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Head of Global Product Partnerships Searching Content at Google, Banks Baker; Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, Katherine Maher; and president of Wikimedia ZA and chair of the local organizing committee, Douglas Scott.
W ikimania 2018 began in Cape Town on Friday. An annual gathering of volunteers from around the world, the purpose of the event is to discuss Wikipedia and the various projects of the Wikimedia Foundation
The theme for this year was "Bridging the Gaps in Knowledge: The Path of "Ubuntu"
the lecture began with an address by two former students of Sinenjongo High School at Joe Slovo Park. The pair was part of a group of students who wrote an open letter to SA's leading cellular network providers in 2013. As learners in a school without a library, they were asking for the zero mark Wikipedia to access free information.
"Our school did not have adequate infrastructure and resources. Wikipedia was an important part of our learning. It also allowed us to better understand the desired areas of study. access to this source of information online, we could also better inform "We are many to know that Wikipedia is a place to find information on a variety of topics, among the dbadies of the University of Cape Town Said Sinombongo Macekxswago, who is currently studying medicine at Cape Town University
Cape Town, to a new, and very exciting, addition like the pages of the great Nelson Mandela's newspaper, "said Katherine Maher, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation.
The addition of these diary entries to Wiki pedia Commons (an online repository of images, sounds and other free files) was announced earlier in the day [19659004] at a press conference Friday morning, Douglas Scott, president of Wikipedia SA and chairman of the local organizing committee, explains that the Nelson Mandela Foundation donated 87 pages of handwritten notes taken from a newspaper held by Mandela in the 1960s.
Reading something in someone else's own writing seems to me more meaningful, he says. And it's especially special to read the writing of someone as influential as Nelson Mandela.
The Wikipedia community is made up of groups of people around the world who believe in the power of knowledge as an equalizer. And yet, there are still huge gaps, especially when it comes to telling the stories of people and places that have historically been left out of global dialogues.
According to Maher, it is essential that more voices, communities, and stories contribute to Wikipedia. and bring their unique perspectives to everyone, everywhere in the world.
Project Tiger is an initiative to promote greater diversity, which the Wikimedia Foundation has recently undertaken with the help of Google
. aimed to increase relevant local knowledge in 12 different Indian languages.
Google has provided the necessary hardware and Internet access to content publishers. He also guided these publishers on what to look for and how to create useful content in their own language. After three months of writing, the volunteers have created nearly 4,500 articles, in 12 languages
"Based on the initial success of this pilot project, we plan to expand this type of project in D & D. Other areas, "said Maher. For Banks Baker, Head of Global Product Partnerships and Search Content at Google, these collaborations allow Google to work with users in the field to develop content that's right for them.
"By working together and investing in content creation projects, the results of the Tiger project have been positive, but much more needs to be done.
All of this ties in with the foundation's desire to focus from north to south, Maher concluded.
"Since Wikipedia is such a powerful resource in terms of people's understanding of the world, we are actively engaged in understanding who drives these stories and we are always working to change the dialogue around the world. "
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