15 January 2001 - Wikipedia goes online

Digital Innovation Days

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On the 15th of January, 2001, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched Wikipedia, a free and collaborative online encyclopedia. Written and edited by the internet community, it is the largest of its type of websites and is available in over 300 languages besides English. With more than 6.3 million articles and 42 million users, it is ranked among the most visited sites on the internet today.

In 2000, Bomis, a web advertising firm owned by Jimmy Wales, among others, launched Nupedia. This was a free online encyclopedia whose editor in chief was Larry Sanger. By January 2001, fewer than two dozen articles were completed and there were rarely any contributions. Concerned about the growth of Nupedia, Sanger and Wales decided to lend it support with an open-source encyclopedia based on wiki software. Initially, Wikipedia was launched as a feature of Nupedia but following certain objections from the advisory board and reluctance among the editors and reviewers to associate Nupedia with a wiki-based site, Wikipedia was relaunched as an independent website a few days later. It grew at a staggering pace and by the end of the year, Wikipedia was available in around 19 languages.

Throughout the years, the most serious challenges that Wikipedia has faced are plagiarism, inaccuracies, and vandalism. Despite this, impressively, Wikipedia has maintained its role as the go-to site for millions of users to access information online. It continues to be a reliable database of information without a large number of paid moderators and editors. Additionally, the site owners and policymakers have implemented various strategies to counter its problems and ensure that their original vision is truly fulfilled - allowing people to collaborate and build an online portal of easily accessible knowledge. Thus, what keeps Wikipedia relevant and reliable today despite its collaborative nature is the review of all information by broad groups of people, stringent requirements regarding the data, its transparent discussions, and the willingness to swiftly delete inaccurate content.

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