A warm welcome to all our fellow Wikipedians,
It's been 3 months since our last communication so we just want to touch
base with you, and tell you what we have been up to.
*What does 2014 have in store?*
The first months of 2014 have been packed with mostly project focussed
activities. As part of our ongoing commitment to increase awareness of the
South African Chapter and Wikipedia as a whole, we have been busy putting
together many projects that will do just that.
Here is a quick glance of these upcoming projects:
*Joburgpedia 2014*
The first phase of Joburgpedia was received very well, and we are pleased
to announce that we have received funding to implement the second phase of
the project, which will kick off in April.
This year will see the appointment of the first South African Wikipedians
in Residence at Johannesburg Heritage Foundation and Museum Africa!
*Collaboration with Constitutional Court*
WMZA is very excited about a collaboration with the Constitutional Court.
Training sessions will take place with various participants which will see
contributions to Wikipedia in terms of documentation and information
relevant to the Concourt.
*Wiki Meetups*
Wiki Meetups are an opportunity for Wikipedians and anyone else interested
in getting more involved in Wikipedia and other Wikis, as well as open
collaboration projects, to meet and talk about issues of shared interest.
We will keep you posted of upcoming events. The 5th Cape Town Wiki Meetup
will take place on Sunday, 4 May at 11:00 at Truth
Coffee<http://www.truthcoffee.com/>m/>,
36 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town. More information about the meet up can be
found
here<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Cape_Town#5th_Cape_T…14>.
Everyone is welcome to attend.
*Wikimania 2015*
We are very excited about our bid for Wikimania
2015<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2015_bids/Cape_Town>wn>.
We expect the bid committee to make its final decision in April!
*Wiki Indaba*
The first ever gathering of African Wikipedians for
Africa<http://wikiindaba.net/index.php?title=Main_Page>will be held in
Johannesburg in June. Scholarship
applications <http://wikiindaba.net/index.php?title=Main_Page/Attendance>can
be made online. This conference is the first step towards the
establishment of African co-operative structures and organs made up of
Wikimedia Chapters, Wikimedians and mission aligned thematic
organisations.
*Wiki Loves Monuments & Others*
September is Heritage month and the kick-off of Wiki Loves Monuments
2014. We look forward to increased participation and number of submissions
this year.
WMZA is also investigating the feasibility of a Wiki Loves Wildlife
competition and, in collaboration with other Chapters, a Wiki Loves Earth
competition.
We are also proud to announce our new partner, Western Cape Heritage, who
have come on board to promote participation from the Western Cape. We look
forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with this new
partner.
*Chapters Conference - Germany, April 2014*
Douglas Scott, Theresa Hume and David Richfield will be representing WMZA
at the Chapters Conference in Germany during the first weekend of April.
*GLAM*
As a pilot project for the GLAM initiative, we have approached the
National Archives in Pretoria to discuss a possible collaboration which
will see the digitisation of their libraries onto Wikipedia.
*WikiXhosa*
Unfortunately despite numerous attempts, Wikimedia ZA has not had much
success with activating Xhosa language Wikipedia. As such, activation
activities have - for the foreseeable future - been put on hold to free up
more time and resources to focus on other projects. If you, or anyone you
know is interested in promoting Wikipedia Xhosa language, or any other
African language Wikipedia, then please let us know.
*WikiZero*
Have you heard about the Sinenjongo High School success story? They
launched a campaign to get cell phone providers to provide South Africa
with free access to Wikipedia <http://wikimedia.org.za/wiki/Main_Page> for
research purposes. MTN has heard their call and started providing free
access to all its subscribers. We are very excited about what this means
for the learners of Sinenjongo and will be meeting them at the end of April
to discuss the way forward.
So that's it from us for now. Remember to like our Facebook pages so that
you can get up to date information!
Happy Editing!
*The Wikimedia ZA Team*
*Dumisani Ndubane, Maarten Deneckere, David Richfield, Douglas Scott, Bobby
Shabangu, Isla Haddow-Flood and Theresa Hume*