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{{otheruses4|the encyclopedia|different, but similar terms related to Wikipedia|Wikipedia (terminology)}}
{{selfref|For Wikipedia's non-encyclopedic visitor introduction, see [[Wikipedia:About]].}}
{{infobox Website
| name = Wikipedia
| logo = [[File:Wikipedia-logo-en-big.png|100px]]
| screenshot = [[File:Www.wikipedia.org screenshot.png|border|300px|Wikipedia's multilingual portal shows the project's different language editions.]]
| caption = Screenshot of Wikipedia's multilingual portal.
| url = [http://www.wikipedia.org/ www.wikipedia.org]
| type of organization = [[Nonprofit]]
| location = [[Miami, Florida]]
| type = [[Internet encyclopedia project|Online encyclopedia]]
| language = 236 active editions (253 in total)<ref name="ListOfWikipedias" />
| registration = Optional
| owner = [[Wikimedia Foundation]]
| author = [[Jimmy Wales]], [[Larry Sanger]]<!-- Please, please, [discuss] on talk page before rewriting history. This has been in this article for years. --><ref name=Sidener>{{cite news|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041206/news_mz1b6encyclo.html|author=Jonathan Sidener|title=Everyone's Encyclopedia|work=[[The San Diego Union Tribune]]|accessdate=2006-10-15}}</ref>
| launch date = {{birth date|mf=yes|2001|1|15}}
| commercial = No
| alexa = #8<ref name="AlexaStats" />
| current status = perpetual work-in-progress<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_a_work_in_progress |title=Wikipedia:Wikipedia is a work in progress |publisher=Wikipedia |accessdate=2008-07-03}}</ref>
| slogan = The free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
}}
'''Wikipedia''' ([[Wikipedia (terminology)#Pronunciation|pronunciation]] {{spoken}}) is a [[Free content|free]],<ref>Some versions such as the English language version contain non-free content.</ref> [[multilingualism|multilingual]] [[encyclopedia]] project supported by the [[non-profit organization|non-profit]] [[Wikimedia Foundation]]. Its name is a [[portmanteau]] of the words ''[[wiki]]'' (a technology for creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word ''wiki'', meaning 'fast') and ''encyclopedia''. Wikipedia's 12 million articles (2.7 million in English) have been written [[collaboration|collaboratively]] by [[volunteer]]s around the world, and almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone who can access the Wikipedia website.<ref>In some parts of the world, the access to Wikipedia has (or had) been blocked.</ref> Launched in January 2001 by [[Jimmy Wales]] and [[Larry Sanger]],<ref name=MiliardWho>{{cite news|url=http://www.slweekly.com/index.cfm?do=article.details&id=37BD3969-14D1-13A2-9F5EEAF5A79E0898|author=Mike Miliard|title=Wikipediots: Who Are These Devoted, Even Obsessive Contributors to Wikipedia?|work=[[Salt Lake City Weekly]]|date=2008-03-01|accessdate=2008-12-18}}</ref> it is currently the most [[popularity|popular]]<ref name="AlexaStats">{{cite web|url=http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/wikipedia.org?range=5y&size=large&y=t|title = Five-year Traffic Statistics for Wikipedia.org|publisher=[[Alexa Internet]]|accessdate=2008-07-15 }}</ref> general [[reference work]] on the [[Internet]].<ref name=Tancer>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1595184,00.html|title=Look Who's Using Wikipedia|author=Bill Tancer|date=2007-05-01|publisher=''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''|accessdate=2007-12-01|quote=The sheer volume of content [...] is partly responsible for the site's dominance as an online reference. When compared to the top 3,200 educational reference sites in the U.S., Wikipedia is #1, capturing 24.3% of all visits to the category}} [[Cf.]] Bill Tancer (Global Manager, Hitwise), [http://weblogs.hitwise.com/bill-tancer/2007/03/wikipedia_search_and_school_ho.html "Wikipedia, Search and School Homework"], ''[[Hitwise]]'': An [[Experian]] Company ([[Blog]]), March 1, 2007, accessed December 18, 2008.</ref><ref name=Woodson>{{cite news |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN0819429120070708 |title=Wikipedia remains go-to site for online news |date=2007-07-08|author=Alex Woodson |work=Reuters |accessdate=2007-12-16|quote=Online encyclopedia Wikipedia has added about 20 million unique monthly visitors in the past year, making it the top online news and information destination, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.}}</ref><ref name="AlexaTop500" />

[[Criticism of Wikipedia|Critics of Wikipedia]] target its [[systemic bias]] and inconsistencies<ref name="SangerElitism" /> and its policy of favoring [[consensus]] over [[credential]]s in its editorial process.<ref name="AcademiaAndWikipedia">{{cite web|author=Danah Boyd|url=http://many.corante.com/archives/2005/01/04/academia_and_wikipedia.php|title=Academia and Wikipedia|work=[[Many 2 Many]]: A Group [[Blog|Weblog]] on Social Software|format=[[World Wide Web|Web]]|publisher=[[Corante (company)|Corante]]|date=2005-01-04|accessdate=2008-12-18|quote=[The author, Danah Boyd, describes herself as] an expert on social media[,] ... a doctoral student in the School of Information at the [[University of California - Berkeley]][,] and a fellow at the [[Harvard University]] [[Berkman Center for Internet and Society]] [at [[Harvard Law School]].]}}</ref> [[Reliability of Wikipedia|Wikipedia's reliability and accuracy]] are also an issue.<ref name="Who">{{cite web | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2004/oct/26/g2.onlinesupplement | title = Who knows?|author=Simon Waldman|work=[[Guardian.co.uk]]|date=2004-10-26 | accessdate = 2007-02-11}}</ref> Other criticisms are centered on its susceptibility to [[vandalism]] and the addition of spurious or unverified information.<ref name="DeathByWikipedia" /> Scholarly work suggests that vandalism is generally short-lived.<ref name="MIT_IBM_study">{{cite journal|author=Fernanda B. Viégas, Martin Wattenberg, and Kushal Dave|url=http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~fviegas/papers/history_flow.pdf|title=Studying Cooperation and Conflict between Authors with History Flow Visualizations|journal=Proceedings of the [[CHI (conference)|ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)]]|publisher=ACM [[SIGCHI]]|id=ISBN 1-58113-702-8|pages=575–582|location=[[Vienna, Austria]]|year=2004|format=PDF|accessdate=2007-01-24}}</ref><ref name="CreatingDestroyingAndRestoringValue">{{cite journal|author=Reid Priedhorsky, Jilin Chen, Shyong (Tony) K. Lam, Katherine Panciera, Loren Terveen, and John Riedl (GroupLens Research, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, [[University of Minnesota]])|title =Creating, Destroying, and Restoring Value in Wikipedia|journal =[[Association for Computing Machinery]] GROUP '07 conference proceedings|location =[[Sanibel Island]], [[Florida]]|date=2007-11-04|url =http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~reid/papers/group282-priedhorsky.pdf|format=PDF|accessdate=2007-10-13}}</ref>

Jonathan Dee, of ''[[The New York Times]]'',<ref name=Dee>{{cite news
| url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/magazine/01WIKIPEDIA-t.html
| title = All the News That's Fit to Print Out|author=Jonathan Dee|publisher = The New York Times Magazine|date=2007-07-01|accessdate=2007-12-01}}</ref> and Andrew Lih, in the ''5th International Symposium on Online Journalism'',<ref name=Lih>{{cite journal|author=Andrew Lih|title=Wikipedia as Participatory Journalism: Reliable Sources? Metrics for Evaluating Collaborative Media as a News Resource|journal=5th International Symposium on Online Journalism|location=[[University of Texas - Austin]]|date=2004-04-16|url=http://jmsc.hku.hk/faculty/alih/publications/utaustin-2004-wikipedia-rc2.pdf|format=PDF|accessdate=2007-10-13}}</ref> have cited the importance of Wikipedia not only as an encyclopedic reference but also as a frequently-updated news resource.

When ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine recognized "[[You (Time Person of the Year)|You]]" as its [[Time Person of the Year|"Person of the Year for 2006"]], acknowledging the accelerating success of online collaboration and interaction by millions of users around the world, it cited Wikipedia as one of three examples of "[[Web 2.0]]" services, along with [[YouTube]] and [[MySpace]].<ref name=Time2006>{{cite news| date=2006-12-13| url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html |title= Time's Person of the Year: You |work=TIME |publisher=Time, Inc |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref>

==History==
{{main|History of Wikipedia}}
[[File:ImageNupedia.png|thumb|left|Wikipedia originally developed from another encyclopedia project, [[Nupedia]].]]
Wikipedia began as a complementary project for [[Nupedia]], a free online [[English language|English-language]] encyclopedia project whose articles were written by experts and reviewed under a formal process. Nupedia was founded on March 9, 2000, under the ownership of [[Bomis|Bomis, Inc]], a [[web portal]] company. Its main figures were [[Jimmy Wales]], Bomis [[Chief executive officer|CEO]], and [[Larry Sanger]], [[Editing|editor-in-chief]] for Nupedia and later Wikipedia. Nupedia was licensed initially under its own [[Nupedia Open Content License]], switching to the [[GNU Free Documentation License]] before Wikipedia's founding at the urging of [[Richard Stallman]].<ref name="stallman1999">{{cite web
|url=http://www.gnu.org/encyclopedia/encyclopedia.html|title=The Free Encyclopedia Project|author=Richard M. Stallman|authorlink=Richard Stallman|date=2007-06-20|publisher=[[Free Software Foundation]]|accessdate=2008-01-04}}</ref>

