[Foundation-l] A question for American Wikimedians

[FT2]

It's very desirable that people in different ethnic groups are on an equal
footing and can engage and edit. It's also very desirable that if systemic
issues prevent swathes of the national or global population doing so (issues
can affect specific groups, locales, social categories, genders, ages, etc),
then we try to identify and address those issues. But I would not go further
and politicizing the issue or consider it a political one.

In other words if we examined barriers to entry and found som ebarrier would
allow 15 million poor people, or 18 million african-american people, or 17
million single housewifes to be more able to edit, then those barriers are
worth addressing and we would aim to do so positively..... but that's not
the same as treating people not in those groups less positively.

Everyone matters as an individual, and that's so even if we aim as a
foundation to maximize our efforts by removing barriers that research
suggests may have wider impact or affect larger groups and sectors of the
population.

FT2

On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 6:30 AM, Keegan Peterzell <keegan.wiki at gmail.com>wrote:

> I would not wish that world upon anyone, Fred.  African Americans are
> underrepresented for the same reason that Native Americans and about 300
> ethnic groups are: lack of internet access and, with access emerging,
> learning how to engage in the internet.  It's not because any specific
> group
> does not have a desire to volunteer, as you asserted, it's because our (not
> black, white, North American, South American, African, Asian, Australian,
> European or sitting in a small hut at a weather station in Antarctica) ones
> and zeros are finally reaching populations.  You cannot expect any group to
> embrace things like Wikimedia all at once, nor can we assume we're all
> white
> guys.  There is no hope for focus our outreach if we begin with that
> approach, whether it is merited or not.  To promote free knowledge, we must
> assume that everyone is just someone and the bridge is built from there.
>
> On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 12:21 AM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at fairpoint.net
> >wrote:
> >
> > I wish I could live in the world you wish, where poverty and oppression
> > of a people did not damage it. The question was not whether there are a
> > few who edit, but why there is not mass participation, and trouble when
> > it does emerge.
> >
> > Fred Bauder
> >
> >
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>
>
> --
> ~Keegan
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Keegan
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