Wikipedia week
It has been announced that the week from from March 28 to April 1 will be Wikipedia Week here in Kyrgyzstan.
It is an initiative by the Soros Foundation – Kyrgyzstan, (SFK), which is an international, non-government, private foundation that was set up by the Open Society Institute in 1993, headed by George Soros, the financier and philanthropist. It is part of an international network, working in a total of 58 countries around the world.
The Foundation aims to create conditions in the Kyrgyz Republic for an open society by supporting the development of public institutions and initiatives in all spheres of public life. (According to their website, “An open society means: freedom and diversity of opinion in all spheres of life, the development of the rule of law and the opportunity for all members of society to participate equally in development.”)
To achieve these aims, the Foundation supports civic initiatives in various areas such as legal, educational and economic reforms, support for the media, NGOs and academia as well as promoting initiatives in the area of public policy, health and culture.
As part of their Information Program, they have organized a competition, a training course, a round-table discussion, a “bloggers forum”.
The idea behind “Wiki- Week in Kyrgyzstan“, (to give the initiative it’s proper title) is to advance and to promote the on-line encyclopaedia in Kyrgyzstan through support for youth and scientific initiatives and groups that post articles on Wikipedia, and also for web–developers working on the development and improvement of information technology in the .kg space.
A spokesman for the foundation pointed out that there are currently about 1400 articles about Kyrgyzstan in the encyclopaedia. ”This means,” he said, “that Kyrgyzstan is lagging behind all its neighbors, despite the fact that we have the highest Internet penetration per capita.” For comparison, he pointed out that there are about 9500 articles about Tajikistan and 8500 about Kazakhstan. Another spokesman added, ”To enhance the contribution of Kyrgyzstan in the development of knowledge about our country, we decided to start this initiative. In the long term, the project could serve as an impetus to improve the attractiveness of the country and business interests to our country.”
Now, I use Wikipedia and find it a valuable resource. I find it particularly valuable as my access to reference books and encyclopaedias in English, here in Kyrgyzstan, is particularly limited. I do have a few reference books that I brought with me in my early years, but some of them are clearly out of date now. Wikipedia is often a first port of call when I want to look something up. Apparently I am not alone in this. According to a BBC documentary on the tenth anniversary of Wikipedia, a lot of journalists also resort to it as a initial source when they researching the background for a story on an unfamiliar topic. I have also seen a lot of comment in the educational columns of different media outlets where teachers complain that students use it heavily.
However, I am also well aware of Wikipedia’s limitations. For example, it is user generated, and there are integrity issues concerning the information included in articles. The Wikipedia Foundation, of course, have put in several safeguards in the process of peer review to address these. I have noticed more and more warning notices on different articles, such as:
particularly where the topics are controversial and opinions can be stated as fact. I have noticed how notes such as [citation needed] have increased in frequency in order to ensure that authors back up their assertions.
The system is not infallible however, and sometimes erroneous information does creep into the text. Perhaps one of the most outrageous examples of this happening was when a pair of British comedians who challenged listeners to their podcast to update the entry for the podcast with the most outrageous lies about them. To be fair, the system did “work” in that the editors eventually suspended the entry, but not until after a huge number of erroneous statements had been added. Fortunately that was an “open and above board prank”, but it illustrates the vulnerability of the information.
Although Wikipedia is widely quoted, (for example on Facebook pages), I understand that some teachers and lecturers are scathing about students who cite it as one of their sources. When I was a student I would not usually cite an encyclopaedia entry as a source in one of my essays, but it seems that many students find it too tempting to: (a) to simply copy and paste an entry into an essay and (b) rely on Wikipedia as a source without questioning the content or searching out corroboration.
. .
Competitors were required the submit of an essay, “What I know about Wikipedia and how can I use it?”, (in English, Russian or Kyrgyz), accompanied by the applicant’s CV.
Selected participants will also take part in trainings with an international expert in new media and Wikipedia from Prague.
On March 30th there will be a round table discussion on “The Development of the Kyrgyz language Internet: Realities and Prospects.” On the same day there will also be a meeting with bloggers in one of the capital’s cafes.
Bishkek