[[File:EnglishWikipediaArticleCountGraph linear.png|thumb|right|Graph of the article count for the English Wikipedia, from January 10, 2001, to September 9, 2007 (the date of the two-millionth article)]]
Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales are the founders of Wikipedia.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite news|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041206/news_mz1b6encyclo.html|author=Jonathan Sidener|title=Everyone's Encyclopedia|date=2004-12-06|work=[[The San Diego Union Tribune]]|accessdate=2006-10-15}}</ref><ref name=Meyers>{{cite news|first=Peter |last=Meyers|title=Fact-Driven? Collegial? This Site Wants You |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E5D6123BF933A1575AC0A9679C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fC%2fComputer%20Software |work=New York Times |publisher=[[The New York Times Company]]|date=2001-09-20|accessdate=2007-11-22|quote=&nbsp;'I can start an article that will consist of one paragraph, and then a real expert will come along and add three paragraphs and clean up my one paragraph,' said Larry Sanger of Las Vegas, who founded Wikipedia with Mr. Wales.}}</ref> While Wales is credited with defining the goal of making a publicly editable encyclopedia,<ref name=SangerMemoir>{{cite news |first=Larry |last=Sanger |title=The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia: A Memoir |date=April 18, 2005 |work=Slashdot |url=http://features.slashdot.org/features/05/04/18/164213.shtml|accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref><ref name=Sanger>{{cite news|first=Larry |last=Sanger|title=Wikipedia Is Up!|date=January 17, 2001 |publisher=Internet Archive|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20010506042824/www.nupedia.com/pipermail/nupedia-l/2001-January/000684.html|accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> Sanger is usually credited with the [[counter-intuitive]] [[strategy]] of using a [[wiki]] to reach that goal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2001-October/000671.html|title=Wikipedia-l: LinkBacks?|accessdate=2007-02-20}}</ref> On January 10, 2001, [[Larry Sanger]] proposed on the Nupedia [[mailing list]] to create a wiki as a "feeder" project for Nupedia.<ref>{{cite news |first=Larry |last=Sanger|title=Let's Make a Wiki|date=2001-01-10|publisher=Internet Archive|url=http://www.nupedia.com/pipermail/nupedia-l/2001-January/000676.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20030414014355/http://www.nupedia.com/pipermail/nupedia-l/2001-January/000676.html|archivedate=2003-04-14 |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref>
Wikipedia was formally launched on January 15, 2001, as a single English-language edition at www.wikipedia.com,<ref name=WikipediaHome>{{cite web |url=http://www.wikipedia.com/|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20010331173908/http://www.wikipedia.com/|archivedate=2001-03-31|title=Wikipedia: HomePage|accessdate=2001-03-31}}</ref> and announced by Sanger on the Nupedia mailing list.<ref name=SangerMemoir/> Wikipedia's policy of "neutral point-of-view"<ref name="NPOV">"[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view&oldid=102236018 Wikipedia:Neutral point of view], Wikipedia (January 21, 2007)</ref> was codified in its initial months, and was similar to Nupedia's earlier "nonbiased" policy. Otherwise, there were relatively few rules initially and Wikipedia operated independently of Nupedia.<ref name=SangerMemoir/>

Wikipedia gained early contributors from Nupedia, [[Slashdot]] postings, and [[Web search engine|search engine]] indexing. It grew to approximately 20,000 articles, and 18 language editions, by the end of 2001. By late 2002 it had reached 26 language editions, 46 by the end of 2003, and 161 by the final days of 2004.<ref>"{{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Multilingual statistics |title=Multilingual statistics |work=Wikipedia |date=March 30, 2005 |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> Nupedia and Wikipedia coexisted until the former's servers went down permanently in 2003, and its text was incorporated into Wikipedia. [[English Wikipedia]] passed the 2 million-article mark on September 9, 2007, making it the largest encyclopedia ever assembled, eclipsing even the [[Yongle Encyclopedia]] (1407), which had held the record for exactly 600&nbsp;years.<ref name="EB_encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Encyclopedias and Dictionaries |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed.|publisher= Encyclopædia Britannica |year=2007 |volume=18 |pages=257–286}}</ref>

Citing fears of commercial advertising and lack of control in a perceived English-centric Wikipedia, users of the [[Spanish Wikipedia]] forked from Wikipedia to create the ''[[Enciclopedia Libre]]'' in February 2002.<ref>{{cite web|title=<nowiki>[long] Enciclopedia Libre: msg#00008</nowiki> |url=http://osdir.com/ml/science.linguistics.wikipedia.international/2003-03/msg00008.html |work=Osdir |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> Later that year, Wales announced that Wikipedia would not display advertisements, and its website was moved to wikipedia.org.<ref name=Shirky>{{cite book|author= Clay Shirky|authorlink=Clay Shirky|title=Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations|date=February 28, 2008|publisher=The Penguin Press via Amazon Online Reader|url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1594201536/ref=sib_dp_srch_pop?v=search-inside&keywords=spanish&go.x=0&go.y=0&go=Go%21 |isbn=1-594201-53-6|page=273 |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> Various other projects have since forked from Wikipedia for editorial reasons. [[Wikinfo]] does not require neutral point of view and allows original research. New Wikipedia-inspired projects&nbsp;— such as [[Citizendium]], [[Scholarpedia]], [[Conservapedia]] and Google's [[Knol]]{{Fact|date=November 2008}}&nbsp;— have been started to address perceived limitations of Wikipedia, such as its policies on [[peer review]], [[original research]] and commercial [[advertising]].

The [[Wikimedia Foundation]] was created from Wikipedia and Nupedia on June 20, 2003.<ref>[[Jimmy Wales]]: "[http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2003-June/010743.html Announcing Wikimedia Foundation]", June 20, 2003, <Wikipedia-l@wikipedia.org></ref> It applied to the [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] to [[trademark]] ''Wikipedia'' on September 17, 2004. The mark was granted registration status on January 10, 2006. Trademark protection was accorded by [[Japan]] on December 16, 2004, and in the [[European Union]] on January 20, 2005. Technically a [[service mark]], the scope of the mark is for: "Provision of [[information]] in the field of general encyclopedic knowledge via the [[Internet]]."{{Fact|date=June 2008}} There are plans to license the use of the Wikipedia trademark for some products, such as books or DVDs.<ref>{{cite news |first=Vipin |last=Nair|title=Growing on volunteer power |date=December 5, 2005 |publisher=Business Line |url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2005/12/05/stories/2005120500070100.htm |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref>

==Nature of Wikipedia==
===Editing model===
Unlike traditional encyclopedias such as ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', no article in Wikipedia undergoes formal peer-review process and changes to articles are made available immediately. No article is owned by its creator or any other editor, or is vetted by any recognized authority. Except for a few vandalism-prone pages that can be edited only by established users, or in extreme cases only by administrators, every article may be edited anonymously or with a user account, while only registered users may create a new article (only in English edition). Consequently, Wikipedia "makes no guarantee of validity" of its content.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer |title=Wikipedia:General disclaimer |publisher=English Wikipedia |accessdate=2008-04-22}}</ref> Being a general reference work, Wikipedia also contains materials that some people, including Wikipedia editors,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,24318423-5014239,00.html |title=Wikipedia users divided over sexual material |date=2008-09-09 |last=Schliebs |first=Mark |publisher=news.com.au |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> may find objectionable, offensive, or pornographic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_not#Wikipedia_is_not_censored |title=Wikipedia is not censored |publisher=Wikipedia |accessdate=2008-04-30}}</ref> For instance, in 2008, Wikipedia rejected an online petition against the inclusion of [[Depictions of Muhammad#Wikipedia article|Muhammad's depictions]] in its [[English Wikipedia|English edition]], citing this policy. The presence of politically sensitive materials in Wikipedia had also led the [[People's Republic of China]] to [[Blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China|block]] access to parts of the site.<ref name=Taylor>{{citeweb|url=http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-32865420080405|title=China allows access to English Wikipedia|work=Reuters|author=Sophie Taylor|date=2008-04-05|accessdate=2008-07-29}}</ref> (See also: [[IWF block of Wikipedia]])

Content in Wikipedia is subject to the laws (in particular [[copyright law]]) in [[Florida, United States]], where Wikipedia servers are hosted, and several editorial policies and guidelines that are intended to reinforce the notion that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. Each entry in Wikipedia must be about a topic that is encyclopedic and thus is worthy of inclusion. A topic is deemed encyclopedic if it is "notable"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability |title=Wikipedia:Notability |accessdate=2008-02-13 |quote=A topic is presumed to be notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable secondary sources that are independent of the subject.}}</ref> in the Wikipedia jargon; i.e., if it has received significant coverage in secondary reliable sources (i.e., mainstream media or major academic journals) that are independent of the subject of the topic. Second, Wikipedia must expose knowledge that is already established and recognized.<ref name=NOR>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research |title=Wikipedia:No original research |accessdate=2008-02-13|quote=Wikipedia does not publish original thought}}</ref> In other words, it must not present, for instance, new information or original works. A claim that is likely to be challenged requires a reference to reliable sources. Within the Wikipedia community, this is often phrased as "verifiability, not truth" to express the idea that the readers are left themselves to check the truthfulness of what appears in the articles and to make their own interpretations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability |title= Wikipedia:Verifiability |accessdate=2008-02-13 |quote=Material challenged or likely to be challenged, and all quotations, must be attributed to a reliable, published source.}}</ref> Finally, Wikipedia does not take a side.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view|title=Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view|accessdate=2008-02-13 |quote=All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing significant views fairly, proportionately and without bias.}}</ref> All opinions and viewpoints, if attributable to external sources, must enjoy appropriate share of coverage within an article.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.alternet.org/story/61365/?page=entire
|title=Will Unethical Editing Destroy Wikipedia's Credibility?
|author=Eric Haas
|publisher=AlterNet.org
|date=2007-10-26
|accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> Wikipedia editors as a community write and revise those policies and guidelines<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1866322157;fp;2;fpid;2 |title=Who's behind Wikipedia?|publisher=PC World |date=2008-02-06 |accessdate=2008-02-07}}</ref> and enforce them by deleting, annotating with tags or modifying article materials failing to meet them. (See also [[deletionism and inclusionism in Wikipedia|deletionism and inclusionism]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The battle for Wikipedia's soul |url=http://www.economist.com/printedition/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10789354 |publisher=[[The Economist]] |date=2008-03-06 |accessdate=2008-03-07 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2007/10/11/dlwiki11.xml |title=Wikipedia: an online encyclopedia torn apart |date=2007-11-10 |publisher=Daily Telegraph |accessdate=2008-03-11}}</ref>)

