Wikimedia to Hold First International Conference

teslatug writes "The Wikimedia Foundation will be holding its first international conference, Wikimania, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany from August 4, 2005 to August 8, 2005. Featured speakers will include Jimmy Wales, Ross Mayfield, Ward Cunningham, and Richard Stallman. It will be the largest gathering of Wiki[pm]edians to date."

Comments

An upcoming media conflict?

[CyricZ]

I fear we may witness a major media conflict within the next few years. As organizations like Wikimedia gain strength, power and momentum, the existing corporate media will start to worry.

I see two things happening:

1) Discredition
The corporate mass media will try their best to discredit Wikimedia. They will have their pundits (ie. Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Kudlow & Kramer, etc.) make some outrageous lies about Wikimedia. I wouldn't be surprised if Wikimedia was labelled as "unpatriotic" and declared to be "supporters of terrorism".

2) Financial Cloutery
The corporate mass media may instead use their massive financial wealth to purchase Wikimedia out of the picture. They may start by purchasing hosting companies that host Wikimedia servers. Then using their financial clout, they may persuade the backbones and ISPs to limit access to Wikimedia sites.

Regardless of what happens, the upcoming battle between the Old Media and the New Media will be spectacular. But I fear the only victims will be the individuals, who no longer have access to the open-minded, and truly free content that Wikimedia offers.