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Unbiased information from Ukraine's government?

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By Bri, Eddie891 and Smallbones

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine starts project

The logo of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine launched an "Ambitious Campaign to Enrich Wikipedia with Unbiased Information on Ukraine and the World" on April 22, in cooperation with Wikimedia Ukraine. The initiative is aimed at reducing disinformation about Ukraine and spreading "unbiased facts about the country in various languages on Wikipedia". The campaign is set to begin with an online editing marathon - 'Month of Ukranian diplomacy' in May and will ask Wikipedia editors and Ukrainian diplomats to 'correct' and fill in information gaps about the nation. The ministry plans to publish data that can be incorporated into Wikipedia.

After Раммон posted the original MFA announcement to Jimbo Wales' talk page, users had mixed responses. Guy commented "Good news, well-informed Ukraininans to counter the GRU disinformation campaign", but Carrite considers the campaign tantamount to an "assault on NPOV".

The original announcement included surprising wording such as "mega campaign to saturate Wikipedia with unbiased information" in the title and "Ukrainian diplomats will also help to write Wikipedia's articles". The original also mentioned "Russian aggression against Ukraine".

The next day, following inquiries from The Signpost, the announcement, including its title, was restated. "Ukrainian diplomats will also organize campaigns for writing Wikipedia's articles in languages of different countries to give the international community a better understanding about Ukraine," replacing "help to write" with "organize". The sentence containing "Russian aggression" was left unchanged.

Anton Protsiuk, Project Manager for Wikimedia Ukraine, replied to The Signpost that the chapter "will not directly work with diplomats to edit Wikipedia. But we cannot prohibit Ukrainian diplomats from editing Wikipedia on their own, so we want to explain to them how Wikipedia works, what are the relevant policies, including copyright and NPOV. In other words, we will do everything so Ukrainian diplomats do not push a Ukrainian point-of-view in Wikipedia and understand the nature and rules of Wikipedia."

The chapter will conduct online webinars for the diplomats so that they will understand Wikipedia's rules. The diplomats will then publish information useful to Wikipedia editors on the MFA website, which is now freely licensed.

This is not the Ukrainian government's first such campaign. Notably, KyivNotKiev is a campaign begun on October 2, 2018 to get English-language media to spell the name of its capital "Kyiv", which is transliterated from the Ukrainian language, rather than "Kiev", which is transliterated from the Russian language. As part of a larger "CorrectUA" campaign, the government has seen some success, with several large news organizations changing their usage, including the BBC, the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and The New York Times.

Russian reaction to the MFA's initiative, as shown by two reports from the wire service RIA Novosti, has been critical. The first report notes that "relations between Moscow and Kiev deteriorated after the coup in Ukraine, the reunification of the Crimea with Russia and the beginning of the confrontation in the Donbass." The second report speculates that the project will be used to whitewash the history of Ukrainian nationalists who fought against the Soviet Union during World War II. RIA Novosti labeled these nationalists as "active accomplices of the German Nazis."

Access to information during the pandemic

Illustration of controlled digital lending

Since the beginning of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, various information-sharing organizations have responded by making some (or all) of their content freely available. JSTOR announced that they were dramatically increasing the content available to 'participating institutions', expanding the free-article limit for registered users from six to one-hundred articles a month and making over 6,000 articles related to the disease free through June 30, 2020. Project MUSE made various resources free to the public (list here), including over 25,000 books and 300 journals.

Hathitrust announced a similar service on April 22, giving member libraries who have disruptions to their services the ability to access materials from Hathitrust that match physical copies the libraries hold. The Internet Archive announced it would would modify its controlled digital lending to lift check-out limits for 1.4 million non-public domain books in its Open Library, becoming a "National Emergency Library" through June 30 or later.