[[File:History comparison example.png|thumb|Editors keep track of changes to articles by checking the difference between two revisions of a page, displayed here in red.]]
Contributors, registered or not, can take advantage of features available in the software that powers Wikipedia. The "History" page attached to each article records every single past revision of the article, though a revision with libelous content, criminal threats or copyright infringements may be removed afterwards.<ref name="Torsten_Kleinz"/><ref>The [[Japanese Wikipedia]], for example, is known for deleting every mention of real names of victims of certain high-profile crimes, even though they may still be noted in other language editions.</ref> This feature makes it easy to compare old and new versions, undo changes that an editor considers undesirable, or restore lost content. The "Discussion" pages associated with each article are used to coordinate work among multiple editors.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.research.ibm.com/visual/papers/wikipedia_coordination_final.pdf
|format=PDF|author=Fernanda B. Viégas, Martin Wattenberg, Jesse Kriss, Frank van Ham
|title=Talk Before You Type: Coordination in Wikipedia
|publisher=Visual Communication Lab, IBM Research
|date=2007-01-03|accessdate=2008-06-27}}</ref> Regular contributors often maintain a "watchlist" of articles of interest to them, so that they can easily keep tabs on all recent changes to those articles. Computer programs called [[Internet bot|bots]] have been used widely to remove vandalism as soon as it was made,<ref name="CreatingDestroyingAndRestoringValue" /> to correct common misspellings and stylistic issues, or to start articles such as geography entries in a standard format from statistical data.<!-- In a time of content dispute, a page sometimes get locked for further edit until editors can work out differences.-->

The open nature of the editing model has been central to most criticism of Wikipedia. For example, at any point, a reader of an article cannot be certain, without consulting its "history" page, whether or not the article she is reading has been vandalized.<!-- An encyclopedia Britannica editor once described this by saying that Wikipedia is like a public toilet; you don't know who has used it before you are going to use it.{{Fact|date=October 2008}}--> Critics argue that non-expert editing undermines quality. Because contributors usually rewrite small portions of an entry rather than making full-length revisions, high- and low-quality content may be intermingled within an entry. Historian [[Roy Rosenzweig]] noted: "Overall, writing is the [[Achilles' heel]] of Wikipedia. Committees rarely write well, and Wikipedia entries often have a choppy quality that results from the stringing together of sentences or paragraphs written by different people."<ref name=Rosenzweig>{{cite web
|url=http://chnm.gmu.edu/resources/essays/d/42
|title=Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past
|publisher=The Journal of American History Volume 93, Number 1 (June, 2006): 117-46
|author=Roy Rosenzweig
|accessdate=2007-10-29
}}</ref> All of these led to the question of the reliability of Wikipedia as a source of accurate information.

In 2008 two researchers theorized that the growth of Wikipedia is sustainable.<ref name="spinellis">[[Diomidis Spinellis]] and [[Panagiotis Louridas]] (2008): [http://www.dmst.aueb.gr/dds/pubs/jrnl/2008-CACM-Wikipedia/html/SL08.pdf The collaborative organization of knowledge]. In [[Communications of the ACM]], August 2008, Vol 51, No 8, Pages 68 - 73. DOI:10.1145/1378704.1378720. Quote: "Most new articles are created shortly after a corresponding reference to them is entered into the system". See also: [[Wikipedia:Inflationary hypothesis of Wikipedia growth|Inflationary hypothesis of Wikipedia growth]]</ref>

===Reliability and bias===
{{main|Reliability of Wikipedia}}
{{seealso|Criticism of Wikipedia}}

Wikipedia has been accused of exhibiting [[systemic bias]] and inconsistency;<ref name="Who" /> critics argue that Wikipedia's open nature and a lack of proper sources for much of the information makes it unreliable.<ref>{{cite news|author=Stacy Schiff | date = 2006-07-31 | title = Know It All | work = The New Yorker}}</ref> Some commentators suggest that Wikipedia is generally reliable, but that the reliability of any given article is not always clear.<ref name="AcademiaAndWikipedia" /> Editors of traditional [[reference work]]s such as the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' have questioned the project's utility and status as an encyclopedia.<ref name="McHenry_2004">[[Robert McHenry]], "[http://www.techcentralstation.com/111504A.html The Faith-Based Encyclopedia]", [[Tech Central Station]], November 15, 2004.</ref> Many [[university]] [[lecturer]]s discourage students from citing any encyclopedia in [[Academia|academic work]], preferring [[primary source]]s;<ref name="WideWorldOfWikipedia">{{ cite web | title = Wide World of WIKIPEDIA | publisher = The Emory Wheel | url = http://www.emorywheel.com/detail.php?n=17902 | date = April 21, 2006 | accessdate = 2007-10-17 }}</ref> some specifically prohibit Wikipedia citations.<ref>{{cite news |first=Scott |last=Jaschik |title=A Stand Against Wikipedia |url=http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/26/wiki |publisher=Inside Higher Ed |date=2007-01-26 |accessdate=2007-01-27 }}</ref> Co-founder [[Jimmy Wales]] stresses that encyclopedias of any type are not usually appropriate as primary sources, and should not be relied upon as authoritative.<ref name="AWorkInProgress">{{cite news |first=Burt |last=Helm |title= Wikipedia: "A Work in Progress" |url= http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051214_441708.htm |publisher=[[BusinessWeek]] |date=2005-12-14 |accessdate=2007-01-29 }}</ref>
[[File:John Seigenthaler Sr. speaking.jpg|right|thumb|[[John Seigenthaler Sr.]] has described Wikipedia as "a flawed and irresponsible research tool."<ref name="Seigenthaler" />]]
Concerns have also been raised regarding the lack of [[accountability]] that results from users' anonymity,<ref name="WikipediaWatch">Public Information Research&nbsp;– Wikipedia Watch. Retrieved on [[2007-01-28]].</ref> the insertion of spurious information, [[vandalism]], and similar problems. In one particularly well-publicized [[Seigenthaler incident|incident]], false information was introduced into the biography of American political figure [[John Seigenthaler, Sr.]] and remained undetected for four months.<ref name="Seigenthaler">{{cite news
|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-11-29-wikipedia-edit_x.htm
|last=Seigenthaler
|first=John
|title=A False Wikipedia 'biography'
|date=2005-11-29
|publisher=USA Today
|accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> Some critics claim that Wikipedia's open structure makes it an easy target for Internet [[troll (Internet)|trolls]], [[Spam (electronic)|advertisers]], and those with an agenda to push.<ref>{{cite web
|title=Toward a New Compendium of Knowledge (longer version)
|url=http://www.citizendium.org/essay.html
|work=Citizendium.org
|accessdate=2006-10-10
}}</ref><ref name="Torsten_Kleinz">{{cite news
|first=Torsten
|last=Kleinz
|title=World of Knowledge
|work =The Wikipedia Project
|url=http://w3.linux-magazine.com/issue/51/Wikipedia_Encyclopedia.pdf
|format=PDF|publisher=[[Linux Magazine]]
|date=February, 2005

|accessdate=2007-07-13
|quote= The Wikipedia's open structure makes it a target for trolls and vandals who malevolently add incorrect information to articles, get other people tied up in endless discussions, and generally do everything to draw attention to themselves.}}</ref> The addition of political [[Spin (public relations)|spin]] to articles by organizations including members of the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] and special interest groups<ref name="DeathByWikipedia">{{cite web
|title=Death by Wikipedia: The Kenneth Lay Chronicles
|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/08/AR2006070800135.html
|first=Frank
|last=Ahrens
|publisher=The Washington Post
|date=2006-07-09
|accessdate=2006-11-01}}</ref> has been noted,<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-6032713-7.html
|title=Politicians notice Wikipedia
|publisher=[[CNET Networks|CNET]]
|author=Kane, Margaret
|date=2006-01-30
|accessdate=2007-01-28
}}</ref> and organizations such as [[Microsoft]] have offered financial incentives to work on certain articles.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16775981/
|title=Microsoft offers cash for Wikipedia edit
|publisher=[[MSNBC]]
|author=Bergstein, Brian
|date=2007-01-23
|accessdate=2007-02-01
}}</ref> These issues have been parodied, notably by [[Stephen Colbert]] in ''[[The Colbert Report]]''.<ref name="wikiality">{{cite news
|title=Wikiality
|publisher=Comedycentral.com
|url=http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/72347/july-31-2006/the-word---wikiality
|author=Stephen Colbert
|date=2006-07-30
|accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref>

Economist [[Tyler Cowen]] writes, "If I had to guess whether Wikipedia or the median refereed journal article on economics was more likely to be true, after a not so long think I would opt for Wikipedia." He comments that many traditional sources of non-fiction suffer from systemic biases. Novel results are over-reported in journal articles, and relevant information is omitted from news reports. But he also cautions that errors are frequently found on Internet sites, and that academics and experts must be vigilant in correcting them.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.tnr.com/story.html?id=82eb5d70-13bd-4086-9ec0-cb0e9e8411b3
|title=Cooked Books
|author=Tyler Cowen
|publisher=The New Republic
|date=2008-03-14
|accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref>

In February 2007, an article in ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' newspaper reported that some of the professors at [[Harvard University]] include Wikipedia in their [[syllabus]], but that there is a split in their perception of using Wikipedia.<ref>Child, Maxwell L.,[http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=517305 "Professors Split on Wiki Debate"], The Harvard Crimson, Monday, February 26, 2007.</ref> In June 2007, former president of the [[American Library Association]] [[Michael Gorman (librarian)|Michael Gorman]] condemned Wikipedia, along with [[Google]],<ref name="stothart">Chloe Stothart, [http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=209408 Web threatens learning ethos],
''The Times Higher Education Supplement'', 2007, '''1799''' (June 22), page 2</ref> stating that academics who endorse the use of Wikipedia are "the intellectual equivalent of a [[dietitian]] who recommends a steady diet of [[Big Mac]]s with everything". He also said that "a generation of intellectual sluggards incapable of moving beyond the Internet" was being produced at universities. He complains that the web-based sources are discouraging students from learning from the more rare texts which are either found only on paper or are on subscription-only web sites. In the same article Jenny Fry (a research fellow at the [[Oxford Internet Institute]]) commented on academics who cite Wikipedia, saying that: "You cannot say children are intellectually lazy because they are using the Internet when academics are using search engines in their research. The difference is that they have more experience of being critical about what is retrieved and whether it is authoritative. Children need to be told how to use the Internet in a critical and appropriate way."<ref name="stothart" />
<!--
Speaking at a conference in Pennsylvania, Wales said he receives about ten e-mails weekly from students saying they got failing grades on papers because they cited Wikipedia. According to ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' of London, Wales told the students they got what they deserved. "For God's sake, you're in college; don't cite the encyclopedia," he said.<ref>"Jimmy Wales," ''Biography Resource Center Online''. (Gale, 2006)</ref>

