Many language communities around the world can now learn more about each other’s culture thanks to a project supported and fully funded by the Khalili Foundation, and thanks to hard work by Wikipedia’s volunteers.
As well as founder of the Khalili Foundation, Sir David Khalili is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. The Memory of the World work, done in coordination with UNESCO, promotes awareness of cultural diversity by freely sharing information.
UNESCO maintains the Memory of the World international register, which includes documentary heritage that has been recognised as globally important. Some texts or collections on the register are already famous, such as the Declaration of the Rights of Man or Anne Frank’s Diary. Many more are less well-known but very important records of their respective cultures.
During September, the Khalili Foundation organised a contest for Wikipedia and Wikidata volunteers, offering prizes for those who write or translate Wikipedia articles related to the international register or who translate names into new languages.
In the last few months, we also released a representation of the Memory of the World International Register on Wikidata, Wikipedia’s sister-site that hosts open data. This has made it easier for Wikipedia volunteers to build new articles and link them to the UNESCO website.
The reaction from the Wikipedia community has amazed us. Volunteers from multiple continents made improvements in 43 languages and created 39 new articles.
Details of the MoW International Register now reach language communities that could not previously access them. Dagbani, a West African language, has more than a dozen new articles relating to the register. Tatar Wikipedia now has a very detailed list of Memory of the World inscriptions. One volunteer concentrated on translating names into Hausa, a West African language; another translated many names into Dutch.
Many of the improvements relate to African, Asian, or Latin American cultures that are usually poorly documented on Wikipedia. For instance, Spanish Wikipedia now has a list of Memory of the World inscriptions in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The recent additions to Wikipedia include some surprising cultural crossovers:
The Khalili Foundation and UNESCO Memory of the World team are sending out prizes to the challenge winners during the next few weeks. These include some beautiful art catalogues
