Wikipedia
Un article de Vev.
Modèle:Pp-semi-vandalism Modèle:Selfref Modèle:Infobox Website Wikipedia (Modèle:IPAEng, Modèle:IPA, Modèle:IPA or Modèle:IPA) (Modèle:Audio) is a multilingual, open content, free<ref>Some language versions such as English one contains non-free images.</ref> encyclopedia project operated by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a type of collaborative website) and encyclopedia. Launched in 2001, it is the largest, fastest growing and most popular general reference work currently available on the Internet.<ref> Tancer , Bill
. " Look Who's Using Wikipedia " , 2007-05-01 . Retrieved on 2007-12-01 . "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" </ref><ref name="go-to site"> Woodson , Alex . " Wikipedia remains go-to site for online news " , Reuters , 2007-07-08 . Retrieved on 2007-12-16 . "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>
As of November 2007, Wikipedia had approximately 9.1 million articles in 253 languages, comprising a combined total of over 1.41 billion words for all Wikipedias. The English Wikipedia edition passed the 2,000,000 article mark on September 9 2007, and as of December 23 it had over 2,141,000 articles consisting of over 931,000,000 words.<ref name="ListOfWikipedias"> List of Wikipedias
. Meta-Wiki (2007-07-12)
.</ref> Wikipedia's articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world and the vast majority of them can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet. Having steadily risen in popularity since its inception,<ref name="AlexaStats"> Five-year traffic statistics for wikipedia.org
. Alexa Internet
. Retrieved on 2007-01-29. </ref> it currently ranks among the top ten most-visited websites worldwide.<ref name=AlexaTop500 />
Critics have questioned Wikipedia's reliability and accuracy, citing its open nature.<ref name="Who"> Simon Waldman
(2004-10-26) . Who knows? . The Guardian
. Retrieved on 2007-02-11. </ref> The criticism is centered on its susceptibility to vandalism, such as the insertion of profanities or random letters into articles, and the addition of false or unverified information;<ref name="DeathByWikipedia" /> uneven quality, systemic bias and inconsistencies;<ref name="SangerElitism" /> and for favoring consensus over credentials in its editorial process.<ref name="AcademiaAndWikipedia"> Danah Boyd
(2005-01-04) . Academia and Wikipedia . Many-to-Many
. Retrieved on 2007-02-11. </ref> Scholarly work suggests that vandalism is generally short-lived.<ref name="MIT_IBM_study">Modèle:Cite paper</ref><ref name="CreatingDestroyingAndRestoringValue">Modèle:Cite journal</ref>
In addition to being an encyclopedic reference, Wikipedia has received major media attention as an online source of breaking news as it is constantly updated.<ref> Jonathan Dee
. " All the News That’s Fit to Print Out " , The New York Times Magazine , 2007-07-01 . Retrieved on 2007-12-01 . </ref><ref>Modèle:Cite journal</ref>
When Time Magazine recognized "You" as their Person of the Year 2006, praising the accelerating success of on-line collaboration and interaction by millions of users around the world, Wikipedia was the first particular "Web 2.0" service mentioned, followed by YouTube and MySpace.<ref name="You">"
Time's Person of the Year: You " , Time , 2006-12-13 . </ref>
Sommaire |
History
Wikipedia began as a complementary project for Nupedia, a free online English-language encyclopedia project whose articles were written by experts and reviewed by a formal process. Nupedia was founded on March 9 2000, under the ownership of Bomis, Inc, a web portal company. Its principal figures were Jimmy Wales, Bomis CEO, and Larry Sanger, 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> Richard Stallman
. " The Free Encyclopedia Project " , Free Software Foundation , 1999 . </ref>
On January 10 2001, Larry Sanger proposed on the Nupedia mailing list to create a wiki as a "feeder" project for Nupedia.<ref> Larry Sanger
. " Let's make a wiki " , Internet Archive , January 10 2001 . </ref>
Wikipedia was formally launched on January 15 2001, as a single English-language edition at www.wikipedia.com<ref> Wikipedia: HomePage
. Retrieved on 2001-03-31.
