How Bobby Shabangu is representing Africa on Wikipedia

702’s John Perlman speaks with former chairperson of Wikimedia South Africa Bobby Shabangu.

Listen below:

Wikipedia is among the top 10 most-read websites in the world, with over 15 billion views every month.

It is run by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, and relies on over 260,000 volunteers to curate the information it shares.

One such volunteer is Bobby Shabangu, who is an active contributor to the isiZulu, siSwati, isiXhosa, Sesotho, English, and isiNdebele language editions of Wikipedia.

He says this is important to him as it allows South Africans to have access to information in their languages for free.

With the internet largely being dominated by American and European content, he says it is critical to make sure that Africa is also represented online.

His focus is on history, current affairs, nature, and cultural content.

“You really need to focus on what you love.”

- Bobby Shabangu, Former Chairperson of Wikimedia South Africa

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He also leads hands-on outreach through the SWiP project, which has trained over 400 people across South Africa on Wikipedia content creation and editing.

“For those who want to contribute to Wikipedia, I would really encourage you to add content that is African.”

- Bobby Shabangu, Former Chairperson of Wikimedia South Africa

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