SA is to get a Wikipedia chapter. Among other things, the chapter, the first in Africa, will encourage translation of the free online encyclopaedia into local languages.
A group of local volunteers has begun working on making Wikipedia more accessible and relevant to SA audiences, according to a statement from Kerryn McKay, director of The African Commons Project, a non-profit organisation focused on applying collaborative technologies.
The move to establish the first SA chapter of Wikipedia comes in the same week that the free online encyclopaedia celebrates its tenth anniversary.
According to McKay, it’s a goal of the Wikimedia Foundation — the non-profit organisation that operates Wikipedia — to encourage the establishment of country specific chapters.
One of the aims of the foundation is to grow representation of all the world’s languages in the user-written encyclopaedia.
The local Wikipedia chapter will promote awareness of projects and their proper academic use, encourage translation efforts into local languages, support the creation of local free knowledge and media and offer scholarships for promising local students, The African Commons Project says.
Founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, Wikipedia, which now has 17m articles in 270 languages, is one of the most-accessed websites in the world.
In the past 10 years, hundreds of thousands of people have contributed more than 1bn edits to the site.
If the English version were printed out in its entirety, it would fill nearly 3 000 typical encyclopaedia-sized volumes, enough to fill a library shelf 15 metres long.
To commemorate Wikipedia’s tenth anniversary, parties are being planned around the world, including SA.
Three events are planned locally – in Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town and Stellenbosch. — Staff reporter, TechCentral
- Jimmy Wales image credit: Joi
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