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Jimmy Wales



Main article: Wikia

In 2004, Wales co-founded, with Angela Beesley, the for-profit company Wikia, Inc.[29] Wikia is a wiki farm — a collection of individual wikis on different subjects, all hosted on the same website.[48]

Another service offered by Wikia is an open source web search engine named Wikia Search, intended to challenge Google and introduce transparency and public dialogue about how it's created into the search engine's operations. On Wikia Search, Wales has stated, "I trust Google reasonably well, but that's like saying you have a favorite politician. I trust this politician, but I still want the city council to meet publicly. I still want a certain transparency in how government is run, even if you trust the person who's in charge now."[49] According to Wales, "It is meant to take on Google by creating a search engine where all the editorial decisions are made by the general public and all the software is open."[50]

Roles of Wikipedia creators

Main article: Origins of Wikipedia

Wales has publicly disagreed with Larry Sanger's role in the founding of Wikipedia. To the contrary, Wales has stated that he is the sole founder of Wikipedia[51] and that Sanger was his paid employee.[52] In 2006, Wales told The Boston Globe that "it's preposterous" to call Sanger the co-founder.[51] However, Sanger was identified as co-founder at least as early as September 2001 by The New York Times[53] and was referred to as a founder alongside Wales in Wikipedia's first press release in 2002.[54] In addition to developing Wikipedia in its early phase and guiding the project,[9][55] Sanger was responsible for the idea of applying the wiki concept to the building of a free encyclopedia. He also coined the name of the project.[55][56] He nevertheless ascribed the broader idea to Wales: "To be clear, the idea of an open source, collaborative encyclopedia, open to contribution by ordinary people, was entirely Jimmy's, not mine, and the funding was entirely by Bomis. (…) The actual development of this encyclopedia was the task he gave me to work on."[57] In response to Wales' statement,[58] Sanger posted on his personal webpage a collection of statements confirming his role in founding Wikipedia, by referencing earlier versions of Wikipedia pages, citing Wikipedia press releases, and linking to early media coverage, all of which described Wales and Sanger as the co-founders.[59] In a discussion with Brian Bergstein of the Associated Press, Wales said: "When you write this up please do not uncritically repeat Sanger's absurd claim to be the co-founder of Wikipedia." He added: "I am not bent out of shape about it. The facts are on my side, which is why I bother so little about it."[55] Wales' role in the Wikipedia community has been described as "benevolent dictator for life."[60]

Editing of own Wikipedia biography

In late 2005, Wales edited his own biography page on Wikipedia. In this regard, Rogers Cadenhead drew attention to logs showing that Wales had removed references to Sanger as the co-founder of Wikipedia.[61][62] Sanger commented that "having seen edits like this, it does seem that Jimmy is attempting to rewrite history. But this is a futile process because in our brave new world of transparent activity and maximum communication, the truth will be out."[34][61][63] Wales was also observed to have modified references to Bomis in a way that was characterized as downplaying the sexual nature of some of his former company's products.[34] An article in the July 31, 2006, issue of The New Yorker magazine expanded on this topic, stating that Wales was "caught airbrushing his Wikipedia entry—eighteen times in the past year", and that he was "sensitive about references to the porn traffic on his Web portal".[56]

In both cases, Wales argued that his modifications were solely intended to improve the accuracy of the content.[34] He apologized for editing his own biography, a practice generally frowned upon at Wikipedia. Wales said in the Wired interview, "People should not do it, including me. I wish I had not done it."[34]

Wales had previously edited his entries on Wikipedia and on the Wikimedia Foundation's website in 2004 to indicate his date of birth is August 7, 1966.[64][65] He also made a statement in 2006 in which he wrote in part: "My date of birth is not August 8, 1966."[66] The Encyclopædia Britannica, Current Biography, and Who’s Who in America support these statements.[2][67][4] According to a researcher’s note on the Britannica’s website in June 2007, Wales contacted Britannica claiming that the date of August 7, 1966, was incorrect but was unwilling to provide them with a documented alternative, unless his birth date was removed, which violated Britannica's policies.[68] On July 27, 2007, when asked by Oregonian reporter Mike Rogoway when his birthday was, Wales is reported to have mysteriously stated, "Nobody knows."[2] Moreover, on his blog, Rogoway claims that a Florida public records search shows that Wales’ drivers license lists his date of birth as August 8, 1966.[2] In August 2007, Wales expanded on this in his Wikipedia talk page by stating, in part: "In any event, the quotes in the Oregonian are correct."[69]