Various authors and writer advocacy groups slammed the Internet Archive, calling its decision "an excuse for piracy". The Authors Guild stated it was "shocked that the IA would use the COVID-19 epidemic as an excuse to push copyright law further out to the edges, and in doing so, harm authors, many of whom are already struggling".[1]

A very big long-term project

There are more than 3,000,000 stub articles on the English Wikipedia. That's right – more than half of enWiki's articles are stubs. The 50,000 Destubbing Challenge is taking the bull by the horns. Encyclopædius helped start the project, and 32 contributors are signed up on the main project page as of April 26. They've destubbed 1,105 articles as of April 21, having started in March with The Great Britain and Ireland Destubathon. The goal is to destub 5,000 articles per year for ten years and ideally move on to a 1 million Destubbing Challenge.

Wikipedia Weekly returns

WikiSeder on Wikipedia Weekly

The Wikipedia Weekly podcast was dormant for several years, but has been revived in the current pandemic as the livestreamed Wikipedia Weekly Network. One of the first episodes was an online, non-religious WikiSeder, adapting the Jewish tradition remembering the plagues and liberation to a celebration of wiki wisdom in the age of the quarantini. This is best enjoyed if you play along and toast the "Four Cups to Free Knowledge" together at home—that will surely prepare you for the song at the end. WWN is now podcasting several times each week, and hopes to release summaries of highlighted episodes in The Signpost as a monthly column.

Brief notes

The mainpage hooks included President Clinton's hankering for bacon butties, Volkswagen's ketchup lubricated part, Captain Kirk's computer encryption skills, and sexy Pepsi cans.

