Human Knowledge

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Ask Google or Siri: "What is Taiwan?"

"state", you Reply , "in East Asia ".

But earlier, in September, it would have been a "province in the people's Republic of China".

For questions of fact, many search engines, digital assistants, and cell phones all on one place: Wikipedia. And Wikipedia had changed suddenly.

The input was reversed, but was soon made. And again. It is an editorial tug-of-war was That - to the extent That the encyclopedia had caused The State of Taiwan, constantly flashing in and out of existence in the course of a single day.

"This year is a crazy year," sighed Jamie Lin , a Board member of Wikimedia Taiwan.

"A lot of Taiwanese Wikipedians have been attacked. "

Edit wars

Wikipedia is a movement That is as much as a website.

to protect Anyone can write or edit entries on Wikipedia, and in almost every country on earth, communities of "Wikipedians" to exist, and contribute to it. The largest collection of Human Knowledge accumulated ever, available to everyone online, free of charge, it is probably The Greatest achievement of the digital age. But in The Eyes of Lin and her colleagues, it is now under attack.

Jamie Lin Seen on The Left side - is one of the many Taiwanese Wikipedians concerned about changes to the online Encyclopedia

The edit-war to Taiwan was just one of the many, the broken in Wikipedia large, multi-lingual expansion of the entries. The Hong Kong protests page 65 changes in the space of one day had Seen , particularly on issues of language. These protesters were? Or Rioters?

The English entry for the Senkaku Islands, said they were "Islands in East Asia ", but earlier this year, The Mandarin is amended-equivalent: "China's inherent territory".

The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests have been amended, Mandarin, to describe them as "the 4. June incident" to the "suppression of counter-revolutionary riots". On the English version, the Dalai Lama is a Tibetan refugee. In Mandarin, he is a Chinese exile.

Angry differences of opinion happen all the time on Wikipedia. But Ms Lin, this is different.

"It is the control by the [Chinese] government," she continued. "This is very terrible. "

"Socialist values"

BBC Click investigation almost 1,600 tendentious edits on 22 politically sensitive articles has found. We can't check who made any of these edits, why, or whether they reflect a widespread practice. There is evidence, however, That they are all organic, is not necessarily a matter of chance.

Both an official and a scientist from China have begun to call, to correct both for the citizen and The State systematically what they claim are serious anti-Chinese prejudices endemic on Wikipedia. A paper is called for, the opportunities And challenges Of China's External communication in the Wikipedia, and was published in the Journal of the Social Sciences in this year.

In it, argue the academics, Li-hao Gan and I-Ting Weng, That "due to The Influence of foreign media, Wikipedia entries have a large number of prejudice words against the Chinese government".

they continue: "We need to develop a targeted external communication strategy, which involves only the reconstruction of A Number of external communication-discourse of the systems, but also the cultivation of influential editors on the wiki Platform . "

you end up with a call-to-action.

"China to promote urgently needs, and will train Chinese netizens to the Wikipedia Platform , opinion leaders, and administrators... [who] can the adherence to socialist values and core editors. "

Shifting perceptions

Another is written by Jie Ding, an official of the China International Publishing Group, an organization, controlled by the Chinese Communist party. It is argued That "it is systematic order and maintenance of the content about China's political discourse "on Wikipedia is missing".

He also calls for the meaning "to reflect our voices and opinions in the input, i.e., as objectively and truly reflect The Influence of the Chinese path and the Chinese thoughts on other countries and history".

"'Tell China's story" is a term That has gained traction in the last couple of years," Lokman Tsui , an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong , said the BBC. "You think That a lot of the perceptions That people have of China are really misunderstandings. "

Tsui, a major change is happening now, as China, a system of national online tax element mobilized by now far beyond its borders, with the perceived misunderstandings That exist. Wikipedia has the problem of vandalism since its inception. You can see all the changes made, and vandalism can be undone in a second, pages can be locked, and the premises are guarded by a combination of bots and editors.

people have tried to manipulate Wikipedia from the beginning, and others have worked to stop them, only for how Long .

Hong Kong protests are a topic where there is a back-and-forth about changes to descriptive words

has not been described, But much of the activity, Lin, is vandalism. Some - such as Taiwan's sovereignty - such as the enforcement of a disputed claim over the other. Other, more subtle still, are the pruning of the language, especially in Mandarin, a political point.

the Hong Kong Should be protests as being "against" China? You should have a "community", "Taiwanese of Han descent", or "a sub-group of the Han Chinese , native to Taiwan"?

It is this type of linguistic area That many of the most violent battles rage.

Coordinated strategy?

The attacks are often not on Wikipedia content, but the community of Wikipedians.

"Some have told us That your personal information That has been sprayed [published], as you said, different thoughts," Lin.

There have also been death threats directed Taiwanese Wikipedians. A, on the corresponding public Wikimedia-telegram channel, read "the police officers enjoy their mother's forensic report". And the elections for administrator positions in Wikipedia, the hold more powers, in a similar manner, in stark divided geopolitical lines.

assignment of the online activities of the States is often impossible, and there is also no direct, proven connection between these changes and the Chinese government.

"It is absolutely conceivable," Tsui continued, "That the people from the diaspora, from the Patriotic Chinese, you can edit these Wikipedia entries. "But to say to ignore is That the larger structural coordinated strategy to manipulate the government, these platforms. "

It has been argued That minor changes to Wikipedia entries may change the readers perception of

without the reference, the edits happen in front of the background, where A Number of countries, including China, have increasingly tried to systematically manipulate online platforms. You have done so, on Twitter and Facebook, and scientists around The World have warned The State -backed online propaganda, on A Number of other.

Compared with almost every other online Platform , Wikipedia makes for a tempting, even obvious, target.

"I'm not absolutely surprised," said Heather Ford, a senior lecturer in digital cultures at the University of New South Wales , whose research focuses on the political editing of Wikipedia. I'm surprised it's taken this Long actually... It is a primary source of facts and knowledge about The World . "

of course, each state takes care of its reputation.

"China is the second largest economy in The World , and to do, what would any other country, in this state," said Shirley, Ze Yu, a visiting senior fellow at the LSE. "China is today The World owes a China story, by itself and from a Chinese perspective. I think it is not only the Chinese privilege, it really is a responsibility."

in Taiwan, is self-Locked In a messaging war with China, with its own geopolitical points, and many of the misunderstandings That may be true, at least in The Eyes of the people who edit these.

this quantity has to tell China's story online, or propaganda?

at least on Wikipedia, The Answer depends on where you fall on two very different ideas about what The Internet is. It is the philosophy of open knowledge, open source, volunteer-driven communities.

But it can now be confronted by another force: the growing power of the online member States to define their geopolitical struggles, to ignore The Truth now on places like Wikipedia, which are grown too big, too important, for you.

* The Chinese Embassy was contacted for a comment, but we have not received any response.

china, internet, taiwan, propaganda

Source of news: bbc.com