Wikipedia's founder at Coimbatore
Jimmy Wales (right), Founder, Wikipedia, arriving at the International Techno Management Fest "KRIYA ’08" at PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore on Sunday.“Wikia Search, the search engine being created by Wikia, will be meant to take on those of Google and Yahoo, in that it will be open source and not proprietary," company founder Jimmy Donal Wales said on Sunday.Addressing students at the PSG College of Technology here, Mr. Wales, who is also the founder of Wikipedia, said the search engine that had been evolving for some years was touted by the world media as “Google’s worst nightmare.” “After three years, I will be able to say whether it is a failure or a huge success.” In a freewheeling talk, he traced the origin and development of Wikipedia and the “amazing worldwide impact” it was enjoying. He termed it the eighth most popular website.“It is a freely licensed, multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopaedia, written collaboratively by volunteers. The money for it also comes in the form of small donations from many people. It is not dependent on a single person. Even though it is a small organisation, we have more than nine million articles in over 250 languages. Anybody can contribute in any form, like writing or editing,” he said.Since the encyclopaedia depended on community contribution, it was bound to have errors. “We are very firmly dedicated to quality. But there are errors. There are errors in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, too. The quality of Wikipedia has improved over the years, as the contributing community keeps improving.”
He was proud that Wikipedia had created the largest encyclopaedic history in seven years. However, he was sorry that there were many languages that still had only a small content. “We need more contribution from India, too. The language that has the most number of articles in the Indian languages is Telugu.”According to him, there were more contributors to the Indian language articles from outside India rather than from within. He attributed this to reduced access to broadband connection. He called for increased computer penetration down the line.
He came out against too much policing being imposed on Internet users. The web content and designing should not be a caged concept. “Wikipedia is a warm and welcoming site. It does not hamper the freedom of the user.”Answering a query about the choice of the name Wikipedia, Mr. Wales said it was an adaptation of the Hawaiian word, “wiki wiki,” that meant quick.Asked whether he wanted to go big like Google, he said: “It will not become like Google. There is no investment capital; it is based on voluntary work. If you are looking for a Wiki mail, then you might not get one.”He urged the students, as technical experts who were strong in the subject as well as the language, to contribute to Wikipedia.
