View source for Wikipedia

''This page is based on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia&oldid=119266678 Wikipedia article on Wikipedia], downloaded March 31, 2007''

'''Wikipedia''' ([[IPA chart for English|IPA]]: {{IPA|/ˌwikiˈpiːdi.ə/}} or {{IPA|/ˌwɪkiˈpiːdi.ə/}} ({{audio|en-us-Wikipedia.ogg|Audio (U.S.)}}) is a multilingual, [[World Wide Web|web]]-based, [[free content]] [[encyclopedia]] project. Wikipedia is written collaboratively by [[volunteer]]s; its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the web site. The name is a [[portmanteau]] of the words ''[[wiki]]'' (a type of collaborative website) and ''[[encyclopedia]]''. Its primary [[Server (computing)|servers]] are in [[Tampa, Florida]], with additional servers in [[Amsterdam]] and [[Seoul]].

Wikipedia was launched as the [[English language|English]] [[English Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] on [[January 15]] [[2001]], as a complement to [[Nupedia]], an expert-written and now defunct encyclopedia. The project is now operated by the [[Wikimedia Foundation]], a [[non-profit organization]] created by [[Jimmy Wales]] who is the co-founder of Wikipedia.<ref name=foundercontroversy/><ref>[http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6102279.html]</ref><ref>[http://news.com.com/Wikipedias+Wales+touts+free+culture+movement/2100-1038_3-6102279.html]</ref><ref>[http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-article-a-80242-m-61-sc-101-tech_community_to_honor_wikipedia_cofounder-i]</ref><ref>[http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/02/12/bias_sabotage_haunt_wikipedias_free_world/?page=4]</ref> Wikipedia has approximately six million articles in 250 languages,<ref name="ListOfWikipedias">{{cite web | url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Wikipedias&oldid=517497 | title=List of Wikipedias | publisher=[[Meta-Wiki]] | accessdate=2007-01-31 | date=2007-01-24}}</ref> 1.7 million <!-- Do not use {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} here --> of which are in the English edition. It has steadily risen in popularity since its inception,<ref name="AlexaStats">{{cite web | url=http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?&range=5y&size=large&y=t&url=wikipedia.org | title=Five-year traffic statistics for wikipedia.org | publisher=[[Alexa Internet]] | accessdate=2007-01-29}}</ref> and currently ranks among the top ten most-visited websites worldwide.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?&range=3&nbsp;m&size=large&y=t&url=wikipedia.org | title=Three-month traffic statistics for wikipedia.org | publisher=[[Alexa Internet]] | accessdate=2007-01-29}}</ref>

Critics have questioned Wikipedia's reliability and accuracy. <ref name="Who">{{cite web | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1335892,00.html | title=Who knows? | accessdate=2007-02-11 | author=Simon Waldman | publisher=''[[The Guardian]]'' | date=2004-10-26}}</ref> The site has also been criticized for its susceptibility to [[vandalism]],<ref name="DeathByWikipedia" /> uneven quality, [[systemic bias]] and inconsistencies,<ref name="SangerElitism" /> and for favoring [[consensus]] over [[credential]]s in its editorial process.<ref name="AcademiaAndWikipedia">{{cite web | url=http://www.corante.com/many/archives/2005/01/04/academia_and_wikipedia.php | title=Academia and Wikipedia | accessdate=2007-02-11 | author=[[Danah Boyd]] | publisher=[[Many-to-many|Many-to-Many]] | date=2005-01-04}}</ref> Wikipedia's content policies<ref name="PoliciesAndGuidelines">{{cite web | url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_policies_and_guidelines | title=List of policies and guidelines | accessdate=2007-01-31 | publisher=English Wikipedia}}</ref> and sub-projects set up by contributors seek to address these concerns.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject | title=Wikipedia:WikiProject | accessdate=2007-01-29 | publisher=[[English Wikipedia]]}}</ref> Two scholarly studies have concluded that vandalism is generally short-lived<ref name="MIT_IBM_study">{{ cite paper | title = Studying Cooperation and Conflict between Authors with History Flow Visualizations | format = [[PDF]] | accessdate = 2007-01-24 | url = http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~fviegas/papers/history_flow.pdf }}</ref> and that Wikipedia is roughly as accurate as other encyclopedias.<ref name="Rosenzweig_2006" /><!-- THIS IS A PLACEHOLDER. Some prose about how Wikipedia has attracted praise, criticism and its fair share of controversy belongs here. We were missing praise and giving too much duplicated information before. -->

