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Every week, the Communications team collects press mentions of "Wikipedia" or "Wikimedia" from news outlets in the 6 priority countries. These press clippings provide a view into media perceptions of the Wikimedia movement and Wikimedia sites.

2016: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

March

[edit]

March 5–11

[edit]

Flag of India India — New Indian Express: A Bot That Gets Wiki Content to Your Phone

New WhatsApp bot allows users to get Wikipedia articles pasted into chats by texting “wiki” and then adding a query term

  • Positive Positive: Consumer perception: “...left some users in delight” and positive perception of tech innovation


Flag of India India — Kashmir Monitor: Op-Ed: Easy Access to Info Can Actually Make People Dumber

The number of internet users in Jammu and Kashmir has gone beyond 3,500,000. Author fears that citizens are becoming too dependent on search engines as method to get answers fast without putting in any effort to learn

  • Positive Positive: Advocates more contributors: “out of the millions who use ‘Wikipedia’, only 0.01-0.02 percent are contributors, rest everyone is like a leech thriving on whatever information is available.”


Flag of India India — The Hindu: Qwikipedia

In recurring section, game editor introduces game called “Qwikipedia” where the objective is to get to a particular Wiki page, starting from a specific article, using minimal clicks. Urges readers to send in their paths for the above to their email address with the subject: Qwikipedia

  • Positive Positive: Engaging readers, Wikipedia as a site of fun - “Qwikipedia is a game that tries to quench this curiosity in us.”


Flag of India India — The Hindu: Democratise Information

Eminent ecologist, Madhav Gadgil calls for the democratization of information to help people make informed and scientifically sound decisions

  • Positive Positive: Dr. Gadgil suggested that scientists and social activists use tools like Wikipedia to document and spread scientific insight


Flag of India India — Business Insider: Someone is Editing Wikipedia to Make the Founder of Collapsed Tech Unicorn Powa Look Better

A Wikipedia user who has only edited the page of Dan Wagner, the founder /CEO of Powa Technologies, made edits last week that play down the recent collapse of his business.

  • Negative Negative: This editor is “deliberately attempting to compromise Wikipedia’s integrity" and distribute inaccurate information


Flag of India India — Deccan Chronicle: MP says Wikipedia Showed Her as 'dead'; Govt Promises Action

A member of parliament was marked as dead in her WP entry and wanted to lodge a police report in response

  • Negative Negative: Information was inaccurate and Wikipedia is shown to be a tool subject to government scrutiny, distrust, and political manipulation.


Flag of Mexico Mexico — Excelsior: ¿Es Wikipedia una enciclopedia misógina? (Is Wikipedia a Misogynistic Encyclopedia?]

Analysts argue that out of all the biographies present in Wikipedia in 2015, only 15% of them were about women. Sue Gardner, former executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, says there are several reasons why women stay out of contributions to Wikipedia, as its non-friendly interface, lack of confidence in themselves and aversion type of culture Site. Reprinted in informador, Vanguardia, PubliMetro

  • Negative Negative: “Many women do not participate in Wikipedia because the information that they contribute is likely to be modified or deleted by the "prevailing misogyny" atmosphere.


Flag of Mexico Mexico — Vanguardia: Arte, Información y Feminismo

From March 5th to 8th, Editatón of Women Artists 2016 joined the global effort to draw attention to the role of women in art history

  • Positive Positive: Article shows public work on culture change with 100 Mexican women artists entries added


Flag of Brazil Brazil — UOL.com.br: Advogado impede que lobista fale de pagamentos a filho de Lula (Lawyer prevents lobbyist from speaking about payments to Lula's son]

Charges of corruption against former Brazilian President Lula now contend his son presented “professional” advice that he took from Wikipedia.

  • Negative Negative: Wikipedia conflated with general, or rudimentary internet information


Flag of Brazil Brazil — UOL.com.br: Mapa reúne informações sobre séculos de guerra ao redor do mundo (Map gathers information on war centuries around the world]

Coverage of art project showing “geography of violence” created by Wikipedia articles on battles from more than 4,000 years

  • Positive Positive: using Wikidata to create historical visual representation
  • Negative Negative: information not necessarily reputable, “... not 100 percent reliable”



March 12–18

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Flag of India India — Times of India: Wikipedia Developing Speech Engine for Users

Summary of Wikimedia Sweden has partnered with KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden to develop speech synthesis platform that enables to communicate content to those who cannot read the text.

