Wikipedia is an open source, free-to-use online encyclopedia built by people like us for people like us. In order to cater for cultures across the globe, Wikipedia offers it’s content in hundreds of different languages. Problem is, content is not simply translated from language to language, but instead each language enters its own interpretations as encyclopedia entries. It gets interesting when cultures differ on certain historical “facts”…
BusinessWeek Online’s Blogspotting blog recently posted a great article which links to another article (you gotta love the blogosphere), which comments on the fact that the French Wikipedia does not agree with the English version that the Wright brothers invented the first aircraft. Similarly, Japanese and Korean versions differ from island to island. There must be a thousand other examples, but only so many people speak enough different languages to pick them up.
Wiki’s are inadvertently evolving as spotlights on cultural diversity!
Wikipedias as cultural references
