You don’t have to be a regular reader of my blog to realise that it doesn’t normally do current affairs or news, other than trying occasionally to grapple with the vagaries of Blogger. However today is an exception.
I spent much of this morning writing a new post, which involved more research than usual, including looking for suitable images, for which Wikipedia is often a very useful resource. Thus it was that I came across the news that tomorrow (January 18) the English Wikipedia site will be blacked out for 24 hours as part of a worldwide protest at what are seen as attacks on the freedom of the internet. There is a full explanation HERE, and not wanting my readers to be faced with inactive links, my post has been filed until the protest is over.
It is salutary to realise that, until faced with its absence for just one day, I, like most people, had come to take the availability of Wikipedia, whenever I need it, entirely for granted. With all its faults and limitations it is a extraordinary compilation of information and images and we bloggers would find life more difficult without it. Thank you, Wikipedia, and long may you flourish unimpeded.
Image, as so often, via Wikipedia
Image, as so often, via Wikipedia
Hear hear! Couldn't agree more. A most excellent and valuable resource.
ReplyDeleteWell said Perpetua.
Thanks for calling this to our attention. I can't believe I used Wikipedia a few minutes ago without seeing the (now) very obvious banner at the top. I have now posted a link to my Facebook status to help spread the word.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ray. I use Wikipedia all the time, aware that it isn't always accurate, but still grateful for it as a starting-point at least - and it has a lot of good images.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, poetreehugger. I too can't believe that it was only when I was nearly ready to publish my post that I noticed the banner. Too busy concentrating on the information and images I was researching. Glad you are spreading the message.
ReplyDeleteHi Perpetua,
ReplyDeleteI noticed this too - it certainly made me pause to reflect how often I used Wikepedia. Goodness me, tonorrow every student of everything will have to do their own research!!
I hope, too, that most of us also noticed and contributed to the cost of keeping Wikpeida online - a whole series of banners just before Christmas.
It'll be quiet tomorrow!
Hello Perpetua:
ReplyDeleteFor all its weaknesses, we should still not wish to seethe demise of Wikipedia. Freedom of information is essential in any strong democracy and we should defend that totally.
We were unaware that this was to happen, so thank you for bringing it to our attention.
What?! You mean we'll have to get off our backsides and look things up in *books*? It'll be like the Middle Ages! Still, at least we might burn off a few more calories than usual while researching a post... ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, it will come as a shock to a lot of people I fear, Catriona. We've come to rely on it as a first port of call on all sorts of topics.
ReplyDeleteDo you know whether they reached their appeal target? I haven't noticed anything about it, but I've just proved I'm not always very observant!
Hello Jane and Lance. Yes, I think just 24 hours without Wikipedia will make many people realise its value and hopefully defend and support it.
ReplyDeletePrecisely, DB! :-) I usually have piles of books all round my desk in any case, but Wikipedia helps to fill so many gaps in my paper resources. The ones I've been juggling for the post I was researching earlier certainly qualify as a bit of weight-lifting!
ReplyDeleteDear Perpetua,
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting all of us know about this. I look forward to your posting. Ah, how quickly we come to depend on the Internet.
Peace.
You're welcome, Dee. We would have found out tomorrow in any case when we clicked on the link and couldn't find it, but it helps to be forewarned. As you say, our dependence on the internet is now enormous, for better or worse.
ReplyDeleteYour post just made me realise how much I take sites like Wikipedia for granted...particularly when blogging. You know those times when you write about something you think you know, but feel you ought to check it out just in case!
ReplyDeleteYou and the rest of us, Ayak. We all do it without thinking, either clicking directly onto Wikipedia or finding its articles coming high up in Google searches. It really hasn't been around very long, yet now we can't imagine doing without it.
ReplyDeleteI saw it on Google News and feel truly disturbed by the process of having information curtailed.
ReplyDeleteMay Wikipedia flourish and grow!
I am seeing Stephen on Sunday, would you like to send him a message? Or would he recognise you from your description of yourself?
Thanks for the heads up on this. I must go to wikipedia at least once a day... I hope that the legislators come to their senses and stop trying to become the thought and information police for the world ...
ReplyDeleteAmen to that, Friko. Yes,piracy is theft, but this is a sledgehammer approach to dealing with the problem and an insidious threat to freedom of information.