</ref>, and announced by Sanger on the Nupedia mailing list.<ref> Larry Sanger
. " Wikipedia is up! " , Internet Archive , January 17 2001 . </ref>
Wikipedia's policy of "neutral point-of-view"<ref name="NPOV">"Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, Wikipedia (21 January 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"> Larry Sanger
. " The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia: A Memoir " , Slashdot , April 18 2005 . </ref> Wikipedia gained early contributors from Nupedia, Slashdot postings, and 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 closing stages 2004.<ref>"Multilingual statistics", Wikipedia, March 30 2005</ref> Nupedia and Wikipedia coexisted until the former's servers went down permanently in 2003, and its text was incorporated into Wikipedia.
Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales are the founders of Wikipedia.<ref name="foundercontroversy"/><ref name="Sanger-NYTimes">
Meyers , Peter
.
"
Fact-Driven? Collegial? This Site Wants You
" , The New York Times
, September 20, 2001
. Retrieved on 2007-11-22
. "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> Although Wales is credited with defining the goal of making a publicly editable encyclopedia,<ref name="SangerMemoir" /> Sanger is usually credited with the strategy of using a wiki to reach that goal.<ref> Wikipedia-l: LinkBacks?
. Retrieved on 2007-02-20. </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. Later that year, Wales announced that Wikipedia would not display advertisements, and its website was moved to wikipedia.org. 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 — such as Citizendium, Scholarpedia, Amapedia and Google's Knol — have been started to address perceived limitations of Wikipedia, such as its policies on peer review, original research and commercial advertising.
As of December 2007, English Wikipedia had over 2 million articles, making it the largest encyclopedia ever assembled, eclipsing even the Yongle Encyclopedia (1407), which held the record for nearly 600 years.<ref name="EB_encyclopedia">Modèle:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
The Wikimedia Foundation was created from Wikipedia and Nupedia on June 20 2003.<ref>Jimmy Wales: "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". There are plans to license the usage of the Wikipedia trademark for some products, such as books or DVDs.<ref> Nair , Vipin
. " Growing on volunteer power " , Business Line , December 5 2005 . </ref> In October 2007 the foundation announced that it plans to move its headquarters from St. Petersburg, Florida, to San Francisco, California, in February 2008.<ref> Julie Sloane . " Wikimedia Foundation Moving To San Francisco " , Wired News , 2007-10-10 . </ref>
The Wikimedia Foundation's 4th Quarter 2005 costs were $321,000 USD, with hardware making up almost 60% of the budget.<ref> Budget/2005
. Wikimedia Foundation
. Retrieved on 2006-03-11. </ref> The Wikimedia Foundation currently relies primarily on private donations, and holds regular fundraisers;<ref>Fundraising, Wikimedia Foundation</ref> the January 2007 fundraiser raised just over $1 million.<ref>"Fundraising report", Wikimedia Foundation (January 21 2007)</ref>
Content and internal structure
Almost every article in Wikipedia may be edited anonymously or with a user account and changes are made available immediately, while only registered users may create a new article. 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. Wikipedia has been working on the switch to Creative Commons License because the GFDL, initially designed for software manuals, is not suitable for online reference works and because the two licenses are currently incompatible.<ref> Walter Vermeir
(2007) . Resolution:License update . Wikizine
. Retrieved on 2007-12-04. </ref> Some language editions, such as the English Wikipedia, include non-free image files under fair use doctrine.
Unlike peer-reviewed encyclopedias such as Encyclopædia Britannica, Wikipedia relies on the efforts of its community members, called Wikipedians,<ref> Wikipedia:Wikipedians
. Wikipedia
. Retrieved on 2007-12-08. </ref> to remove vandalism or identify problems such as violation of neutrality<ref name="InfoWeek0322-2007">
Claburn , Thomas
.
"
Wikipedia Becomes Intelligence Tool And Target For Jihadists
" , Information Week
, March 22, 2007
. Retrieved on 2007-03-25
. </ref> and factual errors in its articles.<ref>"
Wikipedia Falsely Reports Sinbad's Death
" , Associated Press
, March 16, 2007
. Retrieved on 2007-03-25
. </ref> Since June 2006 vandalism-repair bots have also been in use.<ref name="CreatingDestroyingAndRestoringValue" /> Wikipedia's content policies<ref name="PoliciesAndGuidelines"> List of policies and guidelines
. English Wikipedia
.</ref> and sub-projects set up by contributors seek to address problems of accuracy.<ref> Wikipedia:WikiProject
. English Wikipedia
. Retrieved on 2007-01-29. </ref>
The community has a power structure.<ref name="iTWireJune18-2006">
Corner , Stuart
.
