Submissions/Academic Freedom, Net Freedom and Wiki Freedom
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This is an open submission for Wikimania 2010. |
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It has been suggested that this submission could be co-presented with Submissions/Academic Freedom, Internet Freedom and Wiki Freedom. |
- Title
- Academic Freedom, Net Freedom and Wiki Freedom
- presentation
- Author
- Zhengrong Li, Beijing Normal University (Professor Li would make the presentation in Chinese, Ting Chen would translate it in English)
- lizhengrong@bnu.edu.cn ( tchen@wikimedia.org Special:Wing):
- Origin
- China:
- Association
- Beijing Normal University:
- Personal homepage or blog
- Abstract
”Wiki Freedom” Academic freedom is the fundamental for high school education, academics and its ideology Wikipedia shows a great deal of the spirit of academic freedom. Academic freedom can also be stated as “Academic is itself free” Academic freedom → Academic = freedom But in the real human society academic freedom is always endangered For example: Germany was the pioneer in “academic freedom” (1811), but in the 1930s and early 1940s “academit freedom” seized to exist in Germany. My experience: There are two major enemies against academic freedom, the first one is the institution, the second one is the authorities in an institution Academics in universities can be free, the gate of universities can also be free, but as an institution, not everyone can step in that gate. How about Wiki? I love Wikipedia. First and mainly because it is free Naturally I believe in the authority of Encyclopedia Britannica, but every time I open its web page I curse its user registration. Only if I pay for it I can use it as a whole. This is to use the web with business models that are mainly based on printing publications and is severely contraproductive to the function of internet. Only Wikipedia is a real net age encyclopedia.
The other threat is the authorities inside of the institutions, especially inside the universities 2007 the third Wikimania was hold in Taipei. At first there were suggestion to take the campus of Taipei University for the conference. Later the venue was changed to the youth hostel. I don't know the reason of this change, but I do know the weariness of Taipei University against Wikipedia. There is an unwritten rule in Taipei University: If the student use Wikipedia as a source, independent of the language version, it is considered “against academic norm”. The reason for the “hidden rule” of the Taipei University is: Wikipedia can be changed freely, and not written by authorities Who are authorities? Naturally they are in universities, or other academic institutions. In mainland China even in non academic institutions Are authorities really authorities? No. In academic studies critic is always there, there is no eternal authority More over, “For a person boldly select academic freedom is the best way to get maturity, for the human society it is the best way to discover the truth.” This citation comes from Britannica's article about Academic Freedom. Unfortunately Britannica doesn't provide this freedom. But Wikipedia indeed grants the realization of academic freedom The discussion above and other facts show the excellency of a free encyclopedia I will describe the functionality of Wiki with the following for points:
- “Wiki freedom”
- “Wiki possibility”
- “Wikiversity” or “Wikiacademy”
- “Wiki academic alliances”
- “Wiki chain”
- “Wiki in the folk”
- “Wiki reliability”
- “Wiki freedom”: Academic freedom, freedom of opinion, net freedom and wiki freedom opens a new era of encyclopedia
- “Wiki possibility”: Wiki is the most potent and powerful representation of the “speech freedom movement”. The principle of Diderot's encyclopedia is also non official science.
- “Wikiversity or Wiki academy”: Wiki is slowly going to become a free university, every article can open spaces for further research.
- “Wiki academic alliances”: Wiki works with the net. All free people arround the world can work on one and the same article cross boarder. This is unprecedented in the history of encyclopedia. An article may have a few dozen of language versions. Wikipedia really broadens the view of people to a global scale.
- “Wiki chain”: Wiki is a bridge, is a link, it grants that all users get the needed “scientific” support. Link is one of the most creative magic weapon of internet. Link is the starter and constructor of the new traffic era.
- “Wiki in the folk”: means folk's science is the principle of freedom. It is not constrained by the officials and by the authorities. Wiki remains the biggest creativity and independence.
- “Wiki reliability”: As far as I know most people think wiki reliable. Today it is common to hear “I would google it” or “look in the wiki”. This all shows the trust people put in the systems.
Above are the seven academic power of wiki. I think that these seven functions of wiki is one of the most important events in the 21. century.
- Track (People and Community/Knowledge and Collaboration/Infrastructure)
- Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted? No
- Slides or further information (optional)
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