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https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-shaping-history-why-i-spent-ten-years-studying-one-wikipedia-article-192602>
"In mid-July 2008, I arrived in hot and sticky Alexandria. I had travelled to
Egypt to attend Wikimania. As the name suggests, Wikimania is an event for
those who share an all-consuming passion for the wiki. But not just any wiki …
the most important wiki of all: Wikipedia – the online encyclopedia.
This annual conference for Wikipedians (Wikipedia’s volunteer editors) is a
chance to celebrate the project, discuss important issues, and geek out on wiki
lore.
I was one of 650 attendees from 45 countries that year. But the conference
(held in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, an attempt to revive the Great Library of
Alexandria) had been mired in controversy. There were calls to boycott the
event because of Egypt’s censorship and imprisonment of bloggers. In his
opening speech, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales highlighted the case of Abdel
Kareem Nabil, a former university student sentenced to four years in prison on
charges of insulting Islam and Egypt’s then President Hosni Mubarak, and
inciting sectarian strife.
Although some governments tried to impede free speech, Wales said, this was
pointless in the age of the internet, where people could share ideas on
platforms like Wikipedia.
“Kareem Amer has become a cause around the world,” he said, showing Nabil’s
English Wikipedia page on the screen. “Not the best strategy for keeping his
ideas out of the public eye.”
Two and a half years on, in late January 2011, Egyptians took to the streets to
demand the end of authoritarian rule. Less than two weeks after protests
erupted, Egypt’s autocrat president Mubarak resigned. Some were calling this
“the Facebook revolution,” others a “Twitter revolution”.
Sadly it was to be short-lived. In 2013 Egyptian army chief General Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi took over in a coup. He still rules today and has imprisoned an
estimated 60,000 political prisoners, including those advocating democracy and
free speech."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
