Wikipedia talk:WikiProject South Africa

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• Roets, Euodia (18 October 2013). "How Woolworths really operates!". Touchee Feelee. Retrieved 18 October 2013.

How do I join WikiProject South Africa?

Chris Lowe (talk) 22:49, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

Welcome Chris. You can add your name to Participants link above. Also under the Main Page link above, have a look at the Project statistics at the pages that are unique to our WikiProject, some need work on them or look at adding new work.Conlinp (talk) 07:46, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

Art & dog ...

• Just Nuisance
• Moses Kottler
• Lippy Lipshitz
• Rustenburg School for Girls

Axxter99 (talk) 13:09, 1 February 2015 (UTC)

Hi Axxter99, did you mean to say something about those articles? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:18, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Axxter99 - stroke. Wikipedia:WikiProject South Africa - class: ????

Article	Wikipedia	South Africa - Axxter99	Note
Just Nuisance	WikiProject Military history - C-class WikiProject Dogs --start, Mid-importance	Rated Start-class, Mid-importance	C ?
Moses Kottler	WikiProject Biography - C WikiProject Visual arts -- C	Rated C
Lippy Lipshitz	WikiProject Biography - Start WikiProject Visual arts -- Start	Rated Start	C ?
Rustenburg School for Girls	WikiProject Schools - Start	Rated Start

? Axxter99 (talk) 12:36, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Sorry, we're not clairvoyant here. Try writing an actual sentence or three, meaning is easily and accurately conveyed in well-crafted prose. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 17:07, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Porterville page

Porterville page includes data link to 2011 census but the data actually displayed on the front page is 2001 census so front page needs updating.

Thanks for pointing this out, not so sure which 2001 "front page" data issue you are talking about? On a side note, I actually think the whole "Demographics (2001)" section is superfluous and should be removed. Not going to do that yet but will make a note of it.--Discott (talk) 11:45, 15 February 2015 (UTC)

Pinging demographics specialists User:htonl and User:NJR_ZA - Could this be a page we overlooked when the 2011 census update was done? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 12:39, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

And User:Underlying lk too... Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 12:42, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Well, I've replaced the "Demographics (2001)" section with a bit of prose summarising the 2011 info. - htonl (talk) 17:14, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Aerial Photograph competition: suggestions for content submissions

I am currently working on a grant application from the Wikimedia Foundation to run a photographic competition for aerial photographs of South African subjects for use on Wikipedia. I would like to get your input on what sort of pictures and video media you feel we need on Wikipedia to better illustrate South Africa related topics on Wikipedia? They will obviously have to be within the confines of South African laws and guidlines (so no photographs of national key points or strategic assets for example). At the moment the list I have is based on my perceptions of what is needed but I want to get all of your input on this as well and my understanding of what is need will obviously not be as complete as all of us put together. Here is the list I have so far:

• Places of geographical interest: mountains, beaches, hills, biomes, bays, rivers, ect.
• Public historic sites: battle sites, monuments (even new monuments can be added so long as they are video footage), ect.
• Settlements: neighbourhoods, towns, villages, ect.
• Infrastructure: highways, power stations, and national roads.
• Private places of interest with owner's consent: wine farms, historic buildings, ect.

Thanks, --Discott (talk) 10:53, 15 February 2015 (UTC)

I forgot to mention. I am also looking for Wikipedia editors who would be willing to assist me in reviewing submissions to this competition. Also looking for anyone interested in helping me use submitted content that has not already been used to illustrate Wikipedia articles after the competition has ended. If you are interested then please let me know. Cheers, --Discott (talk) 11:40, 15 February 2015 (UTC)

Maybe advertising this on http://www.avcom.co.za/ - SA's biggest aviation online forum - could be a good idea. I am a registered user there. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 12:48, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Great idea Roger (Dodger67), we will do that! Thanks for the suggestion, --Discott (talk) 12:19, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RunwaySale

Hi everyone

This is the first article I have ever written. It is for RunwaySale, a South African online retail site. I have encountered two issues

1. It has been written as a advertisement 2. it is an orphan with no other Wiki pages linking to it.

Please can someone offer me some guidance with these two issues? — Preceding unsigned comment added by [[User:{{{1}}}|{{{1}}}]] ([[User talk:{{{1}}}|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/{{{1}}}|contribs]])

