Contributing to ESAT

All researchers, artists and other interested parties are invited to help us to expand, improve, update and correct ESAT since, by its very nature, the database will always be incomplete and prone to error on occasion.

Below are some guidelines in this regard:

Submitting contributions, suggestions and corrections to ESAT

There are a number of ways of submitting entries, suggestions or material, as described below.

Registering a Wiki-account

Unlike Wikipedia and similar websites, ESAT does not allow anyone, except the appointed researchers on the research programme, to make changes directly to the ESAT website. When we began there was a facility for applying for an ESAT account available on the website, a facility which is an inherent part of the Wiki-programme. However, that has now been disabled as far as the ESAT project is concerned.

So we ask that you please submit material and suggestions to the Editor, in one of the ways described below. On receipt, the contributions will all be seriously considered and assessed by the research team, for inclusion where and if suitable.

If used, you will naturally be credited as one of the Sources for the article, so we ask that you also supply us with the name we have to credit.

Submitting material for inclusion to the editors

To submit any pieces of data, visual material or suggestions for alterations, please send such proposals, changes, edits, and new material in Word-format (and if possible as an e-mail attachment) directly to the Editor at satj@sun.ac.za for evaluation and inclusion.

If you wish to write up a full, new entry and send it to us, you may do so using the ESAT Templates, which are explained and provided below as a guideline for entries in various sections of the encyclopaedia.

Original material, such as CV's, documents, photographs and other material can also be scanned and sent to the same address for possible use as source material or illustrations.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please ensure that you submit all necessary and relevant references for sources used to compile entries, sources (and copyright holders) of material submitted, or information supplied.

Material can also be mailed or faxed to any of the following addresses for the attention of the Editor:

The Editor: ESAT, Department of Drama, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, MATIELAND 7602, South Africa.

Fax number: (+ 27) 21 882 9141

Before creating new pages

The first step when creating a new page is to ensure the title does not already exist in the index which can be found at The ESAT Entries.

Please, it is very important to take this step before creating a new page - this is not done automatically.

As already stated, when adding new pages, please double-check that the page does not already exist under a similar title, but do remember to start by creating a link in the index. It is frustrating to create a new page only to discover later that the entry already exists and you have duplicated the work but you never picked it up because it is not indexed in the same way.

Very often alternate spellings, such as Stephen/Steven, Neil/Neale, Iain/Ian, Robyn/Robin, etc. or the simple addition or retraction of a full-stop, inverted commas, comma, hyphen, etc. will cause the search-engine not to recognise the entry during a search - even though it may be there.

Be very careful not to mix up names. For example, originally there were three pages for two people: Sydney James, Sid James, and Sidney James. These are not a spelling mistakes. This has now been rectified and Sid and Sidney have been combined into one page under Sidney James with a #REDIRECT placed on the Sid James page in front of a link to Sidney James. NB: #REDIRECT must be placed before the link.

Also, be very careful when you have two unrelated people with the exact same name, such as Bennie Gerber. One is dead, the other is alive. Click on his link to see how we resolved the problem.

Make sure your are familiar with ESAT styles, which can be found at ESAT Bibliographic Conventions.

If a title does not register after you have typed it into the "Search" box, try typing in key words. This should bring up similar sounding titles. If not, proceed with creating a link in the index.

1) Go to The ESAT Entries (the index) on the Main Page.

2) Click on the category into which your posting falls, eg, "Personalities".

3) Go to "The List" and click on the appropriate first letter of the person's surname.

4) Click on the appropriate "sub-list".

5) Check if the person's name already appears in a slightly different typographic form.

6) If the name isn't yet there, click on "Edit" and go to the appropriate alphabetical position.

7) Type in the name using the same format as the other entries.

8) Save.

9) If you have already posted the page and the spelling is correct, the name will turn "blue". If it turns "red", then you have made some sort of typographical error and you need to correct it.

10) If the page has not yet been posted, it will turn "red" as well. In this case, click on the "red" link and it will automatically give you the option to start a new posting.

11) Once in this page, simply post the blank format which is available from the Blank Page Formats page.

The ESAT Templates

We have devised the following templates for the various categories in the encyclopaedia (see Index to ESAT Entries above), and we invite you to use them when preparing material to submit to us, especially when submitting full, new entries. To find the appropriate ESAT Template for your purposes, click on the category below:

1. Film ESAT Template
2. Personalities ESAT Template
3. Radio Plays & series ESAT Template
4. Stage Plays ESAT Template
5. Festivals and Competitions Template
6. Themes and definitions ESAT Template
7. TV Drama & series ESAT Template
8. Venues, Companies, Institutions etc ESAT Template

Please use the headings outlined in the appropriate category to write up your entry/entries for inclusion in ESAT. Do so in a Word document, and then mail it back to us as an e-mail attachment satj@sun.ac.za, or in a letter to the address given above, and we will upload it onto the website.

Another option: using Blank Page Formats

For your convenience we also have uploaded copy-and-paste word versions of templates for the four most frequently used sections of the encyclopaedia. To make use of these, go to the entry Blank Page Formats.

This page was last modified on 28 July 2023

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