[Foundation-l] RfC: Mission & Vision Statements of the Wikimedia Foundation

[Gerard Meijssen]

Brianna Laugher wrote:
> Keeping this in mind --
>
> On 15/11/06, Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>   
>> We also developed a mission statement from scratch. What's the point?
>> Aside from uniting behind a set of key goals, it helps us to decide
>> which activities fall within our scope and which ones don't --
>> something that is not always easy, given the diversity of our existing
>> projects and communities. Should we launch a WikiFoo project, or is
>> Foo not part of our mission? Both the vision and mission statement
>> will be frequently cited in future discussions of this kind, so they
>> are relevant, and not just organizational fluff.
>>     
>
>   
>> == Vision Statement ==
>>
>> '''Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share
>> in the sum of all knowledge.'''
>>
>> Comment:
>>
>> One version from the Retreat contained the phrase "in their own
>> language" at the end, but we removed that later--I made the argument
>> that there are different ways to address language barriers, e.g. by
>> teaching another language like English and then giving access to
>> learning resources in that language. IMHO we should not explicitly
>> endorse or reject any particular _strategy_ of knowledge dissemination
>> in our vision statement. Rather, I suggested we could add a phrase
>> such as "unimpeded by language barriers, socioeconomic status, or
>> government censorship". This was seen as too negative. In any case, I
>> feel that the simple adjective "freely" may be sufficient in order to
>> convey the idea that we seek to make knowledge as widely available as
>> possible.
>>     
>
> I think some statement of the importance of multilinguality is needed here.
>
> The suggestion that teaching everyone English and offering them
> English works is equivalent to offering them works in their own
> language is... really appalling. We may as well shut down all the
> other languages and just offer Wikibooks "learn English" in x trillion
> languages, right? I don't think so...
>   
I am really glad that you picked up on this. This is very much 
imperialistic thinking; to the winner all the spoils. If you want to 
understand what the relevance is of native languages, you may want to 
read what the UN has to say about this.

http://webworld.unesco.org/imld/res_en.html

The notion that by providing information in English we provide 
sufficient information is fundamentally wrong. The English Wikipedia 
does not provide sufficient information for people to understand their 
culture. When it does provide information in the first place, it brings 
it into a context that is decidedly outside of the culture of these 
people. When you have read and listened to people explaining what 
knowledge is lost with the demise of minority languages, you would 
understand that the tapestry of human knowledge is become threat bare as 
a consequence. Then again, when you do not know what you lost you did 
not lose it right ? Wikipedia may become a collection of much of the 
information that exists, when it does it may help us appreciate the loss 
that is happening to us all and to our detriment.

It has often been pointed out that the disconnect from the cultural 
values leads to a loss of cohesion and conflict. History also learned 
that the "upper classes" adopted the language of the cultural oppressor 
leading to eventual revolt. The sad thing is that much of the cultural 
values are lost in the process and one of the slogans for such a 
revolution is the promise for a cultural resurgence. A resurgence that 
seems to be always bleak compared to what is considered the "golden age" 
even if it was objectively not that great for the majority of the populace.

By preserving and promoting cultural diversity we contribute much more 
than by concentrating on what we happen to do best at the moment.
Thanks,
    GerardM