  • Positive Positive: Highlights efforts of Wikipedia to increase accessibility
Other coverage: India Today


Flag of India India — Times of India: 13 Ways to Make Your Wikipedia Experience Better

Highlights 13 different subsites to help Wikipedia users find information more easily

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia is described as “go to” place for information, and lots of Wikimedia projects shown as positive utilities (e.g. WikiNews, Simple English, Wiktionary)
  • Negative Negative: Foregrounds flaws of existing Wikipedia user experiences. Associates Wikipedia with a lot of organizations outside of WMF such as WikiHow, WikiWant, Wikimapia, etc.
Other coverage: The Hans India


Flag of India India — The Hans India: Absurd Facts About Technology You Ought to Know

Emphasizes the need for anti-vandal bots to actively monitor changes being made to Wikipedia content

  • Mixed Mixed: Highlights the value of bots for strong Wikipedia experience, but argues that more of Wikipedia should be automated and that more powerful bots would serve against vandalism


Flag of India India — The Wire: Eight Challenges That Indian-Language Wikipedias Need to Overcome

Staffer, Subashish Panigrahi highlights lack of content in Indian-Language Wikipedia and obstacles hindering accessibility such as lack of native content available on the internet and issues with open access

  • Positive Positive: Brand Perception
  • Negative Negative: Project needs to overcome challenges through a larger editor community and taking advantage of useful resources such as language input software


Flag of Mexico Mexico — Milenio: Wikipedia hará que un programa te lea sus artículos (Wikipedia Has Made a Program That Can Read Your Articles]

Wikimedia Sweden has partnered with KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden to program that enables to communicate content to those who cannot read the text

  • Positive Positive: Highlights efforts of Wikipedia to increase accessibility with plans to expand program to 285 languages


Flag of Brazil Brazil — Investimento se Noticias: Skol, Bohemia e Guaraná estão entre as 10 marcas brasileiras mais ágeis (Skol, Bohemia, and Guaraná are Among the 10 Most Agile Brazilian Brands]

Reports on a study by Landor, global branding agency,listing 10 most agile brands based in Brazil

  • Positive Positive: Refers back to first study by Landor in November 2015 for brands, where Wikipedia was in the top 10 agile brands along with Android, Google, Dyson, Apple, YouTube, Microsoft, Ikea and Disney


Flag of Indonesia Indonesia — Tribun News: Dibantah Dejan Antonic, Tapi Wikipedia Sudah Menyebut Belencoso Main Untuk Persib (Denied Dejan Antonic, but Wikipedia Already Mentioned Belencoso Main To Persib]

Report of unverified edit on Wikipedia article (WP:EN) for professional soccer player Juan Belencoso claiming that he is now playing for Indonesian club team

  • Positive Positive: Importance of Wikipedia content shown to be very high, possibly prescient
  • Negative Negative: Reliability of Wikipedia information shown to be suspicious


Flag of Indonesia Indonesia — CNN Indonesia: Menikmati Java Jazz Festival, Merayakan Musim Semi (Enjoyed the Java Jazz Festival, Celebration of the Spring)

Reports that music entrepreneur Peter J Gontha, gets musicians excited to visit Indonesia by sharing the Wikipedia article on Indonesia

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia as best summary of Indonesian culture. “I often promote our country by sending a link to Wikipedia about Indonesia to them.”


Flag of Egypt Egypt — Egypt1: أحد مؤسسي Wikipedia يُهاجم الشركات التي تسعى إلى تعديل بياناتها من أجل التسويق (One of the Founders of Wikipedia Attacking Companies that Seek to Adjust their Data for Marketing)]

Summarizes SXSW interview with Jimmy Wales, where he addresses the issue with companies editing their own Wikipedia pages as a marketing tactic

  • Positive Positive: Associates Jimmy with Wikipedia very strongly, shows site as major world experience
  • Negative Negative: Suggests his role is akin to tech CEO, minimizes community and open movement values



March 19–25

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Flag of India India — FirstPost: #BharatMataKiJay: How the deification of Mother India has turned Indian Muslims away from chanting the rallying cry

The RSS, right-wing, Hindu nationalist party of India, insistence on everyone chanting 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' (Victory to Mother India) has led many young Indian muslims to consider add Mother India as a Hindu deity

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia is seen as influential source of information for millennial generation. When founder of nonprofit “Jai Ho” was asked if there was any other basis for their view of the deification of Mother India, his response was, "Wikipedia"


Flag of India India — The Hindu Business Line: Securing the Internet's Future

Former general counsel member of Wikimedia Foundation, Mike Godwin about net neutrality in a series of talks that took place in India's Center for Internet and Society in February.

  • Positive Positive: Strong brand awareness alludes to Wikipedia and Wikipedia Zero in his perspective on net neutrality.
  • Negative Negative: Stance on Wikipedia Zero's mission is not purely positive - "with Wikipedia, I realised it doesn’t matter if you have neutrality if nobody can afford it. Neutrality hasn’t served the people who can’t afford to pay to have the wires built up to their provinces.”