I have edited the article to reduce the promotional tone. I'm afraid I can't do anything about the orphan issue, as it seems that other directly relevant articles do not exist (yet). Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:50, 26 February 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for making the changes Roger (Dodger67), it has improved the encyclopedic tone of the article which is always a good thing on Wikipedia especially for a company page. I am not so sure how to fix that orphan issue either. To the original author, thanks for making the edit and welcome to editing community. Company articles are always a tricky thing to write and it is not helped by the fact that very few people edit articles about companies on Wikipedia.--Discott (talk) 10:39, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

I agree, companies/organisations and people are by far the most difficult subjects to write about. If you want to get some relatively easy wiki-writing practice create articles about species. All properly described and named plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, etc. are notable and sufficient sources for at least an acceptable stub are quite easy to find. I'm always most comfortable here when I know nothing at all about the subject, it forces one to strictly follow the source. It's also rather difficult to have a bias or strong opinion about topics such as pond scum, grasses, beetles or birds. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:30, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Research Invitation - Bilingual English/isiXhosa Speakers

UCT invites all bilingual English/isiXhosa speakers to participate in a competitive online game to translate South African Wikipedia articles from English into isiXhosa. Participation is entirely voluntary and all identifying information will be kept confidential. There is no financial remuneration for participating.

To register for the game please click here to complete the registration form. After registering you can begin translating content and ranking other user translations immediately.

You will compete with other participants on translation score and can view your ranking on the leaderboard. Translate and rank more to beat the other participants to the top. The game is not limited to UCT students. Anyone with conversational language skills in both English and isiXhosa may participate.

If you have any questions or concerns about this study, please feel free to contact Sean Packham at pcksea001@myuct.ac.za. I am UCT MSc student in the Department of Computer Science being supervised by Prof. Hussein Suleman. This study has been approved by the Faculty of Science Ethics Committee at The University of Cape Town (ref no: FSREC 055–2014). --Humetheresa (talk) 07:05, 26 February 2015 (UTC)

@Humetheresa, you forgot to include the "click here" external link in the second paragraph. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:45, 26 February 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I have corrected it above. --Humetheresa (talk) 07:52, 26 February 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia Primary School invitation

Hi everybody. On behalf of the teams behind the Wikipedia Primary School research project, I would like to announce that the articles Transport in South Africa — Khoikhoi — Republic of South Africa — Coal in South Africa — Water supply and sanitation in South Africa — Water privatization in South Africa — Healthcare in South Africa — Nelson Mandela — Apartheid — Oliver Tambo , of interest to this wikiproject, were selected a while ago to be reviewed by external experts. We'd now like to ask interested editors to join our efforts and improve the articles before March 15, 2015 (any timezone) as they see fit; a revision will be then sent to the designated experts for review (for details, please see each articles' talk page). Any notes and remarks written by the external experts will be made available on the articles' talk pages under a CC-BY-SA license as soon as possible, so that you can read them, discuss them and then decide if and how to use them. Please sign up here to let us know you're collaborating. Thanks a lot for your support! Elitre (WPS) (talk) 17:32, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for letting us know about this Elitre (WPS). Sounds like a great project. Have you tried sending out an email about this to the Wikimedia ZA mailing list as well? --Discott (talk) 10:45, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Thank you for your kind note! I haven't done so directly, no. Thank you for your suggestion, I will probably send an email there soon-ish, if nobody beats me at it. Further off-wiki engagement is definitely in my plans. Would you like to suggest other relevant venues for similar announcements? Best, --Elitre (WPS) (talk) 13:07, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Hey Discott, I did like you suggested - also crossposted to wikimediaza mailing list. Is there any article above which could interest you? I've seen people working on Apartheid already. Best, --Elitre (WPS) (talk) 10:21, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

Hi Elitre (WPS), I might improve Coal in South Africa a bit if I have some time. I must still also edit a number of other articles that are at risk of deletion so its not certain I will be able to do it. --Discott (talk) 19:53, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

Wiki from Above 2015

Introducing Wiki From Above - an exciting new competition for aerial photographic and video media to be used on Wikipedia.

Wikimedia ZA has joined forces with FPV Fest SA to help encourage people to contribute aerial video and photographic content to Wikimedia Commons for use on Wikipedia.

