Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the
sum of all human knowledge. 10 years ago that simple idea was the launching of Wikipedia
and here we are, 10 years later, this seemingly utopian idea has resulted in nothing less
than the most impressive, largest collection of human knowledge ever created.
This community of people have come together from all around the world to do something
entirely new, it’s a new phenomenon in our culture. Many people think of Wikipedia as
just a website or a technological accomplishment. But in fact, it isn’t. What Wikipedia is
is a cultural change, a cultural achievement.
Along with the development of the internet, which has changed all of our lives in so many
ways, Wikipedia has changed our lives in many many ways. The way that we interact with each
other, the way that we communicate information, the way that we learn about the world. All
of these things are vastly different than they were 10 years ago.
Since we’re non-commercial and completely independent the only thing that makes Wikipedia
work is all of the volunteers, all the people who donate money. People like you, who help
us to achieve this amazing vision that we have together.
Others are judged by their market value. We don’t want this, we don’t need this: we
are a volunteer, non-profit community. This is why as a cross-border cultural achievement,
Wikipedia deserves recognition and protection as UNESCO’s first digital World Cultural
Heritage Site.
This is a digital era and the great cultural achievements of the next century are likely
to be digital. Please help us to convince UNESCO that they should apply the criteria
for World Cultural Heritage Sites in the digital context.
Please support us and sign the petition if you too value Wikipedia as a universal human
value and a masterpiece of human creative genius.
But I want you to do more than just sign the petition. If you can share this with your
friends, send an email to people with this link. If you are on Twitter, put it on Twitter.
If you are on Facebook, put it on Facebook. If you have a blog, blog about it. All the
places where you are online: if you can help us just to spread the message and get as many
people as possible, I think it’s gonna happen.
Just like Wikipedia itself: the more people will get involved, the greater chance that
we’ll achieve our goal. Please sign the petition.