Portal talk:South Africa/Archive 1

National colours
Hey, wouldn't a green style look any better, in keeping with SA national colours?

Just a suggestion. Bennelliott •  Talk  •  Contributions  14:44, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm going to try it out and see what it looks like in a preview. Bennelliott  •  Talk  •  Contributions  15:20, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Erm.... I don't actually know how to do it. Tried looking for the parameter on some of the substituted templates.... can anyone point me in the right direction?  Bennelliott  •  Talk  •  Contributions.
 * The box attributes are set from Portal:South Africa/box-header. --cj | talk 15:42, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Great Stuff, cheers! OMG it's so obvious; I must be blind

What do you reckon? I like it this way...
 * All those in favour: Bennelliott

Advice
Is Johanna Brandt a boer, Afrikaans or South African or from the cape colony? Victuallers (talk) 09:22, 9 August 2008 (UTC)
 * A person could be any or all of those - they are not mutually exclusive. Roger (talk) 17:17, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Help - Howzit/Howzat
I'd be grateful if some of you would lend much-needed expertise at Talk:Howzat_(greeting). Is it "Howzit!" or "Howzat!" that you guys say when you see each other? --Dweller (talk) 16:27, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
 * "Howzit!" (a contraction of "How is it?" - meaning that same as "How are you?") is the greeting. "Howzat?" (a contraction of "How was that?") is the call the fielding side in cricket makes to the umpire when they are asking for a batsman's wicket. Roger (talk) 17:15, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Updating
I have noticed that this porthole page has not been updated in some time. Items like the Selected biography, Selected picture and the Selected Articles have not been updated since 30 March 2006. I might take it upon myself to update it from time to time but I would also like to know who else out there would be willing to update it? --Discott (talk) 11:04, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Wikimedia South Africa Annual General Meeting
Dear Wikipedian / Wikimedian,

Notice is hereby given in terms of the Articles of Association of Wikimedia ZA NPC, that the Annual General Meeting of the Chapter will take place on Saturday, 1 November 2014.

The AGM will be followed by the Annual Wiki Loves Monuments award ceremony.

Further details of the event will follow in due course, but please do diarise the date.

Wiki Regards --Humetheresa (talk) 16:59, 3 October 2014 (UTC)
 * I suggest you also post this at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject South Africa, since more editors are watching that page. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:07, 3 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks, great advice, I will do so immediately --Humetheresa (talk) 17:14, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Update on Wikimedia South Africa Annual General Meeting
This is to inform all interested parties that the Wikimedia ZA annual general meeting will be held on the 1st November 2014.

Location: Cape Town  (you may join us over Google Hangout; if you are going to join us digitally then please let me know so I can send you and invitation)

Time: 11:30am to 3:30pm

Date: Saturday, 1st November 2014

We will inform everyone closer to the time on the exact location within Cape Town of the AGM. We are currently looking at two possible locations.

--Humetheresa (talk) 14:21, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

Wiki Loves Monuments Award Ceremony
We have pleasure in inviting you to the 3rd Wiki Loves Monuments South Africa Award Ceremony, an event where winners of this year’s South African component of the largest photographic competition in the world, will be awarded their prizes.

The best photographs submitted from South Africa and around the world will be on display.

Please join us on Saturday, 1 November 2014 at 18:00 at the Slave Church 40 Long Street, Cape Town.

Refreshments will be served at this semi-formal occasion.

Please feel free to forward this invitation on to anyone who you feel might be interested in attending, and you are welcome to bring along a partner.

For more information or to RSVP please email [mailto:theresa.hume@wikimedia.org.za The Administrator]

Wiki Regards
 * --Humetheresa (talk) 07:35, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

Wikimedia ZA Annual Report
A copy of our Annual Report is now available online

--Humetheresa (talk) 10:38, 23 October 2014 (UTC)

Wikipedia Primary School: first Calls for Articles!
Hi everybody, I'm quite excited to announce the first two articles selected to kick-start the content phase of the Wikipedia Primary School project! This research project focuses on the South Africa primary school curriculum: the involved teams have selected a list of 100+ relevant articles which will undergo review (or creation) by Wikipedians, scholars/experts, or journals. We thought that involving the Wikipedia community was the obvious first step in the process, which is going to last for the next couple of years. So the articles we'd like to suggest for creation are: Please see the project pages for more information and instructions, and thanks in advance for your invaluable help. Best, --Elitre (WPS) (talk) 13:04, 18 November 2014 (UTC)
 * 1) Makhonjwa Mountains;
 * 2) Stone-walled town of Kaditshwene.
 * What a nice project, I think I might work on one of them. Good luck with it! --Discott (talk) 08:53, 10 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Discott, thank you so much! You're the first volunteer editor who helps us with content writing. You just made our day <3 --Elitre (WPS) (talk) 12:14, 18 December 2014 (UTC)
 * You are welcome, I am too dyslexic to be doing any copyediting so I tend to focus more on content. Thanks for the thanks. :-)  --Discott (talk) 15:52, 18 December 2014 (UTC)

Youth in South Africa
Hi all, I've created a new article, Youth in South Africa. I'd love feedback, edits, and contributions. Thanks! Macmaclee (talk) 16:30, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Wiki Loves Africa Competition
The Wiki Loves Africa Photo Competition comes to an end on 30 November 2014.