For more information, please visit Wiki From Above 2015 --Humetheresa (talk) 10:49, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia Primary School update

Hello again. As you know, several articles of interest to your wikiproject were selected a while ago to be reviewed by an external expert. We'd now like to ask interested editors to join our efforts and improve the following articles before March 31, 2015 (any timezone) as they see fit: Western Cape - Cradle of Humankind - Domestic violence in South Africa. A revision will be then sent to the designated expert for review. Any notes and remarks written by the external expert will be made available on the articles' talk pages under a CC-BY-SA license as soon as possible, so that you can read them, discuss them and then decide if and how to use them. Don't forget to sign up here to let us know you're collaborating ;) Thanks a lot for your support! --Elitre (WPS) (talk) 12:38, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

Draft:2015 Cape wildfires

Any help here would be appreciated. Thanks. Nathan121212 (talk) 16:11, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

Interview with Jimmy Wales

Meet the Wikipedians. Those "persnickety," techy types who keep your favorite Internet information website brimming with data.

Listen to the interview with Jimmy Wales on CBS's 60 minutes, a nice intro to what Wikipedia is all about.

--Humetheresa (talk) 07:12, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

South African Survey

We want to find out more about editors in South Africa and your experiences in the Wiki World!

Whether you are a very active editor / contributor, or just edit on occasion, please help us determine some key metrics by completing the online survey.

Many thanks --Humetheresa (talk) 11:24, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Pageview stats

After a recent request, I added WikiProject South Africa to the list of projects to compile monthly pageview stats for. The data is the same used by http://stats.grok.se/en/ but the program is different, and includes the aggregate views from all redirects to each page. The stats are at Wikipedia:WikiProject South Africa/Popular pages.

The page will be updated monthly with new data. The edits aren't marked as bot edits, so they will show up in watchlists. You can view more results, request a new project be added to the list, or request a configuration change for this project using the Tool Labs tool. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know. Thanks! Mr.Z-man 03:56, 11 April 2015 (UTC)

Hideous drawings in SANDF related articles

Someone has been adding numerous amateurish "cartoonish" drawings of SANDF equipment to many articles. Some of the drawings are also fictional, depicting types and variants of items that do not actually exist. Meanwhile there are numerous actual photos available on commons which should be used instead of these cartoons. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:12, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

Wiki from Above is reaching the end

Just a reminder about the Wiki from Above competition which comes to an end this month.

If you are in Cape Town, please join us for the final workshop.

Date  : 25 April

Time  : 10:00 - 12:00

8 Spin Street, Cape Town

There will be an tutorial on how to enter your submissions for the competition followed with by an upload marathon where you can submit your entries on Commons.

We hope to see you there!

Wiki Regards --Humetheresa (talk) 09:59, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

Wiki from Above - Extension of Competition Date

Just a quick note to advise that the Wiki from Above competition has been extended. Closing dates for entries is now 25 May 2015.

To find out more about the competition, please visit the competition webpage.

--Humetheresa (talk) 07:34, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

Wie dit mag aangaan

Ek het as kind daar gebly,en wil weet is dit al wat nog daar staan? Net die kerk? Kan daar nie meer fotos geplaas word nie of is daar iewers anders n site van my geliefkoosde dorpie? Wil net weet. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 105.229.72.39 (talk) 06:49, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Hi daar, ek werk vir Wikimedia ZA. Stuur asseblief vir my meer inligting dan kyk of ek of enige iemand in die Afrikaanse Wiki gemeenskap vir jou van hulp kan wees. Theresa Hume Groete, --Humetheresa (talk) 07:26, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

Wiki from Above Workshop

Just a quick reminder of the upcoming Wiki from Above workshop in Cape Town, Saturday, 25 April at 10:00.

More details can be found on the competition page!

Remember, the competition has been extended to the end of May, so plenty of time to still submit your entries!

Wiki Regards --Humetheresa (talk) 07:24, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

Denver train crash

I've created the Denver train crash article. Wikipedians in South Africa, particularly Johannesburg, will be in a better postition that I am to find sources and expand upon the article. Mjroots (talk) 10:50, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

Draft:Geology of South Africa

I have started a draft for what should be one of the fundamental "about the country" articles, please feel free to contribute. I have only a very basic knowlege of geology - high school level (30 years ago) plus some casual reading since. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 12:50, 30 April 2015 (UTC)

Great start Roger (Dodger67) and also a great article to have. I might contribute to it although I am a little bit hesitant only because I am not very experienced with writing geography based articles. But even if I don't I still want to thank you for working on it. :-) --Discott (talk) 14:17, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Relevant move request

There is a move request at Talk:Epping (disambiguation) that members of this project may be interested in. Egsan Bacon (talk) 14:39, 4 May 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up Egsan Bacon.--Discott (talk) 14:12, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

8th Wiki Meetup - Cape Town

The 8th Cape Town meetup will coincide with the FPV Fest with whom Wikimedia ZA has partnered to host the Wiki From Above photographic competition. The event will take place in Stellenbosch at the Wild Clover Farm. You will have the opportunity to see some drones flying around and meet some members of South Africa's growing drone piloting community.

