Talk:Union of International Associations

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[edit] What 100 years can do

Fontaine, Otlet, uniting all peoples of the world, collecting all information, making everybody understand everything. Probably speaking Esperanto as well? This sounds pretty much like Wikipedia and the .org part of the Internet a hundred years ago. Big dreams, later shattered by two world wars. But this organization (unlike Otlet's Mundaneum) still lives on. So where are they today? At the forefront of free information/free culture? They publish the impressive "Yearbook of International Organizations", since 1996 an online database (1995 was the last CDROM edition). Way to go! So is it free information? No, it's available on subscription basis. There is no list price for the annual subscription – "contact us". Citing from their website: "In effort to make the information available more widely, apart from the annual subscription we are now also providing short-term (micropayment) access to the complete Yearbook of International Organizations Online. An ideal solution for smaller organizations, companies and individuals." That sounds good, but how small are these "micro" payments? Read on: "Regular pricing: 130 euro/week, 390 euro/month". Oh, oh! Is that what Otlet and Fontaine had in mind for the Internet age? If not, how could their organization stray so far from the path in just a hundred years? And where will Wikipedia be in 2107? --LA2 (talk) 04:51, 21 November 2007 (UTC)