University hosting panel continues discussion on Wikipedia ethics without Wikimedia

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Wikinews has learned that the Wikimedia Foundation has decided not to participate in a panel discussion that is to take place at Santa Clara University in California. The discussion, which is titled 'The World that Wikipedia Made,' was to be based on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia and ethics involved in the editing of the website. It is the ninth such meeting in a series on technology, ethics, and law and is taking place today.

In an e-mail to Wikinews, Miriam Schulman the communications director for the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University which is to host the discussion, states that Mike Godwin, legal counsel for the Foundation, will not be speaking during the discussion as was originally planned.

According to Schulman, the Foundation canceled Godwin's scheduled appearance just one week ago and has decided not to have anyone from the foundation replace him. Valleywag, a gossip website about technology, recently reported that Godwin was not attending due to a "groundswell of criticism of Wikipedia," something Schulman denies.

"I don't want to speak for Mr. Godwin or WikiMedia, but someone else made an incorrect assumption about this, so let me clarify that in our understanding, the problem was never with the composition of the panel. Mike Godwin, General Counsel of Wikimedia, was scheduled to participate in the panel, 'The World that Wikipedia Made,' on May 15. Last week, Mr. Godwin informed us that he would not participate, and subsequent discussions with Wikimedia Foundation indicated that they would not designate a replacement speaker," stated Schulman to Wikinews.

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