== History ==
{{main|History of Wikipedia}}
[[Image:Nupedia.jpg|thumb|250px|Wikipedia originally developed from another encyclopedia project, [[Nupedia]].]]

Wikipedia began as a complementary project for [[Nupedia]], a free online 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|Bomis, Inc]], a [[web portal]] company. Its principal figures were [[Jimmy Wales]], Bomis [[Chief executive officer|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 GFDL before Wikipedia's founding at the urging of [[Richard Stallman]].<ref>{{cite news|author=[[Richard Stallman]]|title=The Free Encyclopedia Project|date=1999|publisher=[[Free Software Foundation]]|url=http://www.gnu.org/encyclopedia/encyclopedia.html}}</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 |author=[[Larry Sanger]] |title=Let's make a wiki |date=[[January 10]] [[2001]] |publisher=Internet Archive |url=http://web.archive.org/web/20030414014355/http://www.nupedia.com/pipermail/nupedia-l/2001-January/000676.html}}</ref>
Wikipedia was formally launched on [[January 15]] [[2001]], as a single English-language edition at http://www.wikipedia.com/, and announced by Sanger on the Nupedia mailing list.<ref>{{cite news |author=[[Larry 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}}</ref>
Wikipedia's policy of "neutral point-of-view"<ref name="NPOV" /> 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">{{cite news |author=[[Larry Sanger]] |title=The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia: A Memoir|date=[[April 18]] [[2005]] |publisher=[[Slashdot]] |url=http://features.slashdot.org/features/05/04/18/164213.shtml}}</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. It grew to 26 language editions by the end of 2002, 46 by the end of 2003, and 161 by the end of 2004.<ref>"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Multilingual_statistics 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 both the co-founders of Wikipedia.<ref name=foundercontroversy/><ref>[http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/02/12/bias_sabotage_haunt_wikipedias_free_world/?page=4]</ref>

[[Image:Wiki_OLD.jpg|right|Wikipedia's Old Logo]]

[[Image:WikipediaHomePage30March200.png|thumb|300px|right|Wikipedia's English edition on [[March 30]] [[2001]], two and a half months after its founding.]]

Wales and Sanger attribute the concept of using a wiki to [[Ward Cunningham]]'s [[WikiWikiWeb]] or [[Portland Pattern Repository]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}} 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>{{cite web|url=http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2001-October/000671.html|title=Wikipedia-l: LinkBacks?|accessdate=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]] and [[Amapedia]] — 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://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2003-June/010690.html Announcing Wikimedia Foundation]", [[June 20]] [[2003]], <wikipedia-l@wikipedia.org></ref>

The Wikimedia Foundation 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>{{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}}</ref>

[[Image:Number_of_articles_reg_01.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The number of English Wikipedia articles grew exponentially from 2002 to 2006, with a doubling time of roughly 1 year.<ref name="WP_exp_growth">"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Modelling_Wikipedia's_growth Wikipedia:Modelling Wikipedia's growth]",[[English Wikipedia]]. Retrieved on [[2007-01-29]].</ref>]]

As of 2007, English Wikipedia had over 1.6&nbsp;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">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Encyclopedias and Dictionaries |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed. |publisher= Encyclopædia Britannica |date=2007 |volume=18 |pages=257–286}}</ref>