So what? First we need some paragraph discussing the reliance of Wikipedia in school. -- Taku
-->

There have been efforts within the Wikipedia community to improve the reliability of Wikipedia. The English-language Wikipedia has introduced an assessment scale against which the quality of articles is judged;<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Version_1.0_Editorial_Team/Assessment
|title=Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment
|accessdate=2007-10-28}}</ref> other editions have also adopted this. Roughly 2000 articles in English have passed a rigorous set of criteria to reach the highest rank, "featured article" status; such articles are intended to provide thorough, well-written coverage of their topic, supported by many references to peer-reviewed publications.<ref>{{cite journal
|url=http://www.research.ibm.com/visual/papers/hidden_order_wikipedia.pdf
|author=Fernanda B. Viégas, Martin Wattenberg, and Matthew M. McKeon
|title=The Hidden Order of Wikipedia
|publisher=Visual Communication Lab, IBM Research
|date=2007-07-22
|format=PDF
|accessdate=2007-10-30}}</ref> In order to improve reliability, some editors have called for "stable versions" of articles, or articles that have been reviewed by the community and locked from further editing—but the community has been unable to form a consensus in favor of such changes, partly because they would require a major software overhaul.<ref>[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Reviewed_article_version]</ref><ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Stable_versions]</ref> However a similar system is being tested on the German Wikipedia, and there is an expectation that some form of that system will make its way onto the English version at some future time.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Flagged_revisions]</ref><ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dapete/Report_on_Flagged_Revisions,_December_14,_2008</ref> Software created by Luca de Alfaro and colleagues at the [[University of California, Santa Cruz]] is now being tested that will assign "trust ratings" to individual Wikipedia contributors, with the intention that eventually only edits made by those who have established themselves as "trusted editors" will be made immediately visible.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526226.200-wikipedia-20--now-with-added-trust.html
|last=Giles
|first=Jim
|title=Wikipedia 2.0 - now with added trust
|date=2007-09-20
|publisher=NewScientist.com news service
|accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref>

===Wikipedia community===
[[File:WIkimania-2006 010.jpg|left|thumb|[[Wikimania]], an annual conference for users of Wikipedia and other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation.]]
The community has a power structure.<ref name="iTWireJune18-2006">
{{cite news
|first=Stuart
|last=Corner
|title=What's all the fuss about Wikipedia?
|url=http://www.itwire.com/content/view/4666/127/
|publisher=[[iT Wire]]
|date=June 18, 2006
|accessdate=2007-03-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2184487 |title=The Wisdom of the Chaperones |date=2008-02-22 |first=Chris |last=Wilson |publisher=Slate |accessdate=2008-03-04}}</ref>
Wikipedia's community has also been described as "[[cult]]-like,"<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2005/dec/15/wikipedia.web20
|title=Log on and join in, but beware the web cults
|first=Charles |last=Arthur
|date=2005-12-15
|publisher= ''[[The Guardian]]''
|accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> although not always with entirely negative connotations,<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/08/03/wikipedia/index.html
|title=Wikipedia: The know-it-all Web site
|date=2003-08-04
|first=Kristie
|last=Lu Stout|publisher=CNN
|accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> and criticized for failing to accommodate inexperienced users.<ref>"{{cite web
|url=http://wikinfo.org/index.php/Critical_views_of_Wikipedia
|title=Critical views of Wikipedia
|author=Wikinfo
|date=2005-03-30
|accessdate=2007-01-29
}}</ref><!--While they are welcomed by the community,<ref name="TheNewYorker">
{{cite news
|first=Stacy
|last=Schiff
|title=Can Wikipedia conquer expertise?
|work =Know It All
|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/07/31/060731fa_fact
|publisher =The New Yorker
|date =July 24, 2006
|accessdate=2007-03-25}}</ref> authors new to Wikipedia are encouraged to read policies to help them learn the ways of Wikipedia.<ref name="Torsten_Kleinz" />--> Editors in good standing in the community can run for one of many of levels of volunteer stewardship; this begins with "[[sysop|administrator]]",<ref name="David_Mehegan">{{cite news
|first=David
|last=Mehegan
|title=Many contributors, common cause
|url=http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/02/13/many_contributors_common_cause/
|publisher=[[The Boston Globe]]
|date=February 13, 2006
|accessdate=2007-03-25}}</ref> a group of privileged users ({{srlink|Special:Statistics|1,594 Wikipedians}} for the English edition on September 30, 2008), who have the ability to delete pages, lock articles from being changed in case of vandalism or editorial disputes, and block users from editing. Despite the name, administrators do not enjoy any special privilege in decision-making and are prohibited from using their powers to settle content disputes. The roles of administrators, often described as "janitorial", are mostly limited to making edits that have project-wide effects and thus are disallowed to ordinary editors in order to minimize disruption, as well as banning users from making disruptive edits such as vandalism. While these administrators are very much needed and respected for their work, they can be seen by some users as disruptive; removing legitimate material by their own discretion.<!--From the beginning, the role of founder Jimmy Wales, within the Wikipedia community, has been unclear, while co-founder Larry Sanger in the early days had served as an editor-in-chief. -->

As Wikipedia grows with an unconventional model of encyclopedia building, "Who writes Wikipedia?" has become one of the questions frequently asked on the project, often with a reference to other Web 2.0 projects such as [[Digg]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.viktoria.se/altchi/submissions/submission_edchi_1.pdf |title=Power of the Few vs. Wisdom of the Crowd: Wikipedia and the Rise of the Bourgeoisie |first=Aniket |last=Kittur |format=PDF | accessdate =2008-02-23}}</ref> Jimmy Wales once argued that only "a community&nbsp;... a dedicated group of a few hundred volunteers" makes the bulk of contributions to Wikipedia and that the project is therefore "much like any traditional organization". Wales performed a study finding that over 50% of all the edits are done by just .7% of the users (at the time: 524 people). This method of evaluating contributions was later disputed by [[Aaron Swartz]], who noted that several articles he sampled had large portions of their content (measured by number of characters) contributed by users with low edit counts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/whowriteswikipedia |title=Raw Thought: Who Writes Wikipedia? |first=Aaron |last=Swartz |date=2006-09-04 |accessdate=2008-02-23}}</ref> A 2007 study by researchers from [[Dartmouth College]] found that "anonymous and infrequent contributors to Wikipedia ... are as reliable a source of knowledge as those contributors who register with the site."<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=good-samaritans-are-on-the-money
|title=Wikipedia "Good Samaritans'' Are on the Money
|publisher=[[Scientific American]]
|date=2007-10-19
|accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref>
Although some contributors are authorities in their field, Wikipedia requires that even their contributions be supported by published and verifiable sources. The project's preference for [[consensus]] over [[credential]]s has been labeled "anti-elitism".<ref name="SangerElitism">[[Larry Sanger]], [http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/30/142458/25 Why Wikipedia Must Jettison Its Anti-Elitism], [[Kuro5hin]], December 31, 2004.</ref>

In August 2007, a website developed by computer science graduate student [[Virgil Griffith]] named [[WikiScanner]] made its public debut. WikiScanner traces the source of millions of changes made to Wikipedia by editors who are not logged in, which reveals that many of these edits come from corporations or sovereign government agencies about articles related to them, their personnel or their work, and are attempts to remove criticism.<ref name="Seeing Corporate Fingerprints">{{cite news
|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/technology/19wikipedia.html
|title=Seeing Corporate Fingerprints From the Editing of Wikipedia
|first=Katie
|last=Hafner
|date=2007-08-19
|publisher=New York Times
|accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref><!-- Wales called WikiScanner "a very clever idea," and said that he was considering some changes to Wikipedia to help visitors better understand what information is recorded about them. "When someone clicks on 'edit,' it would be interesting if we could say, 'Hi, thank you for editing. We see you're logged in from ''[[The New York Times]]''. Keep in mind that we know that, and it's public information,'" he said. "That might make them stop and think."<ref name="Seeing Corporate Fingerprints"/>-->

In a 2003 study of Wikipedia as a community, economics [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] student Andrea Ciffolilli argued that the low [[transaction cost]]s of participating in [[wiki]] software create a catalyst for collaborative development, and that a "creative construction" approach encourages participation.<ref>
Andrea Ciffolilli, "[http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_12/ciffolilli/index.html Phantom authority, self-selective recruitment and retention of members in virtual communities: The case of Wikipedia]", ''[[First Monday (journal)|First Monday]]'' December 2003.
</ref> In his 2008 book, ''The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It'', [[Jonathan Zittrain]] of the [[Oxford Internet Institute]] and Harvard Law School’s [[Berkman Center for Internet & Society]] cites Wikipedia's success as a case study in how open collaboration has fostered innovation on the web.<ref> {{cite book
| last = Zittrain
| first = Jonathan
|title = The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It&nbsp;— Chapter 6: The Lessons of Wikipedia
| author-link = Jonathan Zittrain
| publisher = Yale University Press
| year = 2008
| url = http://yupnet.org/zittrain/archives/16
| isbn = 978-0300124873
| accessdate = 2008-12-26}}</ref>

A 2008 study found that Wikipedians were lower in agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness than non-Wikipedia users.<ref>Yair Amichai–Hamburger, Naama Lamdan, Rinat Madiel, Tsahi Hayat [http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2007.0225 Personality Characteristics of Wikipedia Members] ''CyberPsychology & Behavior'' December 1, 2008, 11(6): 679-681. doi:10.1089/cpb.2007.0225</ref><ref>[http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126883.900-wikipedians-are-closed-and-disagreeable.html Wikipedians are 'closed' and 'disagreeable']</ref>

====Signpost====
The ''[[Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost|Wikipedia Signpost]]'' is the community newspaper on the [[English Wikipedia]], and was founded by [[Michael Snow (attorney)|Michael Snow]], an administrator and the current chair of the [[Wikimedia Foundation]] board of trustees.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/technology/05wikipedia.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1 |title=A Contributor to Wikipedia Has His Fictional Side |date=2007-03-05 |first=Noam |last=Cohen |work=[[New York Times]] |accessdate=2008-10-18}}</ref> It covers news and events from the site, as well as major events from sister projects, such as [[Wikimedia Commons]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2005/12/19/ten-more-wikipedia-hacks |title=Ten More Wikipedia Hacks |date=2005-12-19 |first=Steve |last=Rubel |work=[[WebProNews]] |accessdate=2008-10-18}}</ref>

==Operation==
===Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia chapters===
[[File:Wikimedia Foundation RGB logo with text.svg|thumb|right|180px|Wikimedia Foundation logo]]
Wikipedia is hosted and funded by the [[Wikimedia Foundation]], a non-profit organization which also operates Wikipedia-related projects such as [[Wikibooks]]. The Wikimedia chapters, local associations of Wikipedians, also participate in the promotion, the development and the funding of the project.

