Talk given at the Get It Louder 'SHARISM' conference in Shanghai, 22 October 2010. http://www.getitlouder.com/enChair.aspx?ID=94 One of the benefits of the open web is that good ideas can flourish easily. In the Chinese speaking web, the idea of an online encyclopedia has been especially fruitful. With the Chinese Wikipedia enjoying its eighth birthday last month, it’s worth examining whether the fragmentation of efforts ultimately leads to a better product and bigger communities, or if the “us vs them” mentality is harmful to sharing.

1. Clash
Encyclopedias
Is competition good for sharing?
Brianna Laugher * SHARISM
of the

2. “There's, in fact, no reason for China to use
Wikipedia, a service based 'out there'. It's
very natural for China to make its own
products.”
– Baidu's William Chang

3. “[I]t's very easy for overseas Chinese to
accept Hudong.com as the 'Wikipedia of
China.' […] We think we understand the
Chinese language and people better than
Wikipedia. We believe we can do a better
job.”
– Hudong's Haidong Pan

5. 1. Hudong
2. English Wikipedia
3. Baidu Baike
4. German Wikipedia
…
Chinese Wikipedia
World's largest wikis

7. [insert Hudong
edit button here]

8. fragmentation of effort
vs
competition is healthy
?

11. Unique Selling Proposition

12. 5P
五大支柱

13. WP:NOT
百科

14. 永乐大典
1408

15. 古今圖書集成
1725

16. NPOV
中立

17. not the “middle” or moderate position
an overview of all positions

19. free content
开放
( 自由內容 )

22. a free content license is...

23. protection for the community

24. an invitation for everyone else

31. AGF
互重

32. IAR
无权威

34. protection for the community

35. the right to fork!

36. … in case the administrators
become jerks

37. .... in case the community becomes
divided about which direction to go

38. … in case the owners decide
it's no longer “financially viable”

39. … in case the owners
abandon the project

40. no one knows everything,
but everyone knows something

41. no one owns any particular thing,
but everyone owns everything

42. Competition from within?

44. the argument for free culture
always needs to include
FREEDOM!

45. •Title picture “Fight on snow” from http://www.flickr.com/photos/63766699@N00/2257011693 by
Suneko, licensed CC-BY-SA.
•Logos and screenshots © respective owners
•Globe from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Globe_Eurasia.svg by Ssolbergj,
licensed GFDL
•Map of China from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blank_map_of_china.svg by
historicair, licensed CC-BY-SA
•Graph of Chinese Wikipedia block from "Group Size and Incentives to Contribute: A Natural
Experiment at Chinese Wikipedia" by Xiaoquan (Michael) Zhang and Feng Zhu, published in
the American Economic Review.
•Chinese encyclopedia images public domain, from Wikimedia Commons
•Nobel image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alfred_Nobel_mirrored.png by
Aushulz, released into the public domain
•WikiReader photos from http://www.flickr.com/photos/pfctdayelise/sets/72157625071914527/ by
me :) licensed CC-BY-SA
•Protective vest icon from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:D-M015.svg by Epop,
released into the public domain
•Wikipe-tan with Chinese 'welcome' sign from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipe-tan_holding_a_welcome_sign_cropped_%28simp
by Leon3289, licensed CC-BY-SA.
•PediaPress book stack from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pedia-bunch-2.jpg by
Notafish, licensed CC-BY-SA.
• Riot drawing public domain, from Wikimedia Commons
Credits

46. thanks!
brianna@modernthings.org
[[user:pfctdayelise]]
(but you can call me 罗碧琴 :))
brianna.laugher.id.au/blog/
© Brianna Laugher,
licensed CC-BY-SA
unless otherwise noted.