== Authorship and management ==
During December 2005, about 27,000 users made at least five edits to Wikipedia; of these, 17,000 worked on the English edition.<ref>Paragraph's statistics taken from "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wikistats/EN/TablesWikipediansEditsGt5.htm Active wikipedians]" (Wikipedia Statistics, [[April 13]] [[2006]]).</ref> Maintenance tasks are performed by a group of volunteers; these include developers, who work on the [[MediaWiki]] software, and other trusted users with various permission levels including "steward", "bureaucrat" and "administrator".<ref>"[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:User_access_levels&oldid=100160162 Wikipedia:User access levels]", Wikipedia ([[January 12]], [[2007]])</ref> Stewards and bureaucrats are able to promote or demote users to different permission levels. Administrators are the largest group of specially privileged users, and have the ability to delete pages, prevent articles from being edited, or block users from editing. Administrators are, however, required to follow community policy when exercising these powers.<ref>"[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators&oldid=102666051 Wikipedia:Administrators]", Wikipedia ([[January 23]], [[2007]])</ref> These permissions are normally granted by community consensus; stewards are elected at irregular intervals. Vandalism or the minor infraction of policies may result in a warning or temporary block, while long-term or permanent blocks for prolonged and serious infractions are given by{{Fact|date=March 2007}}(or in the name of) Jimmy Wales or, on the English-language edition, an elected "Arbitration Committee".<ref>"[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee&oldid=102764599 Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee]", Wikipedia ([[23 January]] [[2007]])</ref>

Wikipedia is funded through the [[Wikimedia Foundation]]. Its 4th Quarter 2005 costs were $321,000 [[United States dollar|USD]], with hardware making up almost 60% of the budget.<ref>{{cite web|title=Budget/2005|publisher=[[Wikimedia Foundation]]|url=http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Budget/2005|accessdate=2006-03-11}}</ref> The Wikimedia Foundation currently relies primarily on private donations, and holds regular fundraisers;<ref>[http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Fundraising Fundraising], [[Wikimedia Foundation]]</ref> the January 2007 fundraiser raised just over $1 million.<ref>"[http://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Fundraising_report&oldid=19190 Fundraising report]", [[Wikimedia Foundation]] ([[January 21]] [[2007]])</ref>

== Software and hardware ==
[[Image:Floridaserversfront1.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Wikipedia receives between 10,000 and 30,000 page requests per second, depending on time of day.<ref>"[http://hemlock.knams.wikimedia.org/~leon/stats/reqstats/reqstats-monthly.png Monthly request statistics]", Wikimedia. Retrieved on [[2007-02-03]].</ref> More than 100 servers have been set up to handle the traffic.]]

The operation of Wikipedia depends on [[MediaWiki]], a custom-made, [[open source]] wiki software platform written in [[PHP]] and built upon the [[MySQL]] database. The software incorporates modern programming features, such as a [[macro language]], [[variables]], a [[transclusion]] system for [[template]]s, 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 brackets were 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.

[[Image:Wikimedia-servers-2006-05-09.svg|200px|thumb|right|Overview of system architecture, May 2006. Source: [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Server_layout_diagrams Server layout diagrams on Meta-Wiki].]]

Wikipedia runs on dedicated [[computer cluster|clusters]] of [[Linux]] servers in [[Florida]] and in four other locations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_servers|title=Wikimedia servers at wikimedia.org|accessdate=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 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 cache]] servers. By September 2005, its [[computer cluster|server cluster]] had grown to around 100 servers in four locations around the world.

Page requests are first passed to a front-end layer of [[Squid cache|Squid caching]] servers. Requests that cannot be served from the Squid cache are sent to load-balancing servers running the [[Perlbal]] 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 filesystem until invalidated, allowing page rendering to be skipped entirely for most common page accesses. To further accelerate response times, Wikimedia is building a global network of caching servers, beginning with three caching servers in France. Two larger clusters in the Netherlands and Korea now handle much of Wikipedia's traffic load.

== Language editions ==
[[Image:He-Wikipedia.png|right|thumb|300px|Wikipedia in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]].<ref>[http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Main Page], [[Hebrew Wikipedia]]</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]], "[http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2005-March/020469.html Wikipedia is an encyclopedia]", March 8 2005, <wikipedia-l@wikimedia.org></ref> There are presently 250 language editions of Wikipedia; of these, the top 14 have over 100,000 articles and the top 131 have over 1,000 articles.<ref name="ListOfWikipedias" /> According to [[Alexa Internet]]'s [[Audience|audience measurement]] service, the English [[subdomain]] (en.wikipedia.org) receives approximately 55% of Wikipedia's cumulative traffic, with the remaining 45% split among the other languages.<ref name="AlexaStats" /> The various language editions are held to global policies such as "neutral point of view," though they may diverge on subtler points of policy and practice.