Personal philosophy

Wales is a self-avowed "Objectivist to the core", and has named his daughter Kira after the heroine in Ayn Rand's We the Living,[49] although he says, "I think I do a better job — than a lot of people who self-identify as Objectivists — of not pushing my point of view on other people."[70] When asked by Brian Lamb in his appearance on C-SPAN's Q&A about Rand, Wales cited "the virtue of independence" as important to him personally. When asked if he could trace "the Ayn Rand connection" to having a political philosophy at the time of the interview, Wales reluctantly labeled himself a libertarian, qualifying his remark by referring to the Libertarian Party as "lunatics" and citing "freedom, liberty, basically individual rights, that idea of dealing with other people in a matter that is not initiating force against them" as his guiding principles.[18] From 1992 to 1996, he ran the electronic mailing list "Moderated Discussion of Objectivist Philosophy."[71] An interview with Wales served as the cover feature of the June 2007 issue of the libertarian magazine Reason.[33]

Honors, awards and positions

Other notable media appearances

  • November 6, 2006 – Wales appears on PBS' Charlie Rose.[78]
  • April 2, 2007 – Wales is featured in Time magazine in the article "10 Questions: Jimmy Wales". He answers ten questions culled from Time's readership. His is the second interview to consist of reader questions (the first being Chris Rock). Previously, the questions had been composed by a Time staff member. In his replies, he acknowledges the limitations of Wikipedia, while defending its usefulness.[79]
  • December 6, 2007 - Wales, while at the Online Information conference in London's Olympia, states that "it's a bad educator that bans their students from reading Wikipedia." Wales reasoned that new editing and checking procedures make Wikipedia more reliable than ever.[80]

