WE USE WIKIPEDIA BUT DO YOU KNOW THE STORY OF THIS UPS AND DOWNS OF WIKIPEDIA?

WIKIPEDIA STORY OF STRUGGLE

Who started Wikipedia?

Wikipedia Story: Wikipedia is a collaborative, multilingual online encyclopedia launched in January 2001. It was founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger and has since become one of the largest and most comprehensive online encyclopedias available today.

How did the idea of making Wikipedia come?

The initial idea for Wikipedia was developed by Wells in the late 1990s while he was working on building an online knowledge marketplace called Nupedia. Nupedia was an expertly written encyclopedia, but the process of creating articles was slow and limited. In an effort to make the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge faster and more accessible, Wells and Sanger decided to launch a more open and collaborative encyclopedia, which became Wikipedia.

The first version of Wikipedia was launched in January 2001 and was written in English. The early days of Wikipedia were challenging, as the site struggled to attract contributors and create its own content. However, the community of volunteers gradually grew and the encyclopedia began to expand. The initial focus was on producing articles about science and technology, but the site soon expanded to include articles on a range of topics.

In 2003, the site was officially incorporated as the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. The Foundation was established to support the growth and development of Wikipedia, as well as other projects such as Wiktionary (a dictionary), Wikibooks (a collection of open-source textbooks), and Wikimedia Commons (a collection of freely licensed media files). was done for

Had to face many difficulties-

As Wikipedia continued to grow, it faced many challenges, including issues of accuracy, reliability, and bias. The site’s open structure, which allowed anyone to edit articles, made it vulnerable to vandalism and errors. To address these concerns, the Wikimedia Foundation implemented policies and procedures to encourage high-quality contributions and discourage bad behavior. The community of volunteer editors also played an important role in maintaining the quality of the encyclopedia by monitoring and improving articles.

Big success in the year 2005-

In 2005, Wikipedia reached a major milestone and became one of the top 10 most visited websites in the world. This was a testament to the popularity and reach of the encyclopedia, which had become an important source of information for people around the world. By this point, the site had grown to include over one million articles in English as well as versions in other languages including German, French and Japanese.

Over the next several years, Wikipedia continued to expand, both in terms of the number of articles and the number of languages it supported. The site reached another major milestone in 2007, when it became the world’s largest encyclopedia with over 2 million articles in English alone. In addition, the Wikimedia Foundation launched several new projects, including Wikisource (a digital library of open source texts), Wikinews (a news source), and Wikiversity (an archive of free learning materials).

The ups and downs continued-

Despite its success, Wikipedia has faced challenges, including ongoing issues with accuracy and reliability. In addition, the site was frequently criticized for its perceived bias and the fact that a relatively small number of contributors were responsible for the bulk of the content. To address these concerns, the Wikimedia Foundation implemented new policies and tools to encourage more diverse contributions and promote a more balanced representation of different viewpoints.

Website is available in many languages-

In recent years, Wikipedia has continued to grow, with the introduction of new features such as mobile access and the ability to search for articles using natural language queries. With the creation of localized versions in many languages, including those spoken by small communities around the world, the site has become even more accessible.

Today, Wikipedia is one of the largest and most comprehensive online encyclopedias available, with over 6 million articles in English and over 50 million articles in hundreds of different languages. This site is maintained by a large community.