Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Anushka Wirasinha (2nd nomination)

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The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. Wizardman Operation Big Bear 18:19, 28 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Anushka Wirasinha[edit]

AfDs for this article:
Anushka Wirasinha (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log) • Afd statistics
(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

A first version of this article was posted in 2008 and deleted on notability grounds in June 2010 after an AfD triggered, unusually, by a message to OTRS. That produced an indignant reaction from two SPAs who tried to over-write the AfD, which was therefore privacy-blanked and protected. The AfD as it was when closed can be seen here. This new version of the article, with considerably more references, has been prepared in user space, and the author asked my advice about moving it to the main space. As Shimeru (talk · contribs), the admin who closed the AfD, is not currently active, I have decided that the best thing to do is to post it and relist it here at once for the community to decide.

A number of images at the end have been deleted for licensing problems, but could probably be restored if the article is kept: their titles make reasonably clear what they were.

I express no opinion. I will notify all those concerned with the first version or with the AfD. JohnCD (talk) 22:23, 21 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

  • Note: This debate has been included in the list of Sri Lanka-related deletion discussions. —JohnCD (talk) 22:27, 21 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Delete Whilst there are several references mentioning her directly, I can't find anything to show WP:AUTHOR is met. The sources are also of questionable reliability, for example this (and others) is hardly neutrally written and says it was in the bestsellers at indiatimes.com but neither a site specific google search nor google news bring up any evidence of this being true. Similarly reference 4 "Financial Times. More Tech books from Prolific Writer. 2002." appears to be made up as far as I can tell as again I cannot find any articles on ft.com or in an archive search with ProQuest that are about her. Because of these doubts with the reliability of sources in the article, I am not convinced the general notability guideline is met either. SmartSE (talk) 00:28, 22 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment She meets the WP: CREATIVE or WP: AUTHOR criteria in the following ways

1 The person is regarded as an important figure for her publications, her digital art and animation work, her work in non-profit organizations related to United Nations.

2 The person is known for originating a significant new concept of digital art and animation for Sri Lanka schools.

  • Comment She meets the WP: ACADEMICS criteria in the following ways

1 The person's academic work has made a significant impact in the area of higher education, affecting a substantial number of academic institutions.

2 The person has made substantial impact outside academia in her academic capacity

(Note) Higher education as defined by wikipedia “Higher education or post-secondary education refers to a level of education that is provided at academies, universities, colleges, seminaries, institutes of technology, and certain other collegiate-level institutions, such as vocational schools, trade schools, and career colleges, that award academic degrees or professional certifications.” —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chamithra (talk • contribs) 01:10, 27 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]


Just because it is not on ft.com doesn't mean it is not credible. Please look at all the links including newspaper articles written by reputable sri lanka journalists, university websites where the books are textbooks and required books for BTech. There are numerous references to prolific writer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthuwella (talk • contribs) 02:30, 23 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
If it isn't in the ft archive, then why should I trust it was written? If you added the reference, the burden is on you to show that it is real - can you provide more details on this reference so I can check it further? SmartSE (talk) 18:29, 23 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The ft archive doesn't hold half the world's written content. That doesn't mean it was not written or it isn't there. We have to do all the research available rather than discard something for not being on ft. So I am researching and trying to put as much as I can find. Can you look at the links I have put below. The images were removed from wiki as I think there was copyright problems as I just scanned stuff I had. But I scanned and put on flickr so these can be seen. The Women Achievers and other articles are by credible journalists. This is a Sri Lankan author so we can't depend on purely online sources, much more out there offline. The textbooks are required text books in a number of universities and these are on the university pages.
Thanks to whoever added the "Island" article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthuwella (talk • contribs) 23:01, 23 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You added a reference to the financial times though - the FT archive does contain everything published in the FT. SmartSE (talk) 20:37, 25 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing I have included is questionable or made up, all the articles I have included are from highly reliable and reputable mainstream newspapers in Sri Lanka. Financial Times is a suppliment of the Daily Mirror Newspaper that is one of the largest newspapers in the country. If you want further evidence call them up and verify. You don't find everything online but they would have archived papers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthuwella (talk • contribs) 06:52, 26 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]


I respectfully disagree on the WP:AUTOBIO as this article is not a personal page, a social networking site, dating site or a memorial or any of those. The page has credible sources. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthuwella (talk • contribs) 23:11, 23 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

given your editing seems like you have a very close connection to the article subject. LibStar (talk) 00:32, 24 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ever since I saw the first delete for this author I have been involved trying to sort this article out. The first article was sad and I wish I was able to add all the resources I had to it at that time. Why I did the article is that I had material about the author and also I felt that there are so many articles that don't have any notability but are included and this author was deleted. I have done a LOT of research. I have even called some of the schools etc to verify and I started building the page as I felt she is notable. I know there was a lot of articles about her in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka didn't have IT non-fiction authors so I am familiar about what a stir it caused when a new one came into the scene. I am very familiar with Sri Lanka and I want to edit other Sri Lankan authors after this but I am just not having time to do more than one as I want to do it well.