Flag of India India — The Hindu: The King of Shennai

Article honoring late Ustad Bismillah Khan, renowned Indian musician

  • Negative Negative: confusion on his actual date of birth: "while Wikipedia insists he was born in 1916, some other sites say the year was 1913..."


Flag of Mexico Mexico — Milenio: Teotihuacan Estrena Luz y Sonido (Tetoihuacan Opens Light and Sound Show)]

The Night Show of Teotihuacan premiered this past Friday with the presence of the chief executive, governor of the state of Mexico, and culture secretary

  • Negative Negative: Information from Wikipedia is seen as unreputable. Representatives prided themselves on the script guiding the show to have information validated by well-reputed historians and specialists. “what I want to say is that they are not merely facts taken from Wikipedia”


Flag of Mexico Mexico — Vanguardia: Sophia, la estrella robotica del SXSW (Sophia, the Star Robot from SXSW]

Sophia, humanoid robot presented at SXSW gained a lot of attention as Journalists around the world have had the opportunity to interview Sophia to test its ability to provide verbal and facial responses.

  • Negative Negative: Tone of Wikipedia is seen as depersonalized and robotic. “Sophia answered correctly most of the times to questions from reporters, but sometimes sounded, in the words of those attending the event, 'as a Wikipedia entry'"


Flag of Mexico Mexico — Vanguardia: ¿Por qué demonios quieren ser periodistas? (Why the hell would we want to be journalists?)]

Explores the juxtaposition of the so to speak, dying field of journalism yet how there is a rise in those who want to be journalists

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia is seen as "all-knowing" resource, coupled alongside with the accessibility and popularity of Google


Flag of Mexico Mexico — PubliMetro: #ParaElCafé: las noticias que debemos conocer (The News that We Know]

Recurring feature in Publimetro that outlines fast facts from across the globe

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia is seen as an established organization important enough to cover amongst topics like Obama and the Fed of Mexico. Fact: "What motivates hundreds of thousands of people to make edits in Wikipedia every day? Reputation, marketing and even eccentricity, concludes The Atlantic."


Flag of Brazil Brazil — UOL.com.br: Rede da Caixa é usada para escrever 'Casa da mãe Joana Civil' na Wikipédia (Box network is used to write 'House of Joan Civil mother' in Wikipedia]

Caixa Econômica Federal will investigate the use of a computer of the state bank network to rename the entry "Casa Civil" in Wikipedia to "Mother Joan of the House Civil."

  • Negative Negative: inaccurate information and vandalism was present enough to


Flag of Indonesia Indonesia — liputan6: Ini Kata-kata Pertama yang Diunggah di Wikipedia (These Words were First Uploaded in Wikipedia)]

References Business Insider Article about Jimmy Wales and discusses beginnings of Wikipedia and first uploaded words "Hello World"

  • Positive Positive: Associates Jimmy with Wikipedia very strongly. HHighlights the rapid growth of Wikipedia throughout the years.



March 26–April 2

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Flag of Nigeria Nigeria — Naij: 7 Strong Nigerians President Buhari Cannot 'Touch'

Article describes seven, powerful figures in Nigerian government that have strong influence on society today.

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia seen as source that reaffirms major societal views. Mentioned to highlight General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida's power in Nigerian political sphere since 1993. "Even Wikipedia refers to him as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party"


Flag of Nigeria Nigeria — Pulse.ng: Why Nigerian Musicians Reduce Their Ages

Discusses the phenomenon of age fabrication with Nigerian Musicians

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia is portrayed as a platform with the the right facts: “After people began to poke questions on social media, his Wikipedia page was altered to reflect he was 28 years old.”


Flag of India India — FirstPost: Facebook Free Basics and Wikipedia Zero Used to Set Up Clandestine File Sharing Network

Angolan users have found a loophole in Facebook Free Basics and Wikipedia Zero to pirate content onto these websites.

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia Zero’s initiatives seen as benevolent in offering more countries information
  • Negative Negative: Article introduces Wikipedia Zero as something that was “...booted in India”. Ease of piracy through Wikipedia is also seen as concerning


Flag of India India — Tribune India: Telling Stories of Our Times

Renowned classical dancer, Sonal Mansingh discusses how society has changed over the past several decades she has been involved in Indian arts.

  • Negative Negative: Criticizes dependency on the internet in this day and age. "Everyone is so attuned to Wikipedia. Google is the new God. It’s complete nonsense. The state of our youth worries me. "


Flag of Mexico Mexico — Vanguardia: Procurador de Sinaloa se Fusilo Frases de Wikipedia a para su Discurso Sobre Benito Juarez (Attorney phrases Wikipedia Sinaloa were shot for his speech on Benito Juarez)

Attorney General of the State of Sinaloa, Marco Antonio Higuera Gómez, under speculation for plagiarizing speech from a Wikipedia article about Benito Juarez.

