User:Shyamal/rambles

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
 * Information literacy

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.

Article clusters
These include organizations, zoologists, geologists, botanists, orientalists, Indologists and polymaths. I have a soft corner for lesser known characters but some are difficult to cover with Wikipedia's notability policies. The following are entries that I am interested in, or have contributed extensively to and although I try to make them as comprehensive as possible, they may not be in the best possible shape that an encyclopaedic article can be in.


 * Southern orientalism, governance and science Madras Literary Society Thomas C. Jerdon Walter Elliot (ICS) Edward Balfour N. R. Pogson Colin Mackenzie - Mark Cubbon Alexander Johnston (1775–1849) John Henry Newbolt George Norton (Madras) William Cullen (Resident) Alexander Hunter (Madras surgeon) James Anderson (botanist)
 * Orientalism in the cow belt and beyond - James Prinsep Sándor Kőrösi Csoma Thomas Glanville Taylor John Caldecott J. W. McCrindle
 * Early Indian ornithology Allan Octavian Hume Samuel Tickell Brian Houghton Hodgson Edward Blyth William Edwin Brooks Louis Mandelli
 * Atypical ornithologists - William Bernhardt Tegetmeier, Charles Dixon (ornithologist), Royal Dixon
 * ZSI B. K. Tikader Biswamoy Biswas Alfred William Alcock C. R. Narayan Rao James Wood-Mason John Anderson (zoologist) Nelson Annandale Baini Prashad Sunder Lal Hora Mithan Lal Roonwal
 * Lepidopterists Charles Henry Tilson Marshall Charles M. Inglis Lionel de Niceville Michael Lloyd Ferrar W. H. Evans
 * The foresters Hugh Cleghorn (forester) Dietrich Brandis Bertram E. Smythies Richard Henry Beddome Edward Percy Stebbing George P. Sanderson F. W. Champion T. F. Bourdillon James Sykes Gamble‎
 * Museum folks Albert C. L. G. Günther Frederic Moore George Albert Boulenger William Thomas Blanford  Ernst Mayr Humayun Abdulali Eugene William Oates George Bidie Edgar Thurston
 * Abstractions and theories Amotz Zahavi J. B. S. Haldane D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson Mahalanobis Nicholas Barry Davies
 * Early popular natural history writers Edward Hamilton Aitken Frank Finn British Naturalists' Association Philip Stewart Robinson E. Kay Robinson Charles McCann
 * Hunter naturalists Reginald George Burton David Davidson (1811-1900)
 * Naturalists with odd connections Jonathan Duncan Inverarity Herbert Mills Birdwood Douglas Craven Phillott‎ (falconry/ethno-ornithology) Daines Barrington ("Citizen science") Frederick Wilson (Raja)
 * Earth history, Geology and paleontology George Bellas Greenough Birbal Sahni Henry Francis Blanford Valentine Ball William Lambton Ferdinand Stoliczka William Henry Sleeman (accidental paleontologist) Henry Benedict Medlicott Otokar Feistmantel Carl Ludolf Griesbach John Henry Pratt Ermenegildo Pini Antonio Stoppani Henry Wesley Voysey Pamela Lamplugh Robinson Jean Baptiste François Joseph de Warren‎ William King (GSI) Edwin Pascoe Lala Bulhomal Lahori Vishnu-Mittre Frederick Richard Mallet Arthur Beavor Wynne Rajendra Nath Lakhanpal
 * Later naturalists Frederick Nicholson Betts Ralph Camroux Morris John Faunthorpe Satya Churn Law E. Hanumantha Rao
 * Specimen collectors (mostly) Walter Koelz Charles Swinhoe Francis Day Samuel B. Fairbank William Howard Campbell Thomas Vincent Campbell Ernest M. Shull P.S. Nathan William Henry Harwood Harold Littledale (also for stealing Tagore's love) Christoph Samuel John Dagobert Karl de Daldorff Heinrich Julius Lebeck Jan Albert Sichterman John William Yerbury Frederick John Shore
 * Traveller naturalists François Levaillant Alfred Duvaucel Francis Buchanan-Hamilton Arthur Stannard Vernay
 * Botanists and botany-minded folks Garcia de Orta Hendrik van Rheede Johann Gerhard Koenig Nathaniel Wallich Robert Wight Philip Furley Fyson George King Samuel Browne (surgeon) Edward John Waring Edward Bulkley Jayakrishna Indraji Frederick_Conyers_Cotton Sakharam Arjun (and the Rukhmabai case) Atmaram Pandurang Kanhoba Ranchoddas Kirtikar Uday Chand Dutt George Gammie James Alexander Gammie Shiv Ram Kashyap Jose Camillo Lisboa (his wife Julia Rodrigues Lisboa deserves attention) Edward Barnes (1892–1941) Christoph Theodosius Walther Caetano_Xavier_Furtado David Hooper (chemist) Pulney Andy Jean Ferdinand Caius
 * Agriculture/economic botany - Frederick John Freshwater Shaw (director of one of my almae matres) Charles Alfred Barber Isaac Henry Burkill George Watt (botanist) William Graham McIvor Archibald Campbell (doctor) J.A. Voelcker (CIE) John Walter Leather Adolf Lehmann Harold Hart Mann Roland Victor Norris (biochemist) James William Mollison John Walter Leather Heber Drury Claud Mackenzie Hutchinson James MacKenna Emanuel Bonavia M. J. Narasimhan Bernhard Schmid John Shortt