Can someone please tell how I can add the images I have scanned to wiki without getting it deleted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthuwella (talk • contribs) 02:35, 24 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

  • Comment To show my devotion to the cause of practically hopeless articles, I cleaned it up substantially. Technically, she almost meets one of the WP:PROF requirements--her textbook on Flash is actually one of the required textbooks at a number of university level IT programs--see the refs for that section. WP:PROF, however, is currently worded "if the person has authored several books that are widely used as textbooks (or as a basis for a course) at multiple institutions of higher education." I would be prepared to view this flexibly & accept a single really important book, but I doubt this is one. The difficulty in finding links to Indian/Sri Lanka/Pakistan newspaper articles doesn't show they don't exist, but at this point I'll let someone else try to find the links. DGG ( talk ) 02:20, 22 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment She meets WP:PROF because the writer has authored several books (Flash in a Flash, Visually Learn PC and On You Mark Net Set Go)that are widely used both as textbooks and as a basis for a course. I agree with you DGG on the difficulty of finding links to international newspaper articles and also there's the language issue where there are Tamil and Sinhala articles that need translation. However, despite these issues there are still quite a lot of reliable sources by journalists that mention her and her books directly. I am not sure what the wiki policy is on translation as I have 1 or 2 articles written in Tamil for this author. Chamithra (talk) 01:44, 27 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Question. I'm having a hard time verifying things online, anyone think they'll be able to do some library research? Please see my question on On Your Marks Net Set Go! at Talk:Anushka Wirasinha. -- Jeandré, 2010-11-22t04:35z
    • "Int'l publishing giant accepts Anushka Wirasinha's books". Online edition of Sunday Observer (Press release). 2002-03-24.

      Uncle G (talk) 07:49, 22 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

More about Prentice Hall of India can be found at http://www.publishersglobal.com/directory/publisher.asp?publisherid=6000 Established as the first Indo-American collaborative publishing company (with Prentice-Hall Inc.) PHJ has more than 2000 university level books in its current list.

Finance India page http://www.financeindia.org/fi.htm

Author is listed in Finance India: http://www.financeindia.org/Annotated_20.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthuwella (talk • contribs) 01:58, 23 November 2010 (UTC) — Muthuwella (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. [reply]

People who are just saying "self-promotion" are too lazy to look at the links. Her books are listed as required text books in universities. Is that self promotion? Her books are endorsed textbooks to be used in Sri Lanka schools. Is that self promotion? National papers have articles written about her by reputable journalists and the US Copyright office contains over 70 books by her. Finance India has her texts mentioned. Is that self promotion? Prentice Hall of India that is a branch of Prentice Hall has published 3 of her books. Is that self Promotion. Please see ALL links and research on this author before just lazily typing "self promotion". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthuwella (talk • contribs) 03:53, 23 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

More related links I found- http://www.punjabteched.com/curriculum/syllabus-2007/dt_sem2/BASICS%20OF%20INFORMATION%20TECHNOLOGY.htm

(see 9.)

http://www.coursehero.com/file/4655565/firstyear-it-syllbus/

http://www.scribd.com/doc/6309643/syllabus-of-IT

http://www.kasc.ac.in/csugdept/syllabus/AddOn2008.pdf —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthuwella (talk • contribs) 06:13, 23 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I do not appreciate being described as "lazy".
None of this author's books are anywhere near university level texts, even if they're published through Prentice Hall. She appears to have three "technical" books (I'm unsure about "When Heaven Calls") and all three are extremely lightweight introductory texts and way below university level. Nor would publishing three such technical texts be an indication of notability - PC intro books are just pot boilers at the lower end of hack journalism, not anything significant (we dragged Bruce Eckel off to AfD last week, so the dross certainly doesn't make it). Andy Dingley (talk) 16:35, 23 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Since you did make a comparison to Bruce Eckel I checked the article. I think his book listings are credible but there is nothing further than published books. Here the books are required textbooks in extremely reputable universities in many countries. There are several articles by third parties and verifiable material. An university picks a book as a textbook because of its value to students and to the taught course. It is not one university it is numerous ones in different countries.

I need some help with the Paul McKenna training thing. I saw her name listed on their site but I can't find it now. Please add if it is found. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthuwella (talk • contribs) 23:28, 23 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

  • Keep If the books are required text for the BTech exams in all the listed universities that are very credible Universities they are good enough for me. It is NOT below University level as Universities are using the books as textbooks in their curriculum. Please try not to compare one listing "Bruce Eckel" to another. This has its own merits and meets the notability criteria."

