Numerous media outlets are reporting on a November 14 statement on the website of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library announcing the formation of a Russian "alternative" to Wikipedia, a "regional electronic encyclopedia" dedicated to "Russian regions and the life of the country".
| “ | Integration of unique materials on the regions in a single electronic encyclopedia will allow to objectively and accurately present the country and its population, the diversity of the state, the national system of Russia. Posted materials will be constantly updated and renewed, being available to users from any Internet access point. As expected, the regional electronic encyclopedia will be one of the most popular Russian Internet resources. | ” |
Western media outlets including Newsweek and the Washington Post have noted that this comes following efforts by the government of Vladimir Putin, who called the internet a "CIA project" earlier this year, to control online activities under the banner of "online sovereignty". The government gained the ability to block websites without a court order and immediately blocked the pages of several government opponents. Bloggers were required to register with the government. Russia has launched its own search engine, Sputnik, and even its own alternative internet called Cheburashka. It has also tried to have its say on Wikipedia, with numerous encyclopedia edits on topics like the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 and Russia's conflict with the Ukraine traced to computers belonging to Russian government entities (See previous Signpost coverage). One person compiled a list of nearly 7000 such edits to the Russian Wikipedia.
The Atlantic features a story by particle physicist and science communicator Ben Lillie called "What Wikipedia Taught Me About My Grandfather" (November 18). Lillie's grandfather was Frederic M. Richards (1925–2009), Sterling Professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University. Though a physicist himself, Lillie discovered that he had not known the extent of Richards' work and the importance of it to the field of biophysics. Lillie wrote that he had always scoffed at Richards' disappointment at not being awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, thinking it "an example of how absurd academics' expectations of themselves are", but learned that scientists thought that he could have shared the 1972 Prize with Christian Anfinsen.
Lillie talked with User:Dcrjsr, who brought the article from little more than a paragraph up to Good Article status. Dcrjsr is Jane S. Richardson, Professor of biochemistry at Duke University, former president of the Biophysical Society and a driving force behind WikiProject Biophysics. Richards' article is the only biography of the six articles at GA status within the scope of WikiProject Biophysics. When deciding which biophysics articles to improve, Richardson and her husband, Duke Professor of biochemistry David C. Richardson, told Lillie “There were three people who had really influenced us very strongly. The other two had pretty decent Wikipedia pages, and Fred’s just seemed terrible.”
Lillie wrote "A sense I’ve had my whole life of who my grandfather is can be transformed by the addition of a single fact from a stranger writing on the Internet."
Foreign Policy included Siân Evans (User:Siankevans), Jacqueline Mabey (User:Failedprojects), Michael Mandiberg (User:Theredproject), Richard Knipel (User:Pharos), Dorothy Howard (User:OR drohowa), and Laurel Ptak on its list of "The Leading Global Thinkers of 2014". The list includes 100 "remarkable individuals who smashed the world as we know it" and "showed that a better future demands tearing down foundations and building something entirely new."
The magazine honored the six for their work towards "correcting the Wikipedia gender gap", noting that "as of 2013, only 13 percent of Wikipedia's contributors were female." The group organized the February ArtAndFeminism campaign, which featured thirty one Edit-a-thons in six countries on three continents. About six hundred participants created over a hundred articles and edited over 90 more on articles "related to art, feminism, gender studies, and LGBTQ issues". Another campaign is planned for March 2015.
Gawker profiled User:Seedfeeder, the celebrated and notorious creator of numerous illustrations for Wikipedia articles for sex acts, calling him an "anonymous legend" and "Wikipedia's Greatest Sex Illustrator" (November 12). Gawker also featured a not safe for work gallery of "The Best of Seedfeeder", taken from the 46 of his sexual images in the Wikimedia Commons category Sex drawings by User:Seedfeeder. These images illustrate 36 Wikipedia articles, including pegging, gokkun, deep throating, frot, and tribadism.
Gawker calls Seedfeeder's work "unmistakable" and "striking": vector graphics, empty backgrounds, and a flat and almost clinical style that Seedfeeder said was inspired by "the simple illustrations in airline safety pamphlets". His work was popular with Wikipedia editors from his first upload in July 2008, with editors almost immediately inundating him with requests for images of specific sex acts for articles. He also gained him praise and attention off of Wikipedia, with his work being featured and discussed in B3ta, Cracked, Przegląd, and on Reddit. His work also has plenty of detractors, who have criticized him for what they perceive to be the reinforcement of racial stereotypes and depiction of non-consensual acts, criticism that has prompted alterations to or replacements of the images.
Seedfeeder's identity is unknown, and nothing is known about him outside of what information he's offered on Wikipedia, where he has identified himself as a heterosexual male and a mechanical engineer. After complaining about "the prejudices and concerns of the small-minded" for years, Seedfeeder left Wikipedia in June 2012. His final upload was an image of an Asian woman blowing a kiss he titled Wiki-so-long.png.
Discuss this story
A Russian Conservapedia. Really wish I could read Russian. That's going to be a goldmine of government propaganda lulz. Resolute 21:39, 28 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]
As far as Russian version of Wikipedia goes: Gogol once said; "There is only two things that describe Russia: The roads, and the fools who build them". Whether I translated the quote accurately or not is debatable but the meaning when it comes to Wikipedia is this: Russian Wikipedia was always on the bottom when it comes to accurate information. For example, there was many articles that were deleted simply because the admin thought it was not politically correct. I saw once there a great article on a WWII pilot named Baranova, a recipient of Hero of the Soviet Union (I remembered only last name and the epoch in which she served). That article was deled a week after I saw it. Amazingly, despite an award, she wasn't deemed notable to the Russians just because probably she is Russian. Odd thing here, is that Russian biographies focused more on Jews and people who have Jewish roots or on government officials (foreign and local) that have ties with Russia. Ofcourse some folks here will taunt me for anti-Semitism or Russophobia, but the fact is, if the subject is notable why was it deleted? Besides Russian Wikipedia only by 2013 overran Japanese one. They stayed behind it for 6 years. Another odd thing about Russian Wikipedia: When it comes to articles about Vladimir Putin for example, the criticism section there was removed.--Mishae (talk) 22:12, 28 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Russian studies is fascinating. LonelyLaura (talk) 11:25, 29 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]
(I did not read the above comments, which I feel is necessary given the politics.) Excellent. As the major editor of judiciary of Russia: can't wait to merge it into Wikipedia. The Russian Wikipedia articles on their own government really are very good--almost as good as the English language editions, but still better than their European Union counterparts. But I did learn that at least in Russia you can get a trial by your peers--a United States constitutional right--while in the EU, that is still a fairy tail, like kings and princes. Int21h (talk) 06:39, 30 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I'd agree with the above, that's one of the reasons I left Russian WP, although my primary language is Russian. Aside from other things, the Russian Wiki became a haven of heavily charged articles, like Campaign on granting Nizami the status of the national poet of Azerbaijan and Falsification of history in Azerbaijan, which partially spred into English WP. Brandmeistertalk 19:33, 30 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]