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Wikipedia, Human Rights, and Freedom of Speech. Jimmy Wales Wikimania 2008 Reflections on Freedom and Free Culture. Freedom of Speech today. Freedom of Speech used to be mostly about Freedom of the Press In a sense, the abscence of a business regulation
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Wikipedia, Human Rights, and Freedom of Speech • Jimmy Wales • Wikimania 2008 • Reflections on Freedom and Free Culture
Freedom of Speech today • Freedom of Speech used to be mostly about Freedom of the Press • In a sense, the abscence of a business regulation • Freedom of the Press mattered to most people because it helped ensure a diversity of sources of information • But most people did not actually have the means to publish directly
Growth of Wikipedia • What are some factors inhibiting the growth of Wikipedia around the world? • Lack of access to computers • Lack of access to broadband • Censorship
Freedom and Knowledge sharing • FreedomHouse ratings • Finland (Free) – Political 1, Civil Liberties 1 • Albania (Partly Free) – Political 3, Civil Liberties 3 • Tajikistan (Not Free) – Political 6, Civil Liberties 6
Freedom and Knowledge sharing • Articles per million population • Finland (Free) – 6 mln - 20,595 • Albanian (Partly Free) – 6 mln- 2,816 • Tajikistan (Not Free) – 4.3 million - 1,875
Freedom of Press is Personal • When press freedom was violated in the old days, it did not tend to suppress education of the world about your country • But today violations of press freedom affect ordinary citizens who would communicate values of basic human dignity to others • War is caused by fear of the other – to avoid war, allow your citizens to be real to the world
How can Wikipedia help? • Wikipedia culture is about free access to high quality information • A culture of NPOV • ”Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. ~Voltaire • Building this culture builds a culture of tolerance of ideas, a culture of willingness to examine bad ideas rather than foolishly attempt to suppress them