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia is seen as a reliable, reputed source especially since fragments of articles are taken for official speech


Flag of Brazil Brazil — Globo: Angolanos Usam Acesso Livre à Wikipédia e Facebook para Pirataria (Angolan Use Free Access to Wikipedia and Facebook for Piracy)

Another article on Angola users taking advantage of Wikipedia Zero and Facebook Free Basics to pirate content

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia is taking fast action to remedy the issue
  • Negative Negative: Wikipedia’s solution of blocking IPs of those responsible is hitting Angolans using it in a conventional matter


Flag of Indonesia Indonesia — Metro TV News: Wikimedia Indonesia Dapatkan 3 Pemenang Wiki Sabada (Wikimedia Indonesia Gets 3 Winners)

Wikimedia Indonesia and Sundanese Studies Center announced the three winners wrote an article titled Wiki or Wikipedia Mercury Sabanda Basa Sunda

  • Positive Positive: Celebrating involvement of users in Wikimedia Indonesia: “The ceremony was attended by Siska Doviana prize, the Chairman of Wikimedia Indonesia period 2013 - 2015; Ruhaliah, Secretary of the Centre for the Study of Sunda, and Ilham Nurwansah, Sabanda Wiki Contest Committee.”


Flag of Egypt Egypt — Saudi Gazette: Arab World Internet Users to Reach Around 226M by 2018

Article discussing the growth of internet usage in Arabic regions such as Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, etc.

  • Positive Positive: The presence of Arabic content was also studied, particularly through Wikipedia


April

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April 2–16

[edit]

Flag of Nigeria Nigeria — The Herald Nigeria: Olajumoke Bread Seller Turned Model is Now on Wikipedia

Pop culture about Nigerian bread seller was discovered by a photographer and has become a model

  • Positive Positive: Getting an entry in Wikipedia is a sign of someone “making it”: “The world’s most popular encyclopedia now has Olajumoke as an entry.”
Other coverage: Pulse.ng


Flag of India India — News X: Google marks Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar's 96th Birthday

In honor of late sitar maestro, Pandit Ravi Shankar’s 96th birthday on April 7th, Google created a doodle that redirects to Shankar’s Wikipedia page

  • Positive Positive: Strong brand recognition by being tied to Google’s front page


Flag of India India — Live Mint: Google Joins Health Apps Bandwagon

Google launched its new tool, “health cards,” making disease related searches in India easier

  • Positive Positive: App’s functionality is associated with Wikipedia, a reinforcing Wikipedia’s status as platform of knowledge
  • Negative Negative: Wikipedia is portrayed as questionable information without local relevance or expertise: “The tool is different from Wikipedia because it has been adapted to the local needs of the country and has been verified by doctors from institutes like All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, Apollo Hospitals and Columbia Asia Hospital.”


Flag of India India — The Hans India: Tiobe Index Visual Basic Losing Language Popularity

Microsoft’s Visual Basic is slipping in Tiobe’s Index of Language Popularity. Tiobe bases its ratings on an examination of how often languages are searched on in search engines such as Google, Bing, and Wikipedia, gauging the number of skilled engineers, courses, and third-party vendors pertinent to a language.

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia’s depth and popularity merits to be a qualifier for the rating system


Flag of India India — Times of India: Wikimedia art database breaks copyright law: Swedish court

Sweden's highest court found Wikimedia Sweden guilty of violating copyright laws by providing free access to its database of artwork photographs without the artists' consent.

  • Negative Negative: Wikimedia Sweden seen as foolish and impractical, choosing politics over partnerships: The Visual Copyright Society of Sweden stated that Wikimedia Sweden had refused to sign a licensing agreement that "would have cost several thousand kronor per year" and had instead "chosen to spend hundreds of thousands of kronor on lawyers' fees."


Flag of Mexico Mexico — Milenio: El Plagiario

Op-ed criticizes politician for plagiarizing Wikipedia instead of using his own voice, and for assuming that people would not discover this or hold him accountable

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia seen as a global resource for good, and honest it having no political intents.


Flag of Brazil Brazil — UOL.com.br: Empresas Unem Robos a Aplicativos de Mensagens Para Conquistar Clientes (Apps Invest in Robots that Speak to You and Plan Parties)

Discusses latest trend in applications to be using bots as a form of increasing “deep learning” in systems. Watson, cognitive learning platform by IBM, is trained with Wikipedia information.

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia is seen as strong source of information.


