[Foundation-l] helping access Wikipedia from censored connections

[SJ]

no, you're right, the rest have found other ways to get together.  you
might check in with language-specific mailing lists that cover regions
where you have high interest in mirrors and proxies... or ambassadors
from those projects.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Embassy

SJ

On 7/5/07, Bennett Haselton <bennett at peacefire.org> wrote:
> Hi SJ,
>
> Thanks for replying with your suggestion!  I searched meetup.com for
> "wikipedia" and found only two groups, one in Cambridge and one in Calgary:
> http://www.meetup.com/search/?keywords=wikipedia&locationPickerRef=0&dbCo=us&dbOutsideUsLink=&country=us&zip=&go.x=0&go.y=0
>
> Should there be more of them, did I do something wrong?
>
>          -Bennett
>
> At 09:38 PM 7/5/2007 -0700, SJ wrote:
> >You might start by tracking down the wikipedian community groups who
> >meet around the world, via [[meta:Meetups]] and meetup.org and the
> >like, and contacting them to see if the subject is interesting to any
> >of them...
> >
> >SJ
> >
> >On 7/4/07, Bennett Haselton <bennett at peacefire.org> wrote:
> > > [sent recently to WikiEN-l, but perhaps this is the more appropriate
> > list
> > > since it's more about a proposed relationship with the Wikimedia
> > Foundation
> > > than about day-to-day Wikipedia stuff]
> > >
> > > Re-greetings,
> > >
> > > A few months ago I was here [which, for this list, means I was on the
> > wrong
> > > list, but I was here, too] for a very interesting discussion about
> > > Wikipedia vs. Citizendium and in particular about the idea of having
> > teams
> > > of identity-verified "experts" who could take custody of articles to
> > help
> > > prevent errors and vandalism.  This time I'm asking about something
> > less
> > > controversial.  Well, maybe :)
> > >
> > > Peacefire runs a network of proxy sites like
> > > https://www.StupidCensorship.com/ for getting around Internet
> > filtering;
> > > unlike most proxy sites which are widely known and get blocked quickly,
> > we
> > > encourage people to sign up to receive e-mail updates whenever we
> > create
> > > new sites, and since it usually takes a few days for newly mailed sites
> > to
> > > get blocked, most of our users are usually able to use the latest one
> > we've
> > > mailed out.  One of the most frequent comments from our users is that
> > > they're glad that they can get on Wikipedia through the proxies.  So
> > how
> > > can we help get the word out to more Wikipedians -- many of whom are
> > > undoubtedly not aware of the easy methods for accessing Wikipedia from
> > > censored networks?  (That is, they probably know about proxies, but may
> > not
> > > know how to get an unlimited supply of proxies so the latest one is
> > always
> > > unblocked.)  Our organization's whole purpose is to help people get
> > around
> > > Internet blocking, so every time we help someone gain access to
> > Wikipedia,
> > > we're achieving our mission and, presumably, helping Wikipedia achieve
> > > theirs as well.
> > >
> > > We're willing to spend the money on the hardware and the bandwidth for
> > the
> > > proxies to help people get access, so how can we do it in a way that
> > > benefits Wikipedia users the most?  (Disclaimer: we do get some money
> > back
> > > from the ads that runs on our site, but not at a profit; we just barely
> > > break even on the ads right now.  So there may not be quite the same
> > "halo"
> > > around these services as there is around the bandwidth and hardware
> > that's
> > > donated outright to Wikipedia for free :)  However, to be constantly
> > > setting up new dedicated sites to help people get around Internet
> > blocking,
> > > requires creating new accounts with different hosting companies all the
> > > time, and it would be impractical to try and get each of them to agree
> > to
> > > provide pro bono services each time we set up a new site, which is why
> > we
> > > have to spend money for that and why the ads help to pay for it.)
> > >
> > > Since Wikipedia does have articles about subjects such as sexuality
> > that
> > > are often blocked in schools, I recognize there might be a minority of
> > > Wikipedia supporters who nonetheless feel that the site *should* be
> > blocked
> > > from students, but I'm hoping that the vast majority of Wikipedians
> > would
> > > not feel that way.  First of all, most blocking programs claim not to
> > block
> > > sites that deal with those subjects in an "educational" context, which
> > > means the vast majority of articles on Wikipedia, even those about
> > topics
> > > like sex, should not be blocked, by the companies' own stated
> > > criteria.  Second, I think most reasonable people would agree that
> > > virtually every teenager could read almost everything on Wikipedia
> > without
> > > "harm", and that the educational benefits are enormous.  (Well, they
> > would
> > > be if you had experts sign off on the articles.  *ducks*)
> > >
> > > So, what can we do to help?  If we had an unlimited budget for
> > > circumvention services, how could we best use it to help
> > > Wikipedia?  (Whatever the answer to that would be, there's probably a
> > way
> > > we can achieve some part of it, even on a limited budget.)  In addition
> > to
> > > just providing the sites, there might be times when if a new Wikipedia
> > > feature is being released, for example, we could do cross-platform
> > testing
> > > to see if it's compatible with our proxies so we can alert users to any
> > > issues.  What do you all think?
> > >
> > >         -Bennett
> > >
> > > bennett at peacefire.org     http://www.peacefire.org
> > > (425) 497 9002
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > foundation-l mailing list
> > > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > > http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> > >
> >
> >
> >--
> >++SJ
> >
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>
>


-- 
++SJ