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China is developing an online version of its national encyclopedia as an alternative to Wikipedia. As the South China Morning Post reports, the forthcoming third edition of the Chinese Encyclopedia will include 300,000 entries, with about 1,000 words per entry. When completed next year, it will be about the same size as the Chinese version of Wikipedia.

The Chinese Encyclopedia is not a book, but a Great Wall of culture, Yang Muzhi, the projects editor-in-chief and chairman of the Book and Periodicals Distribution Association of China, said at an event last month.

Our goal is not to catch up, but overtake.

Wikipedia is available in China, where many websites and media outlets are heavily censored, though entries on politically sensitive subjects such as the Dalai Lama or President Xi Jinping are blocked.

Speaking at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in April, Yang said the new Chinese Encyclopedia aims to guide and lead the public and society, according to the South China Morning Post. More than 20,000 authors from universities and research institutions are working to compile the encyclopedia, which officials described as a digital book of everything. In a newspaper article last year, Yang wrote that our goal is not to catch up, but overtake Wikipedia with the new Chinese Encyclopedia.

Other countries have sought to censor Wikipedia or develop their own government-approved versions of the site. Authorities in Turkey blocked access to the site last week, reportedly because the site did not respond to government requests to remove content from writers accused of supporting terror. In 2014, Russia announced plans to build an alternative version of Wikipedia, in an attempt to provide what officials described as more detailed and reliable information about the country.

Excerpt from:
China is building its own version of Wikipedia - The Verge

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region A court in Ankara has rejected a call to lift a ban on the crowd-sourced online encyclopedia Wikipedia which was banned in Turkey on April 29 on charges of posing a threat to national security.

The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, appealed against this decision stating that freedom of expression has been violated as the entire platform had been restricted, not just the two disputed articles which were posted.

Turkeys Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) stated that it had blocked all access to Wikipedia, citing a law allowing it to ban access to any website deemed obscene or a threat to national security.

The Ankara 1st Criminal Court of Peace ordered the ban after Wikipedias administration refused to remove two pages stating that Ankara channeled support to jihadists in Syria, Turkeys Hurriyet Daily News reported.

The court rejected the appeal on May 5, however, citing a law that enables a broader access ban when a specific violation cannot be prevented. The court stated on its ruling, As can be understood from the mentioned legal texts, freedom of expression is not one of absolute rights. It may be restricted when conditions are suitable and in situations where moderateness is required,

It also noted that Turkey was still under a state of emergency declared after the failed July 2016 military coup attempt, and its obligations based on the European Convention on Human Rights were temporarily suspended, accordign to the Turkish newspaper.

The Wikimedia Foundation has called upon the government in Turkey to restore full access to the site.

Link:
Turkish court rejects appeal to reverse ban on Wikipedia - Rudaw

Online encyclopedia Wikipedia has confirmed that its site was "vandalised" after an information page Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan said the town "hated immigrants".

Custodians of the website said the page for the Welsh town, that was recently voted one of the most desirable places to live, would be removed it immediately.

The page said: According to the 2011 census, the population of Barry was 51,502, making it the fifth largest town in Wales."

"The population is set to increase with loads of immagrants (sic) coming into Wales diluting the population of Welsh this has and effect for the language mainly in South Wales (while north and west keep their Welsh speaking communities) don't come to Barry we hate immigrants and so do the whole of wales (sic)."

A reader who spotted it said: "Barry's wikipedia entry seems a little racist dont you think? Is this how the world can expect to recieve the town of Barry?!"

A spokesman for Wikimedia UK said: "The page has been vandalised and this post will be deleted immediately. It has come from an unsourced area and has not been picked up."

Wikipedia is a free-content encyclopedia supported by the Wikimedia Foundation and based on a model that allowed people to edit content once they have logged on to the site.

It is written collaboratively by largely anonymous volunteers who write without pay.

Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles, except in limited cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism.

False facts have been known to be included in the past, including the fact that David Beckham was a Chinese goalkeeper in the 18th Century, that the Duchess of Cornwall's first name was Cow-miller, and that television gardener Alan Titchmarsh had published a new version of the Kama Sutra.

More here:
Barry's Wikipedia page 'vandalised' to state that everyone in the town 'hates immigrants' - WalesOnline

MANILA -- Netizens warred with fact-checkers on the Wikipedia page of a United Nations (UN) rapporteur critical of President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, with changes coming mere minutes apart, early Friday morning.

Hours after the arrival of Agnes Callamard in the Philippines, a paragraph accusing her of being "a highly paid consultant of the Liberal Party of the Philippines dedicated into overthrowing one of the best President (Duterte) the country has ever had" (sic) appeared on her Wikipedia page.

The paragraph first added at 2:08 a.m. was removed, only to be put back minutes later.

The exchange continued several times, coming minutes apart, until the defacers finally gave up at 3:25 a.m.

Callamard is the UN special rapporteur for extrajudicial killings. She arrived in the Philippines this week, and attended the anniversary of the Commission on Human Rights in Quezon City on Thursday night. While President Rodrigo Duterte said she was in the country to investigate drug-related killings, she said she was here for an academic purpose.

She spoke during a forum at the University of the Philippines on Friday, and will attend sessions on Saturday.

During her talk, she condemned the Duterte administrations bloody war on drugs.

Wikipedia is a community-maintained encyclopedia covering a wide range of topics, with local versions in some countries. It urges its users to input fact-checked information, and to cite sources in articles.

Read the rest here:
UN rapporteur's Wikipedia page defaced upon visit to PH - ABS-CBN News

BBC News

Turkish authorities block Wikipedia without giving reason BBC News However, the Hurriyet daily newspaper said Wikipedia had been asked to remove content by certain writers whom the authorities accuse of "supporting terror" and of linking Turkey to terror groups. The site had not responded to the demands, Hurriyet said ... Why Turkey Blocked Access to WikipediaThe Atlantic Wikipedia blocked in Turkey - Turkey BlocksTurkey Blocks IANSLIVE (@IANSLIVE) | TwitterTwitter Reuters -Facebook all 247 news articles »

Read more from the original source:
Turkish authorities block Wikipedia without giving reason - BBC News