Wikipedia in Bristol/Wikipedia at 10
Wikipedia will be 10 soon and as part of this, I have it under good authority that the founder, Jimmy Wales, is going to be giving a talk here in Bristol:
Wikipedia at 10: Jimmy Wales talks about the development and future of Wikipedia
13th January 2011 12.00-13.00 – Victoria Rooms, University of Bristol
In association with Bristol Festival of Ideas, Bristol City Council and Wikimedia UK: a special event to mark 10 years of Wikipedia with the man behind the project.
A decade ago the idea of a constantly updated online encyclopaedia, which would be collaboratively written by tens of thousands of people and read by hundreds of millions, was a dream.
Since then, Jimmy Wales has inspired others to join him, and has formed a 100,000-strong online volunteer community, which has built Wikipedia into a worldwide force for free learning and general education, run with modest resources, engaging communities worldwide. It’s now firmly established, but where will it go next?
This is a rare opportunity to hear Jimmy Wales talk about the history of this remarkable project as well as the plans for future development.
Now I’m a huge fan of Wikipedia – I use it all the time. I also contribute to it (donations and content) and think it to be one of the most outstanding achievements of the digital age. Yes it can be inaccurate, but so can any text. In blind tests where experts were given material from Wikipedia and asked to review it (but did not know the source) it held up very well. Yes people vandalise it, but much less than people add to it.
Interestingly it would seem that Wikipedia is an expansion of the vision of H G Wells and his World Brain!
A Great Becoming... 
That’s interesting bit of news, and definitely something to look out for.
Wikipedia at 10: Jimmy Wales talks about the development and future of Wikipedia
13 January 2011 12.00-13.00 – Victoria Rooms, University of Bristol
In association with Bristol Festival of Ideas, Bristol City Council, BBC Anchor Trust and Wikimedia UK: a special event to mark 10 years of Wikipedia with the man behind the project.
A decade ago the idea of a constantly updated online encyclopaedia, which would be collaboratively written by tens of thousands of people and read by hundreds of millions, was a dream.
Since then, Jimmy Wales has inspired others to join him, and has formed a 100,000-strong online volunteer community, which has built Wikipedia into a worldwide force for free learning and general education, run with modest resources, engaging communities worldwide. It’s now firmly established, but where will it go next?
This is a rare opportunity to hear Jimmy Wales talk about the history of this remarkable project as well as the plans for future development.
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Bookings will go to: jimmywales-bristol@bristol.ac.uk
Bookings Hotline is: 0117 928 8515.