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CAMERASeeks
10
Volunteersto
Submit
Info
to
Wikipedia
From:
lee
Green
(Ieegreen@camera.org)Sent:
Thu
3/13/085:44
PM
To:
Page1
of
1
Helpusgrow
our
team!Please
forwardthisalert
to
peoplecon1mittedtofairandfactualreportingaboutIsraelandtheMiddleEast.
Do
notforwardit
to
members
of
thenewsInedia.Pleaseusethisalert
as
backgroundfor
your
ownuniquee-mails,lettersandcalls.
ShalomCAMERAE-MailTeam:Whatifyoucouldensureaccuracyandfairness
directly
in
one
of
theInternet'smostvisitedWebsites,withoutrelyingonreporters,editorsorpublishers?
In
fact,youcan.
Wikipedia,the
hugelypopularonline
encyclopediasite,can
be
edited
by
anyone.
TheideabehindWikipediaisthatifthousands
of
well-meaningandinformedvolunteerscollaborateonanonlineencyclopedia,theresultwouldbemoreaccurate,up-to-dateandinclusivethananyprintencyclopediacouldpossibly
be.
Thebadnewsisthisallowsanti-Israel"editors"tointroduceallkinds
of
biasanderrorintothemanyIsrael-relatedarticles,eventheentryonCAMERA.Thegoodnewsis,
individualvolunteers
can
work
as
"editors"
to
ensure
that
thesearticles
are
free
of
biasanderror,and
include
necessaryfactsandcontext.
Assuringaccuracyandimpartiality
in
Wikipediaisextremelyimportant.Ifsomeonesearchesfor"Israel"ontheGooglesearchengine,forexample,thetopresultreturnedbyGooglewouldbethe
W t k j p e d i a p a g ~ e m Q n
Israel.
CAMERAseeks
10
volunteers
to
helpus
keep
Israel-related
entriesonWikipediafrom
becoming
tainted
by
anti-Israel
editors.
Allittakestobeaneffectivevolunteerisabasiccomfortlevelwithcomputers.Calloremailme,andIwilltrainyouonhowtobecomeavolunteerWikipediaeditor.gilead@camera.orgorcall617-789-3672Withthanks,GileadIniSeniorResearchAnalystvvww.camera.org
III
11
lip
SOllllOn
CAMERAIS
warle,
clidllllfBIl
To
unsubscribe,
replytothismessagewith"unsubscribe"
in
subjectline.To
subscribe
toCAMERA'sE-MailTeamalerts,sendanotewithyourname,address,email,telephonenumberandhowyouheardaboutthealertsto
leegreen@camera.org
4/11/2008
Wikipediaand
CAMERA
From:
Gilead
Ini
(gilead@camera.org)
Sent:Mon
3/17/08
2:35
PM
To:Gilead
Ini
(gilead@camera.org)
Shalom
WikipediaEditorsandCAMERAE-Mail
Team,
Page1
of3
Thank
youall
for
responding
to
thelatest
alert
aboutediting
Wikipedia,
the
online
encyclopedia.We
know
thatyourtime
is
valuable,
and
very
muchappreciate
your
willingness
to
spend
some
ofit
in
thequest
for
fairnessandaccuracyonWikipedia.Andconsidering
the
truly
impressive
quantity
and
quality
of
volunteers,
1
1
m
extremely
hopeful
that
wecanandwill
meet
this
goal.Let
me
begin
by
addressingacouple
of
questions
that
some
of
you
asked.
*
First,while
ouralert
noted
that
we
areseeking
tenvolunteers,
what
we
really
meant
was
that
we
want
at
least
ten.
I'm
happyto
say
that
we
currently
have
aboutfive
times
that
many!
*
Anothercommonquestion
was:
Howmuch
time
doI
needtodevotetothis
project?
Theeasy
answer
is:
As
much
as
you
decide
to
devote.
There
isno
minimumamount
of
time
required
toedit
Wikipedia.
Some
of
you
will
only
beable
toparticipate
periodically,
and
others
willbeable
to
weave
thisinto
their
daily
routine.
Whatever
amount
of
time
you
can
spare
to
learn
about
and
edit
Wikipediawillbe
extremely
valuable.Every
little
bit
helps.
That
said,
I'll
also
point
out
that
improving
articlesYYiJJ
sometimesrequire
patience
andpersistence.
Fortunately,
patienceandpersistence
between
40
peopleisagood
bit
easierthan
patienceandpersistence
by
oneperson.BecauseWikipedia
articles
often
change,andare
never
finalized,
we
do
hope
that
this
willbealong
term
project.
Thisis
a
marathon,
not
a
sprint.
*
Thefinal
commonquery
was:
Okay,
so
what
doIdo?
How
doesWikipedia
editing
work?
A
few
of
you
already
have
experience
editing
Wikipedia.Forall
theothers,
I'll
address
the
technicalaspect
of
editingWikipediaa
littlebit
later.But
first,
1
1
11
touch
ona
few
broader,non-technical
ideas
that
arebasedon
my
experience
with
Wikipedia,andon
the
advicepassed
onto
mebysome
of
themore
experienced
Wiki
editors
on
this
list.
Whyare
we
even
concerned
with
Wikipedia?
BecauseWikipediais
extremely
popular,
influential,
and
depends
on
the
participation
of
fair-mindedmembers
of
the
community
in
orderto
work
well.
What
is
the
problem?
It's
influential
and
popular,
butit
isn't
always
accurate.Wikipediahasaseries
of
policiesandgUidelines
meantto
ensure
that
the
encyclopedia
develops
ina
fair,accurate
andreasonable
manner.
Unfortunately,
these
gUidelinesare
often
ignored
by
editors
(even
while
thesesame
editors
loudly
andspeciouslycite
theseguidelines
in
orderto
defend
their
unfairedits).
