Patiala, Punjab (March 01, 2014): It is learnt that the Punjabi University, Patiala has launched “Punjabipedia”, an exclusive online treasure relating to Punjabi language. It was reportedly launched on February 26, 2014.
While describing it as a big leap in the direction of fulfilling ‘Mission Punjabi-2020’, furthering university’s aim of promoting Punjabi, Vice-Chancellor Dr. Jaspal Singh said the effort would help in putting Punjabi language among the top languages of the world.
He said it would soon be made available on smart-phones, tablets and other online gadgets, free of cost.
Taking a leaf out of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia’s book, the university has published Punjabipedia to help internet users get details relating to the state’s history, culture, literature, traditions and other information in Punjabi.
Punjabipeida
Introducing the project, Devinder Singh, director, planning and monitoring, who is also coordinator of the Punjabipedia, said that though Punjabipedia had been designed on the pattern of Wikipedia but it would be more authentic and reliable as the entries will be controlled and monitored by the university staff and not by the public in general as in case of Wikipedia.
As per ‘limitations’ described on the website of Punjabipedia, the project is significantly different from Wikipedia.
Unlike Wikipedia, the Punjabipedia do not allow users to copy it’s content. Users are not allowed to alter the contents or entries of Punjabipedia. At the most users can submit their suggestions via Punjabipedia website, which may be considered by team managing Punjabipedia.
Information on Punjabipedia is primarily taken from books/ encyclopaedias published by Punjabi University Patiala.
He said at present Punjabipedia contain more than 72,000 entries. Its database will soon be enlarged to cover topics relating to not only Punjabi language, art and culture but other subjects as well.
“It can be reached through Google and other search engines, it can also be directly accessed at punjabipedia.org/ punjabipedia.net/ punjabipedia.co.in . The data is available in Gurmukhi script “, he said.
As per available, ‘Encyclopaedia of Sikhism’, all four volumes of ‘Bal Vishav Kosh’ (children’s encyclopaedia), a first Punjabi-based encyclopaedia published exclusively for the 6-14 years age group and a Punjabi conceptual dictionary has been added in the Punjabipedia content.
However, another master piece, Encyclopedia of Sikhism, also a four-volume publication with a total of nearly 20,000 printed pages, comprises nearly 3,500 entries on various aspects of Sikh history, philosophy and customs.
Social, religious movements, art, architecture and shrines also found place in the contents of Punjabipedia.
“We had planned to upload Punjabi language encyclopaedia ‘Mahan Kosh’ compiled by Kahn Singh Nabha but could not do so due to some technical glitches. It will be uploaded soon”, he said.