"
What's all the fuss about Wikipedia?
" , iT Wire
, June 18, 2006
. Retrieved on 2007-03-25
. </ref> While they are welcomed by the community,<ref name="TheNewYorker">
Schiff , Stacy
.
"
Can Wikipedia conquer expertise?
" , Know It All , The New Yorker
, July 24, 2006
. Retrieved on 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"> Kleinz , Torsten
.
"
World of Knowledge
" , The Wikipedia Project , Linux Magazine
, February, 2005
. Retrieved on 2007-03-25
. </ref> Editors in good standing in the community can run for one of many of levels of volunteer stewardship, that begins with "administrator"<ref name="David_Mehegan"> Mehegan , David
.
"
Many contributors, common cause
" , The Boston Globe
, February 13, 2006
. Retrieved on 2007-03-25
. </ref> and goes up with "steward" and "bureaucrat".<ref> Wikipedia:User access levels," Wikipedia (January 12 2007)</ref> Administrators, the largest group of privileged users (1,442 Wikipedians for the English edition on December 23, 2007), have the ability to delete pages, lock articles from being changed in case of vandalism or editorial disputes, and deter users from editing.
The "History" page attached to each article makes its complete editing history easily accessible.<ref name="Torsten_Kleinz"/> Much of the coordination of the editing of Wikipedia takes place on the "Talk" pages associated with each individual article.<ref>Modèle:Cite journal</ref>
Software and hardware
The operation of Wikipedia depends on MediaWiki, a custom-made, free and open source wiki software platform written in PHP and built upon the MySQL database. The software incorporates programming features such as a macro language, variables, a transclusion system for 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 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 exponentially increasing demand. In July 2002 (Phase III), Wikipedia shifted to the third-generation software, MediaWiki, originally written by Lee Daniel Crocker.
Wikipedia runs on dedicated clusters of Linux servers in Florida and in two other locations.<ref name="servers"> Wikimedia servers at wikimedia.org
. Retrieved on 2007-02-06.
</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 servers located in Florida. This configuration included a single master database server running MySQL, multiple slave database servers, 21 web servers running the Apache HTTP Server, and seven Squid cache servers. By September 2005, its server cluster had grown to around 100 servers: main servers in Tampa, Florida and the rest in Amsterdam and Seoul.
Wikipedia receives between 10,000 and 35,000 page requests per second, depending on time of day.<ref>"Monthly request statistics", Wikimedia. Retrieved on 2007-02-03.</ref> Page requests are first passed to a front-end layer of Squid caching servers. 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 for anonymous users 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.
Language editions
Modèle:See also Modèle:Primarysources
. English Wikipedia
. Retrieved on 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 edition). These differences may lead to some conflicts over spelling differences, (e.g. color vs. colour)<ref> spelling
. Manual of Style . Wikipedia
. Retrieved on 2007-05-19. </ref> or points of view.<ref> Countering systemic bias
. Retrieved on 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 licensed freely may be used under a claim of fair use.<ref> Fair use
. Meta wiki
. Retrieved on 2007-07-14. </ref><ref> Images on Wikipedia
. Retrieved on 2007-07-14.
</ref><ref>Modèle:Cite journal</ref>
Wikipedia has been described 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, "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 Meta-Wiki, the Wikimedia Foundation's wiki devoted to maintaining all of its projects (Wikipedia and others). For instance, Meta-Wiki provides important statistics on all language editions of Wikipedia and maintain a 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.
Multilingual editors of sufficient fluency are encouraged to translate articles manually; automated translation of articles is explicitly disallowed.<ref>Wikipedia: Translation. English Wikipedia, accessed on 2007-02-03</ref> Translated articles represent only a small portion of articles in most editions.<ref>For example, "Translation into English", Wikipedia. (March 9, 2005)</ref> Articles available in more than one language may offer "InterWiki" links, usually in their left margin, which link to the counterpart articles in other editions. Images and other non-verbal media are shared among the various language editions through the Wikimedia Commons repository. Beyond translations, some multilingual efforts are also realized thanks to the Multilingual coordination.