On 28 November there will be a Cook-Off where 4 chefs representing Cape Town's diverse culinary traditions will be on display. Of course there will be tasting as well.

We are inviting chefs to donate recipes to a Wikibook of Cape Cuisine and attendants will also have the opportunity to share theirs.

There will be an opportunity for people to upload their images to the contest and we are calling all volunteers who are willing to assist people in doing so.


 * Where :  6 Spin Street, Cape Town
 * Time :  15:00 - 17:00

We hope to see you there!

--Humetheresa (talk) 06:29, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

First Thursdays
Have you heard of First Thursdays, an incredible way of experiencing the cultural wealth Cape Town has to offer?

This Thursday, entries from the Wiki Loves Monuments 2014 competition will be on display, and auctioned to help raise funds for Wikimedia ZA, a not-for-profit organisation representing Wikipedia editors in South Africa.

When : 4 December 2014

Where : iSSi on Bree, 130 Bree St

We would love to see you there so please diarise the date and join us! --Humetheresa (talk) 07:59, 1 December 2014 (UTC)

Wikipedia Primary School: first call for Community Reviews
Hi everybody! After our previous call for articles, here is a friendly invite to improve some articles before a version is sent to some external experts for review in January 2015. Deadline is Dec 31, 2014 for: Walter Sisulu — Discrimination — Stereotype — Herero and Namaqua Genocide— Winnie Madikizela-Mandela — Frances Baard — San people. Thanks a lot for your help with this! --Elitre (WPS) (talk) 16:32, 18 December 2014 (UTC), Wikipedia Primary School project.

Wiki Meetup - Cape Town
The 7th Cape Town Wiki Meetup, the first meetup of 2015, will be happening on Sunday, 1st February 2015. If you are in the Cape Town area please feel free to drop by. More information can be found here --Humetheresa (talk) 08:14, 14 January 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) 07:04, 26 February 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) 10:44, 6 March 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) 07:11, 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) 11:25, 7 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) 09:58, 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) 07:33, 20 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) 07:22, 23 April 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) 11:23, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Announcing the Winners of Wiki from Above
This is just a quick friendly reminder that the 8th Cape Town meetup will be happening this 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) 09:33, 26 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) 09:35, 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) 12:00, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

9th Cape Town meetup
Hello everyone, this is just everyone in the Cape Town/Western Cape area know that the 9th Cape Town meetup will be happening this Sunday 6th September 2015. Anyone interested in Wiki related stuff including and especially Wikipedia are welcome to join us. I can guarantee free coffee as usual. For more information check out the meetup page on Wikipedia at the link here.

In brief the details are:


 * Time and Date: 11:00-14:00, Sunday 6th Sept
 * Location:     Truth Coffee, 36 Buitenkant St, Cape Town 8000, South Africa

Cheers, --Discott (talk) 10:13, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

10th Cape Town meetup
Hello everyone, this is just everyone in the Cape Town/Western Cape area know that the 10th Cape Town meetup will be happening this Sunday 4th October 2015. We have decided to push this meetup 2 months forward partly because the Wikimedia South Africa AGM is rappidly approaching (in November) and it would be nice to have another meetup before then and partly because it appears that there are many conversations that would be really great to carry on and expand on from our last meetup. Anyone interested in Wiki related stuff including and especially Wikipedia are welcome to join us. I can guarantee free coffee as usual. For more information check out the meetup page on Wikipedia at the link here.

In brief the details are:


 * Time and Date: 11:00-14:00, Sunday 4th October
 * Location:     Truth Coffee, 36 Buitenkant St, Cape Town 8000, South Africa

Please keep a lookout for a small A4 sized banner indicating the table we will be at.

Cheers, --Discott (talk) 10:00, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

Portal main page
Hello

I just had a look at to evaluate the freshness of the content displayed on the portal page and saw that most of the content was actually created in 2013... which is already two years ago ! Anyone feel like working on a set of fresh propositions for the selected articles, quotes etc. ? I volunteer to help ! Anthere (talk)
 * ok. I added 3 articles, 1 biography and 1 quote. Anthere (talk)

Wikipedia Primary School Edit-a-Thon
Want to make a difference to the foundation phase of Education in South Africa?

Then join us for the first Wikipedia Primary School edit-a-thon to help add and improve articles on Wikipedia that are important to primary school children in South Africa.

Wikipedia is meant to be an education tool but experiences have shown us that once accessible, Wikipedia does not provide information that responds directly to curriculum-based questions. Wikipedia Primary relies on Wikipedia as an existing and growing resource, it solves the need for an encyclopedia capable of responding to curriculum-based questions, and it fosters Wikipedia content, quality and outreach.