Andas
we
all
know,"controversial"topics
like
theArab-Israeliconflict
tend
to
attract
an
especially
large
numberof
partisanshoping
towarpthe
public's
understanding
of
the
MiddleEast.Thisis
happening
withmany
Wikipedia
articles,ranging
fromthe
article
about
CAMERA,
tothearticle
about
Nablu5,
to
4/11/2008
variousarticles
aboutanti-Israelactivists,
andbeyond.
Page2
of3
Who
are
we?
It's
best
to
think
of
ourselves
asacollection
of
individuals
and
individual
Wikipedia
editors
interested
indiscussion
about
Wikipedia.
Thisencyclopediais
intended
to
be
written
and
edited
by
individuals
-
notbygroups
--
and
that'swhat
we'll
do.
Atthe
same
time,
by
having
discussions
withinour
group,
wecanlearn
about,
discuss,and
figure
out
howtoovercomethe
challenges
weeach
encounter
asWikipedia
editors.
Thereisnoreason
toadvertisethefact
that
wehave
these
group
discussions.
Anti-Israel
editors
willseizeon
anythingto
try
to
discredit
people
who
attempt
to
challenge
their
problematic
assertions,andwillbeall
toohappy
to
pretend,
and
announce,
that
a
'Zionist'
cabal
(the
same
one
that
controls
the
banksand
Hollywood?)
is
tryingtohijack
Wikipedia.
The
Wikipediacommunity
Wealsoshouldkeepin
mind
that
we
are
part
of
a
larger,
well-established,
Wikipedia
community.
Andwhile
there
are
loudand
aggressive
groups
of
anti-Israel
editors,
most
of
the
Wikipedia
community
is
made
up
of
well-meaning
people
whooften
don't
knowmuch
about
theArab-Israeli
conflict.
It
is
important
that
these
people
--our
potential
allies
--
understand
that
we,
too,
areconcerned
with
thoughtfully
contributingto,
and
improving,
Wikipedia.Firstand
foremost,
that
meanshaving
a
history
of
working
withinthe
Wikipedia
guidelines.
(Note
that
anyone
onWikipediacan
view
your
editing
history.)
These
guidelines
are
explained
on
the
Wikipediawebsite,
but
Iwillalsodiscuss
some
of
them
a
bit
later.
Obviously,
it's
also
important
toremain
civil
when
arguing
ideason
the
Wikipedia
discussionpages
-
even
when
people
inevitably
try
toprovoke
youinto
an
online
shoutingmatch.
It's
helpful,
if
possible,
to
buildrelationships.
(Fortunately,
we
now
havein
thisgroup
a
built
in
network
of
relationships.Nonetheless,
it's
still
helpful
to
makerelationships
with
establishededitors,
and
withsuper-editorsknow
as
'administrators.')
It's
important,
after
making
changesonaWikipedia
article
page,
toexplain
these
edits
onWikipedia'sdiscussionpages.
(I'll
address
the
technical
details
on
how
exactlyto
do
this
later.
Fornow,let's
stick
with
conceptual
issues.)
It's
very
important
to
avoid
framing
ourarguments
in
terms
of
the
Mideastconflict,
but
rathertoframe
them
in
terms
of
Wikipedia's
gUidelines.So,
forexample,imagine
that
you
get
rid
of
or
modify
a
problematic
sentence
inan
article
alleging
that
"Palestinian
become
suicide
bombers
to
respond
toIsrael's
oppressive
policies.
It
Youshould,inparallel,leavea
comment
on
that
article's
discussionpage
(eitherafteror
before
makingthe
change).Avoid
defending
the
edit
by
arguing
that
"Israel'spolicies
aren't
'oppression,'
they
are
defensive.
Andanyway
Palestinians
obviouslybecome
suicide
bombers
forother
reasons,
for
example
hate
education!"
Instead,
describe
howthis
sentence
violates
Wikipedia's
policiesandgUidelines.One
of
the
corepoliciesis
that
assertions
should
adhere
to
a
Neutral
Point
of
View,
usuallyabbreviated
NPOV.
(The
opposite
of
NPOVis
POV,
or
Point
of
View,
which
isbasically
anotherway
of
saying
subjectivestatement,
or
opinion.)
So
it
would
be
best
to
note
on
the
discussionpage
that
"This
sentenceviolates
Wikipedia'sNPOV
policy,
since
thedescription
of
Israel's
policiesas
'oppressive'is
an
opinion.
In
addition,
it
is
often
noted
by
Middle
East
experts
that
one
of
the
reasonsPalestiniansdecide
tobecome
suicide
bombers
is
hateeducation
and
glorification
of
martyrdom
inPalestiniansociety.I
will
add
(or
haveadded)
a
sentenceto
that
effect,
and
cite
it
with
a
footnote
pointing
to
one
or
more
of
these
experts'
articles.
If
(Orsomething
along
those
lines.)
A
veteran
Wikipedia
editor
on
this
list
hassuggested
that,after
setting
up
your
account,
avoid
editing
Israel-related
articles
for
a
short
period
oftime;or
in
the
very
least,
try
toedit
articlesunrelated
to
Israel
more
thanarticles
related
toIsrael.
This
isn't
abadidea,
not
only
to
avoid
the
appearance
of
being
one-topiceditors,
but
alsobecause
it
would
beeasier
to
practice
editing,
and
to
learn
about
Wikipedia,
farfromthe
Mideast
hornet's
nest.You
might
practice
by
visiting
and
editingarticles
about
other
topics
that
interest
you.
Editingcould
mean
simply
fixing
typos
and
grammar,orit
couldmean
4/11/2008
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