Second Wikipedia Kolkata Photowalk

Wikipedia Takes Kolkata II

Second Wikipedia Kolkata Photowalk, 3 March 2013

Also see: Wikipedia Kolkata Photowalks

“The 29, busy professionals on weekdays and hobby photographers on weekends, were participating in the second edition of Wikipedia Takes Kolkata. The aim? Not to build impressive personal collection of photographs but to increase the number of city images available on the the number one information resource for GeNext.”

Sreyoshi Dey, The Telegraph, Kolkata , 7 March 2013

“Wikipedia Takes Kolkata II is the second edition of the event organised by the Wikipedians, encouraging the masses to contribute to the world’s largest, quickest online encyclopedia”

Suruchi Gupta, Hindustan Times, Kolkata, 3 March 2013

Second Wikipedia Kolkata Photowalk, Group Photo (Photo: Biswarup Ganguly)

Wikipedia the world largest online encyclopedia runs on entirely voluntary effort. Each major city in the world has a a Wikipedia chapter, who apart from contributing to Wikipedia carry out different activities like Wikiacademy and photowalks.

A few instructions and off goes the Wikipedians (Photos: Biswarup Ganguly)

The main objective of Wikipedia Photowalk, officially known a “Wikipedia Takes,” is to build a database of photos of landmarks of the city. The photos can later be used in the relevant articles.

Wikipedians at the Chinese Temple (Photo: Biswarup Ganguly)

The first edition of the Wikipedia Kolkata Photowalk was held on 18 Dec. 2011 and was restricted to active Wikipedia contributors only. The second edition held on 3 march 2013 was however open to all and Facebook played an active role in promoting the event. 29 person turned up but sadly there was no women participant.

The aprox. 7 km long photowalk was not only aimed at areas not covered by Wikipedia but also aimed at capturing the diversified aspect of Kolkata, formally Calcutta. Over the last three centuries Kolkata has been a melting pot of several religion and culture. The Wikipedia Takes Kolakata II aimed at documented the diversified activity of the city.

Wikipedians at the Armenian Church, Kolkata (Photo: Biswarup Ganguly)

The 4 hours scheduled route (actually it took a little over 5 hours) covered First World War Barracks to hidden Chinese Temples and from Parsi Fire Temple to Portuguese Church. The route also covered the Armenian Church, which has the distinction of being the oldest Church in Kolkata, and also a couple of Synagogues.

With the walk complete the job was only half done. The participants soon started to upload there photos in Wikimedia category  “Wikipedia Takes Kolkata 2.” and several of the photos have already been used in different articles of Wikipedia.

Places Covered in Wikipedia Takes Kolkata II:

Tea Break (Photo: Biswarup Ganguly)

• Bow Barracks
• Kaplitola Kali Temple
• Parsi Fire Temple
• Parsi Dharmasala
• Buddhist Temple
• Agha Khan Palace
• Chinese Temples
• Chinese Breakfast
• Beth El Synagogue
• Magen David Synagogue
• Portuguese Church
• Armenian Church
• Carey Baptist Church
• Lebdev’s Theatre

Press Coverage:

The Telegraph and Hindustan Times gave extensive coverage of Wikipedia Takes Kolkata II event.

Press Coverage (Left: Hindustan Times, Right: The Telegraph)

Suruchi Gupta of Hindustan Times provided a pre-coverage of the Second Wikipedia Kolkata Photowalk and it was published on the very day of Wikipedia Takes Kolkata II.

Sreyoshi Dey and photographer Anindya Shankar Roy of The Telegraph participated in the Photowalk and report was published on 7 March 2013.

Special Thanks:

• Suruchi Gupta of Hindustan Times
• Sreyoshi Dey, Anindya Shankar Roy and Kaushik Ghosh of The Telegraph
• To all the participants who made the Wikipedia Takes Kolkata II a grand success