Published work

References

  1. ^ Monroe, Florida's County Clerk website (Marriage License Database) Jimmy Wales. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
  2. ^ a b c d Britannica Book of the Year, 2007 Jimmy Wales. Retrieved on 2007-07-25.
  3. ^ Current Biography Yearbook 2006 - Publisher: H. W. Wilson (February 28, 2007) ISBN 978-0824210748. 
  4. ^ a b Who's Who In America: Diamond Edition - Publisher: Marquis Who's Who; 60th edition (12 October 2005) ISBN 978-0837969909. 
  5. ^ a b c d Anderson, Chris. "Jimmy Wales: The (Proud) Amateur Who Created Wikipedia", Time magazine, 2006-04-30. Retrieved on 2006-05-08.
  6. ^ a b "Brain scan: The free-knowledge fundamentalist", Technology Quarterly, The Economist, 2008-06-005. Retrieved on 2008-06-09. 
  7. ^ Keen, Andrew. "Andrew Keen on New Media", The Independent, 2008-06-02. Retrieved on 2008-06-08. 
  8. ^ Board of Trustees/Restructure Announcement. Wikimedia Foundation website (2008-04-26). Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  9. ^ a b c Singer, Michael. "Free Encyclopedia Project Celebrates Year One", Jupitermedia, Internet Archive, January 16, 2002. Retrieved on 2008-02-27. 
  10. ^ Poe, Marshall. "The Hive", The Atlantic Monthly, September 2006. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. "Wales, though, was a businessman. He wanted to build a free encyclopedia, and Wikipedia offered a very rapid and economically efficient means to that end. The articles flooded in, many were good, and they cost him almost nothing...Wales’s benign rule has allowed Wikipedia to do what it does best: grow. The numbers are staggering."
  11. ^ Frith, Holden. "Wikipedia founder launches rival online encyclopaedia", The Times, March 26, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-03-07. 
  12. ^ Wes Smith. "He's the "God-King," but you can call him Jimbo", Seattle Times. 
  13. ^ Mark Evans. "Co-founder has learned to roll with the punches", National Post. 
  14. ^ Bergstein, Brian. "Wikipedia's Wales Hit Over Expenses", CNN, Time, March 5, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-11. 
  15. ^ Harris, Scott Duke. "Wikipedia founder dogged by tawdry tales online", San Jose Mercury News, March 5, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-11. 
  16. ^ Noam Cohen: Open-Source Troubles in Wiki World, March 17, 2008, The New York Times
  17. ^ Geek to chic: Wikipedia founder a celebrity
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h Lamb, Brian. "Q&A: Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder", C-SPAN, 2005-09-25. Retrieved on 2006-07-11. 
  19. ^ Brown, David. "Jimmy Wales '83", Alumni Profiles, Randolph School, 2007-12-11. Retrieved on 2007-12-18. 
  20. ^ Florida Marriage Collection, 1822-1875 and 1927-2001, online at Ancestry.com
  21. ^ Kim, Ryan. "Allegations swirl around Wikipedia's Wales", San Francisco Chronicle, 2007-03-05. Retrieved on 2008-03-06. 
  22. ^ Jimmy Wales - Wikipedia - New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  23. ^ Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (2008-03-02). Retrieved on 2008-03-02.
  24. ^ a b "Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2008-03-04. Retrieved on 2008-03-05. 
  25. ^ "Wikipedia's Wales defends breakup, expenses", USA Today, 2008-03-05. Retrieved on 2008-03-05. 
  26. ^ Siri Agrell. "Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt", The Globe and Mail, 2008-03-04. Retrieved on 2008-03-05. 
  27. ^ "Wikipedia Founder's Fling With Columnist Ends in Nasty Public Breakup", FOXNews.com, 2008-03-03. Retrieved on 2008-03-05. 
  28. ^ "Fury of a woman scorned – on Wikipedia", The Times, 2008-03-04. Retrieved on 2008-03-05. 
  29. ^ a b c McNichol, Tom. "Building a Wiki World", Business 2.0, CNN, 2007-03-01. Retrieved on 2007-03-10. 
  30. ^ a b c Pink, Daniel H.. "The Book Stops Here", Wired, 2005-03-13. Retrieved on 2006-10-09. 
  31. ^ Poe, Marshall. "The Hive". The Atlantic Monthly, 2006-09-01. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
  32. ^ a b Brennen, Jensen. "Access for All", USA: Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc., 2006-06-29. Retrieved on 2008-01-16. 
  33. ^ a b Mangu-Ward, Katherine. "Wikipedia and beyond: Jimmy Wales' sprawling vision", Reason Foundation, June 2007, pp. 21. Retrieved on 2008-01-16. 
  34. ^ a b c d e Hansen, Evan. "Wikipedia Founder Edits Own Bio", Wired News, Wired. Retrieved on 2006-02-14. 
  35. ^ Gouthro, Liane. "Building the world's biggest encyclopedia", PCWorld, CNN, 2000-03-14. Retrieved on 2007-11-25. 
  36. ^ My resignation—Larry Sanger 2002-03-01. Retrieved on 2006-10-19.
  37. ^ Wikipedia's co-founder eyes a Digital Universe 2006-01-06.
  38. ^ In Search of an Online Utopia. Archived from the original on 2007-04-18.. msnbc.msn, 2007-02-01. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
  39. ^ Wales, Jimmy. ""Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Replies"", Slashdot, 2004-07-28. Retrieved on 2006-06-07. 
  40. ^ "Open media to connect communities", BBC News, 2005-11-05. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
  41. ^ Wikimedia foundation bylaws. Wikimedia. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
  42. ^ Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. Wikimedia. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
  43. ^ Marks, Paul (February 3, 2007). "Knowledge to the people.(Jimmy Wales)(Interview)". New Scientist 193.2589: 44. Reed Business Information Ltd.. 
  44. ^ Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales accused of expenses rort, Asher Moses, March 5, 2008, Sydney Morning Herald
  45. ^ San Francisco Chronicle
  46. ^ "More woes for Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales", The Sydney Morning Herald, March 11, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-11. 
  47. ^ Wiki boss 'edited for donation'. Retrieved on 2008-03-12.
