2. So, I hear you’ve been using
Wikipedia…
Thinking you might like to have
a go at writing or editing some
articles yourself?
Perhaps even become a part
of the Wikipedia community?
3. Before you do, there are a few
things you should know.
Don’t worry it won’t take long –
just a few minutes is all you’ll
need…
4. What is Wikipedia?
• A free, web-based
encyclopaedia project.
• Articles appearing on Wikipedia
are written collaboratively by
site users.
• In most cases, anyone with
Internet access can read, write
or edit Wikipedia articles –
there is no need to register.
(Wikipedia, 2012)
5. Wikipedia is not alone…
Wikipedia is a ‘project’ site of the
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc (WMF)
- a not-for-profit organisation.
Its mission is to ‘empower and engage
people around the world to collect and
develop content under a free license
or in the public domain, and to
disseminate it effectively and globally,
free of charge.’ (Wikimedia Foundation, 2012)
6. Wikipedia is not alone…
When using Wikipedia, whether you
are a registered or non-registered
user, you are governed by the
WMF’s Terms of Use, Privacy Policy
and any other associated policies or
guidelines applicable.
Wikimedia’s General Disclaimer also
applies. (Wikimedia Foundation¹, 2012)
7. Terms of Use
The Terms of Use covers items
such as:
• Content creation & hosting
• Copyright
• Privacy
• Termination of service
• Modifications to Terms of Use
• Things you mustn’t do
8. Content creation & hosting
You are responsible for the information
that you upload to the site.
WMF merely supplies the infrastructure
to host that data.
WMF takes no legal responsibility for the
information posted. (Wikimedia Foundation¹, 2012)
In short, don’t post information
you’re unsure about.
If you do & get into trouble,
you’re on your own!
9. Copyright
Wikipedia wants you to share
information.
When submitting text that you hold the
copyright for, you agree to license it
under:
1. Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License,
and
2. GNU Free Documentation License.
This may affect how you may use this
information in the future.
(Wikimedia Foundation¹, 2012)
10. Copyright Once you have posted
information, you cannot
revoke the copyright license…
You must
attribute or …even if you
reference text choose to no
that you use longer use
from the work the service or
of others. your use of
the service is
terminated.
(Wikimedia Foundation¹, 2012)
11. Privacy - ssss hhhhh h
Privacy is a relational concept
(Introna, 1997) and what’s OK for you
may not be acceptable to others.
All users of WMF project sites
are bound by the Privacy Policy.
‘It may not be circumvented,
eroded, or ignored by local
policies.’
(Wikimedia Foundation², 2012)
12. Privacy
The WMF collects a
minimal amount of
personally identifiable
information to:
• enhance the public
accountability of the
projects.
• provide site statistics
• solve technical problems
(Wikimedia Foundation², 2012)
13. Privacy
Information that can personally identify
you may be released in some situations
such as:
1. Law enforcement,
2. With your permission,
3. To investigate abuse complaints,
vandalism and issues relating to
spiders or bots,
4. To protect the rights, property or safety
of the WMF, its users or the public.
(Wikimedia Foundation², 2012)
14. To register or not to register…
You may create an account using a
pseudonym or your real identity.
You may also use the service as an
unregistered user.
Note that your IP address will be
published as your author name if you
publish content without registering or
without being logged in.
Your IP address may identify your
Internet Service Provider (ISP),
school, organisation or home.
(Wikimedia Foundation², 2012)
15. …that is the question
Through your edits on publicly
available pages, you become
searchable. (Lessig, 1998)
The WMF warns that others may
use your IP address ‘in
combination with other information,
including editing style and
preferences, to identify an author
completely.’ (Wikimedia Foundation², 2012)
Thus, privacy may be better
maintained by becoming a
registered user.
16. Termination of service
– by choice
You can choose to leave the
Wikipedia community at anytime,
BUT…
Your user name (or IP address) along
with all your publicly made
contributions will remain viewable on
the site.
(Wikimedia Foundation¹, 2012)
17. Termination of service
- by force
If you repeatedly breach aspects
of the terms of use, your use of
WMF services may be terminated.
This includes breaches of
copyright, harassment of other
users, repeated vandalism of
pages and so on.
HOWEVER…
Unless you are told otherwise, you
may still read publicly available
page content.
(Wikimedia Foundation¹, 2012)
18. Modifications to Terms of Use
The Wikipedia community will be given at least
30 days to review and comment on proposed
changes to the Terms of Use.
And even longer if the proposed change is
substantial. (Wikimedia Foundation¹, 2012)
19. Accepting new Terms of Use
Once modifications to the Terms
of Use become official, your
continued use of the service
means that you accept the new
Terms of Use.
If you do not agree with the Terms
of Use then you cannot use the
service. (Wikimedia Foundation¹, 2012)
20. Things you mustn’t do
Users must not:
x Harass or abuse others
x Violate the privacy of others
x Engage in false statements,
impersonation, or fraud
x Commit infringement (eg
copyright, trademarks)
x Misuse services for illegal
purposes
x Engage in disruptive and
illegal misuse of facilities
(Wikimedia Foundation¹, 2012)
21. But wait there’s more…
In addition to the formal Terms of Use and Privacy Policy,
Wikipedia also operates under fundamental principles known
as the ‘five pillars’:
1. Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia.
2. Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view
3. Wikipedia is free content that anyone can edit, use,
modify, and distribute.
4. Editors should interact with
each other in a respectful
and civil manner.
5. Wikipedia does not have
firm rules.
22. And STILL more…
The five pillars set the scene for
a number of policies and
guidelines that you may need to
familiarise yourself with before
using or contributing to
Wikipedia.
These are created by Wikipedia
community members to improve
the service.
(Wikipedia¹, 2012)
23. How about a set of steak knives?
Well, maybe not steak knives but
there is a General Disclaimer that
you should also take note of.
This clearly states that,
‘WIKIPEDIA MAKES NO
GUARANTEE OF VALIDITY’
Content is user generated and no peer
review process has been entered into.
Users should use their discretion when
using information posted onto the site.
(Wikipedia², 2012)
24. The start of a
beautiful friendship???
Now that you’ve read about the
Terms of Use and associated
policies, guidelines and
disclaimers governing Wikipedia,
you can make an informed
decision on whether this is a
service you want to take part in.
25. References
• Introna, L.D. (1997). Privacy and the computer: why we need privacy in the
information society. Metaphilosophy, 28(3), 259-275. doi: 10.1111/1467-9973.00055
• Lessig, L. (1998). The Architecture of Privacy. Retrieved from
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/works/lessig/architecture_priv.pdf.
• Wikipedia. (n.d.). [Image] Retrieved from http://www.wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia. (2012). Wikipedia:About. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About
• Wikipedia¹. (2012). Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines. Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Policies_and_guidelines
• Wikipedia². (2012). Wikipedia:General disclaimer. Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2012). Mission statement. Retrieved from
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Mission_statement
• Wikimedia Foundation¹. (2012). Terms of Use. Retrieved from
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Terms_of_use
• Wikimedia Foundation². (2012). Privacy Policy. Retrieved from
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_policy
• All images excluding image on slide 1 copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos
