Wikipedia Celebrates 15th Anniversary & Wikimedia Launches Endowment
UPDATE: A Non-Stop Real-Time Stream of Every Wikipedia Edit (via Wikistream)
Note: Options at the Top of the Page to Limit Stream to Specific Area, Editors, and Size of Edit
UPDATE 2: Wikipedia Live Monitor
Another real-time edit viewing tool.
From the Wikimedia Blog:
This Friday [January 15, 2016] marks the 15th anniversary of Wikipedia, the world’s free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. This week, we celebrate not just Wikipedia, but the birth of an idea: that anyone can contribute to the world’s knowledge. Globally, readers and editors are coming together to celebrate, with nearly 150 events across six continents.
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As part of this milestone, the Wikimedia Foundation is pleased to announce the Wikimedia Endowment, a permanent source of funding to ensure Wikipedia thrives for generations to come. The Wikimedia Endowment will empower people around the world to create and contribute free knowledge, and share that knowledge with every single human being. Our goal is to raise $100 million over the next 10 years. The Endowment has been established, with an initial contribution by the Wikimedia Foundation, as a Collective Action Fund at the Tides Foundation.
Selected Wikimedia/Wikipedia Fast Facts
- Wikipedia started in January 2001 in English, but soon expanded to other languages—within the first year, it grew to 18 languages. Today, it is available in nearly 300.
- Volunteers constantly edit and improve Wikipedia. Every hour, roughly 15,000 edits are made to Wikipedia. Every day, around 7,000 new articles are created.
- Wikipedia became one of the top 10 websites in the world in 2007, and the only non-profit website anywhere near the top.
- It’s not just Wikipedia. There are 11 other Wikimedia free knowledge projects, including Wikimedia Commons, with more than 30 million freely licensed images, as well as Wiktionary, Wikisource, Wikivoyage, and more.
Read the Complete Wikimedia Blog Post For More Info and Fast Facts
Direct to List of All-Time Most Edited Wikipedia Articles
Direct to Wikipedia 15th Anniversary Site
Direct to Wikimedia Endowment Info
This is the first snapshot of Wikipedia.org in the Wayback database.
See Also: Copy of Wikipedia Homepage From December 20, 2001 (via Nostalgia.wikipedia.org)
Resources: Selection of Wikipedia Statistical Data Resources
- Wikipedia Statistics (by Language, Platform Usage, Article Count, etc.)
- Wikipedia Statistics By Topic
- Wikipedia Charts
Filed under: Data Files, Funding, News
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.