Edward Snowden may have left the city , but on Friday Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales told a crowd of devotees gathered in Hong Kong for the website 's annual `` Wikimania '' conference that the fugitive leaker 's actions had given him new ideas about the online encyclopedia 's future . `` We live in the era of Snowden and ( WikiLeaks founder Julian ) Assange , '' declared Wales in a keynote address to the crowd , which organizers said had over 500 people from 90 countries . `` All kinds of information that people would prefer to remain secret or private are being exposed . '' Wales said Snowden 's leaks about sweeping spy programs caused him to have a `` serious rethink about security . '' Fearing intrusions from government agencies like the National Security Agency in the U.S. , Wales announced that Wikipedia would move to encrypt its pages using SSL , or secure socket layer encryption , which protects users from outside monitoring . Pointing to examples of poor mainstream media coverage on internet security issues , Wales also asked Wikipedians to help him think of a new `` hybrid model '' of journalism , where volunteers could work with professional journalists to produce serious stories that would counter `` tabloid nonsense '' like stories about the girlfriend of Edward Snowden , the former NSA contractor who leaked some of the agency 's top secret programs to the media from a hotel room in Hong Kong before receiving temporary asylum in Russia . Wales showed an image of mainstream news clippings to prove his point . `` ( Snowden 's girlfriend ) is heartbroken because he 's fled Hawaii ... he misses his girlfriend ... I do n't see anything here about who exactly is going to get arrested at the NSA for spying on people illegally , '' he said . `` What we really need to do is use editorial judgment to say , 'What really matters ? ' '' He proposed a setup in which a carefully vetted volunteer community could be potentially be `` in charge of '' mainstream journalists . Stressing that it was merely a brainstorm , the Wikipedia founder invited his community to email him with software and design ideas . Reactions to the Wiki-journalism idea were mixed among attendees . `` I think [ Wales ] did n't think about it very much , '' said Silvia Stieneker , 35 , a Wikimedia employee from Germany . `` You can not compare media that has to sell headlines to make them interesting to something like an encyclopedia . '' `` I do n't think it will replace traditional newspapers , '' said Andre Costa , who works for Wikimedia in Sweden , `` but it should be an alternative . '' In an interview with CNN Wales said he had `` great hope '' that there would be demand for the idea . `` Some have this negativity that oh , the problem is the general public , they just want to read sexy stories about Kim Kardashian or whatever , it 's hopeless , right ? `` But you know what ? A website that 's more popular than the top 20 newspapers in the world combined is Wikipedia . And people are reading very serious things on Wikipedia . There 's clearly a demand from the public . '' `` I think it 's time we start being a little more radical in our thinking . '' Another key topic discussed at this year 's Wikimania was diversity . `` I think Wikipedia has a sexism problem , '' said Stieneker , who runs a workshop in Berlin that empowers women to write for Wikipedia . Stieneker says `` harsh words for women '' are still sometimes used to attack female users , particularly in debates over articles related to gender issues . But she acknowledged that `` the huge majority of Wikipedia is not sexist and very helpful . '' She says just seven percent of the German Wikipeida community are women , compared to 13 % of the general Wikipedia population . Wales is aware of the imbalance . `` We really want more women editing , '' he told CNN . `` We 're doing a lot of outreach programs . '' Wikipedians say other inequalities also exist on the site . Josh Lim , a Wikipedia project director from the Philippines , said he has seen `` culture clashes '' between Wikipedia 's `` core demographic of white , highly-educated males in Western countries '' and editors of less-represented backgrounds . `` An American administrator might delete an article about a school in the Philippines because he thinks it 's 'not notable , ' which we would take personally , '' he said . According to Lim , `` systemic bias '' from Westerners has discouraged his team , and many editors have left . Wales acknowledged the tensions . `` There will always be some cultural conflict around the edges about what 's notable and not . And sometimes we make the wrong decisions . '' `` But we generally get it right because our community has a spirit of inquiry and desire of understanding . And it 's great if a member of our community stands up and says we 're doing this wrong , and you need to stop and think about it . '' `` One of the great things about the Wikipedia community -- that can be exhausting -- is we talk about everything , '' said Wales .
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales calls for new model of journalism . Wales spoke to CNN during annual `` Wikimania '' conference in Hong Kong . Wales says Snowden 's NSA leaks caused him to have a rethink on security for site . Wales tells CNN he wants more women editing content on online encyclopedia .