References

  1. ^ "Internet Archive accused of using Covid-19 as 'an excuse for piracy' " (in The Guardian, March 30, 2020)
  2. ^ Wikimedia Community of Kazakh language User Group announcement of recognition (on meta)
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  • "well-informed Ukraininans" from Ukrainian propaganda machine is no better than Russian propaganda machine. The country overrun by a bunch of neoNazis and racists cannot be source of neutral information. I am not talking about conflicts over Donbas or Crimea. I am talking about the overall policy of rewriting the history of their land and sowing discord between ethnicities and religious faiths. I am talking about neonazis openly throwing Hitler Salute and whitewashing their WWII murderers. The activities of the government which restored the employment of an ambassador to Germany caught pants off with antisemitic and other racist texts in the social media and celebrating his birthday with the cake in the shape of the book titled "My Struggle" must be watched very closely in Wikipedia for WP:COI. Staszek Lem (talk) 23:28, 26 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Well, that's a bleak point of view. Let's see what happens first, with our eyes wide open, before we leap to accusations of Neo-Nazism and anti-semiticism. Liz Read! Talk! 06:10, 27 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
It is already happening for years, massively, just nobody cares.--Ymblanter (talk) 06:25, 27 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Let me remark for the context that NickK is one of the few really constructive editors in the topic area, which features mostly driveby editors and editors with the agenda (not necessarily pro-Ukrainian, could be anything).--Ymblanter (talk) 06:41, 28 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Just to clarify, it was not the government who restored employment of that diplomat but a court of appeal. Here is the comment from the MFA (Ukrainian version is more detailed): the government still wants to fire him, but the court made them restore his employment. Labor Code of Ukraine is from 1971, so firing people is tricky in Ukraine, but that's not MFA's fault — NickK (talk) 23:09, 27 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Oh please, Labor code from 1971? you are kidding me! In the country so proud of decommunization? "Ostatechne proschewaj", my ass. The UA court system is completely dysfunctional when it comes to violations of human rights or making big circles around proven murderers who happen to be "activists". Every dissent is quickly labelled as Russia's/Putin's hand. Corruption is rampant. "Bloody Yanykovych"s times is the golden age compared to what's going on there now. Current clown's government is a hostage of "activists", who have more arms on their hands than the regular army and therefore feel nonpunishable. Staszek Lem (talk) 00:42, 28 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I think it would be fair to say that the Ukrainian court system is dysfunctional, period. It is not pro-Russian or anti-Yanukovych, it is dysfonctional at least since Wikipedia exists. It is sad, but we are not working with these courts and are not interested in it — NickK (talk) 13:19, 28 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • I was taken aback when I first saw the news that Wikimedia Ukraine was partnering with the Ukrainian government on such a massive scale. The Russian state media can go to hell, but I am worried about the consequences for NPOV. The outward and combative focus of this venture, and the fact that it so heavily involves the Foreign Ministry, makes it seem very much like a propaganda operation. I think it would be much better if the the Ukrainian government instead directed an effort through the Ministry of Culture, publishing photographs of cultural events and historical sites, or documents about artists and folk cultures under free licenses that we can use. If China had announced a similar campaign we would have lost our minds by now. -Indy beetle (talk) 08:24, 27 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    • Actually, some time ago we has a really big fuss when Israelis launched a similar wikipedia campaign to counter the bias in the you know which conflict. Although I do not remember whether it was government-based or just a a wikiactivism. Staszek Lem (talk)
    • @Indy beetle: Wikimedia Ukraine already works with the Ministry of Culture, notably on Wiki Loves Monuments (e.g. here). This collaboration was very active two governments ago, the previous Minister of Culture was less interested, and there is no Minister of Culture at the moment (lost in reorganisation). WMUA is also working on release of all government websites under the free license (the Ministry of Culture is one of the few that have not done this move yet) and would be obviously interested in getting materials from the Ministry of Culture under a free license — NickK (talk) 23:09, 27 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • The Ukrainian MFA already canvassed people to Sukhoi Su-25 in 2014 ([1]) and launched a not-so-veiled accusation against Wikipedia editors, depicting them as Russian agents. I'm not sure this is really a friendly and policy-abiding party that we want onboard. --MarioGom (talk) 14:17, 27 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • The press release in Ukrainian was not corrected ([2]). I assume the softer language is only directed to the international audience at English Wikipedia. --MarioGom (talk) 15:04, 27 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • Why do we devote an entire paragraph to criticism of the Internet Archive's National Emergency Library, but don't give any space at all to the Internet Archive's POV, for example https://blog.archive.org/2020/03/30/internet-archive-responds-why-we-released-the-national-emergency-library/. Isn't the Internet Archive supposed to be our ally? At the very least our reporting about it should be neutral and give space to both sides. Kaldari (talk) 23:23, 29 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    • Thanks for this. The above blog certainly gives a more well-rounded view of the controversy. I believe the author's view was that announcing the availability of the books through the Internet Archive, gave one side of the story, and the final paragraph gave another side, but as I said, the blog makes the whole thing more well-rounded. Finding balance, of course, is never easy. Smallbones(smalltalk) 23:54, 29 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    • Hi Kaldari, I built the article from various articles submitted at our suggestions page. I included that section to show that not everyone was happy with the internet archive, and exactly because I