Several language versions have published a selection of wikipedia articles on a DVD version. An English version<ref>"List of Mirrors Hosting the CD Iso." Wikipedia on DVD. Linterweb. Accessed 1 June 2007</ref> developed by Linterweb contains "1964 + articles".<ref>"Wikipedia on DVD". Linterweb. Accessed 1 June 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>"Wikipedia 0.5 Available on a CD-ROM". Wikipedia on DVD. Linterweb. Accessed 1 June 2007. "The DVD or CD-ROM version 0.5 was commercially available for purchase."</ref> The Polish version contains nearly 240000 articles.<ref> Polish Wikipedia on DVD
.</ref> There are also a few German versions.<ref> Wikipedia:DVD
.</ref>
Reliability and bias
Wikipedia does not require that its contributors give their legal names or provide other information to establish their identity. 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>"
Wikipedia "Good Samaritans Are on the Money " , Scientific American , 2007-10-19 . </ref>
Although some contributors are authorities in their field, Wikipedia requires that even their contributions be supported by published and verifiable sources.
Wikipedia tries to address the problem of systemic bias, and to deal with zealous editors who seek to influence the presentation of an article in a biased way, by insisting on a neutral point of view.<ref> Eric Haas
(2007-10-26) . Will Unethical Editing Destroy Wikipedia's Credibility? . AlterNet.org
.</ref> The English-language Wikipedia has introduced an assessment scale against which the quality of articles is judged;<ref> Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment
. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
</ref> other editions have also adopted this. Roughly 1500 articles 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>Modèle:Cite journal</ref>
In a 2003 study of Wikipedia as a community, economics Ph.D. student Andrea Ciffolilli argued that the low transaction costs of participating in wiki software create a catalyst for collaborative development, and that a "creative construction" approach encourages participation.<ref> Andrea Ciffolilli, "Phantom authority, self-selective recruitment and retention of members in virtual communities: The case of Wikipedia", First Monday December 2003. </ref>
In February 2007, an article in The Harvard Crimson newspaper reported that some of the professors at Harvard University do include Wikipedia in their syllabus, but that there is a split in their perception of using Wikipedia.<ref>Child, Maxwell L.,"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 condemned Wikipedia, along with Google,<ref name=stothart>Chloe Stothart, Web threatens learning ethos, The Times Higher Education Supplement, 2007, 1799 (22 June), page 2</ref> stating that academics who endorse the use of Wikipedia are “the intellectual equivalent of a dietician who recommends a steady diet of Big Macs 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 the academics who cite Wikipedia that: “You cannot say children are intellectually lazy because they are using the Internet when academics are using search engines in their research,” she said. “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 />
Criticism
Wikipedia has been accused of exhibiting systemic bias and inconsistency;<ref name="Who">Simon Waldman, Who knows? The Guardian, October 26 2004</ref> critics argue that Wikipedia's open nature and a lack of proper sources for much of the information makes it unreliable.<ref> Stacy Schiff
. " Know It All " , The New Yorker , 2006-07-31 . </ref> Some commentators suggest that Wikipedia is usually reliable, but that it is not always clear how much.<ref name="AcademiaAndWikipedia" /> The project's preference for consensus over credentials has been labeled "anti-elitism".<ref name="SangerElitism">Larry Sanger, Why Wikipedia Must Jettison Its Anti-Elitism, Kuro5hin, December 31 2004.</ref> Editors of traditional reference works such as the Encyclopædia Britannica have questioned the project's utility and status as an encyclopedia.<ref name="McHenry_2004">Robert McHenry, "The Faith-Based Encyclopedia", Tech Central Station, November 15 2004.</ref> Many university lecturers discourage students from citing any encyclopedia in academic work, preferring primary sources;<ref name="WideWorldOfWikipedia"> Wide World of WIKIPEDIA . The Emory Wheel (April 21 2006)
. Retrieved on 2007-10-17. </ref> some specifically prohibit Wikipedia citations.<ref> Jaschik , Scott
. " A Stand Against Wikipedia " , Inside Higher Ed , 2007-01-26 . Retrieved on 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"> Helm , Burt . " Wikipedia: "A Work in Progress" " , BusinessWeek , 2005-12-14 . Retrieved on 2007-01-29 . </ref> Technology writer Bill Thompson commented that the debate was possibly "symptomatic of much learning about information which is happening in society today."<ref> Thompson , Bill . " What is it with Wikipedia? " , BBC , 2005-12-16 . </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 these efforts have proven unsuccessful due to community disagreement and the fact that it would require a major software overhaul.<ref> meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Reviewed_article_version
