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Critical issues presentations/Wikipedia depicting Mohammed: Different approaches in different environments

From Wikimania 2016 • Esino Lario, Italy
Video
Slides
Submission no. 107
Title of the submission

Wikipedia depicting Mohammed: Different approaches in different environments

Author of the submission

User:Man77

Country of origin

Austria

Topics

other, Projects, Research

Keywords

Wikipedia, Comparison, Editorial approaches, Language editions

Abstract

Last fall in Wikicon [1] I presented [2] on the way Mohammed (the [final] prophet of Islam) was illustrated in his article in German Wikipedia [3]. This presentation's main target was to sensibilize for arguments ad hominem, as the current situation of illustration reflects a history of discussions revolving around *who* said/decided/painted what. The result is a rather unique illustration method (compared to other language editions) with quite a lot of concrete depictions of Mohammed, which have all been drawn by Muslims (from a rather special background).

During the session, after my presentation there was a lively debate which also covered the question of how other language editions deal with this matter more profoundly than I had planned for my talk. This made me think about digging deeper into this field and preparing another presentation which should be more suited for an international audience than a repetition of my talk given at Wikicon 2015.

In this talk I plan to present different approaches for an adequate illustration of articles about Mohammed, show and explain differences and commonalities and their advantages and disadvantages and try to categorize these approaches. Are these approaches scrutinized (by whom?) or are they widely accepted within the respective community? Is there a model in which environment which approach is more likely to be chosen than another?

Once again, the goal of this presentation will be to sensibiltize the audience: Is there *one* *perfect* way to illustrate/write an article, or is it possible that there is more than one suitable way? Do we have to follow the principle of least astonishment? Is it OK to dismiss certain opinions just because of whose opinion it is? And is it OK then just to the exact opposite?

[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiCon_2015 (regional gettogether of the German speaking communities) [2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Enzyklop%C3%A4dische_Opposition_als_genetic_fallacy.pdf [3] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed

Result

Accepted

Interested attendees and comments

Interested attendees: