Wikipedia is a free, internet-based encyclopedia that began in 2001 and operates under an open-source management model, overseen by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation. Utilizing collaborative wiki software, it allows for the easy creation and development of articles. While some well-publicized issues have raised concerns about its editorial process, these have had minimal impact on its popularity, as Wikipedia remains one of the most visited websites on the internet.
The Founding of Wikipedia
The inception of Wikipedia involved some initial hesitation among editors regarding how closely to tie Nupedia to a wiki-based approach. On January 10, 2001, a wiki version of Nupedia was launched at nupedia.com. It was during this time that Jimmy Wales proposed the idea of creating a new project under its own name, with Larry Sanger suggesting the name "Wikipedia." This new initiative was envisioned as a completely independent supplement to Nupedia.
Thus, on January 15, 2001, a new wiki officially launched at wikipedia.com. The initial bandwidth and server resources, located in San Diego, were generously provided by Bomis, a company co-founded by Wales. Several former employees of Bomis contributed content to this new encyclopedia, including Tim Shell, its co-founder, and programmer Jason Richey.
In December 2008, Wales claimed he made the first edit to Wikipedia, a simple test entry that read "Hello, World!" However, this might have been to an earlier version of the site, which was soon discarded in favor of a fresh start. The first notable edit that remains was made on January 15, 2001, to the homepage, announcing, "This is the new WikiPedia!"
The project was officially announced on January 17, 2001, alongside an appeal for volunteers from the Nupedia mailing list. Interest in Wikipedia surged after it received mentions on the Slashdot website in July 2001, following earlier, smaller mentions in March. A significant boost came on July 25, 2001, when Kuro5hin, a community-edited technology and culture site, featured a prominent link to Wikipedia. Additionally, Google played a crucial role in driving traffic to the site, sending hundreds of new visitors daily. The first major media coverage appeared in The New York Times on September 20, 2001, further establishing Wikipedia’s presence on the internet.
Issues and Controversies Surrounding Wikipedia(dark sides)
The reliance on community self-policing has led to several notable issues. In 2005, journalist John L. Seigenthaler, Jr. discovered that his Wikipedia biography falsely labeled him as a possible conspirator in the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. This misinformation persisted for 132 days due to the difficulties in identifying unregistered contributors, whose edits were traced only to dynamic IP addresses. The contributor later admitted it was a joke, prompting Wikipedia to restrict unregistered users from editing certain articles. Subsequent vandalism incidents led to the establishment of a review process for some edits, despite resistance from parts of the community.
While Wikipedia has faced criticism for including sensitive information—such as Rorschach Test inkblots—it has also shown adaptability in its openness. For example, after journalist David S. Rohde was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2008, Wikipedia agreed to withhold information about the incident to protect his safety, complying with requests from his employer.
In 2010, a scandal emerged when inappropriate content, including illegal images of child exploitation, was found on Wikimedia Commons, a media repository linked to Wikipedia. Although these images were not on Wikipedia itself, the controversy led co-founder Jimmy Wales to urge administrators to eliminate explicit content across Wikimedia platforms.
Wikipedia administrators possess the authority to block specific IP addresses, a measure enacted in 2006 when it was revealed that some U.S. congressional staffers were editing articles to remove negative information. This self-serving editing behavior inspired Virgil Griffith, a Caltech student, to create WikiScanner in 2007, a tool that linked IP addresses of edits to their respective organizations. The tool revealed widespread editing by individuals in corporations and government offices, often to present a more favorable view of their entities.
Debates about Wikipedia's reliability have particularly engaged scholars and educators, many of whom discourage its use as a research tool. However, in 2010, the Wikimedia Foundation partnered with public policy professors to encourage students to contribute to Wikipedia, aiming to enhance its legitimacy. As Wikipedia became an integral part of the online landscape, its citations appeared in U.S. judicial opinions and received support from the German government to improve its coverage of renewable resources.
The number of active editors peaked in 2007 but has since declined by about a third by 2017. Contributing factors include a bureaucratic culture, complex editing norms, and a challenging markup language that hinders editing on mobile devices. Additionally, surveys indicated a significant gender gap, with only 10-20% of editors identifying as women. In response, Wikipedia has initiated “edit-a-thons” since 2012 to promote the coverage of topics like feminism and women’s history, striving to address these demographic disparities.