  48. ^ Wikia. Main Page, 2007-05-12. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
  49. ^ a b ""Why Is This Man Smiling?"", Fast Company, March 2007. Retrieved on 2007-05-02. "Wales revealed that Wikia, his for-profit Silicon Valley startup, was working on Search Wikia, which he touted as "the search engine that changes everything … Just as Wikipedia revolutionized how we think about knowledge and the encyclopedia, we have a chance now to revolutionize how we think about search."
  50. ^ Lewine, Edward. "The Encyclopedist’s Lair", The New York Times Magazine, 2007-11-18. Retrieved on 2007-11-23. "Greatest misconception about Wikipedia: We aren’t democratic. Our readers edit the entries, but we’re actually quite snobby. The core community appreciates when someone is knowledgeable, and thinks some people are idiots and shouldn’t be writing." 
  51. ^ a b Knott, Janet. "Bias, sabotage haunt Wikipedia's free world", The Boston Globe, 2006-02-12. Retrieved on 2006-04-12. 
  52. ^ Sidener, Jonathan. "Everyone's Encyclopedia", San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved on 2006-10-15. 
  53. ^ Meyers, Peter. "Fact-Driven? Collegial? This Site Wants You", The New York Times, 2001-09-20. Retrieved on 2006-10-15. "I can start an article that will consist of one paragraph, and then a real expert will come along and add three paragraphs and clean up my one paragraph," said Larry Sanger of Las Vegas, who founded Wikipedia with Mr. Wales.
  54. ^ Larry Sanger. What Wikipedia is and why it matters. Retrieved on 2006-04-12.
  55. ^ a b c Bergstein, Brian. "Sanger says he co-started Wikipedia", ABC News, Associated Press, 2007-03-25. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. "The nascent Web encyclopedia Citizendium springs from Larry Sanger, a philosophy Ph.D. who counts himself as a co-founder of Wikipedia, the site he now hopes to usurp. The claim does not seem particularly controversial—Sanger has long been cited as a co-founder. Yet the other founder, Jimmy Wales, is not happy about it." —Brian Bergstein.
  56. ^ a b "Know It All", The New Yorker, 2006-07-31. Retrieved on 2008-01-15. 
    Even Wales has been caught airbrushing his Wikipedia entry—eighteen times in the past year. He is particularly sensitive about references to the porn traffic on his Web portal. 'Adult content' or 'glamour photography' are the terms that he prefers, though, as one user pointed out on the site, they are perhaps not the most precise way to describe lesbian strip-poker threesomes. (In January, Wales agreed to a compromise: erotic photography).
  57. ^ Larry Sanger. "The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia: A Memoir", Slashdot, 2005-04-18. Retrieved on 2005-04-18. 
  58. ^ Mitchell, Dan. "Insider Editing at Wikipedia", The New York Times, 2005-12-24. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  59. ^ King, Ian. 'A Wiki web they've woven'. vancouver.24hrs.ca. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  60. ^ a b Cadenhead, Rogers. Wikipedia Founder Looks Out for Number 1. Retrieved on 2006-10-15.
  61. ^ Wikipedia diff showing modification by Mr. Wales. Retrieved on 2006-10-15.
  62. ^ Blakely, Rhys. Wikipedia founder edits himself. Times Online. Retrieved on 2006-10-15.
  63. ^ Wales, Jimbo. "Edit by Jimbo Wales at Wikimedia Foundation", Wikimedia Foundation, 2004-09-18. Retrieved on 2007-08-08. 
  64. ^ Wales, Jimbo. "Edit by Jimbo Wales at Wikipedia", Wikipedia, 2004-09-18. Retrieved on 2007-08-08. 
  65. ^ "Wales claim birthdate is not August 8, 1966", Wikipedia, 2006-07-11. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
  66. ^ Current Biography Yearbook 2006 - Publisher: H. W. Wilson (February 28, 2007) ISBN 978-0824210748. 
  67. ^ "Jimmy Wales's date of birth", Researcher's Note, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2004-09-18. Retrieved on 2007-08-08. 
  68. ^ Wales, J. "More birthdate nonsense". User talk:Jimbo Wales, 2007-08-07. Retrieved on 2007-08-08.
  69. ^ Jimmy Wales Will Destroy Google. Retrieved on 2007-05-11.
  70. ^ Wales, Jimmy (1992-09-23). "Re: Objectivism of Ayn Rand". talk.philosophy.misc. (Web link).
  71. ^ Jimmy Wales: Wikipedia Founder. Q&A, companion site for a CSPAN series. Retrieved on 2008-03-11.
  72. ^ SocialText (2005-10-03). "Jimmy Wales Joins Socialtext Board of Directors; Wikipedia Founder to Advise Leader in Enterprise Wiki Solutions". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-10.
  73. ^ "Creative Commons Adds Two New Board Members", Creative Commons, 2006-03-30. Retrieved on 2008-01-15. 
  74. ^ Knox College Honorary Degrees, via Knox.edu.
  75. ^ "EFF Honors Craigslist, Gigi Sohn, and Jimmy Wales with Pioneer Awards", Kansas City infoZine News, 2006-04-28. Retrieved on 2006-06-05. 
  76. ^ Ewalt, David M.. "The Web Celeb 25", 2007-01-23. Retrieved on 2007-04-23. 
  77. ^ Video of Jimmy Wales on Charlie Rose, Google, 2006-10-04. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
  78. ^ "10 Questions: Jimmy Wales", Time Magazine, 2007-03-27. Retrieved on 2007-03-24. "The key is to look at the quality of articles. The quality of Wikipedia today, compared with three years ago, is a dramatic improvement. But people do need to be aware of how it is created and edited so they can treat it with the appropriate caution." —Jimmy Wales.
  79. ^ Coleman, Alistair. "Students 'should use Wikipedia'", BBC News, 2007-12-07. Retrieved on 2008-01-15. 

External links

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Persondata
NAME Wales, Jimmy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wales, Jimbo
SHORT DESCRIPTION American Internet entrepreneur, co-founder of Wikipedia
DATE OF BIRTH August 7, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Huntsville, Alabama, United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH




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