 * Dates : 19 and 26 February 2016
 * Where : American Corner, Central Library, Old Drill Hall, cnr Parade and Darling Streets
 * Time : 15:00 - 18:00
 * Cost : Absolutely free

Refreshments and light snacks will be provided.

To read more about this project, please visit the Wikipedia Primary School Programme

Please RSVP for these events via Eventbrite

Wikipedia Primary School Edit-a-Thons
Want to make a difference to the foundation phase of Education in South Africa?

Then join us for the first Wikipedia Primary School edit-a-thon to help add and improve articles on Wikipedia that are important to primary school children in South Africa.

Wikipedia is meant to be an education tool but experiences have shown us that once accessible, Wikipedia does not provide information that responds directly to curriculum-based questions. Wikipedia Primary relies on Wikipedia as an existing and growing resource, it solves the need for an encyclopedia capable of responding to curriculum-based questions, and it fosters Wikipedia content, quality and outreach.


 * Dates : 19 and 26 February 2016
 * Where : American Corner, Central Library, Old Drill Hall, cnr Parade and Darling Streets
 * Time : 15:00 - 18:00
 * Cost : Absolutely free

Refreshments and light snacks will be provided.

To read more about this project, please visit the Wikipedia Primary School Programme

Please RSVP for these events via Eventbrite

Wikipedia Primary School - The Way Forward
In 2014 a team of researchers set off on a project, supported by SUPSI and UCT to provide primary learners with the necessary information on Wikipedia to complete the cycle of primary education in their language of choice.

We invite you to join us as this project comes to an end to discuss the methodology, findings and models for replication.


 * Wednesday, 9 November 2016
 * 08:30 – 14:00
 * Atlantic Imbizo, Clocktower
 * V & A Waterfront, Cape Town
 * Light lunch will be provided

Kindly RSVP via Eventbrite.

To learn about the project, please visit the | Wikipedia Primary School Meta Page — Preceding unsigned comment added by Humetheresa (talk • contribs) 06:43, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Notice from the Portals WikiProject
WikiProject Portals is back!

The project was rebooted and completely overhauled on April 17th, 2018. Its goals are to revitalize the entire portal system, make building and maintaining portals easier, support the ongoing improvement of portals and the editors dedicated to this, and design the portals of the future.

As of May 2nd, 2018, membership is at 60 editors, and growing. You are welcome to join us.

There are design initiatives for revitalizing the portals system as a whole, and for improving each component of portals. So far, 2 new dynamic components have been developed: Template:Transclude lead excerpt and Template:Transclude random excerpt.

Tools are provided for building and maintaining portals, including automated portals that update themselves in various ways.

And, if you are bored and would like something to occupy your mind, we have a wonderful task list.

From your friendly neighborhood Portals WikiProject. Hope to see you there. Sincerely,    &mdash; The Transhumanist   07:45, 2 May 2018 (UTC)

Portal expanded
The portal has been expanded with the addition of a new Good article section. The article selections listed below were added. Additional expansion, updating and cleanup was also performed. If anyone is interested, please feel free to discuss these changes here. North America1000 15:29, 20 September 2019 (UTC)

Good articles
1 2014 South African general election 2 Boerehaat 3 Common eland 4 Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa 5 SAS President Steyn 6 Mzoli's 7 Jan Willem Spruyt 8 SAS President Pretorius 9 Richard Goldstone 10 Desmond Tutu 11 Angolan Civil War 12 Sophiatown 13 Oscar Pistorius 14 Action of 9 February 1799 (South Africa) 15 Drum (2004 film) 16 Feelings (Zonke song) 17 Invasion of the Cape Colony 18 Mechanics of Oscar Pistorius's running blades 19 Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) 20 Mannenberg 21 Music in the movement against apartheid


 * Additional articles for the portal can be considered from those available in the table listed below.

Selected articles

 * In addition to the articles listed above, the following articles are presently being displayed in the portal using transclusion from articles. Consensus at VPP has approved using transclusion templates in portals, which provides users with up-to-date content that is verbatim to that in articles.. North America1000 16:49, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

{Transclude random excerpt
 * 1=Flag of South Africa
 * 2=Water supply and sanitation in South Africa
 * 3=San people
 * 4=Cape Town
 * 5=Denel Rooivalk
 * 6=Gautrain
 * 7=Siege of Kimberley
 * 8=KwaZulu-Natal
 * 9=Krugerrand
 * 10=Battle of Spion Kop
 * 11=Afrikaans
 * 12=Johannesburg
 * 13=JSE Limited
 * 14=South African Border War
 * 15=Cape Town International Airport
 * 16=Berg River Dam
 * 17=Swartkrans
 * 18=Apartheid
 * 19=Roridula
 * 20=Deep Fried Man
 * 21=University of Pretoria
 * 22=Pretoria
 * 23=Lint voor Verwonding
 * 24=Union Buildings
 * 25=Zulu Kingdom
 * 26=Cape of Good Hope
 * 27=Dutch Cape Colony
 * 28=Battle of Magersfontein
 * 29=PUTCO
 * 30=Koeberg Nuclear Power Station
 * paragraphs=0 | files=0 | errors= |list=List of selected articles}}