think we, as Wikipedians generally only look at this from one side, without considering the people who may disapprove. My thinking was that most people already understand the IA's operating principals, and thus it was more important to present the other side than. I would also add that I did not see that post, and could certainly have included it. Eddie891 Talk Work 00:08, 30 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • Very interesting to read about the Ukrainian campaign right after seeing this rename request. Ivanchuk, a Ukrainian chess grandmaster, formerly a candidate for World Champion, suddenly decided that English Wikipedia should be transliterating his name the Ukrainian way rather than the Russian way. When it was pointed out that our usual English-language sources would be a snag, he went to FIDE (the World Chess Federation) and had them fix their listing for him. Of course other sources, such as the chess press, cannot be immediately brought around, but this was sufficient for editors to come to a consensus to change the name of the article about him. Ivanchuk is very well known in chess and I have to wonder if we are going to see more of this kind of thing. Bruce leverett (talk) 00:51, 30 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • To be clear, I welcomed the statement re. Ukraine because the original statement said that they would be working with the Ukrainian WMF chapter, and I trust WMF chapters to guard the integrity of the project. I spent a long time clearing out and blacklisting Russian fake news and propaganda sites, mostly from articles about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. Several articles presented the fiction of a spontaneous grassroots uprising against Ukrainan nationalist oppression of Russophones in Donbass - a narrative strongly contradicted by independent sources. The GRU invests a lot in propaganda, and I would be astounded if there were not active Russian paid agents editing those articles. If WMF Ukraine can ensure that the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs follows our policies, then I do indeed see this as a net positive for the project. Ukraine is trying to move from kleptocratic oligarchy to Western democracy, and deserves all the support we can offer. Guy (help!) 19:41, 30 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • Trying to move? YOu must be kidding. Probably listening to Ukrainian propaganda too much. Since 2014 corruption increased enormously. New president, as it always happened, promised to fight corruption, but he doesn't. The most egregious case is making dirty money on military supplies. Mass evidence collected, but no move. I guess that's why there is still shooting in Donbas: big money involved. Russia backed off long time ago when their idea of "Neo-Novorossia" sizzled. Of course Russia never gives Crimea back, but Donbas could have been easily reintegrated back under minimal political concessions. But Ukrainian nazis think that Poles, Russians, Hungarians who live in Ukraine, are Untermensch (but this doesnt prevent ukro Gastarbeiter in millions. Due to coronavirus Polish argiculture is in grave danger due to lack of cheap wetback workforce). Ukrainian WMF chapter is obviously just the same overrun by ukronazis, if you read ukrainian wikipedia , which glorifies killers and robbers. Staszek Lem (talk) 19:54, 30 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    • Ukrainan nationalist oppression of Russophones - fake news? oh really? you can speak russian as long as you support nazionalist agenda. But say a word against nazis in Russian, you will quickly get a fist into your face and the defense in court is that they were fighting Putin's agent. Staszek Lem (talk) 20:01, 30 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
      This is really fake news. You can see from my page that I am a native speaker of Russian, I support neither far-right nor radical pro-Russian groups (like most Ukrainians) and I got a fist into my face from neither. As a board member of the Ukrainian chapter, I find your label of a 'ukronazi' insulting — NickK (talk) 21:49, 1 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Staszek Lem: - you should be very careful about personal attacks and even about BLP violations. Please do not call people "ukronazis," "wetbacks", "Untermensch", and, smearing an entire nation "neoNazis and racists ". In any case you seem to be proving all the Ukrainian complaints about propaganda. Please drop the stick or just avoid this page if you can't. Liz gave you a polite warning early on. I tend to be more direct. Smallbones(smalltalk) 20:20, 30 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
When I say ukronazis, I mean ukronazis, not the entire ukrainian nation. When I say wetbacks I mean people toiling for a dime, and it is not an insult for ukrainians, but for Poland, which takes an advantage of the rampant poverty in the neighboring country. When I wrote unermensch, I was presenting the worldview of ukronazis on non-ethnic citizens of ukraine, and so on. BLP, personal attacks? seriously? You are welcome to file a complaint. In any case, I am taking your advice and moving away from this subject. BTW, FYI, just in case, I am not editing Ukraine-related topics due to my COI: I hate what is going on in Ukraine now. Staszek Lem (talk) 20:42, 30 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    • As I mentioned elsewhere, I experience harassment from Ukrainian users on a daily basis. The only reason for this harassment seems to be that I state that my mothertongue is Russian. I expect this harassment to increase in May due to this propaganda campaign.--Ymblanter (talk) 20:23, 30 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • I spent a long time clearing out and blacklisting Russian fake news and propaganda sites - that's what we all are doing here: keeping Wikipedia neutral. The engagement of a whole government is as clear WP:COI is it can be, whatever noble motives are declared. Staszek Lem (talk) 20:59, 30 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • I personally don't think you can really call them that, as in fact that isn't correct, Ukraine is not associated with this type of behaviour, this broken ideology. Rawsar (talk) 18:31, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • One of the best ways to ensure NPOV is to have an environment where different points of view are well represented. Ukrainian content and editors have been grossly underrepresented on the wiki, I see this initiative as something that will encourage people interested in this subject to participate more. Berehinia (talk) 21:52, 30 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The Signpost is looking for new talent.
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