===Software and hardware===
The operation of Wikipedia depends on [[MediaWiki]], a custom-made, [[free software|free]] and [[open source software|open source]] [[wiki software]] platform written in [[PHP]] and built upon the [[MySQL]] database.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nedworks.org/~mark/presentations/san/Wikimedia%20architecture.pdf |format=PDF|title=Wikimedia Architecture |author=Mark Bergman |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation Inc. |accessdate=2008-06-27}}</ref> The software incorporates programming features such as a [[Macro (computer science)|macro language]], [[variable]]s, a [[transclusion]] system for [[Web template#Sub-template|templates]], and [[URL redirection]]. MediaWiki is licensed under the [[GNU General Public License]] and used by all Wikimedia projects, as well as many other wiki projects. Originally, Wikipedia ran on [[UseModWiki]] written in [[Perl]] by Clifford Adams (Phase I), which initially required [[CamelCase]] for article hyperlinks; the present double bracket style was incorporated later. Starting in January 2002 (Phase II), Wikipedia began running on a [[PhpWiki|PHP wiki]] engine with a MySQL database; this software was custom-made for Wikipedia by Magnus Manske. The Phase II software was repeatedly modified to accommodate the [[Exponential growth|exponentially increasing]] demand. In July 2002 (Phase III), Wikipedia shifted to the third-generation software, MediaWiki, originally written by [[Lee Daniel Crocker]].

[[File:Wikimedia-servers-2008-11-10.svg|thumb|left|Overview of system architecture, November 2008. See [[:meta:Server layout diagrams|server layout diagrams on Meta-Wiki]].]]

Wikipedia currently runs on dedicated [[computer cluster|clusters]] of [[Linux]] servers (mainly [[Ubuntu]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Servers+and+Data+Center&articleId=9116787&taxonomyId=154&pageNumber=1 |title=Wikipedia simplifies IT infrastructure by moving to one Linux vendor |publisher=Computerworld.com |author=Todd R. Weiss |date=October 9, 2008 (Computerworld) |accessdate=2008-11-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081009-wikipedia-adopts-ubuntu-for-its-server-infrastructure.html |title=Wikipedia adopts Ubuntu for its server infrastructure |publisher=Arstechnica.com |date= |accessdate=2008-11-01}}</ref>), with a few [[OpenSolaris]] machines for [[ZFS]]. As of February 2008, there were 300 in [[Florida]], 26 in [[Amsterdam]], and 23 in Yahoo!'s Korean hosting facility in [[Seoul]].<ref name="servers">{{cite web|url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_servers|title=Wikimedia servers at wikimedia.org|accessdate=2008-02-16}}</ref> Wikipedia employed a single server until 2004, when the server setup was expanded into a distributed [[multitier architecture]]. In January 2005, the project ran on 39 [[Dedicated hosting service|dedicated servers]] located in Florida. This configuration included a single master [[database server]] running [[MySQL]], multiple slave database servers, 21 [[web server]]s running the [[Apache HTTP Server]], and seven [[Squid (software)|Squid cache]] servers.

Wikipedia receives between 25,000 and 60,000 page requests per second, depending on time of day.<ref>"[http://toolserver.org/~leon/stats/reqstats/reqstats-monthly.png Monthly request statistics]", Wikimedia. Retrieved on [[2008-10-31]].</ref> Page requests are first passed to a front-end layer of [[Squid (software)|Squid caching]] servers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dammit.lt/uc/workbook2007.pdf |format=PDF|title=Wikipedia: Site internals, configuration, code examples and management issues |author=Domas Mituzas |publisher=MySQL Users Conference 2007 |accessdate=2008-06-27}}</ref> Requests that cannot be served from the Squid cache are sent to load-balancing servers running the [[Linux Virtual Server]] software, which in turn pass the request to one of the Apache web servers for page rendering from the database. The web servers deliver pages as requested, performing page rendering for all the language editions of Wikipedia. To increase speed further, rendered pages are cached in a distributed memory cache until invalidated, allowing page rendering to be skipped entirely for most common page accesses. Two larger clusters in the Netherlands and Korea now handle much of Wikipedia's traffic load.{{Fact|date=October 2008}}

==License and language editions==
{{see also|List of Wikipedias}}
[[File:English Wikipedia contributors by country.svg|thumb|Contributors for English Wikipedia by country as of September 2006.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Edits_by_project_and_country_of_origin
|title=Edits by project and country of origin
|date=2006-09-04
|accessdate=2007-10-25
}}</ref>]]
All text in Wikipedia is covered by [[GNU Free Documentation License]] (GFDL), a [[copyleft]] license permitting the redistribution, creation of derivative works, and commercial use of content while authors retain copyright of their work.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights |title=Wikipedia:Copyrights |publisher=English Wikipedia |accessdate=2008-04-22}}</ref> The position that Wikipedia is merely a hosting service has been successfully used as a defense in court.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110201339_Inform.html
|title=Wikipedia cleared in French defamation case
|publisher=Reuters
|date=2007-11-02
|accessdate=2007-11-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080502-dumb-idea-suing-wikipedia-for-calling-you-dumb.html |title=Dumb idea: suing Wikipedia for calling you "dumb" |first=Nate |last=Anderson |date=2008-05-02 |publisher=
Ars Technica |accessdate=2008-05-04}}</ref> Wikipedia had been working on the switch to [[Creative Commons licenses]] because the GFDL, initially designed for software manuals, is not suitable for online reference works and because the two licenses are currently incompatible.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:License_update
|title=Resolution:License update
|year=2007
|author=Walter Vermeir
|publisher=Wikizine
|accessdate=2007-12-04}}</ref> In response to the Wikimedia Foundation's request, in November 2008, the [[Free Software Foundation]] (FSF) released a new version of GFDL designed specifically to allow Wikipedia to relicense its content to [[CC-BY-SA]] by August 1, 2009. Wikipedia and its sister projects will hold a community-wide referendum to decide whether or not to make the license switch.<ref>http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Licensing_update/Questions_and_Answers</ref>

The handling of media files (e.g., image files) varies across language editions. Some language editions, such as the English Wikipedia, include non-free image files under [[fair use]] doctrine, while the others have opted not to. This is in part because of the difference in copyright laws between countries; for example, the notion of fair use does not exist in [[Japanese copyright law]]. Media files covered by [[free content]] licenses (e.g., Creative Commons' cc-by-sa) are shared across language editions via [[Wikimedia Commons]] repository, a project operated by the Wikimedia Foundation.

There are currently 262&nbsp;[[List of Wikipedias|language editions of Wikipedia]]; of these, 24 have over 100,000&nbsp;articles and 81 have over 1,000&nbsp;articles.<ref name="ListOfWikipedias">{{cite web | url = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Statistics | title = Statistics | publisher = [[English Wikipedia]] | accessdate = 2008-06-21 }}</ref> According to Alexa, the English [[subdomain]] (en.wikipedia.org; [[English Wikipedia]]) receives approximately 52% of Wikipedia's cumulative traffic, with the remaining split among the other languages (Spanish: 19%, French: 5%, Polish: 3%, German: 3%, Japanese: 3%, Portuguese: 2%).<ref name="AlexaStats" /> As of July 2008, the five largest language editions are (in order of article count) [[English Wikipedia|English]], [[German Wikipedia|German]], [[French Wikipedia|French]], [[Polish Wikipedia|Polish]] and [[Japanese Wikipedia]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Multilingual_statistics |title=Wikipedia:Multilingual statistics |publisher=English Wikipedia |accessdate=2007-12-23}}</ref>

Since Wikipedia is web-based and therefore worldwide, contributors of a same language edition may use different dialects or may come from different countries (as is the case for the [[English Wikipedia|English edition]]). These differences may lead to some conflicts over [[American and British English spelling differences|spelling differences]], (e.g. ''color'' vs. ''colour'')<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Spelling|title= spelling | work = Manual of Style | publisher = Wikipedia |accessdate=2007-05-19}}</ref> or points of view.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Countering_systemic_bias|title=Countering systemic bias|accessdate=2007-05-19}}</ref>
Though the various language editions are held to global policies such as "neutral point of view," they diverge on some points of policy and practice, most notably on whether images that are not [[Free Content|licensed freely]] may be used under a claim of [[fair use]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
|title=Fair use
|publisher=Meta wiki
|accessdate=2007-07-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Images_on_Wikipedia
|title=Images on Wikipedia
|accessdate=2007-07-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
|url=http://www.research.ibm.com/visual/papers/viegas_hicss_visual_wikipedia.pdf
|format=PDF|author=Fernanda B. Viégas
|title=The Visual Side of Wikipedia
|publisher=Visual Communication Lab, IBM Research
|date=2007-01-03
|accessdate=2007-10-30}}</ref>
[[File:PercentWikipediasGraph.png|thumb|left|Percentage of all Wikipedia articles in English (red) and top ten largest language editions (blue). As of July 2008, less than 23% of Wikipedia articles are in English.]] Jimmy Wales has described Wikipedia as "an effort to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single person on the planet in their own language".<ref>[[Jimmy Wales]], "[http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2005-March/020469.html Wikipedia is an encyclopedia]", March 8, 2005, <Wikipedia-l@wikimedia.org></ref> Though each language edition functions more or less independently, some efforts are made to supervise them all. They are coordinated in part by [[Wikipedia:Meta|Meta-Wiki]], the Wikimedia Foundation's wiki devoted to maintaining all of its projects (Wikipedia and others). For instance, Meta-Wiki provides [[m:Statistics|important statistics]] on all language editions of Wikipedia and maintain a [[m:List of articles every Wikipedia should have|list of articles every Wikipedia should have]]. The list concerns basic content by subject: biography, history, geography, society, culture, science, technology, foodstuffs, and mathematics. As for the rest, it is not rare for articles strongly related to a particular language not to have counterparts in another edition. For example, articles about small towns in the United States might only be available in English.

