If you haven't already seen this - nice mention of Wikimedia South Africa!
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Internal-l] "Worthy Online Resource, but Global Cultural
Treasure?" (The New York Times)
Date: Sun, 22 May 2011 21:07:18 -0700
From: Steven Walling <swalling(a)wikimedia.org>
Reply-To: Local Chapters, board and officers coordination (closed
subscription) <internal-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
To: Communications Committee <wmfcc-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
CC: Local Chapters, board and officers coordination (closed
subscription) <internal-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Interesting press with direct link to
ten.wikipedia.org
<http://ten.wikipedia.org/>. :-) Nice work Wikimedia Deutschland!
Worthy Online Resource, but Global Cultural Treasure?
By Kevin J. O'Brien
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/technology/23wikipedia.html?_r=1&hpw=…
<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/technology/23wikipedia.html?_r=1&hpw=&pagewanted=all>
BERLIN — In its 10 years of existence, Wikipedia, the global online
encyclopedia, has amassed an archive of 18 million entries in 279
languages. It is one of the 10 most popular Web sites on the Internet.
But is the volunteer-driven data depository an endangered world cultural
treasure worthy of protection, like French cuisine, the Argentine tango
or the Grand Canyon?
That is the long-shot bet being made by Wikipedia, which plans to begin
a global petition drive Tuesday to earn a spot on one of the world
heritage lists of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization.
The bid, the first by a digital entity for a place on a Unesco list,
will no doubt be controversial among heritage professionals advising
Unesco, who tend to view online innovation as lacking the necessary
effect or maturity for listing.
“Heritage professionals tend to be rather conservative types, or they
wouldn’t choose this kind of occupation,” said Britta Rudolff, a
heritage consultant who teaches on the subject at the Brandenburg
University of Technology in Cottbus, Germany. “They like to play with
the past, and something only a decade old is going to face challenges.”
The idea of landing Wikipedia on a Unesco world heritage list came out
of Germany, where volunteers have produced 1.2 million entries, second
only to the number in English. Wikipedia’s German overseer, a Berlin
nonprofit called Wikimedia, proposed the idea in March to Wikipedia
chapters at a global conference in the German capital.
The reception was enthusiastic, said a Wikipedia co-founder, Jimmy Wales.
“The basic idea is to recognize that Wikipedia is this amazing global
cultural phenomena that has transformed the lives of hundreds of
thousands of people,” Mr. Wales said in an interview. He said the online
encyclopedia had helped educate people around the world, providing a
wealth of basic facts, background information and key context.
Mr. Wales also said that one aim of the petition drive — supporters can
register at a special Web page, Wikipedia 10 — is to raise awareness of
Wikipedia.
“Of course, part of what we are trying to do is promote the idea of
Wikipedia as a cultural phenomenon,” Mr. Wales said. “Too often, people
think about us purely in terms of technology, when this is about
culture, high tech and learning.”
Wikipedia is hoping to earn a place on Unesco’s most prestigious list,
the World Heritage List, which so far includes only historic monuments
and natural sites like the Great Barrier Reef and the Great Wall of
China. Failing that, Wikipedia could aim for Unesco’s Intangible
Cultural Heritage List, a lesser-known directory that includes
endangered traditions and practices, like flamenco.
Getting Wikipedia on either list will be an uphill battle. It will have
to negotiate a complicated approval process and overcome the skeptical
regard of Unesco and heritage consultants to be considered for
recognition. Susan Williams, the head of external media relations at
Unesco in Paris, said a bid by a digital entity like Wikipedia would be
unprecedented.
“Anyone can apply,” said Ms. Williams, who added that she was not aware
of Wikipedia’s plans. “But it may have difficulty fulfilling the criteria.”
One of the criteria for inclusion, she said, is that the culture or
practice be endangered.
She said that Wikipedia might consider applying for a third, even less
known honor, the Unesco Memory of the World Register list, which
recognizes valuable archive holdings and library collections. That list,
however, lacks the prestige of the others, which are funded more
generously and promoted more assiduously by Unesco and its member countries.
Mr. Wales said Wikipedia was hoping to set off a debate over the role of
digital innovation in world culture. While Wikipedia, which allows
anyone to write or edit entries, has had problems with accuracy and
plagiarism, the organization has worked to improve its editorial
controls and to help people in repressive or less affluent societies.
In Iran, where the government has periodically shut down or censored
portions of Wikipedia’s service, the online Web site is helping young
Iranians obtain information on health issues like HIV and has given some
a rare forum to post information and share views about recent
anti-government demonstrations.
“I think Wikipedia is playing a significant role in spreading
information in Iranian society at the moment,” said one Iranian college
student in Germany, who is a regular contributor to Wikipedia’s Farsi
content, which includes 128,000 entries. The student, who did not want
to be identified for fear of government reprisal against his family,
said that about 100 students accounted for the bulk of Wikipedia Farsi
entries.
Volunteers use pseudonyms when making or editing entries, he said,
adding that the site was well read in Iran, inviting censorship and
periodic government shutdowns during civil unrest. In the past three
months, the Iranian government has allowed access to the site.
“This gives us a window on the world that we would not normally have,”
he said.
Similarly, in South Africa, Wikipedia is playing a role in providing
free information and learning materials in schools, many of which lack
the money to buy books and maintain libraries, said Charlene Foster, an
organizer of Wikipedia South Africa. The group in March began generating
entries in Afrikaans and Northern Sotho and will do so eventually in the
country’s nine other official languages.
Aside from providing local-language access to basic information,
Wikipedia is giving South Africans a chance to write their own history,
Ms. Foster said.
“South Africa and the African continent has been marginalized in terms
of information and cultural value,” Ms. Foster said. “But Wikipedia is
helping us with access to information for education not found in libraries.”
On a practical level, Wikipedia will have to do more than just gather
signatures on a petition. Under Unesco rules, Wikipedia must find a
country to sponsor its nomination to either the World Heritage or
Intangible Cultural Heritage List. In the interview, Mr. Wales said he
hoped that Germany would sponsor Wikipedia’s bid for the World Heritage
list.
Getting nominated for the Intangible Cultural Heritage list will be more
difficult. The United States and Germany are not signatories to the 2003
convention that created this list and cannot act as sponsors.
But South Africa did sign on, and Ms. Foster, who lives in Johannesburg,
said she was in the early stages of asking officials in the government
to discuss the country’s making a bid on behalf of Wikipedia for one of
the lists.
Even if Wikipedia’s South African supporters can persuade their
government to nominate Wikipedia, getting selected is by no means
guaranteed. Winners are selected by an intergovernmental committee of 24
countries. For the intangible heritage list, those members include Iran
and Cuba.
But Ms. Foster, an organizational development consultant, said it was
worth a try.
“We are realistic about it,” Ms. Foster said. “This has never been done
before. But we believe that the contribution Wikipedia has made is a
good argument in itself.”
###
--
Steven Walling
Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation
wikimediafoundation.org <http://wikimediafoundation.org>