Agree that citations are needed.
Cheers,
Peter
-----Original Message-----
From: Wikimedia-l [mailto:wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Risker
Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2017 7:51 AM
To: Wikimedia Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] More politics: "WMF Annual Report"
Okay, so I'll say what Sam said, except in stronger language, and with some additional
emphasis.
This is a very obviously liberally biased document -- and I say that as someone who lives
in a country so liberal that it makes Californians look like they're still back in the
early 1960s. Maybe it takes an outsider to see this.
If you're going to try to play the "facts" game, you have to have your facts
bang on - and you have to admit that there is more than one side to the story. This
"report" reads as though the authors chose their favourite advocacy positions
and then twisted and turned and did some more contortions to make it look as though it had
something to do with the Wikimedia family of projects. (Seriously. Refugees and global
warming don't have anything to do with the WMF.) It is so biased that most of those
"fact" pages would have to be massively rewritten in order to meet the
neutrality expectations of just about every Wikipedia regardless of the language.
And that is my biggest concern. It is not neutral by any stretch of the imagination. And
if the WMF can't write neutrally about these topics in its annual report, there is no
reason for the average reader to think that Wikipedia and other projects will be written
neutrally, fairly, based on references, and including the significant other opinions.
This document is a weapon that can be used against Wikimedia projects by any tinpot
dictator or other suppressive government because it "proves" that WMF projects
are biased. It gives ammunition to the very movements that create "alternative
facts" - it sure doesn't help when the WMF is coming up with a few of its own.
That does a huge disservice to the hundreds of thousands of editors who have worked for
years to create accurate, neutral, well-referenced educational material and information.
It doesn't do any good to those editors contributing from countries where
participation in an international web-based information project is already viewed with a
jaundiced eye. And for those editors who don't adhere to the political advocacy
positions being put forward in this "annual report", or simply believe that the
WMF should not be producing political advocacy documents, it may well cause them to
reflect whether or not they want to keep contributing.
I really hope that Craig is wrong, that this can be pulled back and edited properly,
preferably by a bunch of actual Wikipedia editors who know how to write neutrally on
controversial topics. I've volunteered in the Wikimedia movement for more than a
decade at least in part because it was not a political advocacy organization, so I find
this annual report to be very disturbing.
Risker/Anne
On 1 March 2017 at 23:23, Samuel Klein <meta.sj(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Dear reporters,
I really like the streamlined layout, the background video and the
non-linear presentation online. Lovely work; you are wonderful.
If the photo remains, I recommend changing this
caption to use
either "travel ban" or "entry ban"; both phrases are used in the
Wikipedia article.
Yes.
The one starkly political message in the Report is the choice of a
protest photo from the US for the story about travel. On the nose,
but reasonably on topic (with a corrected caption).
In general, I like the spirit and content of this report. A lead-in
to the facts putting them in context would be nice; the implied
context is "Facts Matter!" However I feel this claim and the report
could be even more powerful if it were presented with another
half-step of remove. The most unparalleled success of Wikipedia is
not that it summarizes topics like "scientific consensus on global warming" —
that, one can find elsewhere.
It is that you can find thorough coverage of *all* aspects of such
important and difficult topics: fledgling + disputed theories, major
controversies and factions, and both begrudgingly + enthusiastically
accepted conclusions.
My one concern: The highlighted fact about travel is wrong. As far as
I can tell it's closer to 1 in 20 people. "International tourism arrivals"
passed 1.2B this year, but the average tourist "arrives in another country"
3+ times per year.[1][2] If the publishers find a way to retract this
3+ mote
of misinfo, I will be duly awed :)
Wikilove,
SJ
[1]
http://www2.unwto.org/press-release/2017-01-17/sustained-
growth-international-tourism-despite-challenges
http://stats.areppim.com/glossaire/ita_def.htm
https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/global/visa-everywhere/
documents/visa-global-travel-and-tourism-study-infographic.pdf
[2] A quick round of community review (say, of any reputed facts!) and
even citations might not hurt, for statements of fact that are going
out to a large audience. You have access to plentiful world-class
fact checkers, you don't have to limit yourself to those in the office.
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