Friday 26 June 2015

Tech touch to make Nashik's Kumbh Mela a success


  Kumbh Mela is fast approaching and the city youths are doing their bit to promote the once-in-12-years mega-religious and touristic attraction through social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Wikipedia is one such website that has been utilizing local youth to help build an accurate webpage on Nashik. Through its project 'Wiki takes Nashik', the website has decided to upload up to 5,000 pictures of Nashik that would provide a glimpse of the city to people all around the world ahead of the Mela.

Team Wikipedia had in January sought college students from the city to update information on Nashik on the backdrop of visitors seeking information about it during Kumbh. This time too, a similar event has been organized for uploading pictures about the city on the webpage. The team aims to upload 5,000 pictures by the first week of July.

Over 100 students from various colleges across the city came forward in January and uploaded correct information about the city. The information was uploaded under 18 categories including geography, history, mythology, arts and culture, agriculture, people, industry and tourism.

Abhishek Suryawanshi, ambassador and vice-president of Wikipedia, New York chapter, said, "Uploading of the pictures is the next step to give the readers the look and feel of the various aspects of the city," he said.

Suryawanshi said that Wikipedia's main page on Nashik has been viewed 11,02,481,287 times in the last 60 days since the information was uploaded. "There are at least 500 viewers daily and the traffic would only increase as the Mela nears. So it is equally important for viewers to get a feel of the festivals, places, people and the culture of Nashik," he added.

He further said that a similar activity was held in Pune as well last year which received tremendous response and the same was expected in Nashik. "We have already started receiving pictures through volunteers. We have appealed to the residents to come out in large numbers with enthusiasm and contribute in the project by donating pictures of the city," Suryawanshi said.

Speaking to TOI, he said a separate event would be held on July 3 and 4 to upload the pictures on the website. "Pictures would be uploaded on a mass scale on the two days. Personal, copyrighted and edited pictures would not be allowed. Pictures that are website compatible and clear would be preferred from the contributors," Suryawanshi said.

Similarly, a group of students in the city is busy developing websites and mobile applications to ensure a comfortable trip and stay to Nashik for millions visiting Nashik for the Mela. Students from various colleges have been roped in for what has been termed as KumbhThon, a task to develop new ideas after identifying problems that the visitors might face during the religious congregation.

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