Germany – On January 15, 2001, Jimmy Wales and programmer Larry Sanger created Wikipedia with the lofty goal of making a comprehensive collection of the world’s knowledge available to everyone.
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Nearly 15 years later, he hopes to keep that goal alive – and keep it free.
When asked if he can make it another 15 years as an internet encyclopedia free of charge, Wales told dpa, “I hope so. We don’t have any plans to change. We’re very content as we are.”
The online reference platform, which has more than 37 million articles in nearly 300 languages, is financed entirely by donations, rather than relying on income from advertisements. Wales said he doesn’t regret keeping Wikipedia free, even as he’s watched other internet founders become billionaires.
“I’m very pleased with the outcome. I have an amazing life and I enjoy every minute of it,” he said in an interview Friday.
Despite effectively replacing the once omnipresent hardcopy encyclopedia, Wikipedia still faces several challenges in the near future as it seeks to remain free.
Like many technology-based companies, Wikipedia is struggling to recruit females.
“We’re really always looking for more female contributors.”
About 15 per cent of the global voluntary contributors to the website, known collectly as “the community,” are female, Wales said.
“The community is really passionate about changing, but changes come slower than we would like.”
In addition to focusing on female recruitment, the online reference work hopes to expand its influence to growing populations that are rapidly gaining access to the internet.
“We’re in a period where the number of people who are online in the developing world is really skyrocketing and correspondingly usage of Wikipedia in those countries is skyrocketing.”
Wikipedia will focus more on the user experience of its mobile products to reach clients as they migrate to mobile devices, Wales said.
“We need to really focus a lot of attention on making sure that our mobile app is good and our mobile participation is good.”
To reach the goal of making a complete collection of the world’s knowledge available to everyone, the company will need to keep up the pace with digital trends, Wales said.
“The ongoing march of technology is a really powerful force in helping people to get online and meet other people and learn things and share things.”
Wikipedia need a ratings system by the public for pornographic articles. So people can skip the shmutz if they want to.
Wikipedia is an excellent online source of valuable information. Although much of it includes personal opinions or assumptions, most articles are very beneficial and helpful for the public. But how does he give it for free when there aren’t even any advertisements on the pages? I wish him good luck for continued success with this online encyclopedia.
Reply to 1. I have been using Wikipedia multiple times every single day since before it was fashionable, and I must say I have never seen any shmutz. What exactly are you searching for?
I generally only donate to jewish causes. There are of course good non-jewish causes too, but hey my funds are limited.
Over the years I’ve usually ignored the header on wikipedia that asks for donations.
But my son pointed out to me that wikipedia is the one site that he never has to worry about seeing “unwanted” ads. So now I actually click on the banner to give 5-10 dollars once or twice a year.
It’s a good suggestion for other frum people to support a relatively “clean/kosher site!
As for Poster#1 “mschribr Says”, hey if you’re gonna search for inappropriate topics, yep you’ll find them there too!
BUT only if that’s where you search 🙂