Flag of Indonesia Indonesia — Republika: Panduan Menyunting Wikipedia Indonesia Diterbitkan (Free Editing Wikipedia Published)

Article encourages users to join Wikimedia Indonesia in developing articles for Wikipedia in partnership with German Wikimedians (via Goethe-Institut)

  • Positive Positive: Not only encourages joining the Wikimedia Indonesia community but also highlights resources available, variety of opportunities to get involved, and why it is so important to be a part of Wikimedia Indonesia


Flag of Indonesia Indonesia — Tech in Asia: Indonesian Marketplace Tokopedia Raises 147M

Indonesian e-commerce site, Tokopedia raised $147M in its latest financing round, and has outranked Wikipedia, Twitter and Wordpress in website popularity in Indonesia

  • Positive Positive: Outranking Wikipedia is seen as a feat as it is considered to be one of the most popular websites. Indicates Wikipedia’s presence and popularity in Indonesia


Flag of Indonesia Indonesia — Detik: Punya Prestasi dan 28 Kursi PDIP di DKI, Akankah Risma Hijrah ke Ibu Kota? (Achievement has 28 seats and the PDIP in Jakarta, Risma Will Migrate to Capital?)

In a summary of candidates of Jakarta Governor Elections, one candidate is considered leading due to her list of accomplishments found on Wikipedia.

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia is cited as a source of credibility and qualification
Other coverage: Liputan6.com


Flag of Indonesia Indonesia — Merdeka: Bocah 12 tahun jadi Perdana Menteri Australia di Wikipedia

12 year old boy, Orley Feneson made himself the Prime Minister of Australia on Wikipedia and garnered a lot of public attention for his actions

  • Negative Negative: Unreputable source of information due to vandalism: “those who 'idolize' Wikipedia as a primary source of information may have to evaluate that belief.”


Flag of Egypt Egypt — Aloma News: Head of Australia is a Child

Another article on Orley Feneson making himself the Prime Minister of Australia on Wikipedia

  • Negative Negative: Wikipedia cannot be trusted or believed due to frequent vandalism


Flag of Egypt Egypt — El Fagr: Program designed to predict the occurrence of terrorist operations in the future

Company founded by CIA is claiming that it was able to design a computer program that can predict future terrorist attacks. Program deals with a range of data from social networking sites like Facebook, Wikipedia and YouTube and compares it with previous patterns of behavior and movement of data on those sites.

  • Positive Positive: Able to use Wikipedia to assess possible terrorist threats
  • Negative Negative: Open-source capabilities of Wikipedia provides terrorists and groups the opportunity to abuse the platform


Flag of Egypt Egypt — Mex Drama: Population .. Encyclopedia of Arab knowledge focused reliable

Encyclopedia of Arab, a.k.a “Huddle,” launched in 2014, is a Wikipedia modeled site that provides Arab content in articles that are no more than 600 characters or 100 words. One can browse encyclopedia without membership but membership provides special perks such as interacting with platform and getting specific articles. Prides itself for being reliable information with a series of content checks for accuracy

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia presented as a global brand for knowledge
  • Negative Negative: Reliability and local value of Wikipedia for Arabic readers is questioned


Flag of Egypt Egypt — Masralekhbaria: Edit War on Wikipedia explodes after Egypt cedes Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia

Article covers edit war between Egypt and Saudi Arabia having agreed to exchange sovereignty of two strategic islands of Tiran and Sanafir with users inaccurately changing the dependency of these islands.

  • Positive Positive: Inaccurate information taken quickly and no longer available
  • Negative Negative: Open-source platform amidst controversial political events can offer opportunities for impassioned users to manipulate information making Wikipedia unreliable
Other coverage: Rassd and Gateeg


Flag of Egypt Egypt — Global Voices: Learning Initiatives at ArabWiki’s Second Session in Jordan to Increase

Coverage of WikiArabia in Global Voices blog

  • Positive Positive: Event and movement are hailed for social impact


April 17 – May 1

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Flag of Nigeria Nigeria — Naij: I am not a fugitive, former governor's daughter tells Bianca

Tabloid covering rift between the Governor of Oyo’s daughter and ex-beauty queen

  • Positive Positive: Having a Wikipedia entry about oneself is seen as an achievement/ sign of “making it”


Flag of India India — Daily Mail India: Open to the public at last: India's cultural history gets a Wikipedia of its own

"Sahapedia", a Wikipedia-like site for Indian cultural heritage, launches.

  • Mixed Mixed: Implies Wikipedia is a good role model for technology, but that its lack of experts is a bad thing. "Anybody can’t write about anything. Unlike Wikipedia, where anyone can contribute, here we can have one overview article by an expert of that domain. Plus there will be other perspectives."