The editing of the language editions is not coordinated, and articles of one edition need not match their counterparts in another edition. Multilingual editors of sufficient fluency are encouraged to manually translate articles; automated translation of articles is explicitly disallowed.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Translations 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, "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Translation_into_English Translation into English]", Wikipedia. (March 9, 2005)</ref> Articles available in more than one language offer "[[InterWiki]]" links in their left margins, 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.
{{Wikipedia 100,000}}

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

Wikipedia appeals to the authority of peer-reviewed publications rather than the personal authority of experts.<ref name="WP_RS">"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources Wikipedia:Reliable sources]", [[English Wikipedia]]. Retrieved on [[2007-01-27]].</ref> Wikipedia does not require that its contributors give their legal names<ref>"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Username Wikipedia:Username]", English Wikipedia. Retrieved on [[2007-01-29]].</ref> or provide other information to establish their identity.<ref>"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Privacy Wikipedia:Privacy]", English Wikipedia. Retrieved on [[2007-01-29]].</ref> Although some contributors are authorities in their field, Wikipedia requires that even their contributions be supported by published sources.<ref name="WP_RS" /> A drawback of this citation-only approach is that readers may be unable to judge the credibility of a cited source.{{Fact|date=March 2007}} <!--see talk -->

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 name="NPOV" /> The English-language Wikipedia has introduced a scale against which the quality of articles is judged;<ref>"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Version_1.0_Editorial_Team/Assessment Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment]", Wikipedia. Retrieved on [[2007-01-27]].</ref> other editions have also adopted this. Roughly 1200 articles have passed a rigorous set of criteria to reach the highest rank, "featured article" status; such articles are intended to provide a thorough, well-written coverage of their topic, and be supported by many references to peer-reviewed publications.<ref>"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_article_criteria Featured article criteria]", Wikipedia. Retrieved on [[2007-01-27]].</ref>

=== Academic evaluation ===
Some studies suggest that Wikipedia provides a good starting point for research, but sometimes suffers from significant omissions and inaccuracies.<ref>{{cite news |title=Wikipedia survives research test |date=[[December 15]], [[2005]] |work=[[BBC News]] |publisher=[[BBC]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4530930.stm}}</ref> On the other hand, an investigation by ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' comparing Wikipedia to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' suggested a near similar level of accuracy in terms of its [[natural science]] articles.<ref>"[http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051212/full/438900a.html Internet encyclopaedias go head to head]", ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', [[14 December]] [[2005]]</ref> Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. disagreed and described this study as "fatally flawed",<ref>{{cite paper |author=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |title=Fatally Flawed: Refuting the recent study on encyclopedic accuracy by the journal ''Nature'' |date=March 22, 2006 |url=http://corporate.britannica.com/britannica_nature_response.pdf |format=[[PDF]]}}</ref> to which ''Nature'' later responded, stating that its study was perfectly neutral.<ref>"[http://www.nature.com/nature/britannica/index.html Nature's responses to Encyclopaedia Britannica]", ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' ([[March 30]] [[2006]]). Retrieved on [[2007-02-01]].</ref> Other studies have concluded that Wikipedia's coverage of history is significantly broader and deeper than that of [[Encarta]], while being just as accurate,<ref name="Rosenzweig_2006">{{cite journal |last=Rosenzweig |first=Roy |year=2006 |title=Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past |journal=The Journal of American History |volume=93 |pages=117–146}}</ref> and that obvious vandalism is usually reverted quickly.<ref name="MIT_IBM_study" /> 

In a study of Wikipedia as a community, economics PhD 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 February 2007, an article in [[The Harvard Crimson]] newspaper reported that some of the professors at Harvard University do include Wikipedia in their syllabi, 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>

