22 May 2006
Wikipedia Promotes Free Speech, Encourages “Global Conversation”
Founder Jimmy Wales discusses Wikipedia in IIP webchat
Washington -- The online encyclopedia Wikipedia is helping transform the Internet from an English-first medium to a global repository of knowledge in a multitude of languages, and the founder – Jimmy Wales – spends much of his time promoting freedom of speech around the world.
“It does not take a lot of technology to foster open dialog and debate,” Wales said during a May 19 State Department-sponsored webchat. “What is needed mostly, I think, is more content in local languages, and support from people around the world to help others join in the global conversation.”
Wikipedia, a free multilingual Web-based encyclopedia written by thousands of volunteers around the globe in many languages, was founded in 2001 and has grown, according to its Web site, “into the largest reference website on the Internet.” It is funded by donations from the general public.
“Wikipedia has been very successful in our multilingual efforts,” Wales said. “Less than 1/3 of our total work is in English. The fact that all of our work is freely licensed means that the impact of our work is only beginning to be felt.”
According to the Wikipedia Web site, there are more than 200 language editions of Wikipedia, around 130 of which are active. Fourteen editions -- English (the original), German, French, Polish, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Swedish, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Norwegian and Finnish -- contain more than 50,000 articles each.
The “wiki” in Wikipedia comes from the Hawaiian phrase "wiki wiki" meaning quick. In this case, “a wiki is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit all content, very quickly and easily, sometimes without the need for registration,” the Web site notes.
Wales calls himself an "uncompromising defender" of free speech, and has lectured throughout the world on free speech issues.
“Restrictions on the freedom of speech are always unhealthy for societies. Strong dissent, even when mistaken, is never as great a threat as suppression of the free flow of information,” he said during the webchat.
The Wikipedia community self-polices its own articles, Wales said. “We do not have in-house editors. Most glaring errors will be reverted within minutes. More subtle errors of course may take longer to correct ... as in any traditional source.”
Asked if Wikipedia could exist in China despite the “great fire wall,” Wales said Wikipedia “does exist in the Chinese language, and it is one of our very successful projects. The Chinese blocking is unfortunate, but will not stop our work. Many people from mainland China access Wikipedia every day ... the firewall does not really work to stop people from participating.”
As for the efforts of companies such as Google and Microsoft to get into the Chinese market, Wales said “it is important that when companies do business anywhere in the world, they do so while paying very careful attention to ethics, and to making sure that they are not supporting aspects of those societies which infringe upon human rights.”
More information on Jimmy Wales can be found on the Wikipedia Web site.
The transcript of the chat is available on USINFO’s Webchat Station.
For additional information, see Internet Freedom.