Flag of India India — Economic Times: How Technological Developments can cut Millions of Jobs over next 20 years

World Economic Forum at Davos claims that the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” will cut millions of jobs in the next ten years due to increased automation. 8.5% of Wikipedia’s content is written by bots

  • Positive Positive: categorizes Wikipedia under ‘News Reporters and Sources’ --


Flag of India India — Goal.com India: Wikipedia forced to block Jon Moss' page after he's labelled a 'Thunderb*stard

Referee, Jon Moss; Wikipedia page tinkered with as he faced backlash for his calls in Leicester City vs. West Ham match

  • Negative Negative: Unreputable source of information due to vandalism


Flag of India India — The Hindu: Everything That Can and Cannot be Looked Up

Op-ed discussing the depreciating value of standalone reference material and how resources like Wikipedia play a huge role in this change

  • Positive Positive: highlights the usefulness and popularity of Wikipedia
  • Negative Negative: attributes Wikipedia as one of the reason why reference books and physical resources are no longer useful


Flag of India India — The News Minute: You won’t believe what’s on the Wikipedia page on Gender Discrimination in India

Author criticizes Wikipedia article on gender discrimination in India as it has a section about “Discrimination Against Men”

  • Negative Negative: information is seen as polarizing and does not account for cultural norms. Wikipedia is seen as a biased, unreliable resource


Flag of India India — TechWorm: Wikipedia soon to be available on the Moon

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Flag of India India — DNA India: Wikipedia Gap Finder: filling in the language holes

Coverage of the new "gap finder".

  • Positive Positive: Seen as work towards filling gaps.


Flag of India India — Global Voices: Eight Challenges Indian-Language Wikipedias Need to Overcome

Reposting of an earlier post by The Wire. Subha discusses some of the obstacles preventing Indian Wikipedias from thriving.


Flag of India India — NDTV: Traffic to Wikipedia Terrorism Pages Dropped After Snowden Revelations: Study

Coverage of the "chilling effect" documented in many other media.

  • Positive Positive: Sort of. "More immediately, the research could aid a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Wikipedia's nonprofit parent organization and other groups against the NSA and the Justice Department."


Flag of India India — The Hindu: Exercise to correct articles in Tulu Wikipedia begins

An edit-a-thon on the Tulu and Kannada Wikipedias aims to improve articles there.

  • Positive Positive: Influence of Wikipedia is noted. "A live Tulu Wikipedia would help bring pressure on the government include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution."


Flag of India India — The Hindu: விக்கிப்பீடியா உறுப்பினர் ஆகலாமா? (Are you a Wikipedia member?)

Article aims at newcomers to Wikipedia, talking about its layout and how to participate.

  • Positive Positive: Implies Wikipedia is popular. "[We are] sure you are familiar with Wikipedia. ...You can get additional benefits through membership in Wikipedia, you know?"


Flag of India India — BBC Hindi: इंटरनेट पर व्यवसाय में सफलता के टिप (Tip for success in business on the Internet)

An interview with Jimmy Wales on how to start a career online.

  • Positive Positive: Calls Wikipedia a "success" for Wales, and features him prominently in the piece.


Flag of Mexico Mexico — Swagger: El mensaje de Wikipedia que todos están odiando (The message that everyone is hating [on Wikipedia)]

Article about the fundraising banners on Wikipedia.

  • Negative Negative: Sees the banners as annoying and "hated".


Flag of Mexico Mexico — Vanguardia: El lado más profundo del Internet (The deeper side of the Internet)

Article discussing details about the Deep Web, databases and websites not listed under search engines

  • Positive Positive: references Hidden Wikis and describes them to be useful like Wikipedia in finding topics of specified interests


Flag of Mexico Mexico — Milenio: Elige la Información de Wikipedia que leerán los aliens (Aliens can choose what Wikipedia Articles to Read)

The Wikimedia Germany project is working with a German project on sending specific content into space

  • Positive Positive: work of Wikimedia Germany is being lauded in Mexico. Innovative, unique initiatives adds to the “wow” factor of the platform


Flag of Brazil Brazil — Olhar Digital: Usuários evitam acessar páginas sobre terrorismo na Wikipédia por medo da NSA (Users avoid accessing pages on terrorism Wikipedia for fear of NSA)

Further coverage of the Snowden "chilling effects".

  • Positive Positive: Follows our message of free access to knowledge. "'With people potentially intimidated to refrain from such basic acts as the group information, these people will be less informed,' said Penney in the study. 'Thus, our access to the democratic debate will be weakened.'"


Flag of Brazil Brazil — Tudo Celular: Denúncias de Snowden fizeram cair tráfego de páginas sobre terrorismo na Wikipedia, entenda (Whistleblower Snowden brought down traffic pages on terrorism in Wikipedia understand)

Further coverage of the Snowden "chilling effects".

  • Positive Positive: "It is possible that the research could help in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of non-profit organization behind Wikipedia, and other groups against the NSA and the Department of Justice."


