Baidu Baike
Encyclopedia
Baidu Encyclopedia is a Chinese language
collaborative Web
-based encyclopedia
provided by the Chinese
search engine
Baidu
. Like Baidu itself, the encyclopedia is heavily self-censored in line with government regulations
.
The test version was released on April 20, 2006, and within three weeks, the encyclopedia had grown to more than 90,000 articles, surpassing that of Chinese Wikipedia
. By 2008, Hudong.com had surpassed both in article count.
As of July 2011, Baidu Baike has more than 3.5 million articles, about ten times more than the Chinese Wikipedia.
, "There is, in fact, no reason for China to use Wikipedia ... It's very natural for China to make its own products."
The articles are written and edited by registered users and reviewed by behind-the-scenes administrators before release. There is no formal way to contact the administrators. Registered users' contributions are rewarded in a credit point system. Although the earlier test version was named "Baidu WIKI", official media releases and pages on the encyclopedia itself state that the system is not a wiki
. However, its operation is akin to a wiki and they occasionally use the word "wiki" internally.
law, and that contributions which quote works held under the Creative Commons
and/or GNU Free Documentation License
(GFDL) must follow the restrictions of those licenses. However, on the bottom of each page, the copyright "©2009 Baidu" is displayed, contradicting its own terms of use.
Baidu Baike has been criticized for violating the GFDL when using Wikipedia content as well as other copyrights such as those belonging to Hudong.com and encouraging plagiarism generally.
(The numbers are from the article count on the main page.)
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
collaborative Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
-based encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
provided by the Chinese
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
Baidu
Baidu
Baidu, Inc. , simply known as Baidu and incorporated on January 18, 2000, is a Chinese web services company headquartered in the Baidu Campus in Haidian District, Beijing, People's Republic of China....
. Like Baidu itself, the encyclopedia is heavily self-censored in line with government regulations
Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China
Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China is conducted under a wide variety of laws and administrative regulations. There are no specific laws or regulations which the censorship follows...
.
The test version was released on April 20, 2006, and within three weeks, the encyclopedia had grown to more than 90,000 articles, surpassing that of Chinese Wikipedia
Chinese Wikipedia
Chinese Wikipedia is the Chinese language edition of Wikipedia, run by the Wikimedia Foundation. Started in October 2002, Chinese Wikipedia had over 270,000 articles as of September 2009 and 383,391 articles as of November 7, 2011...
. By 2008, Hudong.com had surpassed both in article count.
As of July 2011, Baidu Baike has more than 3.5 million articles, about ten times more than the Chinese Wikipedia.
Conception
Baidu's William Chang said at WWW2008, the conference of the World Wide Web ConsortiumWorld Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...
, "There is, in fact, no reason for China to use Wikipedia ... It's very natural for China to make its own products."
Functions
The site is an open Internet encyclopedia espousing equality, collaboration, and sharing. The encyclopedia, with two other services provided by Baidu ("zhidao" and "post") would form a trinity to complement the search engine.The articles are written and edited by registered users and reviewed by behind-the-scenes administrators before release. There is no formal way to contact the administrators. Registered users' contributions are rewarded in a credit point system. Although the earlier test version was named "Baidu WIKI", official media releases and pages on the encyclopedia itself state that the system is not a wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
. However, its operation is akin to a wiki and they occasionally use the word "wiki" internally.
Style and interface
The visual style of the encyclopedia is simple. In articles, only boldface and hyperlinks are supported. Comments are listed at the bottom of each page. Amongst its wiki-like functions, the site supports editing, commenting, and printing of articles, as well as an article history function.Editing
Users can access multiple extended editing functions, including:- An image uploading system where files less than 2 MBMegabyteThe megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
can be added to articles in the Encyclopedia. - A keyword tagging system called "open category" (similar to folksonomyFolksonomyA folksonomy is a system of classification derived from the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content; this practice is also known as collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging...
). One article can be tagged with at most 5 categories. - A separate edit box for references and external links.
Principles of the encyclopedia
Articles or comments containing the following types of content are removed:- Pornographic, violent, horrible and uncivilized content
- Advertisement
- ReactionaryReactionaryThe term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
content - Personal attacks
- Content against morality and ethics
- Malicious, trivial or spamSpam (electronic)Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
-like content
Copyright
Baidu Baike's copyright policy is outlined in the 'terms of use' section of its help page. In it, Baidu Baike states that by adding content to the site, users agree to assign Baidu rights to their original contributions. It also states that users cannot violate intellectual propertyIntellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
law, and that contributions which quote works held under the Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
and/or GNU Free Documentation License
GNU Free Documentation License
The GNU Free Documentation License is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights to copy, redistribute, and modify a work and requires all copies and...
(GFDL) must follow the restrictions of those licenses. However, on the bottom of each page, the copyright "©2009 Baidu" is displayed, contradicting its own terms of use.
Baidu Baike has been criticized for violating the GFDL when using Wikipedia content as well as other copyrights such as those belonging to Hudong.com and encouraging plagiarism generally.
Growth
The number of articles exceeded 10,000 in two days of its launch, and reached 40,000 in six.
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(The numbers are from the article count on the main page.)
See also
- Chinese encyclopedias
- List of online encyclopedias
- Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures (Internet meme)Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures (Internet meme)The Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures , alternatively Ten Baidu Deities, was initially a humorous hoax from the interactive encyclopedia Baidu Baike which became a popular and widespread Internet meme in the People's Republic of China in early 2009....
External links
- Baidu Baike
- Site launches 'Chinese Wikipedia (BBC News)