 * Entomologists Harold Maxwell-Lefroy George Francis Hampson George Frederick Leycester Marshall Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher Thomas Reid Davys Bell Leslie Coleman T. V. Ramakrishna Ayyar John Nietner Hem Singh Pruthi Ole Engel Heie Frank Milburn Howlett K. Kunhikannan Muhammad Afzal Husain Yelsetti Ramachandra Rao Halbert Marion Harris Kumar Krishna M.O.T. Iyengar James Clark Molesworth Gardner C.A. Viraktamath
 * Surveying and astronomy - James Dinwiddie (astronomer) Reuben Burrow Robert Hyde Colebrooke Sidney Gerald Burrard Henry John Harman
 * Popular writing and recent ornithology Madhaviah Krishnan Salim Ali (ornithologist) Harry Miller (writer) Zafar Futehally S. A. Hussain
 * The IMS connections, cholera, disease - Ernest Hanbury Hankin David Douglas Cunningham Brown Animal Sanatory Institution Emanuel Edward Klein Timothy Richards Lewis William Brooke O'Shaughnessy Moodeen Sheriff
 * Meteorology - the met department was founded on an order signed by A.O.Hume - Henry Francis Blanford, Henry Piddington, Gilbert Walker (El Nino), L. A. Ramdas
 * Natural history art - Joseph Wolf Ustad Mansur - Govindoo & Rungiah in Robert Wight Allan Brooks (also India and Hume connection) Louis Agassiz Fuertes Margaret Bushby Lascelles Cockburn Elizabeth Gwillim (bird artist) John Henry Dick Henry Stacy Marks Vasily Vatagin Friedrich Wilhelm Wolff Katharina Brandis
 * Introductions, invasives, acclimatisation society, Francis Trevelyan Buckland and again Francis Day, Max Schlemmer
 * Conservation history - Selborne Society, Karl Theodor Liebe Herbert Brown (ornithologist)
 * Some early photography in India Jesse Mitchell Linnaeus Tripe Federico Peliti
 * Other associations Closepet Fraserpet Robert Christopher Tytler (also photography, Mt. Harriet etc.) William Cullen (Resident) (Cullenia, deforestation dessication debate) Louis Pierre Mouillard (inspired by vultures just like Ernest Hanbury Hankin) Gilbert John Fowler Charles du Bois James_Hume_(magistrate) [a cousin of A.O.H. who ran the India Sporting Review]
 * Species that I run into - a very long list - but some interesting ones include Formiscurra, Raorchestes nerostagona, Dichoptera hyalinata, Nevromus austroindicus (had to wait for this species to be described), Gergithus, Brixia, Pandercetes, Draco dussumieri, Stromatium barbatum, Teleopsis amnoni (initially misidentified and then found to be a new species)
 * Species that I dream of seeing - Apteroessa
 * Bird lore - Saratcandra Mitra
 * Linguistic diversity - George Abraham Grierson Robert Needham Cust
 * Floral biology - Christian Conrad Sprengel, Carl Ludwig Willdenow
 * Weather - William Clement Ley
 * Zoology - Karl Max Schneider Heinrich Dathe Michael John Nicoll James Mortimer Southwick Pierre Pfeffer
 * Ornithology - Max Fürbringer Leonhard Baldner Robert Lauterborn Saverio Manetti Carl Parrot Alexey Sergeevich Malchevsky Georgi Petrovich Dementiev Hans Kummerlöwe Günther Niethammer Alexandre Prigogine William Dutcher Lynds Jones Donald J. Borror Alfred Schifferli M.F.M. Meiklejohn Thomas Sadler Roberts Won Hong-gu Andrzej Dunajewski Tso-hsin Cheng Thomas McIlwraith (ornithologist) Władysław Rydzewski Thomas Sadler Roberts Otto Widmann Frank Hall Knowlton Morton John Elrod William Edwin Saunders Chester Barlow Pierre Pfeffer Hans Schildmacher Hans Stubbe Oscar Arredondo Lev Osipovich Belopolsky Herbert Hastings Harington Oskar Scheibel Aleksandr Promptov Joseph Hickey Nagahisa Kuroda Rudolf Drost Elsie P. Leach Antonio Valli da Todi Enrique Lynch Arribálzaga Giovanni Pietro Olina Nikolaus Bodman Vasily N. Skalon Erich Rutschke Ernst Schüz Günter Tembrock Alfred Laubmann Joachim Steinbacher Friedrich Tischler George Lowery John Fannin Herbert K. Job Alfred Schifferli Boris K. Stegmann Veleslav Wahl M.F.M. Meiklejohn Nikolai Alekseievich Gladkov Friedrich Karl Wilhelm Dönitz, Adolf Bernhard Meyer Nikolay Boev Ferdinand Albert Pax Paul Robert Kollibay Edgardo Moltoni Adolf Böcking Arthur Trezevant Wayne Leonid Shulpin Arkady Tugarinov Oscar Theodor Baron Grigory Polyakov Claude H. B. Grant Charles E. H. Aiken Stepan Kutorga Joachim Rohweder Mateusz Cyganski Friedrich Kutter Georg Krause (oologist)
 * Botany - Gherardo Cibo Upendranath Kanjilal Boris Veprintsev Rudolf Kramer (poultry expert) Richard von König-Warthausen Samuel Benjamin Cnoll Edward Barnes (1892–1941)
 * Ecology - Morton John Elrod
 * Microbiology - Marie Louis Victor Galippe, Alfred Lingard, John Dalrymple Edgar Holmes
 * Artists Władysław Siwek Courtenay Brandreth Pierre Eskrich Edward von Siebold Dingle
 * Bird mimics Joe Belmont (bird impressionist) Edward Avis Charles Crawford Gorst
 * Odd entries - John Andaman
 * Scientific fraud, political and ethical issues - Vishwa Jit Gupta Vow of allegiance of professors to Hitler Letter of three hundred

