UNAIR NEWS – Digital information era rapid development has made it possible for the netizens to access any information in the cyberspace, including knowledge. Unfortunately, information about science such as research journals cannot be accessed easily by the public.
Online encyclopedia such as Wikimedia is trying to the bridge so science can be easily accessed by the public. It was stated by the Deputy Secretary General Wikimedia Indonesia Farras Dary Octara. He made a presentation in the seminar titled “The Power of Open Source-knowledge on Higher Education’s Hegemony”, on Wednesday, December 14. It was held in Kahuripan Hall 300, Management Office Building Universitas Airlangga and attended by students.
“Imagine a storage room with piles of theses, while there are many people seeking for knowledge. Wikimedia wants to be the bridge between them,” he said.
“Most journal articles are difficult to be accessed, only a few people able to access them. The use of open access is to help people who want to learn on something generally and Wikimedia can be the connection,” said Farras.
Farras said that information in Wikimedia cannot be used as academic references in writing scientific works as the contents can be edited anytime. But the contents can introduce the public to anything they want to learn and give them access to references cited in the contents.
“If you need references, use the quotes. Quote the references below them,” said Farras who is also a student of International Relations, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) UNAIR.
Similar to Farras’s statement, Executive Director of Wikimedia Indonesia Biyanto Rebin stated that Wikimedia is a public medium get introduction knowledge. His unit holds on the principle of helping others to gget information they need.
“We provided information for people who do not have it,” said Biyanto.
In Wikimedia, a lot of information is provided, such as historical or phenomenal events including profiles of researchers, academicians, public officials or other public figures. Wikimedia has a lot of network of affiliations such as Wikipedia, Wiktionary, WikiSource, WikiBooks, WikiNews, also WikiQuote. (*)
Author: Defrina Sukma S.
Editor: Rio F. Rachman