ReplyDeleteIt's over 14 years since I left the library, but if you show Stephen my blog profile and photo, he might just remember me. Please wish him and his wife well from me in any case.
You're welcome, Broad. There's an item about it on the BBC website too, but most people won't know until they try to use it tomorrow. Well done to Wikipedia for highlighting the threat.
ReplyDeleteI for one had seen the banner on Wikipedia several times - showing how often I end up there :-). And I'd also read various news items about SOPA & PIPA that the protest is aimed at.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I'm all for the protection of copyright materials, both SOPA & PIPA seem more to be aimed at censorship & preventing the free circulation of information. Therefore, whilst tomorrow will be frustrating, I do support the reason for this protest by Wikipedia & others.
Thank you, Perpetua. I might not have noticed otherwise if you hadn't brought this to our attention.
ReplyDeleteI use Wikipedia all the time, whether intentional or un. It almost always a springboard to finding other information and like you, I use it in researching information.
I did take some time to investigate the SOPA act, and it's counterpart in the U.S. Senate and will express my feelings to my elected officials, you can be sure of that.
Hi Ricky. You're obviously much more on the ball than I am, as I didn't spot the banner until just before I wrote my post. I don't think there can be a blogger who doesn't see this a threat to freedom of information and communication. Though we may twitch tomorrow when deprived of our Wikipedia fix, it's in a very good cause.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, Penny! On this side of the Atlantic all we can do is spread the word and support protests such as Wikipedia's, but you and other US bloggers can tell your elected officials what you think, so that they become aware just how many people disapprove of what is being planned.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know so thanks, Perpetua. It is amazing how many times we turn to Wikipedia in our family - one or another of us is always asking an impossible question and we inevitably turn to Wiki to find out what others think. I too will post on Facebook - what will we do if that closes down for a period too? The mind boggles - well, mine does; often! Thanks again, I can just imagine your shock! Lol, as they say. Axxx
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Annie. We all use Wikipedia so often that it helps to know to look elsewhere. That's what an awful lot of schoolchildren will have to do when they come to do their homework tomorrow. :-) Seriously though, freedom of information is one of the cornerstones of a civilised society and needs to be jealously guarded.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know this, but am glad to hear they are protesting. I hope it does some good. I probably use Wikipedia every day.
ReplyDeleteI think Wikipedia is brilliant. I both use and contribute to it. It is wildly inaccurate in many places, lacking in real depth in others, and dangerously assumed by many to be definitive, but I love it.
ReplyDeleteWales' stand is principled. I am disappointed, though hardly surprised, that the likes of Google and Twitter did not see fit to join in. I don't use Twitter, won't use Twitter and I think I might well shift my choice of search engine.
On the plus side, millions of students will today have to find other sources from which to copy their homework. No doubt their teachers will enjoy a break from the tedious repition of the same text and their charges - a few of them at least - might discover that there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Rubye, I think most of us didn't know until just now and I too welcome their action. Much better to guard our freedom now that to have to try to regain it once lost.
ReplyDeleteMe too, Jon, though I have never dared contribute as yet. It's a big shame Google wouldn't join as that would have had a huge impact and would would have given Blogger blogs the chance to do so too. Profits before principle, I'm afraid. WordPress is joining in and giving their users the option of either a blackout today or a protest ribbon next week.
ReplyDeleteYep, today will mean a bit of real work for school-children and an interesting change for teachers. :-)
Well said. Wiki is fantastic, a real boon to our lives.
ReplyDeleteIi think this was a good day in the effort! Everywhere I turned there was a reminder of the protest or, as you encountered, a literal blank page. Until I began blogging I wasn't tuned in to Wikipedia...knew of it, but didn't care all that much! During their end-of-year appeal for contributions I made a small donation...I couldn't in good conscience just continue to take from the site! I look forward to reading what you have held in reserve :-) Debra
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree more, Mark, and felt I had to pass on the message. I certainly missed Wikipedia yesterday!
ReplyDeleteI’m glad to hear the protest was so widely publicised in the US, Debra. Let’s hope it has its intended effect and the opponents succeed in defeating, or at least radically amending, both the Bills. Well done on being one of the contributors to the Wikipedia appeal and I do hope that this too was successful.
ReplyDelete