Flag of Brazil Brazil — OUL.com.br: Leitores Comentam Textos de Colunistas da Folha (Readers comment columnists texts Sheet)

Readers of popular column critique its author of copying work from Wikipedia entries

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia is seen as a reliable, reputed source especially since fragments of articles are taken for newspaper


Flag of Brazil Brazil — UOL.com.br: Livro sobre cubismo é abrangente, mas lembra a Wikipédia (Book on Cubism is Comprehensive, but Remember Wikipedia)

Book on cubism is criticized for being comprehensive, yet short like Wikipedia articles

  • Negative Negative: Wikipedia entries are associated with “superficial work”


Flag of Brazil Brazil — Boa Informacão: Como a Wikipédia se tornou uma comunidade mais fechada, e como resolver isto (As Wikipedia has become a more closed community, and how to solve this)

Coverage of a study suggesting Wikipedia has become a sprawling bureaucracy.

  • Negative Negative: Reports on work by Aaron Halfaker into reverted edits. "And most worrisome: a jump in the proportion of good edits made by new users, but were removed - it was 6% to over 20%, more or less at the time that Wikipedia editors began to lose."


Flag of Brazil Brazil — Olhar Digital: Wikipedia tem hierarquia semelhante à do século passado, diz pesquisa (Wikipedia has hierarchy similar to the last century, says research)

Coverage of a study suggesting Wikipedia has become a sprawling bureaucracy.

  • Negative Negative: "Segregation may be hindering the growth of the community. "There are already reports that the growth of Wikipedia is decreasing, and our observation indicates that this will continue unless something is done about it," explain the Korean researchers."


Flag of Brazil Brazil — Futebol Interior: Paulistão: Torcedor 'invade' Wikipedia de Denis, do SP, e coloca jogador no The Voice (Paulistão: Fan 'invades' Wikipedia Denis, SP, and puts player in The Voice)

Coverage of soccer vandalism.

  • Negative Negative: Implies this happens often at Wikipedia.


Flag of Indonesia Indonesia — Liputan6: 7 Kisah Mengerikan dari Wikipedia Ini Masih Misteri (7 Terrible Story of Wikipedia's Still a Mystery)

List of "scary stories" on Wikipedia which has appeared in numerous other media over the years.

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia as a learning tool, implied popularity. "So far, we know Wikipedia as a source right in doing the coursework or thesis."


May

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April 30 – May 13

[edit]

Flag of Nigeria Nigeria — Moji Delano: SMH: A Mischievous Hacker Added “Ajala The Traveller And “Baba Go Slow” To President Buhari’s Wikipedia Page

Vandalism to the President's page

  • Negative Negative: Doesn't actually blame Wikipedia, but the "mischievous person" involved. Implicitly pokes at the "anyone can edit" model.
Other coverage: Naij - LOL! Buharis Wikipedia page tampered (photo)

Laila's Blog - Lmao!! See how evil Nigerians tampered with Pres. Buharis Wikipedia page (photo) That 1960 Chick - Pres. Buhari’s Wikipedia Page Tampered With, “Ajala the Traveller” & “Baba Go Slow” Added To His Bio!!!


Flag of Nigeria Nigeria — Information NG: Choi! Azealia Banks Battered By Teenage Disney Actress

Vandalism to Azealia Banks' page.

  • Negative Negative: Again, doesn't actually blame Wikipedia, but the person involved… though still pokes at the "anyone can edit" model. "After Skai schooled and ‘murdered’ Azealia on Twitter, people had to edit her wikipedia page. Lol"


Flag of Nigeria Nigeria — IT Realms: ITREALMS: Telcos to deploy FDD on 38, 42 GHz - NCC

Cites Wikipedia as "experts" on this topic.

  • Positive Positive: "Experts at Wikipedia said that uplink and downlink sub-bands are usually separated by the frequency offset. Thus, frequency-division duplexing could be efficient in the case of symmetric traffic."


Flag of Nigeria Nigeria — Punch NG: Nigerian tourist centres yet to embrace digital marketing (1)

Tourism sites in Nigeria depend on Wikipedia's wording on them since they don't have official websites.

  • Positive Positive: Implies Wikipedia is a popular platform that is relied upon by many for facts on tourism sites. "While other centres of its kind are supported with functional websites, video channels and other social media platforms, Obudu relies on Wikipedia for positioning in the competitive tourism market."


Flag of India India — Times of India: Vacancies vanish as tech takes over

Article on the takeover of jobs by tech in recent years. Fairly neutral on Wikipedia itself, though notes that "8.5% of Wikipedia's total content has been written by bots".


Flag of India India — Times of India: Spread awareness through Malayalam Wikipedia: Gadgil

Editing workshop on the Malayalam Wikipedia.

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia as a tool for knowledge promotion and understanding. Features interviews with a number of volunteer editors.


Flag of India India — NDTV: Rabindranth Tagore Project Launched In London

"Wikipedia-style" collaborative project around Tagore, an Indian songsmith.

