Wikipedia and W.H.O. Join to Combat Covid-19 Misinformation
The health agency will license much of its material to the online encyclopedia, allowing the information to be reposted widely into almost 200 languages.
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/health/wikipedia-who-coronavirus-health.html
By the way of wired
New measures are taken to curb the viral spread of pandemic misinformation
In the hopes of curbing the rampant spread of coronavirus misinformation, the WHO announced yesterday that it will grant Wikipedia free use of its published information, graphics, and videos in a first-of-its-kind collaboration. The WHO translates its work into six official languages, whereas Wikipedia content is available in around 175. This partnership also means WHO material will be part of the Wikimedia Commons, and can be reproduced or retranslated anywhere so long as there’s appropriate attribution.
Since the start of the pandemic, Wikipedia—once widely regarded as unreliable—has been a key resource for debunking misinformation about coronavirus. By contrast, researchers from Cornell recently found that President Trump was likely the loudest source of coronavirus misinformation during the pandemic’s early months. As a result of the president’s attitudes, many prestigious scientific and medical journals have published editorials denouncing his handling of coronavirus.