Tomorrow, March 12th, is World Day Against Internet Censorship. This event is used by the Reporters Without Borders organization to publish the Uncensored Library. This is an undertaking, in some countries Spread censored articles using Minecraft.
How does this work?
Reporter Without Borders has created a Minecraft map where you can visit a gigantic virtual library. In the texts from countries such as Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam are displayed in virtual books and are thus freely accessible to all Minecraft players.
Tour: On the official website of the project you can view the library without Minecraft and read some of the articles yourself. The building is divided into an entrance hall with information on press freedom in 180 countries and also has five halls, each dedicated to certain states:
Why Minecraft?
Minecraft is one of the most played games in the world. As of 2018, the sandbox title recorded 91 million players every month. In the meantime, more than 145 million should start there every month. Due to its wide distribution, it is a loophole for journalists. Because while many independent news portals are blocked Minecraft also playable in most autocratic countries
Who created the map?
The construction of the library was carried out by the Blockworks company, which used Minecraft to realize various artistic projects. They also created the historical map Fire 1666, which revolves around the great fire in 17th century London, and Wonderful Water, which is designed to show elementary school students the importance of water.
The map itself consists of one and a half million blocks. The island on which the library was built is over a kilometer long. The Work on the project took a full three months. The endeavor is not yet finished. In the future, more and more articles will be offered in the library.
The Uncensored Library was created in collaboration with the advertising agency DDB Germany. Their work also includes the Uncensored Playlist: it was published in 2018 and has distributed censored articles with pop songs via streaming services in affected countries.