== Criticism and controversy ==
{{main|Criticism of Wikipedia}}

Wikipedia has been accused of exhibiting [[systemic bias]] and inconsistency;<ref name="Who">Simon Waldman, http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1335892,00.html Who knows?, The Guardian, [[October 26]] [[2004]]</ref> critics argue that Wikipedia's open nature, and favouring [[consensus]] over [[credential]]s in its editorial process, makes it unauthoritative, and that 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> although the [[Conversion (logic)|converse]] of the same argument can also be argued.<!-- Not sure what to cite for this but I know it's an ongoing argument --> Some commentators suggest that Wikipedia is usually reliable, but that it is not always clear how much.<ref name="AcademiaAndWikipedia">[[Danah Boyd]], "[http://www.corante.com/many/archives/2005/01/04/academia_and_wikipedia.php Academia and Wikipedia]", [[Many-to-many|Many-to-Many]], [[January 4]] [[2005]].</ref> The project's preference for [[consensus]] over [[credential]]s has been labelled "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> 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]], "[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 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/media/storage/paper919/news/2006/04/21/News/Wide-World.Of.Wikipedia-1865022.shtml | date = [[April 21]] [[2006]] | accessdate = 2007-01-25 }}</ref> some specifically prohibit Wikipedia citations.<ref>"[http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/26/wiki A Stand Against Wikipedia]", ''Inside Higher Ed'' ([[January 26]] [[2007]]). Retrieved on [[January 27]] [[2007]].</ref> 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">[http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051214_441708.htm Wikipedia: "A Work in Progress"], [[BusinessWeek]] ([[December 14]], [[2005]]). Retrieved on [[2007-01-29]].</ref> Technology writer [[Bill Thompson (technology writer)|Bill Thompson]] commented that the debate was possibly "symptomatic of much learning about information which is happening in society today."<ref>{{cite news |title=What is it with Wikipedia? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4534712.stm |date=[[2005-12-16]] |publisher=[[British Broadcasting Company|BBC]] |first=Bill |last=Thompson}}</ref>

[[Image:WIKIPEDIA_25mar_07-full.png|thumb|right|Wikipedia on 25th March 07]]

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 Internet [[troll (internet)|trolls]].<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> For example, [[John Seigenthaler Sr. Wikipedia biography controversy|false information was introduced]] into the biography of [[John Seigenthaler, Sr.]] and remained undetected for four months.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

Wikipedia's community has been described as "[[cult]]-like",<ref>{{cite news |url=http://technology.guardian.co.uk/opinion/story/0,16541,1667346,00.html |title=Log on and join in, but beware the web cults |first=Charles |last=Arthur |date=[[2005-12-15]] |publisher=[[The Guardian]]}}</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=[[Cable News Network|CNN]]}}</ref> and criticised for failing to accommodate inexperienced users.<ref>"{{cite web |url=http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.php?title=Critical_views_of_Wikipedia |title=Critical views of Wikipedia |author=[[Wikinfo]] |date=[[2005-03-30]] |accessdate=2007-01-29}}</ref> The addition of political [[Spin (public relations)|spin]] to articles by organizations including the [[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 | accessdate = 2006-11-01 | first = Frank | last = Ahrens | publisher = The Washington Post | date = 2006-07-09 }}</ref> has been noted,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.com.com/2061-11199_3-6032713.html |title=Politicians notice Wikipedia |publisher=[[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> Wikipedia has been parodied by its critics, notably by [[Stephen Colbert]] in ''[[The Colbert Report]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Colbert speaks, America follows: All Hail Wikiality!|publisher=c-net news.com|url=http://news.com.com/2061-10802_3-6100754.html|author=Caroline McCarthy|date=2006-08-01}}</ref>

In 2007, the Wikipedia article on then-Montana senator [[Conrad Burns]] was edited by his own staff, causing political scandal among his constituents.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2006/02/09/news/wikipedia.txt |title=Burns' office may have tampered with Wikipedia entry |publisher=[[Bozeman Daily Chronicle]] |author=Williams, Walt |date=2007-01-01 |accessdate=2007-02-13}}</ref>

