Submissions/The Afrikaans Wikipedia - A Cathedral of Knowledge for a Language Under Siege
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After careful consideration, the Programme Committee has decided not to accept the below submission at this time. Thank you to the author(s) for participating in the Wikimania 2014 programme submission, we hope to still see you at Wikimania this August. |
- Submission no. 1076
- Title of the submission
- The Afrikaans Wikipedia - A Cathedral of Knowledge for a Language Under Siege
- Type of submission (discussion, hot seat, panel, presentation, tutorial, workshop)
- Presentation
- Author of the submission
- Voyageur
- E-mail address
- levoyageur@hotmail.de
- Username
- Voyageur
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)
- Personal homepage or blog
- Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)
- A brief presentation of one of the smaller Wikimedia projects - its community spirit, its challenges and its aspirations.
The great encyclopedias of the 19th and 20th century have been hailed as Cathedrals of Knowledge and Shrines of Memory. Not unlike archives, museums and maybe even world expositions, they were the generally accepted cultural monuments and scientific compendiums of Western societies - and a good way to demonstrate national pride.
For Afrikaans, one of eleven official languages of the Republic of South Africa, there may be not that much to be proud of in this regard. It is a language under siege, facing decline in some ways as English has become a dominant language. A language perceived by some as the language of the former oppressor.
The Afrikaans Wikipedia is an inspiration and a symbol of hope for all enthusiastic speakers of this South African language. A small community of active editors "trying hard to do better".
- Track
- WikiCulture & Community
- Length of session (if other than 30 minutes, specify how long)
- 30 minutes
- Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
- Yes
- Slides or further information (optional)
- Special requests
Interested attendees
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- OwenBlacker (talk) 18:13, 6 April 2014 (UTC)
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