Thanks all,

in response to Asaf's question, I considered interviewing selected editors but abandoned the idea when I found that I would have to submit a research plan to the ethics committee and then wait for clearance. I was in a hurry (having switched to this topic only about 5 months before the deadline) and this dissertation came at the end of a very long journey of coursework interrupted by work years. 

However, as Ian shows, I could have just run a query and shown that two specific champions made the difference. 

The fact that just two dedicated editors made such a difference to the fate of a language's Wikipedia poses a challenge to us, to find/recruit and nurture such people. I am hoping that the newly created post of Wikipedian-in-Residence based in the UNDP's Pretoria office will increase the chances of this happening.


On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 4:39 PM <african-wikimedians-request@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:
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Today's Topics:

   1. South Africa's Wikipedias (Michael Graaf)
   2. Re: South Africa's Wikipedias (Asaf Bartov)
   3. Re: South Africa's Wikipedias (Ian Gilfillan)
   4. Re: South Africa's Wikipedias (Adjoa Linda Fletcher)
   5. Re: South Africa's Wikipedias (Sherry Antoine)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2020 15:40:31 +0200
From: Michael Graaf <graaf.michael@gmail.com>
To: african-wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: [African Wikimedians] South Africa's Wikipedias
Message-ID:
        <CANd2mJAg9MoGs=pzKzYKc7T2BZTBVou7iTruyedKh8FaJffkpA@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Dear all,
I hereby share my dissertation on the above topic in the hope that it may
be of interest:
https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11427/31291/thesis_sci_2019_graaf_michael.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Best regards,

--
Michael Graaf, M.I.T.(UCT)

Researcher, Editor & Community
         Informatics Practitioner

Mob +27795487242
WhatsApp +27647754342
ORCID 0000-0002-1951-5739
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 13:44:32 +0300
From: Asaf Bartov <abartov@wikimedia.org>
To: Mailing list for African Wikimedians
        <african-wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [African Wikimedians] South Africa's Wikipedias
Message-ID:
        <CAAmrcwdf1-b_oC8AJ_DxR0P6dqg9+-9OrEG3f6DCSmHL+DeNVA@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Thank you for sharing!

Reading through it, with particular focus on the Findings chapter, I did
not find an explanation of the relatively high growth of the Sepedi
Wikipedia.  Your numbers suggest it is not primarily bot-driven.  Have you
looked into what differentiates Sepedi from the other South African
languages in terms of contribution?

   A.

Asaf Bartov (he/him/his)

Senior Program Officer, Emerging Wikimedia Communities

Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
https://donate.wikimedia.org


On Tue, Apr 21, 2020 at 4:41 PM Michael Graaf <graaf.michael@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear all,
> I hereby share my dissertation on the above topic in the hope that it may
> be of interest:
>
> https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11427/31291/thesis_sci_2019_graaf_michael.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
>
> Best regards,
>
> --
> Michael Graaf, M.I.T.(UCT)
>
> Researcher, Editor & Community
>          Informatics Practitioner
>
> Mob +27795487242
> WhatsApp +27647754342
> ORCID 0000-0002-1951-5739
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> African-Wikimedians mailing list
> African-Wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/african-wikimedians
>
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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 13:13:43 +0200
From: Ian Gilfillan <ian.gilfillan@wikimedia.org.za>
To: Mailing list for African Wikimedians
        <african-wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org>, Asaf Bartov
        <abartov@wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [African Wikimedians] South Africa's Wikipedias
Message-ID: <c838e315-940b-1392-d64c-9af3d0243513@wikimedia.org.za>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

A large part can be attributed to the impact of two users alone:
http://www.greenman.co.za/blog/?p=1980

https://xtools.wmflabs.org/ec/nso.wikipedia.org/mohau
https://xtools.wmflabs.org/ec/nso.wikipedia.org/aliwal2012

--
Ian Gilfillan
www.wikimedia.org.za
Facebook: www.facebook.com/WikimediaZA/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Wikimedia_ZA
Zulip: https://wikimediaza.zulipchat.com




------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 09:25:59 -0400
From: Adjoa Linda Fletcher <belrivers@gmail.com>
To: Mailing list for African Wikimedians
        <african-wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [African Wikimedians] South Africa's Wikipedias
Message-ID:
        <CAHQRXirMSNPbEtPrcUHz1w5bFci9UXEr9O2RoC1eaKpJDbmN4w@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Received. Thanks for sharing.

On Apr 22, 2020 7:14 AM, "Ian Gilfillan" <ian.gilfillan@wikimedia.org.za>
wrote:

> A large part can be attributed to the impact of two users alone:
> http://www.greenman.co.za/blog/?p=1980
>
> https://xtools.wmflabs.org/ec/nso.wikipedia.org/mohau
> https://xtools.wmflabs.org/ec/nso.wikipedia.org/aliwal2012
>
> --
> Ian Gilfillan
> www.wikimedia.org.za
> Facebook: www.facebook.com/WikimediaZA/
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/Wikimedia_ZA
> Zulip: https://wikimediaza.zulipchat.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> African-Wikimedians mailing list
> African-Wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/african-wikimedians
>
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Message: 5
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 10:39:04 -0400
From: Sherry Antoine <sherryantoine@gmail.com>
To: Mailing list for African Wikimedians
        <african-wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [African Wikimedians] South Africa's Wikipedias
Message-ID:
        <CABGQkokgyU-zmv1niKoFvDf7K_e5vAYS9xOyDvuFP_bCjrb19Q@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Thanks, congratulations on it,
Sherry

*Sherry-Ann L. Antoine, MPA*

Program Development and Outreach Strategist

Executive Director, Afro Free Culture Crowdsourcing Wikimedia (AfroCrowd),
AfroCROWD.org <http://afrocrowd.org/>, @AfroCROWDit, #AfroCROWD

Lead Organizer, Wikimedians of the Caribbean User Group, @WikiCari,
#WikiCaribbean

Board of Directors, The Internet Society New York Chapter (ISOC-NY),
ISOC-NY.org <http://isoc-ny.org/>

Phone / Whatsapp: 1(718) 772-4802



*Sent in a hurry. Please excuse any typos, thanks.



On Tue, Apr 21, 2020 at 9:41 AM Michael Graaf <graaf.michael@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear all,
> I hereby share my dissertation on the above topic in the hope that it may
> be of interest:
>
> https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11427/31291/thesis_sci_2019_graaf_michael.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
>
> Best regards,
>
> --
> Michael Graaf, M.I.T.(UCT)
>
> Researcher, Editor & Community
>          Informatics Practitioner
>
> Mob +27795487242
> WhatsApp +27647754342
> ORCID 0000-0002-1951-5739
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> African-Wikimedians mailing list
> African-Wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/african-wikimedians
>
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End of African-Wikimedians Digest, Vol 12, Issue 24
***************************************************


--
Michael Graaf, M.I.T.(UCT)

Researcher, Editor & Community
         Informatics Practitioner

Mob +27795487242
WhatsApp +27647754342
ORCID 0000-0002-1951-5739