.</ref><ref> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Stable_versions
.</ref> However a similar version 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> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Flagged_revisions
.</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> Giles , Jim
. " Wikipedia 2.0 - now with added trust " , NewScientist.com news service , 2007-09-20 . </ref>
Concerns have also been raised regarding the lack of accountability that results from users' anonymity,<ref name="WikipediaWatch">Public Information Research - Wikipedia Watch. Retrieved on 2007-01-28.</ref> and that it is vulnerable to vandalism and similar problems. In one particularly well-publicized incident, false information was introduced into the biography of John Seigenthaler, Sr. and remained undetected for four months.<ref name=Seigenthaler> Seigenthaler , John
. " A False Wikipedia 'biography' " , USA Today , 2005-11-29 . </ref> Some critics claim that Wikipedia's open structure makes it an easy target for Internet trolls, advertisers, and those with an agenda to push.<ref> Toward a New Compendium of Knowledge (longer version) . Citizendium.org
. Retrieved on 2006-10-10. </ref><ref name="Torsten_Kleinz"> Kleinz , Torsten
. " World of Knowledge " , The Wikipedia Project , Linux Magazine , February, 2005 . Retrieved on 2007-07-13 . "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 to articles by organizations including the U.S. House of Representatives and special interest groups<ref name="DeathByWikipedia"> Ahrens , Frank
(2006-07-09) . Death by Wikipedia: The Kenneth Lay Chronicles . The Washington Post
. Retrieved on 2006-11-01. </ref> has been noted,<ref> Kane, Margaret
(2006-01-30) . Politicians notice Wikipedia . CNET
. Retrieved on 2007-01-28. </ref> and organizations such as Microsoft have offered financial incentives to work on certain articles.<ref> Bergstein, Brian
(2007-01-23) . Microsoft offers cash for Wikipedia edit . MSNBC
. Retrieved on 2007-02-01. </ref> These issues have been parodied, notably by Stephen Colbert in The Colbert Report.<ref name="wikiality"> Caroline McCarthy
. " Colbert speaks, America follows: All Hail Wikiality! " , c-net news.com , 2006-08-01 . </ref>
Wikipedia's community has been described as "cult-like,"<ref> Arthur , Charles
. " Log on and join in, but beware the web cults " , The Guardian , 2005-12-15 . </ref> although not always with entirely negative connotations,<ref> Lu Stout , Kristie . " Wikipedia: The know-it-all Web site " , CNN , 2003-08-04 . </ref> and criticized for failing to accommodate inexperienced users.<ref>" Wikinfo
(2005-03-30) . Critical views of Wikipedia
. Retrieved on 2007-01-29. </ref> While praising many aspects of Wikipedia, historian Roy Rosenzweig notes: "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> Rosenzweig, Roy
. Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past . The Journal of American History Volume 93, Number 1 (June, 2006): 117-46
. Retrieved on 2007-10-29. </ref>
In August 2007, a new 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, and it revealed some interesting and controversial edits its first few days of use. Many of these edits came from corporations or sovereign government agencies about articles related to them, their personnel or their work, and were attempts to remove criticism.<ref name="Seeing Corporate Fingerprints"> Hafner , Katie
. " Seeing Corporate Fingerprints From the Editing of Wikipedia " , The New York Times , 2007-08-19 . </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"/>
Cultural significance
In addition to logistic growth in the number of its articles,<ref> Wikipedia:Modelling Wikipedia's growth
. Retrieved on 2007-12-22.
</ref> Wikipedia has steadily gained status as a general reference website since its inception in 2001.<ref> 694 Million People Currently Use the Internet Worldwide According To comScore Networks
. comScore
. Retrieved on 2007-12-16.
“Wikipedia has emerged as a site that continues to increase in popularity, both globally and in the U.S.”
</ref> As of December 2007, according to Alexa, Wikipedia was the eighth most visited website world-wide.<ref name=AlexaTop500> Top 500
. Alexa
. Retrieved on 2007-12-04. </ref> Of the top ten, Wikipedia is the only non-profit website. As of October 2006, Wikipedia was estimated to have a hypothetical market value of $580 million if it ran ads.<ref> Karbasfrooshan , Ashkan
(2006-10-26) . What is Wikipedia.org’s Valuation?