Date  : Saturday, 30 May

Time  : 10:00 onwards

For more information, please visit the meetup page on meta

Wiki Regards --Humetheresa (talk) 11:24, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for updating everyone about this Humetheresa! --Discott (talk) 13:19, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

More eyes on History of South Africa please

It has been heaviliy edited by an IP over a sustained period of several weeks, with very few contributions by others in the same period, thus it is at risk of WP:OWN problems. This is one of this project's fundamental articles so needs to be watched. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 14:26, 16 May 2015 (UTC)

Last time I looked, the relevant article talk page had had 99 "watchers". Presumably a similar number are watching edits to the article itself. Several of those watchers have obviously been monitoring recent edits to that article over the "sustained" period Roger (Dodger67) (talk) is expressing concern about. A few of those editors who are monitoring recent edits to the article have diligently and helpfully removed several vandal edits by other IP users geo-located in the United States. The aforementioned watchers have raised no challenges or objections to the quality or content of the good-faith edits Roger (Dodger67) (talk) is referring to. I suggest Roger (Dodger67) (talk) is possibly misinterpreting or overlooking some specific provisions of WP:OWN. 41.162.131.130 (talk) 13:46, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Interested parties may care to note that before the recent good-faith edits referred to above, the History of SA article (which is officially categorised as being of Vital Importance), had earlier been demoted from Good Article status to C-class status. This probably due to fact that the article had, over the years, become dissimulated through extensive unreferenced (and possibly plagiarised) original research, obvious POV, and multiple other issues including repetition and a lack of cohesive structure. I suggest the recent good-faith edits, about which Dodger67 is now raising concerns, have improved the article quite substantially. It is not clear why Roger (Dodger67) (talk has himself apparently not raised previously any concerns nor taken remedial action about the poor state of the article prior to the recent improvements, of which he is now expressing concern. 41.162.131.130 (talk) 14:36, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

@User:41.162.131.130 my concern is that you appear to be on a "lone ranger" mission to rewrite the article according to what you alone deem to be "the truth". As far as I can see you've never made any attempt to recruit the participation or opinions of other editors, a vital article should not be a solo effort. In particular South African history is prone to controversy and "revisionism" for reasons that should be obvious to anyone with even a little knowlege of the subject. As for my lack of substantive contribution, I'm not a general history specialist, it's outside my comfort zone. By the way, I really do not appreciate the sarcastic way you have repeatedly mentioned and overlinked my username in your post above - the issue is not personal, it's procedural. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 15:33, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Dodger67, The edits were not "my truth" but were based on reliable and verifiable sources. That is how wikipedia works. If anyone has reliable and verifiable sources that contradict my particular sources, they are of course free to contribute those sources. That is also how wikipedia works, in the interests of neutrality and encyclopedic content.

As regards your claim that I have "never made any attempt to recruit the participation or opinions of other editors", you are invited to refer to the relevant article talk page, and to your very own user talk page.

Meanwhile, the article at issue still has lots of room for improvement, if anyone is interested, including your good self.

Incidentally, the revisionist approach to history is a valid and universally accepted paradigm in the field of historiography. There is no need to infer a derogatory meaning or place the word in parenthesis, or equate it with conspiracy theory. I am not responsible for the particular way history has unfolded in SA. 41.162.131.130 (talk) 14:16, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

SA Survey Questionnaire

Just a reminder of our online user / contributor survey.

If you live in South Africa and edit any of the Wiki-projects, please take a few minutes to complete the survey. We want to learn more about you and your experiences in editing the Wiki's!

The survey will run until midnight on 12 June 2015.

