Wizzy Africa

On May 11, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences opened its Research Centre. Present were a host of dignitaries, led by Stephen Hawking, Michael Griffin, the current administrator of NASA, and Nobel prize-winners David Gross and George Smoot. A lineup indeed.

Wikipedia has started its regular fund drive with a video from the founder, Jimmy Wales. He starts by expounding the knowledge-for-everyone mantra of wikipedia, and in particular promoting wikipedias in third world languages like Swahili.

The video finishes up with clips of people around the world talking about wikipedia, how it has benefited them, and how they contribute, including people typing articles in on cellphones ..

There is a clip of me, at Lavender Hill Secondary school (at a township close to Muizenberg more renowned for its gangs) talking about my placement of a complete copy of wikipedia down at schools that have no daytime internet access, and also the Lab administrator Shanaaz talking about her wish for more content on the Afrikaans wikipedia.

Check it out, at the Wikimedia foundation or the Youtube mirror.

I have been working at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences since December 2006. It is a pleasant work environment, the work I do has direct applicability to the work I do with Wizzy, and I get to listen to some really great lecturers from universities around the world. I have taken an interest in Cosmology and Quantum mechanics, a field that has changed so drastically in the last 10 years that I can happily forget most of what I knew before ..