. Retrieved on 2007-12-01. </ref> In April 2007 the Pew Internet and American Life project found that one third of US Internet users consulted Wikipedia.<ref> Rainie , Lee
(2007-12-15) . Wikipedia users (PDF) . Pew Internet & American Life Project . Pew Research Center
. Retrieved on 2007-12-15.
“36% of online American adults consult Wikipedia. It is particularly popular with the well-educated and current college-age students.”
</ref> The growth of Wikipedia has been fueled by its dominant positions in Google search results; as of February 2007, 50% of search engine traffic to Wikipedia came from Google.<ref> Google Traffic To Wikipedia up 166% Year over Year
. Hitwise (2007-02-2007)
. Retrieved on 2007-12-22. </ref>
Wikipedia's content has also been used in academic studies, books, conferences, and court cases.<ref>"Wikipedia:Wikipedia in the media", Wikipedia</ref><ref> Bourgeois et al v. Peters et al.
(PDF)
. Retrieved on 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> 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 Office<ref name="WP_court_source">Modèle:Cite journal</ref> — though mainly for supporting information rather than information decisive to a case.<ref> Cohen , Noam
. " Courts Turn to Wikipedia, but Selectively " , 2007-01-29 . </ref>
A French court has ruled that the Wikimedia Foundation is not legally liable for inaccurate or potentially defamatory information posted to the site.<ref>"
Wikipedia cleared in French defamation case " , Reuters , 2007-11-02 . Retrieved on 2007-11-02 . </ref>
Wikipedia has also been used as a source in journalism,<ref>"
Basayev: Russia's most wanted man " , CNN , 2004-09-08 . Retrieved on 2007-07-30 . </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> "Express-News staffer resigns after plagiarism in column is discovered", San Antonio Express-News, January 9 2007.</ref><ref>"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> Radio 4 Documentary
.</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 Hoovering or 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" /> Websites such as Uncyclopedia have also been set up parodying Wikipedia; its Main Page claims that it is the "content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit,"<ref> Main Page
. Uncyclopedia (2007-01-26)
. Retrieved on 2007-01-28. </ref> parodying the English Wikipedia's welcome message on its Main Page.
Wikipedia has also created an impact upon forms of media. Some media sources satirize Wikipedia's tendency for inaccuracy, such as a front-page article in The Onion in July 2006 with the title "Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years of American Independence",<ref> Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years Of American Independence
. The Onion (2006)
. Retrieved on October 15, 2006. </ref> while others may draw upon Wikipedia's statement that anyone can edit, such as "The Negotiation", an episode of The Office, where character 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", and a select few parody Wikipedia's policies, such as the xkcd strip named "Wikipedian Protester", that also included the joke "Semi-protect the Constitution!"
The first documentary film about Wikipedia, entitled Truth in Numbers: The Wikipedia Story, is scheduled for 2008 release. Shot on several continents, the film will cover the history of Wikipedia and feature interviews with Wikipedia editors around the world.<ref> wikidocumentary.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
.</ref><ref> Hart , Hugh
(March 11, 2007) . Industry Buzz . SFGate.com
.</ref>
On 28 September, 2007, Italian politician Franco Grillini raised a parliamentary question with the Minister of Cultural Resources and Activities about the necessity of 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> Comunicato stampa. On. Franco Grillini. Wikipedia. Interrogazione a Rutelli. Con "diritto di panorama" promuovere arte e architettura contemporanea italiana. Rivedere con urgenza legge copyright
(12 October 2007)
.</ref>
On September 16, 2007, The Washington Post reported that Wikipedia has become a focal point in the 2008 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> Jose Antonio Vargas
. " On Wikipedia, Debating 2008 Hopefuls' Every Facet " , The Washington Post , 2007-09-17 .