Also she has been recognized as a prolific author in reliable sources written by independent journalists. She meets the "notability" criteria in a number of ways. She has introduced computer art to schools and it is apperently a national event. Also her IT books were the first to be published by a foreign publisher and it was on the Government page.

According to the links many Government and State bodies are using the publications. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthuwella (talk • contribs) 20:53, 23 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

  • Keep She has introduced a new concept to srilanka schools through computer art. she has contributed substantially in her field. the links I find are reliable

http://www.cis.lk/news_events/recent_events.htm http://www.cis.lk/digital-art-exhibition.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthuwella (talk • contribs) 12:35, 23 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

  • Keep "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject" See links

all the below articles are by independent sources and known journalists in the country. These are all I have with me but if someone can help scan and provide links there are so many offline articles independently written by reputable sources.

Sri Lanka Women Achievers- article part1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/anushkawirasinhaauthor/5199840659/in/pool-1545453@N20

Sri Lanka Women Achievers- article part2 http://www.flickr.com/photos/anushkawirasinhaauthor/5200432096/in/pool-1545453@N20

Style Magazine http://www.flickr.com/photos/anushkawirasinhaauthor/5200438020/in/pool-1545453@N20

Business Today- http://www.flickr.com/photos/anushkawirasinhaauthor/5199841309/in/pool-1545453@N20/

one of the many IT article I found in Business Today http://www.flickr.com/photos/anushkawirasinhaauthor/5199842339/in/pool-1545453@N20

Satyn Magazine- i have inside pages for this will scan and add http://www.flickr.com/photos/anushkawirasinhaauthor/5200719710/in/pool-1545453@N20 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthuwella (talk • contribs) 13:14, 23 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

  • Keep Article has the following qualify as RELIABLE SOURCES in wikipedia:

1)university-level textbooks (Books are required textbooks in over 25 universities in several countries) 2)books published by respected publishing houses (3 Prentice Hall of India publications) 3)magazines (Satyn magazine, Style magazine both by third party people) 4)mainstream newspapers (Woman Achiver by third party person)

as quoted below from wikipedia:

"In general, the most reliable sources are: peer-reviewed journals; books published by university presses; university-level textbooks; magazines, journals, and books published by respected publishing houses; and, mainstream newspapers. As a rule of thumb, the more people engaged in checking facts, analyzing legal issues, and scrutinizing the writing, the more reliable the publication." —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chamithra (talk • contribs) 23:53, 23 November 2010 (UTC) — Chamithra (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. [reply]

  • KeepHigh reference value. Books are University and school textbooks and author and her works are of significant reference value to many students of these schools and universities. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.138.144.154 (talk) 17:08, 24 November 2010 (UTC) — 63.138.144.154 (talk) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. [reply]
  • Keep I am willing to be in favour of a keep on basis of WP:HASPOT there is a lot more that can be included in this article.

Also I believe that she also meets WP:NOTTEMP her books (plural as several) are still uni textbooks after publication in 2002 or 2003 and digital art/animation event looks to be a long running event. I see coverage about her for atleast 10 years and continuing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.87.0.149 (talk) 21:34, 26 November 2010 (UTC) — 66.87.0.149 (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. [reply]

  • Delete - as per Smartse and Andy Dingley. There are a lot of references , some of which vaguely mention the subject, but insufficient number that comply 10% with WP:RS. Subject might be notable, but Wikipedia needs proof of it.Kudpung (talk) 13:43, 28 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep Smartse and Andy Dingley comments are completely false and facts and proof are in the articles to suggest that. Smartse is not willing to see facts that are provided. Andy Dingley made an absolutely wrong comment about the books being not university standard. This comment is not credible as the artists books are in several schools and universities around the world. The author meets WP:ACADEMICS and WP:RS in addition to WP:NOTTEMP and WP:CREATIVE. Chamithra (talk) 15:16, 28 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment This article was previously sent to AfD by an Unusual trigger to delete. It was included for 2 years in wikipedia based on its merits and included because it met notability criteria. Since that article that was created by an editor of wiki projects sri lanka, there is now substantial additions and improvements to suggest further notability of the subject and many wikipedia criteria for inclusion are met. There are a lot of RELIABLE references in mainstream newspapers and magazines that is a criteria for inclusion. These RELIABLE source mention the subject NOT vaguely but in a strong manner as a genuine IT author whose work is well known.

Ther IS enough proof to suggest notablility. There is PROOF in universities, schools and well respected newspapers proved through links provided. I saw even a link provided by user muthweila on the notability of another of the subject's books Study Buddy through provision of the license number that the educational department of sri lanka has given and approved with their seal for book to be used in schools in the country. There is enough proof provided here.

  • Keep author meets WP:ACADEMICS her published works have made a significant impact in area of higher education. Meeting this

criteria itself meets required notability criteria for inclution. She also meets WP:RS significant coverage in mainstream reliable news paper sources. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 175.157.84.40 (talk) 16:58, 28 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
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