importance of Wikidata to Wikimedia and its projects. These videos and presentations will be linked to the Wikidata's thumbnail. These presentations and videos would serve an answer to the various queries that might spring up in the minds of users.

August 16 - August 18 - Maintain all the social media pages, videos, presentations and pdf's.

About you
I am Shikha Shree, a 4th year undergraduate from Netaji Subhash Engineering College, Kolkata, India.
 * Past experience


 * Please describe your experience with any other FOSS projects as a user and as a contributor:


 * Please describe any relevant projects that you have worked on previously and what knowledge you gained from working on them (include links):


 * What project(s) are you interested in (these can be in the same or different organizations)?