A Report for the SADiLaR-Wikipedia-PanSALB Project for South African Languages

Abstract

South African languages are underrepresented in online encyclopaedias, which limits access to free and open information in these languages. This report provides an overview of the SADiLaR-Wikipedia-PanSALB (SWiP) project and how it was utilised to create content in Wikipedia for South African Languages. The creation of Wikipedia content was facilitated through training participants across 11 public universities in South Africa wherein they were taught how to contribute to Wikipedia. The participants mainly consisted of students, lecturers, language practitioners, and community members. They learned how to activate Wikipedia translation tools on their Wikipedia accounts, search for their preferred language and translate selected articles. These participants were also trained to edit the translated and published articles, create new ones in their respective languages, and structure them according to Wikipedia's guidelines for article creation. The training also included explanations on how to add references and images, as well as how to link articles to other Wikipedia pages. The SWiP project resulted in the creation of 737 articles, 160 images and 1960 references. The new corpora developed on Wikipedia are currently used by human language technology developers to create and improve tools for South African languages. Therefore, the SWiP project has significantly enhanced the visibility of South African languages on Wikipedia and improved access to information in these languages.