The South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR), in collaboration with Wikipedia and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), is facilitating a workshop for third-year language practice students as part of their Work Integrated Learning (WIL) programme.
The SADiLaR-Wikipedia-PanSALB (SWIP) Project is hosted at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) Council Chambers, under the theme “Preserving Languages: Open, Free and Accessible Knowledge for All.”
Pertunia Lesele, a Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Coordinator from the Department of Applied Languages and one of the event organisers, explained the workshop’s purpose: “The workshop aims to enlighten students about the Wikipedia platform.
In Africa, we face challenges with limited content contributions on Wikipedia, so we are helping our final-year students become more aware of indigenous and African languages that we cover in the Department of Applied Languages.”
Lesele further elaborated that the students have been divided into two groups, with each group attending two sessions to ensure full participation. “I’m pleased with the turnout. We expected a minimum of 60 students from the first group, and we exceeded that number. These workshops are highly beneficial for our students.
Two weeks ago, we held another workshop, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. It really helped them as they prepare to enter their respective industries and work environments for their WIL. The translation work they did here has significantly simplified their tasks,” Lesele added.
Ripfumelo Mathebula, a third-year Language Practice student who attended the first day of the workshop, shared her experience: “Today, we are participating in a workshop as part of our WIL programme, where we are learning about Wikipedia”.
“We are being taught how it works, how to contribute information, how to translate documents on Wikipedia, and how to properly use references.”
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