Wiki technology
& human rights
February 2009
Florence Nibart Devouard
fdevouard@anthere.org Devouard
Florence

Right to Information / Freedom of Speech
”Think for yourselves
and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.
Voltaire
 Freedom of Speech used to be mostly about Freedom of the Press
 Freedom of the Press mattered to most people because it helped ensure a
diversity of sources of information
 And most people did not actually have the means to publish directly
 Shift: Democratization of computer access, internet access,
and new easy-to-use, low-cost tools, to read and write.
Florence Devouard

Stroking the story-telling nature of all of us
Stroking the story-telling nature of all of us
• wiki (plural wikis)
• A collaborative website which can be directly edited by
anyone with access to it.
• The simplest online database
• Only requires a computer and an internet connection
• Original goal: making exchanges of ideas, easier
Source: Wiktionary
License: GFDL
Florence Devouard

Wikipedia
radical idea
Imagine a world…
n which every single person
is given access to the sum of
human knowledge
My daughter, unknown artist,
before I bought her a real computer
Florence Devouard

Wikipedia, the basics
1. An online encyclopedia created in january 2001
2. Available in 250+ languages
3. 11,000,000+ articles
4. Free of charge, free of advertising
5. Free to reuse and redistribute
6. Freely editable; written by thousand of volunteers
7. Operated by a charity
Florence Devouard

Imagine a bookshelf…
Wikipedia
Wikibooks
Wikimedia commons
Wikiquote
Wikisource
Wikinews
Wiktionary
Florence Devouard

1st lever: learning from others
1st lever: learning from others
Right to information Florence Devouard

2nd lever: teaching others
Nobody knows
everything
but everyone knows
something
Becoming an active voice
Right to participate in culture Florence Devouard

3rd lever: nurturing a respectful & critical mind
• Readers and writers are from diverse political,
religious, cultural backgrounds
• Content represent all significant views fairly and
without bias (NPOV)
• Skills for creation, but also working on …negotiation,
consensus building, conflict resolution
• Respecting other people copyrights
• Building together the rules and values of a community
• Checking and citing sources
Path for a global peace
Florence Devouard

4th lever: reduce, re-use and recycle
Wikipedia on
cellphones
Wikipedia content
distributed on the One
Laptop Per Child
project Selection of children-safe
Wikipedia content
distributed in UK, Pakistan, SA
• Open source maximizes progress through cooperation
• Free licence prevents restrictions to dissemination Florence Devouard

English Wikipedia article on Human Rights
Florence Devouard

Invitation to improve Wikipedia content on HR
Florence Devouard

Thematic portals
Florence Devouard

How can Wikipedia help human rights?
• Wikipedia culture is about free access to high quality
information
• Neutrality, openness and multilingualism
• Building this culture builds a culture of tolerance of ideas, a
culture of willingness to examine bad ideas rather than
foolishly attempt to suppress them
• Avoid duplication and fragmentation ! Create a central point
of access
I’m available for demos
Florence Devouard

Wikipedia, a global top 10 website
Age of readers
15-24: 26%
25-34: 22%
35-44: 25%
45-54: 30%
55+: 29%
Reach
Latin America -- 34%
North America -- 31%
Middle East/Africa -- 25%
Asia Pacific -- 17%
Europe – 32%
Florence Devouard

Wikis are suited for
• Easily create simple websites (eg, dissemination of info)
• Group authoring (eg, assignment, report)
• Data collection / documentation / archiving
• Project planning and management
• E-learning platform
Empowering individuals and communities
Simple tools, mostly free, wikis reduce the digital gap
Florence Devouard

Human Rights wiki on Amnesty Intl
Florence Devouard

Wiki project
from Stanford Univ Journalism HR reporting course
Florence Devouard