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The first Chinese Wikipedia Conference was held at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in August. Mr Lo was one of the persons-in-charge.
He said the event was a success in providing a forum for Chinese Wikipedians to meet and in promoting the website to the public. ¡§Many mainstream media interviewed us and reported about the conference. Some columns in the newspapers had mentioned about Wikipedia,¡¨ he said.
Yet, some participants have expressed dissatisfaction that the conference failed to discuss the mainland¡¦s barring access to Wikipedia for the third time since the end of 2005.
Mr Lo disagreed. ¡§We did not talk about it particularly because we knew that it would not bring any difference to the result,¡¨ he said. ¡§If we requested them to terminate the blocking or make any declaration, it would give them (the mainland authorities) an impression that we were their opponents.¡¨
Instead of protesting, Mr Lo prefers to use techniques to tackle the problem, like teaching Wikipedians in the mainland to enter the website with proxy servers.
¡§We are not doing nothing. We just do not want to be obvious in doing the work and alarm the Chinese government,¡¨ he said.
He considers that Wikipedia should not follow Yahoo and Google to have self-censorship in order to survive in the mainland. Otherwise, that will violate the belief of Wikipedia in bringing knowledge to all people for free.
¡§If we yield to anyone who is not happy with the information on Wikipedia and have self-censorship, Wikipedia could not remain neutral anymore,¡¨ Mr Lo said. One of Wikipedia¡¦s principles is to be impartial, he said.
The website aims to spread knowledge through the collective effort of Wikipedians. To dispel people¡¦s fears that the information provided may not be accurate, Wikipedia always stresses accuracy.
¡§Wikipedia will not be the primary source,¡¨ Mr Lo explained. Wikipedians have to quote the source of everything they add in the page so that readers can cross-check with the references cited.
Mr Lo said he would keep on with his Wikipedian work. People¡¦s recognition of his contribution has encouraged him to carry on. ¡§I know what I have written will be read by other people and may offer help to them,¡¨ he said.
The young local Wikipedian invites more people to contribute to the project. ¡§I hope that more people can share their knowledge in Wikipedia. If not, even doing some small editing such as correcting the wrong words can help.¡¨
Larry Lo Wing-kei spends three hours on editing work every day.
