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Wikipedia explains how those late-night reading binges happen
Everybody's prone to falling down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, clicking link after link until it's been hours since you've started our journey. Now the foundation has begun releasing monthly data dumps for English, Russian, German, Spanish and Japanese Wikipedias that can give you a better understanding of how readers end up navigating from one article to the next. The Wikimedia Analytics team worked on being able to release datasets every month after seeing how the similar set of info released in 2015 led to a number of scholarly research studies.
Modern copyright law can't keep pace with thinking machines
This past April, engineer Alex Reben developed and posted to YouTube, "Deeply Artificial Trees", an art piece powered by machine learning, that leveraged old Joy of Painting videos. It generate gibberish audio in the speaking style and tone of Bob Ross, the show's host. Bob Ross' estate was not amused, subsequently issuing a DMCA takedown request and having the video knocked offline until very recently. Much like Naruto, the famous selfie-snapping black crested macaque, the Trees debacle raises a number of questions of how the Copyright Act of 1976 and DMCA's Fair Use doctrine should be applied to a rapidly evolving technological culture, especially as AI and machine learning techniques approach ubiquity.
A security expert built an unofficial Wikipedia for the dark web
Wikipedia is a nigh-essential source of information, but it's usually so accessible in Western countries that users forget when it isn't. Take Turkey, which blocked its citizens from accessing the site in April and rejected an appeal when the Wikimedia Foundation refused to play ball with the government, part of its wider effort to silence online dissent. For citizens in similar countries that crack down on users accessing the free online encyclopedia, there's a new version those governments hopefully can't track -- which operates on the dark web, naturally.
Anti-sex trafficking law could unintentionally cripple Wikipedia
After historically opposing changes to the Communications Decency Act's Section 230, web giants came out in favor of a proposed amendment to the law, which would punish a website for knowingly facilitating sexual exploitation. But, unlike the Internet Association (which includes Amazon, Google, and Facebook), Wikipedia stands opposed to the provision. Mainly, it's worried about the negative impact the broad-brush legislation may have on the little guy. In a Medium post, the Wikemedia Foundation's legal fellow Leighanna Mixter claims the the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) could threaten its entire existence -- which may be overstressing it.
Afghanistan will soon have free mobile access to Wikipedia
Afghanistan has been rapidly improving its technological infrastructure since the Taliban was ousted in 2001. A group of film historians in the country recently digitized films that had been saved from destruction during Taliban rule. An all-girl robotics team fought a recent travel ban and finally got the chance to compete in the US. And in 2010, the country moved ahead with plans for national electronic ID cards. Now, thanks to a partnership between regional provider Roshan and the Wikimedia Foundation, people in Afghanistan will get free access to Wikipedia via their phones for the next year.
Facebook tests a feature that provides info on article publishers
Facebook is still working out how to reduce the reach of fake news and misinformation on its site and today, it starts testing a new feature that sounds like it might be pretty useful. When an article link is shared in someone's News Feed, there will now be a small "i" button that will bring up additional information about the publisher and article when clicked. It will include information from the publisher's Wikipedia page, a link to follow its Facebook Page, Trending and Related articles about the same topic and a graphic on where and how the article is being shared across Facebook. When any of that information isn't available, Facebook will say that explicitly. That in itself is pretty useful. For example, if there's no Wikipedia page for the publisher of the piece, it could mean it's not a reputable outlet.
Microsoft's Calibri font is at the center of a political scandal
Pakistan's government is in trouble. And its fate may hinge on a Microsoft font. Judicial investigators probing the financial assets of the country's Prime Minister and his family allege his daughter (and apparent successor) forged documents to hide her ownership of overseas properties. How did they reach that conclusion? The documents from 2006 submitted by Maryam Nawaz (daughter of PM Nawaz Sharif) were in the Calibri font. That font, according to the investigation team's leaked report, wasn't publicly available until 2007.
Recommended Reading: Apple's original television aspirations
Apple Is a Step Closer to Making Its Own TV Shows David Sims, The Atlantic While the company's television aspirations remain largely a mystery, Apple hired two big names this week to help build its slate of original shows. Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, presidents of Sony Pictures Television, will make the move to Cupertino this summer with experience making hits like Damages, Breaking Bad, Justified and other series. The Atlantic offers a look at what this means for Apple and what we can expect from Eddy Cue & Co. in the months to come.
Turkish court backs censorship of Wikipedia
When Turkey blocked Wikipedia last week, its co-founder Jimmy Wales promised to push for a judicial review of the online censorship. Today, however, Ankara's 1st Criminal Court of Peace rejected Wikimedia Foundation's appeal, saying that popular crowdsourced site contained entries that link Turkey to terrorist groups. The court ruled that since the "offending" Wikipedia pages remain on the site, it would not remove the country-wide block.
China is recruiting 20,000 people to create its own Wikipedia
Imagine life without Wikipedia. While for much of the West the idea seems preposterous, thanks to strict online censorship this Wiki-less-world is very much a reality in China. Now, in a bid to catch up, the Chinese government is looking to create its very own online encyclopedia. Imaginatively named the "Chinese Encyclopedia", the communist government is recruiting 20,000 people to help populate the site with over 300,000 entries.
Turkey blocks Wikipedia over an alleged 'smear campaign'
Turkey may have just stepped up its efforts to quash online free speech. The country has blocked Wikipedia for supposedly running a "smear campaign" by allowing articles claiming that the Turkish government was coordinating with militant groups. The government says it will lift the restrictions if Wikipedia complies, but that isn't likely to happen unless there's proof the collaboration claims aren't true. Jimmy Wales and the Wikimedia Foundation are determined to protect truth in reporting, and that means posting articles that be less than flattering to politicians.
Wikipedia co-founder launches Wikitribune to fight fake news
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales hopes to tackle fake news with a journalism outfit of his own. Wikitribune will be free to access and use crowdfunding to hire experienced reporters. They'll work alongside volunteers who can sub-edit articles, fact-check stories and suggest new topics for the site to pursue. "This will be the first time that professional and citizen journalists will work side-by-side as equals writing stories as they happen, editing them as they develop, and at all times backed by a community checking and rechecking all of the facts," Wales said.
Wikipedia issues near-total ban on Daily Mail sources
As a rule, Wikipedia accepts most any publication as an article source. If the information is credible and verifiable, it doesn't usually matter where it comes from. However, it just made one giant exception. The online encyclopedia has issued a near-total ban on using the Daily Mail as a source after editors came to the consensus that the British tabloid is "generally unreliable." It has a history of "poor fact checking, sensationalism and flat-out fabrication," editors say, and things it reports as true can usually be found elsewhere.
How artificial intelligence can be corrupted to repress free speech
The internet was supposed to become an overwhelming democratizing force against illiberal administrations. It didn't. It was supposed to open repressed citizens' eyes, expose them to new democratic ideals and help them rise up against their authoritarian governments in declaring their basic human rights. It hasn't. It was supposed to be inherently resistant to centralized control. It isn't.
Wikiverse turns Wikipedia into a visual universe of articles
I've spent (too) many lazy evenings hopping from one Wikipedia entry to the next, reading things that could be useful for trivia night. It's fun enough, but this website that visualizes Wiki as a universe could make the experience even better for a lot of people. You can zoom around to visit clusters of stars representing interconnected topics -- clicking on one will load the article itself right within the interface. Since each star is visually connected to related entries with colored loopy lines, you can hop around like you would on the actual Wikipedia website.
Free Facebook and Wikipedia inadvertently foster piracy networks
Free-but-limited internet services can help communication and knowledge in countries where just owning a computer is a luxury, but they're not immune to abuse. Motherboard notes that some Angolans have created ad hoc piracy networks by hiding files in Wikipedia pages (which they can access through Wikipedia Zero) and sharing links to them in private Facebook groups (available in Facebook's Free Basics). Wikipedia has tried banning some of the connections used to plant those files, but that has been a double-edged sword -- it also ended up blocking people making legitimate contributions.
Wikipedia brings personalized reading options to its iOS app
Wikipedia is full of news today. Along with the announcement that it's working on a crowdsourced speech engine, the service has also rolled out a redesigned app for iOS. With this new version (5.0), users will get a ton of fresh content on their daily feed, including recommended, random and top-read articles, as well as things like a picture of the day. In addition to that, Wikipedia's iOS application now supports 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, letting you search its site with a single and find information about nearby places. The app is definitely much better than before, which will be appreciated by all the Wikipedia buffs out there.
Wikipedia is developing a crowdsourced speech engine
Wikipedia announced on Thursday that it is collaborating with researchers from Sweden's KTH Royal Institute of Technology to develop an open, crowdsourced speech engine that will make the online encyclopedia more accessible to people with reading or visual impairments. Wikipedia estimates that 25 percent of its user base -- approximately 125 million people monthly -- will benefit from the new service. And while the engine will be optimized for use on Wikipedia itself, any site running MediaWiki software will be able to integrate it as well.
Wikipedia fund gives the site a long-term future
Wikipedia just turned 15 years old, but you wouldn't know it from the nigh-on inescapable donation drives -- the crowdsourced encyclopedia often seems as if it's months away from extinction. The Wikimedia Foundation (its parent organization) may have a way to keep the site around for the long haul, however. It's launching the Wikimedia Endowment, a "perpetual" support fund for Wikipedia and other Foundation efforts. The goal is to raise $100 million over the next 10 years, or enough to both improve its independence and give it room to grow.
Wikipedia continues to chronicle human history in real time
Wikipedia is more than an immense series of articles about events, people and things. It's a living breathing organism that grows, adjusts and feeds on the ebb and flow of history. From tragedy to sporting events, it chronicles nearly everything. As a real-time document of history, the enormity of the site is staggering. If something happens anywhere (either on or off planet) a new article is submitted. Often in multiple languages and entirely by volunteers. There are currently over 38 million articles on the site being edited by over 70,000 contributors.
