FYI from the African Wikimedians mailing list regarding a new African
biography project for/involving Wikipedia. Read forwarded email for more
information.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Zeitlyn <dzeitlyn(a)gmail.com>
Date: 5 May 2017 at 19:49
Subject: [African Wikimedians] Vestiges Biographical Notes Series
To: african-wikimedians(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Dear all
this is currently under development. Comments welcomed
best wishes
davidz for the Vestiges editors
As an initiative to promote life writing in Africa we introduce the
<<Vestiges Biographical Notes Series>>
Vestiges: Traces of Record http://www.vestiges-journal.info/
This will allow the rapid publication of shorter (or longer) biographical
notices about prominent individuals who are no longer with us (see appendix
for guidance about notes on the living). We envision these notes as
providing guidance for future historians, alerting them to possible
subjects for further research.
Templates
We provide templates in English and French. These outline the minimum which
is required. We will happily include longer, more elaborate entries and,
with the permissions of the families involved, we can also include funerary
orations and video but these must stand as appendices rather than the main
entries. Note that this series is published under a Creative Commons CC BY
license so it may be used by Wikipedia.
Template: Headings
Summary
Basic information: date and place of birth, date and place of death. A few
sentences about their significance.
Early life
Career
Notable Achievements
Awards/ Honours/ Public Recognition
References
Other Sources
Appendices: funerary eulogies, commemorative video, photographs
Note on length: there is no fixed requirement for the length of the
Biographical Notes. We expect they will be mainly from 300 to 1000 words.
We recognise that for many people, for example, in rural Africa, there are
no or very few documentary sources. If the Biographical Note is based on
oral testimony the names of the interviewees should be given in Other
Sources. If anonymity has been promised please explain why this was deemed
necessary.
Note on publication schedules etc
Unlike the main journal this series is not governed by the notion of
issues: notes will be published as soon as they are submitted and edited
with a referring Date and Sequence number and later included in an official
issue of Vestiges
Appendix: Note on Entries on Living People
Sadly we cannot accept Entries on Living People without their explicit
permission – such is the concern about the possibility of litigation we
need a signed letter of approval of the text and for its publication in
Vestiges from the research subject if they are still living at the time of
writing.
Template
I the undersigned ____________________ have seen the text of the
biographical summary prepared by ___________________ and I approve its
publication in the Vestiges Biographical Notes Series.
This letter stands as certification that I will not make any claim against
the author or Vestiges for libel or on any other ground on the basis of the
text published in Vestiges Journal.
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--
Douglas Ian Scott
司道格
Skype: douglas0scott
South African mobile number: +27 (0)79 515 8727