Conflict of interest
I have known, met, or corresponded with a few people whose biographies I have edited. I have been careful in writing about them and have tried to restrict my additions to only on that which has already been published - these are Salim Ali (heard once when I was in school), S. A. Hussain (knew), Zafar Futehally (knew), Himmatsinhji M. K. (corresponded), Amotz Zahavi (listened to talks), Nicholas Barry Davies (listened to talks and went on a field trip), Lavkumar Khachar (knew). I know Henry Noltie. I have done some first-hand research on Allan Octavian Hume and Brian Houghton Hodgson (thanks also to WMF for aiding and abetting this by paying for a trip to London) and that cannot be found here. Some notes may be found at my blog. My work in statistical computation has sometimes led to contributions, for instance on the biographies of Mahalanobis and C.B. Williams.
 * I have been associated with some institutions - Indian Institute of Science, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, Indian Agricultural Research Institute - and have edited related entries
 * I have visited the South London Botanical Institute
 * S. R. Mehrotra (met and photographed him in 2016 at his home and discussed matters of Allan Octavian Hume) - created article after his death.
 * I was a student of C.A. Viraktamath.
 * I was involved in the re-design and development of The Unscrambler X from 9.* versions. Some rather trivial source code from that period even runs on planet Mars aboard the Curiosity (rover) associated with the LIBS chemical scanner.
 * I have assisted the Archives at NCBS with obtaining some archival material and have been involved in getting them to release some public domain content from the Leslie Coleman papers. I do have an interest in the history of science in India!

My ORCID Google Scholar

Others

 * Neolithic ashmounds - need to visit and get some images
 * Ornithology, birdwatching, Bird measurement, Bird collections, Bird trapping

General statistics

 * Articles or redirects that I have apparently created Alternate
 * All Wikis
 * Uploads to Wikimedia Commons Usage
 * Commons upload history

Tools

 * https://tools.wmflabs.org/pagepile/
 * https://tools.wmflabs.org/glamtools/treeviews/
 * https://tools.wmflabs.org/svgcheck/ Check SVG rendering
 * https://tools.wmflabs.org/videoconvert Uploading MTS files to Commons
 * http://tools.wmflabs.org/hashtags/ Hashtag searching
 * http://tools.wmflabs.org/ptools/uploadsum.php?user=Shyamal Total storage on Commons

Useful guides

 * Wikipedia_editing_for_research_scientists