Translated articles represent only a small portion of articles in most editions, in part because automated translation of articles is disallowed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Translations |title=Wikipedia: Translation |work=English Wikipedia |accessdate=2007-02-03}}</ref> Articles available in more than one language may offer "[[InterWiki]]" links, which link to the counterpart articles in other editions.

Several language versions have published a selection of Wikipedia articles on an optical disk version. An English version, [[2006 Wikipedia CD Selection]], contained about 2,000 articles. Another English version<ref>"[http://www.wikipediaondvd.com/site.php?temp=down List of Mirrors Hosting the CD Iso.]" ''Wikipedia on DVD''. [[History of Wikipedia|Linterweb]]. Accessed June 1, 2007</ref> developed by [[History of Wikipedia|Linterweb]] contains "1988 + articles".<ref>"[http://www.wikipediaondvd.com/ Wikipedia on DVD]". Linterweb. Accessed June 1, 2007. "Linterweb is authorized to make a commercial use of the Wikipedia trademark restricted to the selling of the Encyclopedia CDs and DVDs."</ref><ref>"[http://www.wikipediaondvd.com/site.php?temp=buy Wikipedia 0.5 Available on a CD-ROM]". ''Wikipedia on DVD''. Linterweb. Accessed June 1, 2007. "The DVD or CD-ROM version 0.5 was commercially available for purchase."</ref> The Polish version contains nearly 240,000 articles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Polska_Wikipedia_na_DVD_%28z_Helionem%29/en |title=Polish Wikipedia on DVD |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> There are also a few German versions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia-Distribution |title=Wikipedia:DVD |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref>

==Cultural significance==
{{main|Wikipedia in culture‎}}
[[File:Webcomic xkcd - Wikipedian protester.png|300px|thumb|right|An [[xkcd]] strip entitled "Wikipedian Protester."]]
In addition to [[Logistic function|logistic growth]] in the number of its articles,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Modelling_Wikipedia%27s_growth |title=Wikipedia:Modelling Wikipedia's growth |accessdate=2007-12-22}}</ref> Wikipedia has steadily gained status as a general reference website since its inception in 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=849 |title=694 Million People Currently Use the Internet Worldwide According To comScore Networks |date-2006-05-04 |publisher=comScore |accessdate=2007-12-16 |quote=Wikipedia has emerged as a site that continues to increase in popularity, both globally and in the U.S.}}</ref> According to [[Alexa Internet|Alexa]] and [[comScore]], Wikipedia is among the ten most visited websites worldwide.<ref name="AlexaTop500">{{cite web |url=http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=global&lang=none |title=Top 500 |publisher=[[Alexa Internet|Alexa]] |accessdate=2007-12-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comscore.com/press/data.asp |title=comScore Data Center |month=October | year=2007 |accessdate=2008-01-19}}</ref> Of the top ten, Wikipedia is the only non-profit website. The growth of Wikipedia has been fueled by its dominant position in Google search results;<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/16111162.html |title=Wikipedia or Wickedpedia? |journal=Hoover Institution |first=Michael J |last= Petrilli |volume=8 |issue=2 |accessdate=2008-03-21}}</ref> about 50% of search engine traffic to Wikipedia comes from Google,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://weblogs.hitwise.com/leeann-prescott/2007/02/wikipedia_traffic_sources.html |title=Google Traffic To Wikipedia up 166% Year over Year |publisher=[[Hitwise]] |date=2007-02-16 |accessdate=2007-12-22}}</ref> a good portion of which is related to academic research.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://weblogs.hitwise.com/leeann-prescott/2006/10/wikipedia_and_academic_researc.html |title=Wikipedia and Academic Research |publisher=[[Hitwise]] |date=2006-10-17 |accessdate=2008-02-06}}</ref> In April 2007 the [[Pew Research Center|Pew]] Internet and American Life project found that one third of US Internet users consulted Wikipedia.<ref>{{cite web |first=Lee |last=Rainie |coauthor=Bill Tancer |title=Wikipedia users |publisher=[[Pew Research Center]] |work=Pew Internet & American Life Project |date=2007-12-15 |url=http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Wikipedia07.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=2007-12-15 |quote=36% of online American adults consult Wikipedia. It is particularly popular with the well-educated and current college-age students.}}</ref> In October 2006, the site was estimated to have a hypothetical market value of $580&nbsp;million if it ran advertisements.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.watchmojo.com/web/blog/?p=626
|title=What is Wikipedia.org's Valuation?
|first=Ashkan
|last=Karbasfrooshan
|date=2006-10-26
|accessdate=2007-12-01}}</ref>

Wikipedia's content has also been used in academic studies, books, conferences, and court cases.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia in the media |title=Wikipedia:Wikipedia in the media |work=Wikipedia |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/200216886.pdf|title=Bourgeois ''et al'' v. Peters ''et al.''|format=PDF|accessdate=2007-02-06}}</ref> The [[Parliament of Canada]]'s website refers to Wikipedia's article on [[same-sex marriage]] in the "related links" section of its "further reading" list for the [[Civil Marriage Act]].<ref> [http://www.parl.gc.ca/LEGISINFO/index.asp?Session=13&query=4381&List=ot#2 C-38], LEGISINFO (March 28, 2005)</ref> The encyclopedia's assertions are increasingly used as a source by organizations such as the U.S. Federal Courts and the [[World Intellectual Property Organization]]<ref name="WP_court_source">{{cite journal |last=Arias |first=Martha L. |date=2007-01-29 |url=http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1668 |title=Wikipedia: The Free Online Encyclopedia and its Use as Court Source |journal=Internet Business Law Services |accessdate=2008-12-26}} (the name "''World Intellectual Property Office''" should however read "''World Intellectual Property Organization''" in this source)</ref>&nbsp;– though mainly for ''supporting information'' rather than information decisive to a case.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cohen |first=Noam |date=2007-01-29 |title=Courts Turn to Wikipedia, but Selectively |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/technology/29wikipedia.html |journal=New York Times |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> Content appearing on Wikipedia has also been cited as a source and referenced in some [[U.S. intelligence community|U.S. intelligence agency]] reports.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2007/03/the_wikipedia_factor_in_us_int.html
|title=The Wikipedia Factor in U.S. Intelligence
|first=Steven | last= Aftergood
|publisher=Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy
|date=2007-03-21
|accessdate=2007-04-14}}</ref>

Wikipedia has also been used as a source in [[journalism]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Wikipedia in the Newsroom |url=http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4461 |date=[[February 2008|February]]/March 2008 |publisher=[[American Journalism Review]] |first=Donna |last=Shaw |accessdate=2008-02-11}}</ref> sometimes without attribution, and several reporters have been dismissed for plagiarizing from Wikipedia.<ref>Shizuoka newspaper plagiarized Wikipedia article, ''Japan News Review'', July 5, 2007</ref><ref> "[http://web.archive.org/web/20071015045010/http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA010307.02A.richter.132c153.html Express-News staffer resigns after plagiarism in column is discovered]", ''[[San Antonio Express-News]]'', January 9, 2007.</ref><ref>"[http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/01/13/news/story03.html Inquiry prompts reporter's dismissal]", ''[[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]]'', January 13, 2007.</ref>
In July 2007, Wikipedia was the focus of a 30-minute documentary on [[BBC Radio 4]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/pip/efv21/|title=Radio 4 Documentary |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> which argued that, with increased usage and awareness, the number of references to Wikipedia in popular culture is such that the term is one of a select band of 21st-century nouns that are so familiar ([[Google]], [[Facebook]], [[YouTube]]) that they no longer need explanation and are on a par with such 20th-century terms as [[The Hoover Company|Hoovering]] or [[Coca-Cola|Coke]]. Many parody Wikipedia's openness, with characters vandalizing or modifying the online encyclopedia project's articles. Notably, comedian [[Stephen Colbert]] has parodied or referenced Wikipedia on numerous episodes of his show ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' and coined the related term "[[wikiality]]."<ref name="wikiality" />

[[File:Onion wikipedia.jpg|thumb|left|''[[The Onion]]'' newspaper headline "Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years Of American Independence"]]
Wikipedia has also created an impact upon forms of media. Some media sources satirize Wikipedia's susceptibility to inserted inaccuracies, such as a front-page article in ''[[The Onion]]'' in July 2006 with the title "Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years of American Independence."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theonion.com/content/node/50902 |title=Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years Of American Independence |accessyear=2006 |year=2006 |work=[[The Onion]] |accessmonthday= October 15}}</ref> Others may draw upon Wikipedia's statement that anyone can edit, such as "[[The Negotiation]]," an episode of ''[[The Office (U.S. TV series)|The Office]]'', where character [[Michael Scott (The Office)|Michael Scott]] said that "Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information". A select few parody Wikipedia's policies, such as the ''[[xkcd]]'' strip named "Wikipedian Protester."

The first documentary film about Wikipedia, entitled ''[[Truth in Numbers: The Wikipedia Story]]'', is scheduled for 2009 release. Shot on several continents, the film will cover the history of Wikipedia and feature interviews with Wikipedia editors around the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wikidocumentary.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page |title=Truth in Numbers: The Wikipedia Story |publisher=Wikidocumentary.wikia.com |date= |accessdate=2008-11-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/11/PKGRJN87UI1.DTL| title=Industry Buzz| last=Hart| first=Hugh| date=March 11, 2007| publisher=[[San Francisco Chronicle|SFGate.com]] |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref> Dutch filmmaker [[Tegenlicht|IJsbrand van Veelen]] premiered his 45-minute television documentary ''The Truth According to Wikipedia'' in April, 2008.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/08/the-truth-according-to-wikipedia/
|title=The Truth According to Wikipedia
|last=Schonfeld
|first=Erick
|date=April 8, 2008
|publisher=TechCruch.com}}</ref>