Wikipedia's content policies<ref name="PoliciesAndGuidelines">"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_policies_and_guidelines List of policies and guidelines]", English Wikipedia. Retrieved on [[2007-01-31]].</ref> and sub-projects set up by contributors seek to address these concerns.<ref>"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikipedia:WikiProject]", [[English Wikipedia]]. Retrieved on [[2007-01-29]].</ref> Several scholarly studies have concluded that vandalism is generally short-lived,<ref name="MIT_IBM_study">{{ cite paper | title = Studying Cooperation and Conflict between Authors with History Flow Visualizations | format = [[PDF]] | accessdate = 2007-01-24 | url = http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~fviegas/papers/history_flow.pdf }}</ref> and that Wikipedia is roughly as accurate as other online encyclopedias.<ref name="Rosenzweig_2006" />

== Awards ==
Wikipedia won two major awards in May 2004.<ref>"[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Trophy_box 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 Awards|Webby Award]] for the "community" category.<ref>"[http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/winners-2004.php Webby Awards 2004]"</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>"[http://www.multiscope.nl/organisatie/nieuws/sberichten/nederlandse-wikipedia-groeit-als-kool.html Nederlandse Wikipedia groeit als kool] (Website in Dutch Language), Recovered [[December 27]], [[2006]]</ref> On 26 January 2007, Wikipedia was also awarded the fourth highest brand ranking by the readers of [http://www.brandchannel.com brandchannel.com], receiving 15% of the votes in answer to the question "Which brand had the most impact on our lives in 2006?"<ref>"[http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=352 Similar Search Results: Google Wins]", [[Interbrand]] ([[January 29]] [[2007]]). Retrieved on [[2007-01-28]].</ref> Founder Jimmy Wales was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by ''[[TIME Magazine]]'' in 2006.<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187286,00.html Jimmy Wales in Time 100]", [[TIME]], 08:58 [[December 18]] [[2006]].</ref> In 2006, the [[Russian Wikipedia]] won the "Science and education" category of the "[[Runet Prize]]" (Russian: ''[[:ru:Премия Рунета|Премия Рунета]]'') award, supervised<ref>{{ru icon}}[http://lenta.ru/news/2005/08/29/premia/ Major award of Russian Internet became a state one] — [[Lenta.ru]], August 29 2005</ref> by the Russian government agency [[FAPMC]].

== In the media ==
{{main|Wikipedia in popular culture}}

Wikipedia's content has been mirrored and forked by hundreds of sites including [[database dump]]s. Its content has also been used in academic studies, books, conferences and court cases.<ref>"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_in_the_media Wikipedia:Wikipedia in the media]", Wikipedia</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|Canadian Parliament]] website refers to Wikipedia's article on [[same-sex marriage]] in the "related links" section of its "further reading" list for [[Civil Marriage Act]].<ref>"[http://www.parl.gc.ca/LEGISINFO/index.asp?Lang=E&Chamber=C&StartList=2&EndList=200&Session=13&Type=0&Scope=I&query=4381&List=toc 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">{{cite journal |last=Arias |first=Martha L. |date=29 January 2007 |title=[http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1668 Wikipedia: The Free Online Encyclopedia and its Use as Court Source] |journal=Internet Business Law Services}}</ref> — though mainly for ''supporting information'' rather than information decisive to a case.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cohen |first=Noam |date=29 January 2007 |title=[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/technology/29wikipedia.html?ref=technology Courts Turn to Wikipedia, but Selectively] |journal=New York Times}}</ref> Wikipedia has also been used as a source in [[journalism]],<ref>"[http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/09/08/russia.basayev/ Basayev: Russia's most wanted man]", [[CNN]], [[8 September]] [[2004]].</ref> sometimes without attribution; several reporters have been dismissed for plagiarizing from Wikipedia.<ref>"[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]]'', [[9 January]] [[2007]].</ref><ref>"[http://starbulletin.com/2006/01/13/news/story03.html Inquiry prompts reporter's dismissal]", ''[[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]]'', [[13 January]] [[2007]].</ref>

