Apart from a general interest in the natural history of India; the history of studies on the land, fauna and flora; and specifically a long term target to improve entries on Indian birds, I tend to meander off into other linked topics that come up. I may also edit content that I find based on what comes up in real life discussions or reading. When I am reading up on a topic in more traditional and so-called reliable sources such as books and journals, I usually check the state of the relevant Wikipedia articles and see if I can improve them. Natural science topics are somewhat easier to improve than those on politics and religion, but even here, identifying poor research is a key skill that is missing in some parts of the world. One cannot fix problems if one cannot recognize them.
Apart from birds, I am interested in a history of environmental consciousness in general, natural history of India and the history of science (and scientific ideas). Some of the articles that I have tried to improve (or have been interested in) are listed here.
Naturally Wikipedia is a massively collaborative environment and we need more qualified people out here. Some qualified people feel daunted by the system while a few feel it is infra dig to collaborate with commoners. I am happy to help anyone in the former category and have run editing workshops especially for those with a scholarly/academic background. Some training material National Museum Copyright basics Using Zotero
Outreach and training sessions I have helped with:
- National Museum - New Delhi - 2014
- Women in science - Bangalore - 2014
- Natural World - Bangalore - 2015-media
- Chennai (2015)-media - other media - 2016a -
- SVG illustration, Esino Lario, 2016
- Ornithology editathon - Chennai - 2018
- Vector illustration workshop - New Delhi - 2018
- Women in science - NCBS - Bangalore - 2019 2019 2016b
- Soil science department, UAS Bangalore September 2023 (A letdown in my opinion which I suspect is due to the lack of personal laptops among the attendees)
- Periyar University - Salem, India - 6-7 December 2023 (invited by User:Thamizhpparithi Maari)
- The Highland Institute, Kohima, Nagaland (installation and training for an in-house Mediawiki - December 14-19, 2023)
I am happy to help in any other such exercises, especially for universities, librarians, and researchers.
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