Wikimedia South Africa

This is the main page for Wikimedia South Africa, a Wikimedia chapter for the country of South Africa. Please add your name to the section below if you are interested in our chapter or join our mailing lists.

[edit] Members

[edit] Mailing lists

General list: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
Board list: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-za-board

[edit] People interested

Adriaan (talk • contribs • email)
Agriwiki (talk • contribs • email)
AYISTO (talk • contribs • email)
Blarcrean (talk • contribs • email)
Discott (talk • contribs • email)
Ethnopunk (talk • contribs • email)
GetDownAdam (talk • contribs • email)
Greenman (talk • contribs • email)
Htonl (talk • contribs • email)
LouriePieterse (talk • contribs • email)
MichelleG (talk • contribs • email)
Mpaskevi (talk • contribs • email)
Nroets (talk • contribs • email)
Stefanor (talk • contribs • email)
Slashme (talk • contribs • email)
The Extremist (talk • contribs • email)
Greppo (talk • contribs • email)
JCIV (talk • contribs • email)
Daniel (talk • contribs • email)
Islahaddow (talk • contribs • email)
Dodger67 (talk • contribs • email)
Thuvack (talk • contribs • email)
niallmcnulty (talk • contribs • email)

[edit] Formation of the Chapter

The team who have joined the mailing list have agreed that the most suitable vehicle for the South African Chapter is a Section 21 Company. We will begin a draft Constitution for everyone to look over and comment on.

[edit] Comments

Please see the relevant talk page regarding comments and suggestions regarding these documents. The comments regarding the memorandum of association was also placed on this page. Most of the comments are moved to the archive by now. Please take part in the discussion.

[edit] Responsibilities

Proposed logo by Bence Damokos

[edit] Administrative/Chapter setup

There is a mailing list created just for administrative purposes. If you want to help with these tasks of just stay up to date with the happenings, join this list: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-za-board. Please feel free to swop out your name with your account info as in the People Interested section.

Lourie Pieterse: LouriePieterse (talk • contribs • email)
Tobias
David Richfield: Slashme (talk • contribs • email)
Derryn
Adam
Alice
Rasi
Aslam
Daniela
Kerryn
The Extremist (talk • contribs • email)

[edit] Activity Planning

Please feel free to swop out your name with your account info as in the People Interested section.

Johann
Michael
Charlene Foster
The Other Madiba
Ian Gilfillan - Greenman (talk • contribs • email)
Michael Paskevicius- Mpaskevi (talk • contribs • email)
Lourie Pieterse: LouriePieterse (talk • contribs • email)

[edit] Proposed Timeline

Activity	Time	Responsible	Status
Decide on a legal structure.	Done	Tobias to report back.	Done
Draft the constitution with input from local Wikipedians.	2 months	Administration team. Please see the relevant page.	Done
Send constitution to WMF and discussion process leading to final approval.	2 months	Administration team and TACP.	Done
Appoint/agree/vote for directors.	2 to 4 weeks	Members. See Wikimedia South Africa/Directors	Done
Register the Chapter locally.	2 months	The African Commons Project.	Done
Develop Wiki presence.	2 to 4 weeks	Administration team and TACP.	Doing...
Public launch.	Planning 2 months (planning can commence during registration)	Still to be decided.	Doing...

[edit] Wits Workshop 2010

All the information regarding the Wits Workshop of 2010 is moved to the following page: Wikimedia South Africa/WitsWorkshop.

[edit] Wikimania 2012 Bid

After much back and forth and concerns and worries, Charlene, Kerryn, Ian, Lourie and David put heads together and decided that Wikimedia ZA should make a bid to host Wikimania 2012 in Stellenbosch. We feel we can get the support of the University, the local government, and other universities, and that we should push forward to prepare a bid. If we find that it seems less feasible as time goes on, we will of course withdraw, but we believe it's possible for us to get everything together in time. The bid page is located here: Wikimania_2012/Bids/Stellenbosch. Please take a look at it, and please edit it! Add details, ideas, photos etc. Also, let's get the discussion going at Talk:Wikimania_2012/Bids/Stellenbosch. All talk and planning about the bid can go there. Update: The bid process was instructive, but we were beaten by an excellent bid by Washington DC.

[edit] Regional conference

Let's look at the feasibility for hosting a regional Wiki conference. Following the South African team's almost-successful bid for Wikimania 2012, it might be a great idea to put that thinking towards hosting a regional conference in 2012 so that it builds momentum and consolidation on the African continent - where there are pockets of people working who don't necessarily know one another. See the following page for a more detailed discussion: Wikimedia South Africa\Regional conference.

[edit] WikiLoves Monuments

We are going to take part in this year's WLMs competition. So far we had meetings with the Western Cape heritage officials regarding support. Currently we are waiting for approval by the WMZA board.

[edit] Media

UCT Blog on Wikimedia South Africa workshop (mpaskevi - 19 August 2010)
Northern Sotho Wikipedia needs help (greenman - 18 August 2010)
Wikimedia kicks off SA chapter (itweb - 13 Aug 2010)
Wikipedia wants South Africans to contribute (Memeburn - 12 August 2010)
SA to get Wikimedia Chapter (MyBroadband - 11 August 2010)
Wikimedia South Africa workshop (greenman - 9 August 2010)
Wikipedia 10th birthday celebrations in SA (MyBroadband - 11 January 2011)
Wikipedia celebrates its 10th anniversary with 300+ events (Memeburn - 14 January 2011)
Happy birthday Wikipedia (Bizcommunity - 12 January 2011)
SA to get Wikipedia chapter (Techcentral - 24 January 2011)
Wikimedia SA chapter now official (MyBroadband - 28 March 2011)
South African Wikilove (WikiLove India - 30 March 2011)

[edit] Jan 2011 Press release

David created a draft press release for the 10th birthday celebrations. Please take a look and make suggestions: Wikimedia South Africa/Jan 2011 press release draft.

[edit] Domain

Stefanor registered the wikimedia.org.za domain name and will transfer it when the chapter is formed. Currently it redirects to this page.

[edit] Social Media

For any Wikimedia SA twitter tweeters we suggest the hashtag #wikimediaSA.

[edit] History

The process has stopped and stalled a few times before, but began again in earnest in May 2010, with assistance from Achal Prabhala, who helped with a similar process in India, Nhlanhla Mabaso and the African Commons Project.
A workshop was held at Wits on August 7 and 8 2010, resulting in the initial timeline, and much of the draft vision, purpose and possible initiatives.
The administrative team held a meeting on 15 January 2012 to discuss the way forward. The minutes is located here: Wikimedia South Africa/AdminMeeting1.