  • Positive Positive: Wikipedia as an example of a collaborative project.
Other coverage: NDTV, Economic Times


Flag of India India — gadgets.ndtv.com: You Probably Havent Even Noticed Googles Sketchy Quest to Control the Worlds Knowledge

Discusses Google's Knowledge Graph. Features interview with Dario about information curation.

  • Positive Positive: Talks about how Wikipedia can edit information quickly, and how it can go into much more detail than simple facts can (using Jerusalem as an example).


Flag of India India — Firstpost: Rajdeep Sardesai walked out from an uneven battlefield: Time bells tolled for trolls

Discussing the birth of the word "troll".

  • Negative Negative: Implies Wikipedia has "sentimental" feeling towards trolls.


Flag of India India — newindianexpress.com: No hard evidence of UFO crash till now

I actually have no idea what this is getting at. :/

  • Negative Negative: Implies Wikipedia has a government bias.


Flag of India India — deccanchronicle.com: There is hope in democratic devolution: Madhav Gadgil

Talks briefly about a Wikipedia workshop in Goa. Doesn't mention it for all that long, however.


Flag of India India — bangaloremirror.com: More to GDP than what just media talks about - Bangalore Mirror

Article about how GDP is more than just money.

  • Positive Positive: "Or take Wikipedia. Supported by investments of time rather money, it has left the old Encyclopaedia Britannica in the dust - and taken the GDP down a few notches in the process."


Flag of Mexico Mexico — stuff.tv: ¿Ya donaste a Wikipedia?

Wikipedia's donation drive is picked up by the Mexican press.

  • Negative Negative: Banners are considered "annoying", and one publication calls them "the message that everyone hates".
Other coverage: Swagger, Aristegui Noticias, Excelsior, El Imparcial


Flag of Mexico Mexico — sinembargo.mx: Homero Simpson cumple 60 años, ¿cierto o falso?

Homer Simpson "turns 60", but Wikipedia suggests he might already be 61.

  • Positive Positive: Numerous publications refer to Wikipedia as the most popular encyclopedia on the internet.
Other coverage: El Financiero, El Universal, multimedios, puentelibre


Flag of Mexico Mexico — elsiglodetorreon.com.mx: Trolean a Belinda en su biografía de Wikipedia

User vandalises singer's article.

  • Positive Positive: Reports that the vandalism was corrected "within minutes".


Flag of Mexico Mexico — eluniversal.com.mx: Humm, app para escuchar música supera las 140 mil descargas

A music-streaming app exceeds 140,000 downloads.

  • Positive Positive: Founder wants to replicate the Wikipedia model: "Somehow, we want to be a sort of Wikipedia and interact with the user to complete the catalogue."


Flag of Brazil Brazil — Inovacao Tecnologica: Cientistas brasileiros colaboram com Wikipédia

"The Center for Research, Innovation and Diffusion in Neuromatemática (NeuroMat), initiated a task force involving journalists and scientists dedicated to the entries of Wikipedia editing and the addition of new information." Features interview with Asaf Bartov.

  • Positive Positive: Talks about the importance of Wikipedia having accurate information and the efforts of WMF and scientists.


Flag of Brazil Brazil — zh.clicrbs.com.br: "A internet brasileira está sob ataque", diz Ronaldo Lemos, um dos criadores do Marco Civil brasileiro

Piece on internet rights in Brazil.

  • Positive Positive: Highlights Wikipedia's fight against SOPA a few years ago.


Flag of Indonesia Indonesia — duniaku.net: Cinta Laura Batal Tampil dalam Prekuel Film Harry Potter? Ini Alasannya!

Indonesian actress set to appear in new Harry Potter film.

  • Negative Negative: Implies Wikipedia is an incorrect source. "What is true there are fraudulent edit the IMDb page, given the page is a database that can be edited by anyone like Wikipedia?"


Flag of Egypt Egypt — akhbarak.net: إسلام وجدي يكتب: مراوغات فلسفية في المصادر التدليسية

Hard to tell what this is about; something about source credibility.

  • Negative Negative: Seems incredulous that Wikipedia is used as a source.


Flag of Egypt Egypt — masress.com: مصرس : جوجل تزيد من أمان Blogspot وتحول كل النطاقات إلى HTTPS

Wikipedia now uses HTTPS. A fairly neutral article on this topic.


Flag of Egypt Egypt — masress.com: مصرس : خطأ بالانترنت يجعل طالب رئيسا لوزراء أستراليا

Australian kid vandalises an article to make himself PM of Australia.

  • Negative Negative: Emphasis on Wikipedia as being easily vandalised.


Flag of Egypt Egypt — masress.com: مصرس : البيروقراطية تضرب \ويكيبيديا\ وتهدد مستقبلها

Arabic translation of the "bureaucracy" story from a while ago.

  • Negative Negative: Calls this bureaucracy a "major risk".