“Preserving Languages: Open, Free and Accessible Knowledge for All”
SADiLaR-Wikipedia-PanSALB (SWiP) is a collaborative initiative by the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR); the free encyclopaedia (Wikipedia) and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB).
The project will be officially launched on Friday, 22 September 2023 at UNISA (Main Campus – Muckleneuk), Pretoria. The launch event will shine a spotlight specifically on IsiNdebele to encourage amaNdebele communities to actively participate in contributing to Wikipedia. This is crucial since isiNdebele is currently one of the languages that lack data representation on Wikipedia platforms.
Project aims:
- To bring together communities of language practice such as universities language directorates, and language entities practically to advance and celebrate the use of South African Languages.
- To encourage language communities of practice to actively participate in contributing to the free encyclopaedia (Wikipedia)
Target audience:
Are you passionate about languages, culture, and the power of written expression? Language preservation is an endeavour that transcends generations. By joining the SWiP authorship training programme, you are not only honing your writing skills but actively contributing to the preservation of culture, histories, and identities.
This project aims to empower aspiring authors, language practitioners, lecturers, students, and the language community at large with the skills needed to contribute to the preservation of languages through writing.
Unlock the writer within you and embark on a journey to preserve languages, one word at a time. Find your voice and preserve your language!!
Project roll-out:
The project is scheduled to run from October 2023 to July 2024. The first cycle of the project focusses on in-depth Wikipedia authorship training across the country followed by shorter training events that also include other elements of language celebrations and hands-on training. Two (2)-day authorship workshops will be conducted across 6 Regions targeting 10 universities and training 20 participants per university.
Authorship training outcomes:
Day 1-Introduction to Wikipedia (Adding citations)
Day 2-Advanced Wiki Editing (Adding content and photographs)
Cycle 1: Regional Two -day authorship training events
o Northern Region (University of Venda; University of Mpumalanga-Siyabuswa Campus)
o Central Region (Vaal University of Technology; Tshwane University of Technology; UNISA)
o Western Region (Cape Peninsula University of Technology)
o KwaZulu-Natal Region – (University of Zululand)
o North-Western Region – (Central University of Technology; Sol Plaatje University)
o Eastern Region – (Walter Sisulu University)
Cycle 2: will comprise of train the trainer sessions that will allow trained participants to run their own training events.
The SWiP project team will be in contact with identified universities to confirm dates for workshops. All project related enquiries can be directed to swip@sadilar.org