Wiki Regards, --Humetheresa (talk) 09:38, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Announcing the Winners of Wiki from Above

Saturday, 30th May at the Wild Clover farm in Stellenbosch. It will begin at 10am and go on until around 2pm. Times are flexible. All are welcome, especially if you have an interest in anything Wiki related.

At this event we will also be announcing the winners of the Wiki From Above aerial photographic competition.

Location : Wild Clover Farm, SMAA, Stellenbosch

Directions : from N1 north 1 km past the Engen 1 stop, take the Klipheuwel/ Stellenbosch offramp. Turn right towards Stellenbosch, over the freeway, over a railway bridge and approx. 1.2 kms from the Villiera/ Koelenhof signs on the right-hand side.

Wild Clover Farm phone number : +27 (0)21 865 2248

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Douglas Scott on 079 515 8727.

Wiki Regards --Humetheresa (talk) 09:39, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

The role of Wikipedia in the intellectualisation of the African Languages: Why, what and how?

Wikipedia changed the world by putting an encyclopaedia within reach of anybody with internet access. Available in over 280 languages, it grows and improves by the hour and has become one of the most well-known and used resources on the Web. However, in spite of the many languages currently represented in Wikipedia, not all of them have thorough and in-depth content to support multilingual education. Moreover, outside of the realm of a human readable online encyclopaedia in multiple languages, the full value of Wikipedia has remained largely hidden to many readers. Today Wikipedia, for example, also provides a building block for many other advanced technologies, especially language technologies.

Through this workshop, the Academy of African Languages and Science (AALS) hopes to play its part in creating an awareness of the significance of Wikipedia as a key educational and language resource through which encyclopaedic information and educational content can be produced and consumed in the African languages.

Our hope is that academics, school teachers, language practitioners, subject experts across many domains, students and any other interested persons will recognise and embrace the opportunities that Wikipedia offers for the development of the African languages. Possible ways of contributing are, for example, by translating articles from other Wikipedias, specifically the English one, or by writing new content in the African languages. Since Wikipedia relies on volunteers for its existence, growth and quality, AALS also offers opportunities for training and support for persons interested in getting involved in the building of the African languages Wikipedias in the future.

The specific aims of this workshop are to

(1) explain what Wikipedia really is and why it is of such strategic significance for sustainable multilingualism;

(2) explore possible ways to identify topics on which to write and to select articles in the English Wikipedia to translate;

(3) provide basic technical information on how to participate and how AALS can assist;

(4) get a glimpse of what it means to be a Wikipedian – examples and lessons learnt.

Invited keynote speaker – Amir Aharoni, Wikimedia Foundation. Amir was born in Moscow and now lives in Jerusalem. He received a B.A. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Hebrew language and Structural Linguistics, and began studying for an M.A. in Romance studies in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a member of the language engineering team of the Wikimedia Foundation, improving the software support for different languages. As a volunteer, he is also a member of Wikimedia Israel and of the Wikimedia Foundation's language committee.

Date: 3 June 2015

Time: 08:30—15:30

Venue: Bamboo Room, Kgorong, Unisa Muckleneuk Campus, Pretoria

Attendance: Free of charge, but registration is essential since the venue has limited seating

RSVP: Ms Motswalle Kanyane, (aals@unisa.ac.za)

--Humetheresa (talk) 12:01, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

@Humetheresa Hopefully this will result in sustained action on the Wikipedias in the ten other SA languages. I have made a very small number of contributions to the Afrikaans WP which has only a handfull of regular contributors. (I should try to be more active there but en.WP takes up all my time.) I know the Xhosa WP has been under threat of closure at least twice in recent years, I have no idea about the status of WPs in the rest of the languages. Is there a more apropriate space (on Wikimedia ZA?) where we can discuss this as I'm sure many/most of the regulars here will not be able to attend the event? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 06:21, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

@Dodger67 - Thank you for your feedback. The English and Afrikaans wiki's are currently the highest ranking wiki's in South Africa and smaller language wiki's do face the problem of being shut down or staying very small. Your suggestion of creating a space for discussion on the topic is a very important one and I will attend to this as soon as possible. Kind Regards --Humetheresa (talk) 06:27, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

Cabinets of South Africa

The current page about History of the Cabinet of South Africa is haphazard and clumsy. Rather than having a single page about all cabinets till date, it is better to classify these cabinets by their leaders as the case is for Template:British ministries and Template:Indian union ministries. Need opinion of this Project's members. -Karan Kamath (talk · contribs)