<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;"><font size="2"><span lang="EN-US">Over the last weeks we generated a lot of media coverage - partly
international - in view of our initiative 'Wikipedia for World Heritage' and the
online petition already hit the milestone of 25.000</span><span lang="EN-US">!</span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;"><font size="2"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;"><font size="2"><span lang="EN-US">In the meantime we prepared a draft with which we plan to contact people of
public interest and aks for their vocal support of "Wikipedia for World
Heritage!" Please find an English draft version attached! As always,
please feel free to modify it according to your needs. Furthermore, if anybody
of you need material or support of any kind just tell us. We'll be happy to help!<br></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The petition text has been translated into more than <a href="http://wikipedia.de/wke/Petition" target="_blank">30 languages</a> by now. Wow! Thanks! It would just be fantastic if we could also <a href="http://www.universalsubtitles.org/de/videos/9ksMVEr831lm/" target="_blank">add a few more subtitled versions</a>
of Jimmy's video message. Your contributions matter so much! By the
way, note that the number of people who have signed the petition has
increased significantly in the last days, especially with people from
Italy signing extensively. That's because Italian users put a <a href="http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagina_principale" target="_blank">side notice </a>in the Italian Wikipedia. Thanks for this one! Might be a good idea to have more translation of the <a href="http://wikipedia.de/wke/Special:Petition?setlang=en">petition form</a> itself. Just send it to me or Sebastian.<br>
</span></p>
<br>Here's the draft that I mentioned above: <br><br><div style="margin-left: 40px;">
<p lang="en-US"><font face="Gill Sans MT, sans-serif" size="2"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);">Dear...,</span></font></p>
<p lang="en-US"><font face="Gill Sans MT, sans-serif" size="2">when
the free encyclopedia was founded in 2001 nobody could have dreamed
of the success story it would be ten years later. With more than
those 18 million articles in 280 languages Wikipedia today accounts
for the largest collection of knowledge in the history of mankind.
The concept of free knowledge as a whole has grown with Wikipedia’s
success.</font></p>
<p lang="en-US"><font face="Gill Sans MT, sans-serif" size="2">It
started with a simple idea: “Imagine a world in which every single
human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.”</font></p>
<p lang="en-US"><font face="Gill Sans MT, sans-serif" size="2">In
the beginning this idea was considered utopian, but in just ten years
we all have made big steps towards reaching this goal. Ten years in
which the vision of free knowledge has evolved into a system of
sharing knowledge beyond national und cultural borders. The
enthusiastic work of volunteers has already changed the global
dissemination of information <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);">profoundly.
Wikipedia’s 10th anniversary is a wonderful event to mark all this
and show that the free encyclopedia today is so much more than a
website where people find free information. </span></font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="Gill Sans MT, sans-serif" size="2"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);">Wikimedia
Deutschland has recently started an initiative to convince the UNESCO
of recognizing Wikipedia as the first digital World Cultural Heritage
site. With “Wikipedia for World Heritage!” we want to discuss and
to pinpoint what it means that there are tens of thousands of
activists all over the world who spend their free time collecting
mankind's knowledge and freely sharing it with everyone else. Their
efforts change society, education and ways of thinking.</span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="Gill Sans MT, sans-serif" size="2"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);">Wikipedia
meets many of the UNESCO criteria for World Heritage recognition,
e.g. that "the site represent a masterpiece of human creative
genius". However, this initiative does not aim at meeting single
UNESCO criteria but at emphasizing the project as collective work and
the greatest collection of human knowledge in history. Please help us
to convince the UNESCO of recognizing Wikipedia as the first ever
digital World Heritage site.</span></font></p>
<p lang="en-US"><font face="Gill Sans MT, sans-serif" size="2">Please
join in and sign our online petition. It will be presented to the
UNESCO at the beginning of next year. More than 25000 people have
already expressed their appreciation for Wikipedia by signing the
petition. We would highly appreciate if you did the same. Every
supporter is most welcome to spread the word and the goals of the
initiative. Feel free to send us a video message, a letter of support
or join us for an interview. Any kind of support brought forward in
your name will greatly increase the likehood of this initiative
reaching its goal.</font></p>
</div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><br><br>Mit besten Grüßen<br>Catrin Schoneville<br>Pressesprecherin<br>-------------------------------------<br>Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.<br>Eisenacher Straße 2<br>10777 Berlin<br><br>Telefon 030 - 219 158 26-0<br>
<a href="http://www.wikimedia.de" target="_blank">www.wikimedia.de</a><br><br>
<br><i>Stellen Sie sich eine Welt vor, in der jeder Mensch freien Zugang zu
der Gesamtheit des Wissens der Menschheit hat. </i><br><i><b><br>Helfen
Sie mit, dass WIKIPEDIA von der UNESCO als erstes gloabales und digitales
Weltkulturerbe anerkannt wird. Unterzeichnen Sie die Online-Petition:<br><a href="http://wikipedia.de/wke/Main_Page?setlang=de" target="_blank">http://wikipedia.de/wke/Main_Page?setlang=de</a><br></b></i>
<br>Wikimedia
Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.
Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg
unter der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt
für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/681/51985.<br><br>