At 18, Wikipedia has lessons to save the Web
Wikipedia logo
Most top web companies have betrayed the public trust by how they’ve utilised user data. In the process, the creators and founders of these leading web companies have amassed wealth for themselves. Amongst the top 10 web companies there’s one that has proven to be trustworthy and that is, Wikipedia. This web organisation, this week has been in existence for 18 years. It celebrates its 18th year at a time when the Web is less celebrated. In the forest of untrustworthy web organisations it is worth examining the building blocks that brought us one of the trusted and impactful web organisation in the world. A closer look at this organisation may be useful in the process of coming up with ways that will save the web.
SECRET SAUCE BEHIND WIKIPEDIA
Wikipedia’s rise has been driven by a crucial difference in values that separates it from its peers that includes the ten top websites. Volunteerism is at the centre of what enabled Wikipedia to survive for such a long period of time. The activism within the Wikipedia community has been crucial in managing content on the platform. Its editors have the power to delete posts, block editors and protect pages that are in the news or being vandalized. To become an editor one must be nominated and undergo an application process. Even though one is an editor they remain a volunteer. The Wikipedia community spirit aswell as its content management model has been impactful for the web as a whole.
To understand the impact of Wikipedia one has to look at how tech sector and other sectors have used Wikipedia. Stephen Harrison, who is writing a book about Wikipedia community, has identified various sectors that are benefiting from Wikipedia. Siri, Alexa and Google are already pulling their answers when asked questions from Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia has been used widely in the legal sector. According to a paper in the Yale Journal of Law & Technology Wikipedia has been cited in more than 400 judicial opinions. The Education sector has also used it for education purposes. A number of professors are doing away with traditional writing assignment and instead asking students to expand or create a Wikipedia article on the topic. Facebook recently released a feature using Wikipedia’s content to provide users more information about the publication source for articles in their feed.
One other major unique feature about Wikipedia is its founder. Jimmy Wales is one of the few founders if not the only one amongst founders of major Web organisations who is not a billionaire. This financial aspect about the founder of Wikipedia is probably one of the reasons that has enabled Wikipedia to remain innocent when others are guilty of all sorts of misdeeds.
The financial model behind Wikipedia, although it has meant financial struggles at times, has been the secret sauce behind the platform. Less focus on profit has been key for Wikipedia success.
WIKIPEDIA, A MODEL FOR FUTURE OF THE WEB
As the world is grappling with the impact of tech companies in society, Wikipedia, over time has shown that it’s possible for a tech organisation to make impact without harming society. Creators of tech platforms aswell as policy makers should take a hard look at this organisation that is showing how to do tech the right way.
Although Wikipedia has its imperfections around representation of other members of society such as women, Africa and other less represented communities. To fix this is less complicated than fixing the damage caused by other platforms. For the sake of representation, Africa has to take full responsibility of shaping this platform to represent the African continent accurately. This is a noble goal for Wikipedia as it becomes the adult in the Web space. For now, there’s enough reasons to celebrate the existence of this important digital platform