On September 28, 2007, Italian politician [[Franco Grillini]] raised a parliamentary question with the Minister of Cultural Resources and Activities about the necessity of [[Panoramafreiheit|freedom of panorama]]. He said that the lack of such freedom forced Wikipedia, "the seventh most consulted website" to forbid all images of modern Italian buildings and art, and claimed this was hugely damaging to tourist revenues.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grillini.it/show.php?4885|title=Comunicato stampa. On. Franco Grillini. Wikipedia. Interrogazione a Rutelli. Con "diritto di panorama" promuovere arte e architettura contemporanea italiana. Rivedere con urgenza legge copyright|date=October 12, 2007 |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref>
On September 16, 2007, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported that Wikipedia had become a focal point in the [[United States presidential election, 2008|2008 U.S. election campaign]], saying, "Type a candidate's name into Google, and among the first results is a Wikipedia page, making those entries arguably as important as any ad in defining a candidate. Already, the presidential entries are being edited, dissected and debated countless times each day."<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/16/AR2007091601699_pf.html
|title=On Wikipedia, Debating 2008 Hopefuls' Every Facet
|author=Jose Antonio Vargas
|publisher=The Washington Post
|date=2007-09-17
|accessdate=2008-12-26}}
</ref> An October 2007 [[Reuters]] article, entitled "Wikipedia page the latest status symbol", reported the recent phenomenon of how having a Wikipedia article vindicates one's notability.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2232893820071022?sp=true
|title=Wikipedia page the latest status symbol
|author=Jennifer Ablan
|publisher=Reuters
|date=2007-10-22
|accessdate=2007-10-24}}</ref>

[[File:Quadriga-verleihung-rr-02.jpg|thumb|Jimmy Wales receiving the [[Quadriga (award)|Quadriga]] ''A Mission of Enlightenment'' award]]

Wikipedia won two major awards in May 2004.<ref>"[[m:Trophy box|Trophy Box]]", [[Wikipedia:Meta|Meta-Wiki]] (March 28, 2005).</ref> The first was a Golden Nica for Digital Communities of the annual [[Prix Ars Electronica]] contest; this came with a €10,000 (£6,588; $12,700) grant and an invitation to present at the PAE Cyberarts Festival in [[Austria]] later that year. The second was a Judges' [[Webby Awards|Webby Award]] for the "community" category.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/winners-2004.php|title=Webby Awards 2004|publisher=The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences|year=2004|accessdate=2007-06-19}}</ref> Wikipedia was also nominated for a "Best Practices" Webby. On January 26, 2007, Wikipedia was also awarded the fourth highest brand ranking by the readers of brandchannel.com, receiving 15% of the votes in answer to the question "Which brand had the most impact on our lives in 2006?"<ref>{{cite news |first=Anthony |last=Zumpano |title=Similar Search Results: Google Wins |url=http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=352 |publisher=[[Interbrand]] |date=2007-01-29 |accessdate=2007-01-28 }}</ref>

In September 2008, Wikipedia received [[Quadriga (award)|Quadriga]] ''A Mission of Enlightenment'' award of Werkstatt Deutschland along with [[Boris Tadić]], [[Eckart Höfling]] and [[Peter Gabriel]]. The award was presented to [[Jimmy Wales]] by [[David Weinberger]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://loomarea.com/die_quadriga/e/index.php?title=Award_2008|title=Die Quadriga&nbsp;— Award 2008 |accessdate=2008-12-26}}</ref>

==Related projects==
{{sisterlinks}}
A number of interactive multimedia encyclopedias incorporating entries written by the public existed long before Wikipedia was founded. The first of these was the 1986 [[BBC Domesday Project]], which included text (entered on [[BBC Micro]] computers) and photographs from over 1&nbsp;million contributors in the [[United Kingdom|UK]], and covering the geography, art and culture of the UK. This was the first interactive multimedia encyclopedia (and was also the first major multimedia document connected through internal links), with the majority of articles being accessible through an interactive map of the UK. The user-interface and part of the content of the Domesday Project have now been emulated on a website.<ref name="Domesday Project">[http://web.archive.org/web/20070115135325/http://www.domesday1986.com/ Web-based emulator of the Domesday Project User Interface] and data from the Community Disc (contributions from the general public) -- most articles can be accessed using the interactive map</ref> One of the most successful early online encyclopedias incorporating entries by the public was [[h2g2]], which was created by [[Douglas Adams]] and is run by the [[BBC]]. The h2g2 encyclopedia was relatively light-hearted, focusing on articles which were both witty and informative. Both of these projects had similarities with Wikipedia, but neither gave full editorial freedom to public users. A similar non-wiki project, the [[GNUPedia]] project, co-existed with Nupedia early in its history; however, it has been retired and its creator, [[free software]] figure [[Richard Stallman]], has lent his support to Wikipedia.<ref name="stallman1999" />

Wikipedia has also spawned several sister projects, which are also run by the Wikipedia Foundation. The first, "In Memoriam: September<!--Do not reformat this date, it is quoted--> 11 Wiki",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sep11memories.org/wiki/In_Memoriam |title=In Memoriam: September 11, 2001 |accessdate=2007-02-06}}</ref> created in October 2002,<ref>[http://www.sep11memories.org/index.php?title=In_Memoriam&oldid=1502 First edit to the wiki] In Memoriam: September 11 wiki (October 28, 2002),</ref> detailed the [[September 11 attacks]]; this project was closed in October 2006. [[Wiktionary]], a dictionary project, was launched in December 2002;<ref>"[http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_News&diff=prev&oldid=4133 Announcement of Wiktionary's creation]", December 12, 2002. Retrieved on [[2007-02-02]].</ref> [[Wikiquote]], a collection of quotations, a week after Wikimedia launched, and [[Wikibooks]], a collection of collaboratively written free books. Wikimedia has since started a number of other projects, including [[Wikiversity]], a project for the creation of free learning materials and the provision of online learning activities.<ref name="OurProjects">"[http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Our_projects Our projects]", [[Wikimedia Foundation]]. Retrieved on [[2007-01-24]]</ref> None of those sister projects, however, have come to meet the success of Wikipedia.

Other websites centered on collaborative [[knowledge base]] development have drawn inspiration from or inspired Wikipedia. Some, such as [[Susning.nu]], [[Enciclopedia Libre]], and [[WikiZnanie]] likewise employ no formal review process, whereas others use more traditional [[peer review]], such as [[Encyclopedia of Life]], [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]], [[Scholarpedia]], [[h2g2]] and [[Everything2]]. [[Citizendium]], an online encyclopedia, was started by the co-founder of Wikipedia Larry Sanger in an attempt to create an expert-friendly "Wikipedia".<ref name="defactoleader">{{cite news
|first=Holden
|last=Frith
|url=http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1571519.ece
|title=Wikipedia founder launches rival online encyclopedia
|publisher=''[[The Times]]''
|date=March 26, 2007,
|accessdate=2007-06-27
|quote=<small>Wikipedia's de facto leader, Jimmy Wales, stood by the site's format.</small>}}<small>&nbsp;– Holden Frith.</small></ref><ref name="Orlowski18">
{{cite news
|first=Andrew
|last=Orlowski
|authorlink=Andrew Orlowski
|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/18/sanger_forks_wikipedia/
|title=Wikipedia founder forks Wikipedia, More experts, less fiddling?
|publisher=''[[The Register]]''
|date=September 18, 2006
|accessdate=2007-06-27
|quote=<small>Larry Sanger describes the Citizendium project as a "progressive or gradual fork", with the major difference that experts have the final say over edits.</small>}}<small>&nbsp;– Andrew Orlowski.</small></ref><ref name="JayLyman">{{cite news
|first=Jay
|last=Lyman
|url=http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/53137.html
|title=Wikipedia Co-Founder Planning New Expert-Authored Site
|publisher=LinuxInsider
|date=September 20, 2006
|accessdate=2007-06-27}}</ref>

==See also==
{{meta|List of Wikipedias}}
*[[List of online encyclopedias]]
*[[List of wikis]]
*[[Open content]]
*[[USA Congressional staff edits to Wikipedia]]
*[[User-generated content]]
*{{srlink|Wikipedia:Press coverage}}
*[[Wikipedia Watch]]
*[[Wikitruth]]
*[[Wikipedia Review]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
===Academic studies===
{{see also|Academic studies about Wikipedia}}
*{{cite journal|first=Finn|last=Nielsen|url=http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_8/nielsen/index.html|title=Scientific Citations in Wikipedia|journal=[[First Monday]]|volume=12 |issue=8|month=August|year=2007|accessdate=2008-02-22}}
*{{cite journal|last=Pfeil|first=Ulrike|co-authors=Panayiotis Zaphiris and Chee Siang Ang|year=2006|title=Cultural Differences in Collaborative Authoring of Wikipedia|journal=Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication|volume=12|issue=1|url=http://jcmc.indiana.edu./vol12/issue1/pfeil.html |accessdate=2008-12-26|doi=10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00316.x|pages=88}}
*Priedhorsky, Reid, Jilin Chen, Shyong (Tony) K. Lam, Katherine Panciera, Loren Terveen, and John Riedl. [http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1316624.1316663 "Creating, Destroying, and Restoring Value in Wikipedia"]. Proc. GROUP 2007, doi: 1316624.131663.
* {{cite web|author=Reagle, Joseph M., Jr.|title=Do As I Do: Leadership in the Wikipedia|url=http://reagle.org./joseph/2005/ethno/leadership.html|work=Wikipedia Drafts|format=[[World Wide Web|Web]]|year=2005|accessdate=2008-12-26}}
*{{cite journal |url=http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_4/wilkinson/index.html |title=Assessing the Value of Cooperation in Wikipedia |first=Dennis M.|last=Wilkinson |co-author=Bernardo A. Huberman |journal=First Monday|volume=12|issue=4|month=April|year=2007 accessdate=2008-02-22}}

===Books===
*{{cite book|author=[[user:phoebe|Ayers, Phoebe]], [[user:Charles Matthews|Charles Matthews]], and [[user:Tlogmer|Ben Yates]]|title=How Wikipedia Works: And How You Can Be a Part of It|publisher=[[No Starch Press]]|location=San Francisco|month=September | year=2008|isbn=978-1-59327-176-3 |accessdate=2008-12-26}}
*{{cite book |last=Broughton |first=John |authorlink=User:John Broughton |title=[[Wikipedia - The Missing Manual]] |publisher=[[O'Reilly Media]]|location=|month=| year=2008|isbn=0-596-51516-2 |accessdate=2008-12-26}} (See book rev. by Baker, as listed below.)

===Book reviews and other articles===
*[[Nicholson Baker|Baker, Nicholson]]. [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21131 "The Charms of Wikipedia"]. ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', March 20, 2008. Accessed December 17, 2008. (Book rev. of ''The Missing Manual'', by John Broughton, as listed above.)
*[[Roy Rosenzweig|Rosenzweig, Roy]]. [http://chnm.gmu.edu/resources/essays/d/42 Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past]. (Originally published in ''[[The Journal of American History]]'' 93.1 (June 2006): 117-46.)