Wikipedia maintains a (non-comprehensive) list of notable uses of the encyclopedia as a source.<ref>"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_as_a_source Wikipedia:Wikipedia as a source]", Wikipedia</ref>

With increased usage and awareness, there have been an increasing number of references to Wikipedia in popular culture. Many parody Wikipedia's openness, with characters vandalizing or modifying the online encyclopedia project's articles. [[Uncyclopedia]] is the largest such website; its Main Page claims that it is the "content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit,"<ref>"[http://uncyclopedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&oldid=1497858 Main Page]", uncyclopedia.org (as of [[January 26]] [[2007]]). Retrieved on [[2007-01-28]].</ref> parodying the English Wikipedia's welcome message on its {{srlink|[[Main Page]]}}. 

In the episode "Wikiality" of [[The Colbert Report]], host [[Stephen Colbert]] has instigated his viewers to vandalize articles in humorous ways, once doing so on the Wikipedia article on [[elephant]]s.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://spring.newsvine.com/_news/2006/08/01/307864-stephen-colbert-causes-chaos-on-wikipedia-gets-blocked-from-site |title=Colbert Causes Chaos on Wikipedia |publisher=[[Newsvine]] |date=[[August 1]] [[2006]] |accessdate=2006-09-28}}</ref> [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s character in his video [[White & Nerdy|'White & Nerdy']] is seen vandalising the entry for the Atlantic [[record label]] with the exclamation "You suck!," after they rescinded permission for a parody.<ref>"[http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20523843-5006024,00.html Weird Al Yankovic]," [[Herald Sun]], [[October 5]] [[2006]]. Retrieved on [[2007-01-25]].</ref>

In a recent episode of ''[[American Dad]]'' (entitled [[Black Mystery Month]]), protagonists [[Stan Smith]] and [[Steve Smith]] fail to reveal to the world that [[George Washington Carver]] wasn't the person who invented [[peanut butter]], then create a Wikipedia page entitled "The Truth About Peanut Butter" to inform the world, citing that it is the one place you can put crazy information out with no evidence and still have millions of people believe it to be true.

== Related projects ==
Wikipedia has spawned several sister projects. The first, "''In Memoriam: September 11<!--Do not reformat this date, it is quoted--> Wiki''",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sep11memories.org/|title=sep11memories.org/<!--INSERT TITLE-->|accessdate=2007-02-06}}</ref> created in October 2002,<ref>[http://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, 2001 attacks]]; this project was closed in October 2006.<ref>"[http://sep11memories.org/index.php?title=In_Memoriam&oldid=11355 In Memoriam]",In Memoriam: September 11 Wiki ([[October 31]] [[2006]])</ref> [[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, the next month. Wikimedia has since started a number of other projects.<ref name="OurProjects">"[http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Our_projects 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|free-software]] figure [[Richard Stallman]], has lent his support to Wikipedia.<ref>{{cite news|author=[[Richard Stallman]]|title=The Free Encyclopedia Project|date=1999|publisher=[[Free Software Foundation]]|url=http://www.gnu.org/encyclopedia/encyclopedia.html}}</ref>

Other websites centered around 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|h2g2]] and [[Everything2]].

== See also ==
{{meta|List of Wikipedias}}
* [[Congressional staffer edits to Wikipedia]]
* [[List of encyclopedias]]
* [[List of Wikipedias]]
* [[List of wikis]]
* [[Open content]]
* [[User-generated content]]
* [[Wikipedia community]]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== External links ==
{{Sisterlinkqsc|Wikipedia}}
{{wikinewscat|Wikipedia}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Wikipedia.ogg|2005-06-25}}
* [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia] - multilingual portal (contains links to all language editions of the project)
* [http://en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia] - [[English language]] edition
* {{SourceWatch|id=Wikipedia|page=Wikipedia}}
* [http://dmoz.org/Computers/Open_Source/Open_Content/Encyclopedias/Wikipedia/ Wikipedia] at the [[Open Directory Project]]

[[Category:Chemical information]]
[[Category:Wikipedia content]]