Wikipedia, The Free Collaborative Encyclopaedia E-Book

50MINUTES

• Herausgeber: 50Minutes.com
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: Business Stories
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 27

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Find out how Wikipedia became an internet giant in just 50 minutes!

With over 40 million articles in almost 300 languages and dialects, Wikipedia is the largest and most influential encyclopaedia in the world. This success is all the more astonishing considering that the site relies on volunteers to write and edit its articles, and makes no money from advertising. At a time when traditional encyclopaedias were struggling to adapt to the rise of the internet, Wikipedia revolutionised the sector with its free, collaborative model. In this concise and accessible guide, you will find out how founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger were able to democratise encyclopaedias and turn their unconventional project into one of the most frequently consulted sites in the world.

In 50 minutes you will:
• Learn about Wikipedia’s history, from its launch in 2001 right up to the present day
• Understand the key principles behind the site’s functioning
• Find out about related projects, including Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata

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Leseprobe

Wikipedia: an encyclopaedia for the 21st century

The success of a seemingly impossible project

The free encyclopaedia Wikipedia was created around 15 years ago, and is now one of the most frequently consulted sites in the world. This success is all the more surprising as there was nothing to suggest it was coming. The collaborative encyclopaedia, which was launched on 15 January 2001 by the Americans Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger (then 34 and 32 respectively), was initially intended to provide material for another, more traditional free digital encyclopaedia. However, the wiki technology that its founders used to make editing easier proved astonishingly effective, and the two men had the idea of creating an encyclopaedia that anyone could contribute to. This marked the birth of Wikipedia.

It was not long before the site became available in other languages, with French among the first. Wikipedia users from across the world could add to and update existing articles, and create new ones for a constantly expanding audience. The site’s content grew rapidly: by October 2004, there were a million articles across all languages. Now, over 15 years after the site’s creation, over 40 million articles are available, almost 5.5 million of which are in English.

Wikipedia, which has been managed by the Wikimedia Foundation since 2003, is not a commercial venture. Its operating costs are mostly covered by donations from individuals, companies and associations. Although the encyclopaedia’s model was without precedent and seemed bound to fail, it has turned out to be an undeniable success, serving as a key source of information for users around the world.

Key information

Founders: Jimmy Wales (American businessman and founder of Bomis, born in 1966) and Larry Sanger (American Doctor of Philosophy, hired as editor-in-chief, born in 1968).Start of the project: January 2000 (hiring of Larry Sanger).Launch: 15 January 2001.Sector: information and reference works.Key figures:2002: 19 languages; 21 000 articles.2003: 52 languages; 149 000 articles.2004: 107 languages; 440 000 articles.2005: 161 languages; 1.4 million articles.2015: 289 languages; 34.3 million articles.2016: 289 languages; 37.9 million articles, around 5 million of which are in English.

Context: encyclopaedias in a digital world

The encyclopaedia sector

The Collins English Dictionary defines an encyclopaedia as “a book or set of books in which facts about many different subjects or about one particular subject are arranged for reference, usually in alphabetical order”. Humanity has always instinctively sought to further the spread of knowledge, and this task has been facilitated by writing, then printing and finally the development of the internet. Encyclopaedias have appeared in many forms and under many different names over the centuries, before eventually evolving into their modern form.

The word “encyclopaedia” first appeared in English in the 16th century, but the modern encyclopaedia did not emerge until two centuries later, in England with the Cyclopædia: or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences edited by Ephraim Chambers (1680-1740) and in France with the Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (Encyclopaedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts) edited by Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and Jean le Rond d’Alembert (1717-1783). Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopaedia