How Free Software makes Wikipedia possible

Presented at Software Freedom Day in Melbourne 2008.

Transcript

1. How
   Free Software
   makes
   Wikipedia
   possible
   Brianna Laugher,
   Wikimedia Australia
   http://www.wikimedia.org.au/
   

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2. Wikipedia:
   

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3. 1:
   encyclopedia
   

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4. 2:
   website
   

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5. 3:
   not for profit
   

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6. 4:
   multilingual
   

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7. 5:
   free (no cost)
   

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8. 6:
   wiki
   

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9. 7:
   open content
   

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10. MediaWiki:
    

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11. GPL
    GNU
    General
    Public
    License
    

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12. LAMP
    Linux,
    Apache,
    MySQL,
    PHP
    

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13. Bugzilla
    IRC
    Mailman
    JavaScript
    Python
    Perl
    

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14. File formats:
    

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15. Free knowledge requires
    free software.
    If we offer information in a proprietary or
    patent-encumbered format, then we are not
    just violating our own commitment to freedom,
    we are forcing others who want to use our
    allegedly free knowledge to themselves use
    proprietary software.
    Jimmy Wales
    

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16. 1:
    OpenOffice.org
    

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17. 2:
    SVG
    

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18. 3:
    Ogg
    

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19. Copyright:
    

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20. GFDL
    GNU
    Free
    Documentation
    License
    

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21. Read it
    

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22. Copy it
    

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23. Sell it
    

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24. Change it
    

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25. But!
    You must also
    

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26. Attribute
    the authors
    

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27. Pass on the
    freedoms
    

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28. We owe an enormous debt to the GNU
    project and to the Free Software Foundation,
    as pioneers and leaders of a movement for
    sharing code freely, so that it cannot be
    used to coerce and restrict users, and so that
    it can be improved upon by others.
    That idea is one of the key
    inspirations for Wikipedia itself.
    Erik Moeller, Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation
    

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29. Wikimedia Australia is an
    independent, not-for-profit
    organisation, whose primary
    aim is to promote equality of
    opportunity to access and
    participate in the collaborative
    creation of Free Cultural Works,
    especially educational works,
    and works about Australia, its
    culture, natural environment,
    and Australian news and media.
    contact @ wikimedia.org.au
    

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