===Learning resources===
*[[wikiversity:wikipedia#Learning resources|Wikiversity list of learning resources]]. (Includes related courses, [[Web conferencing|Web-based seminars]], slides, lecture notes, text books, quizzes, glossaries, etc.)

=== Media debate ===

* {{cite news
| url = http://www.delta-sky.com/sections/index.php/lifestyle/wikipedia_vs_encyclopedia/
| title = Thought Leader: Wikipedia vs. Encyclopedia
| work = [[Delta Sky Magazine|Delta-Sky]]: The Official Inflight Magazine of [[Delta Air Lines]]
| format = [[World Wide Web|Web]]
| date = December 2008
| accessdate=2009-01-14
| quote = (Earlier this year, [Andrew] [[Andrew Keen|Keen]] and [Jimmy] [[Jimmy Wales|Wales]] appeared at Inforum, a division of the [[Commonwealth Club of California]], which is the largest and oldest public forum in the [[United States]]. Following is a portion of their discussion, moderated by [[National Public Radio]]'s [[David Ewing Duncan]].)
}}

===Other media coverage===
*{{cite news |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/magazine/01WIKIPEDIA-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin |title=All the News That's Fit to Print Out|first=Jonathan |last=Dee|work=[[The New York Times Magazine]]|format=[[World Wide Web|Web]]|publisher=[[The New York Times Company]]|date=2007-07-01|accessdate=2008-02-22}}
*{{cite news|last name=Balke|first name=Jeff|url=http://blogs.chron.com/brokenrecord/2008/03/for_music_fans_wikipedia_myspa.html|title=For Music Fans: Wikipedia; MySpace|work=[[The Houston Chronicle]] ([[Blog]])|date=March 2008|accessdate=2008-12-17}}
*{{cite news|first=Sarah|last=Freeman|url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/highlights?articleid=3115718 |title=Can We Really Trust Wikipedia?|date=2007-08-16|work=[[Yorkshire Post]]|format=[[World Wide Web|Web]]|publisher=yorkshirepost.co.uk|accessdate=2008-09-20}}
*{{cite news|first=Jim |last=Giles|title=Wikipedia 2.0 - Now with Added Trust |url=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526226.200|date=2007-09-20|work=[[New Scientist]] |accessdate=2008-01-14}}
*{{cite news|first=Mike |last=Miliard|title=Wikipedia Rules |url=http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Life/52864-Wikipedia-rules/|publisher=[[The Phoenix (newspaper)|The Phoenix]]|date=2007-12-02|accessdate=2008-02-22}}
*{{cite news|first=Marshall|last=Poe|authorlink=Marshall Poe|url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200609/wikipedia|title=The Hive|work=[[The Atlantic Monthly]]|date=September 2006|accessdate=2008-03-22}}
*{{cite news|first=Chris|last=Taylor|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1066904-1,00.html|title=It's a Wiki, Wiki World|date=2005-05-29|work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|format=[[World Wide Web|Web]]|publisher=Time, Inc|accessdate=2008-02-22}}
*{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11484062 |title=Technological Quarterly: Brain Scan: The Free-knowledge Fundamentalist|work=[[The Economist]]|format=[[World Wide Web|Web]] and [[Magazine|Print]]|date=2008-06-05|accessdate=2008-06-05|quote=Jimmy Wales changed the world with Wikipedia, the hugely popular online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. What will he do next? [leader].}}

==External links==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Wikipedia.ogg|2005-06-25}}
*[http://www.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]&nbsp;– multilingual portal (contains links to all language editions of the project)
*[http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee380/Abstracts/020116.html Wikipedia and why it matters] - Larry Sanger's talk in 2002 at [[Stanford University]] about Wikipedia ([http://stanford-online.stanford.edu/courses/ee380/020116-ee380-100.asx video archive] and [[meta:Wikipedia and why it matters|transcript of the talk]])
*[http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Open_Source/Open_Content/Encyclopedias/Wikipedia/ Wikipedia] at the [[Open Directory Project]]
*[http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/wikipedia.html CBC News: I, editor]
*[http://www.wikihow.com/Contribute-to-Wikipedia Help Edit Wikipedia] A [[wikiHow]] article.
*[http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/01/wikipedia.assignment.ap/index.html Class assignment: Write an original Wikipedia article]
*[irc://irc.freenode.net/Wikipedia #Wikipedia] on [[freenode]]
*{{youtube|id=cqOHbihYbhE|title="Intelligence in Wikipedia" Google TechTalk}} - Describing an intelligence project utilizing Wikipedia, and how Wikipedia articles could be auto-generated from web content
*[http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jimmy_wales_on_the_birth_of_wikipedia.html Video of TED Talk by Jimmy Wales on the birth of Wikipedia]

{{Wikipedia}}
{{Wikimedia Foundation}}
{{Wikipedias}}

[[Category:Web 2.0]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Free encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Online encyclopedias]]
[[Category:General encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Wikis]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 2001]]
[[Category:Wikimedia projects]]
[[Category:Advertising-free websites]]
[[Category:Social Information Processing]]
[[Category:Multilingual websites]]

{{Link FA|ceb}}
{{Link FA|li}}

[[af:Wikipedia]]
[[ak:Wikipedia]]
[[als:Wikipedia]]
[[am:ውክፔዲያ]]
[[ang:Ƿicipǣdia]]
[[ar:ويكيبيديا]]
[[an:Biquipedia]]
[[arc:ܘܝܟܝܦܕܝܐ]]
[[arz:ويكيبيديا]]
[[roa-rup:Wikipedia]]
[[frp:Vouiquipèdia]]
[[ast:Uiquipedia]]
[[gn:Vikipetã]]
[[ay:Wikipidiya]]
[[az:Vikipediya]]
[[bm:Wikipedia]]
[[bn:উইকিপিডিয়া]]
[[zh-min-nan:Wikipedia]]
[[map-bms:Wikipedia]]
[[ba:Википедия]]
[[be:Вікіпедыя]]
[[be-x-old:Вікіпэдыя]]
[[bi:Wikipedia]]
[[bar:Wikipedia]]
[[bs:Wikipedia]]
[[br:Wikipedia]]
[[bg:Уикипедия]]
[[ca:Viquipèdia]]
[[cv:Википеди]]
[[ceb:Wikipedya]]
[[cs:Wikipedie]]
[[ch:Wikipedia]]
[[co:Wikipedia]]
[[cy:Wicipedia]]
[[da:Wikipedia]]
[[de:Wikipedia]]
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[[dsb:Wikipedija]]
[[et:Vikipeedia]]
[[el:Βικιπαίδεια]]
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[[es:Wikipedia]]
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[[ext:Wikipédia]]
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[[fa:ویکی‌پدیا]]
[[fo:Wikipedia]]
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[[fy:Wikipedia]]
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[[fur:Vichipedie]]
[[ga:Vicipéid]]
[[gan:維基百科]]
[[gv:Wikipedia]]
[[gd:Bhicipèidia]]
[[gl:Wikipedia]]
[[gu:વિકિપીડિયા]]
[[zh-classical:維基大典]]
[[hak:Wikipedia]]
[[ko:위키백과]]
[[haw:Wikipikia]]
[[hy:Վիքիփեդիա]]
[[hi:विकिपीडिया]]
[[hsb:Wikipedija]]
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[[bpy:উইকিপিডিয়া]]
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[[he:ויקיפדיה]]
[[jv:Wikipedia]]
[[kl:Wikipedia]]
[[kn:ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ]]
[[ka:ვიკიპედია]]
[[ks:विकिपीडिया]]
[[csb:Wikipedijô]]
[[kk:Уикипедия]]
[[kw:Wikipedya]]
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[[ht:Wikipedya]]
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[[lbe:Википедия]]
[[lo:ວິກິພີເດຍ]]
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[[mt:Wikipedija]]
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[[mzn:ویکیپدیا]]
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[[my:ဝီကီပိဒိယ]]
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[[na:Wikipedia]]
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[[nds-nl:Wikipedia]]
[[ne:विकिपीडिया]]
[[ja:ウィキペディア]]
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[[pag:Wikipedia]]
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[[ps:پروژه:په هکله]]
[[km:វិគីភីឌា]]
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[[sco:Wikipaedia]]
[[stq:Wikipedia]]
[[tn:Wikipedia]]
[[sq:Wikipedia]]
[[scn:Wikipedia]]
[[si:විකිපීඩියා]]
[[simple:Wikipedia]]
[[sd:وڪيپيڊيا]]
[[sk:Wikipédia]]
[[cu:Википє́дїꙗ]]
[[sl:Wikipedija]]
[[szl:Wikipedyjo]]
[[so:Wikipedia]]
[[sr:Википедија]]
[[sh:Wikipedia]]
[[su:Wikipédia]]
[[fi:Wikipedia]]
[[sv:Wikipedia]]
[[tl:Wikipedia]]
[[ta:விக்கிப்பீடியா]]
[[kab:Wikipedia]]
[[roa-tara:Uicchipèdie]]
[[tt:Wikipedia]]
[[te:వికీపీడియా]]
[[tet:Wikipédia]]
[[th:วิกิพีเดีย]]
[[vi:Wikipedia]]
[[tg:Википедиа]]
[[tpi:Wikipedia]]
[[chr:ᏫᎩᏇᏗᏯ]]
[[tr:Vikipedi]]
[[tk:Wikipediýa]]
[[tw:Wikipedia]]
[[udm:Википедия]]
[[bug:Wikipedia]]
[[uk:Вікіпедія]]
[[ur:ویکیپیڈیا]]
[[vec:Wikipedia]]
[[fiu-vro:Vikipeediä]]
[[wa:Wikipedia]]
[[vls:Wikipedia]]
[[war:Wikipedia]]
[[wo:Wikipedia]]
[[wuu:维基百科]]
[[ts:Wikipediya]]
[[yi:‫װיקיפעדיע]]
[[yo:Wikipedia]]
[[zh-yue:維基百科]]
[[diq:Wikipediya]]
[[zea:Wikipedia]]
[[bat-smg:Vikipedėjė]]
[[zh:维基百科]]

Revision as of 11:06, 27 January 2009

i am immune fuck you wikipeia editors!

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia&oldid=266726180"