</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> Jennifer Ablan
. " Wikipedia page the latest status symbol " , Reuters , 2007-10-22 . Retrieved on 2007-10-24 . </ref>
Wikipedia won two major awards in May 2004.<ref>"Trophy Box", 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 Award for the "community" category.<ref> Webby Awards 2004
. The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (2004)
. Retrieved on 2007-06-19. </ref> Wikipedia was also nominated for a "Best Practices" Webby. In September 2004, the Japanese Wikipedia was awarded a Web Creation Award from the Japan Advertisers Association. This award, normally given to individuals for great contributions to the Web in Japanese, was accepted by a long-standing contributor on behalf of the project.
In a 2006 Multiscope research study, the Dutch Wikipedia was rated the third best Dutch language site, after Google and Gmail, with a score of 8.1.<ref> Nederlandse Wikipedia groeit als kool (Website in Dutch Language), Recovered December 27 2006</ref> On January 26 2007, Wikipedia was also awarded the fifth 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> Zumpano , Anthony
. " Similar Search Results: Google Wins " , Interbrand , 2007-01-29 . Retrieved on 2007-01-28 . </ref> Jimmy Wales was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine in 2006.<ref> Anderson , Chris . " Jimmy Wales " , TIME , 2006-04-30 . Retrieved on 2006-12-18 . </ref> In 2006 and 2007, the Russian Wikipedia won the "Science and education" category of the "Runet Prize" (Russian: Премия Рунета) award, supervised<ref>Modèle:Ru iconMajor award of Russian Internet became a state one — Lenta.ru, August 29 2005</ref> by the Russian government agency FAPMC.
In November 2006, Turkish Wikipedia was nominated under the Science category for the Altın Örümcek Web Ödülleri (Golden Spider Web Awards), which are commonly known as the "Web Oscars" for Turkey. In January 2007, Turkish Wikipedia was given the award for "Best Content" in this competition. The award was given in a ceremony on January 25 2007 at Istanbul Technical University.
Related projects
Modèle: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 million contributors in the 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">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 also created 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.
Wikipedia has also spawned several sister projects. The first, "In Memoriam: September 11 Wiki",<ref> sep11memories.org/
. Retrieved on 2007-02-06.
</ref> created in October 2002,<ref>First edit to the wiki In Memoriam: September 11 wiki (October 28 2002),</ref> detailed the September 11, 2001, attacks; this project was closed in October 2006.<ref>"In Memoriam",In Memoriam: September 11 Wiki (October 31 2006)</ref> Wiktionary, a dictionary project, was launched in December 2002;<ref>"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, the next month. Wikimedia has since started a number of other projects.<ref name="OurProjects">"Our projects", Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-01-24</ref>
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> Richard Stallman
. " The Free Encyclopedia Project " , Free Software Foundation , 1999 . </ref>
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 the expert-written Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, h2g2 and Everything2.
Jimmy Wales, the de facto leader of Wikipedia,<ref name="defactoleader"> Frith , Holden
. " Wikipedia founder launches rival online encyclopedia " , The Times , March 26, 2007, . Retrieved on 2007-06-27 . "Wikipedia’s de facto leader, Jimmy Wales, stood by the site's format." — Holden Frith.</ref> said in an interview in regard to the online encyclopedia Citizendium which is overviewed by experts in their respective fields:<ref name=Orlowski18> Orlowski , Andrew . " Wikipedia founder forks Wikipedia, More experts, less fiddling? " , The Register , September 18, 2006 . Retrieved on 2007-06-27 . "Larry Sanger describes the Citizendium project as a "progressive or gradual fork", with the major difference that experts have the final say over edits." — Andrew Orlowski.</ref> "We welcome a diversity of efforts. If Larry's project is able to produce good work, we will benefit from it by copying it back into Wikipedia."<ref name="JayLyman"> Lyman , Jay . " Wikipedia Co-Founder Planning New Expert-Authored Site " , LinuxInsider , September 20, 2006 . Retrieved on 2007-06-27 . </ref>
See also
- Congressional staffer edits to Wikipedia
- Googlepedia
- List of encyclopedias
- List of wikis
- Open content
- User-generated content
- Modèle:Srlink
References
Further reading
- Modèle:Cite journal
- Joseph M. Reagle Jr.
(2005) . Do as I do: leadership in the Wikipedia . Wikipedia Drafts
.
External links
- Wikipedia - multilingual portal (contains links to all language editions of the project)
- Wikipedia at the Open Directory Project
- CBC News: I, editor
- Help Edit Wikipedia A wikiHow article.
- Class assignment: Write an original Wikipedia article
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