Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the most popular reference resource, containing about 17 million articles in 270 languages. The phenomenon of the online encyclopedia is that its content is created by the users themselves. Wikipedia has 35 employees and 100,000 volunteers who form and edit the content of the online encyclopedia. Managing organization of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia ("Wikipedia") - Wikimedia Foundation

In the first decade of the 21st century, Wikipedia replaced the traditional book encyclopedia. This is especially true for young audiences. The average author of an online encyclopedia is a man aged 26. Among the editors of Wikipedia, the holders of a scientific degree are twice as many as the average in the audience of the Internet. Wikipedist is distinguished by the presence of three factors: intelligence, the presence of free time and a craving for knowledge.

The preferences of Wikipedia users differ from each other in different strange ones. For example, in Japan they are mainly interested in popular culture, in Germany - geography, and in Russia - a significant share of requests on sexual topics.

Now Jimmy Wales (founder) is working on a new Wikia project, which should be an addition to the online encyclopedia. In this project, elements of the online community will be created, where users will be able to receive not only knowledge, but also exchange opinions.

Criticism

On the Wikipedia page dedicated to the site itself, criticism of it is described as follows: "Although Wikipedia's policy fully supports the principle of verifiability and a neutral point of view, critics accuse the encyclopedia of systemic subjectivity and inconsistency (including unjustified giving too much weight to pop culture) and that it prefers consensus over authoritative sources in its editorial processes. Doubts about the reliability and accuracy of the information are also expressed. The encyclopedia is also criticized for its exposure to vandalism and the publication of false or unverified information. However, as studies have shown, vandalism is usually short-lived, and a check conducted by Nature magazine found that Wikipedia scientific articles correspond to the encyclopedia Britannica in terms of reliability and have a level of "serious errors" comparable to this publication. "

Russian-language Wikipedia

Main article: Wikimedia RU is the organization that developed the Russian segment of Wikipedia

2023: Support for Ukrainian disinformation

For 2023, the Ukrainian government is conducting a disinformation campaign in the Russian version of Wikipedia.

They tried to subject the greatest changes to historical articles, materials about the conflict in the Donbass, Ukrainian culture and relations with Russia.

Editors of the Russian Wikipedia by country excluding Russia, Belarus, China and the UAE, for September 2023

Wikipedia management openly supports a pro-Western position. It is difficult to record facts in support of the Russian position in the conflict, since such articles are immediately hung with a ram "violating the principles of neutrality."

2019

Putin proposed replacing Wikipedia with the Great Russian Encyclopedia

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a proposal to replace the electronic encyclopedia "Wikipedia" in Russia with the "Big Russian Encyclopedia" (BDE). He stated this in November 2019 at a meeting of the Council on the Russian Language.

Vladimir Putin questioned the reliability of the information posted on Wikipedia, which has existed since 2001 and as of November 2019 is among the top 10 most popular Internet resources in the world in terms of the number of visits (Alexa rating). "It is better to replace it ('Wikipedia') with a large Russian new encyclopedia in electronic form. This will be, in any case, reliable information proposed in a good modern form, "the Russian President noted, as RIA Novosti writes, ^[1].

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation has prepared for the creation of a domestic competitor to Wikipedia

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation has prepared^[2] "in July 2019, a draft law establishing the rules for subsidizing" a nationwide interactive encyclopedic portal. " The Big Russian Encyclopedia publishing house will be engaged in the creation and support of the resource.

The creation of a domestic encyclopedic portal back in 2016 was reported by Alexander Visly, who at that time was the director of the Russian National Library. According to him, the resource should become a digital analogue of the Big Russian Encyclopedia and compete with Wikipedia.

To create the portal in 2016, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev established a special working group. At that time, the group consisted of 21 people, including the first deputy head of the government apparatus Sergei Prikhodko and Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media Alexei Volin.

The timing of the implementation and the amount of funding for the project have not yet been specified. Nevertheless, according to the bill developed by the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, the funds allocated to create and support the resource will be used to pay salaries to employees, rent premises, subscribe to reference literature and periodicals, shoot in archives and museums, use archival materials and develop software.

2014: Fighting for wikipedia.ru and википедия.рф domains

On March 31, 2014, it became known that the owner of a free online encyclopedia, the American non-profit organization Wikimedia Foundation, registers the Wikipedia trademark in Russia. Stanislav Kozlovsky, executive director of the Russian representative office of the organization (NP Vikimedia.Ru), told Izvestia that this will protect the brand from unfair use and gain control over the domains of wikipedia.ru and википедия.рф that are now in the wrong hands.

- The Wikipedia website management system and its content are free and free. But people who are not related to our project created their own sites and called them "Wikipedia," explains Kozlovsky. - As a result, the brand is eroded. Some such sites have paid content, and this, in fact, compromises the idea of ​ ​ a free encyclopedia. A decision was made to register the brand so that no one could use it for purposes unrelated to community interests.

The Russian-language version of Wikipedia is posted at ru.wikipedia.org. The wikipedia.ru domain was in 2004 - three years after the start of the English-language encyclopedia - registered by people who are not related to the international project. According to Kozlovsky, another free encyclopedia was initially located there.

• We told

  the owner it wasn't good to do that. He listened to us. At first, the resource was renamed "VickyKnowledge," and then the domain was resold to cybersquatters. Now there is some kind of advertisement, - recalls Kozlovsky.

During the start of open domain registration in the "rf" zone in November 2010, Vikimedia.Ru tried to get the domain name "википедия.рф." But this could not be done.

- We then submitted several applications - for "википедия.рф," "викиновости.рф," "викисклад.рф," etc. Some applications were granted. But "википедия.рф" got to the auction and as a result went to someone else, - says Kozlovsky.

Andrei Vorobyov, a representative of the Ru-Center registrar company, explained to Izvestia that since Wikimedia.Ru did not own the Wikipedia trademark in 2010, this organization could not apply for the corresponding domain before their free registration began. When it began, there were several applicants for the "википедия.рф" - and in such cases an auction is scheduled.

Now on the domain "википедия.рф" there is a site through which the software is distributed ^[3].

- When we have a registered trademark "Wikipedia" in Russia, it will be possible to get domains, - Kozlovsky summed up.

The process of registering a trademark in Russia usually lasts about a year and a half. After that, according to domain broker Pavel Gross-Dneprov, Vikimedia.Ru, it is better to try to agree on the transfer of domains out of court.

- If the trademark is registered in Russia, it will be possible to sue the owners of wikipedia.ru and википедия.рф. But I think that the owners will be able to agree with Wikipedia, "he says.

According to the expert on domain disputes, Doctor of Law Anton Sergo, the court's decision on such a case is difficult to predict in advance.

- Some courts do not support such a "recapture." If the domain was registered before the trademark, then at the time of registration of the domain name, the rights to the trademark could not be violated, - says Sergo. - But other courts believe the right to the trademark needs to be protected. No matter when it's registered.

2013:1 million articles

In the spring of 2013, the number of articles in the Russian-language Wikipedia section exceeded 1 million. The anniversary article was created by a volunteer UG72 on May 11, 2013 at 01:43 UTC. It is dedicated to the Life Extension Foundation, a research organization that researches and disseminates information about the extension of human life and health. Russian became the fifth language to cross the million-article mark. Ahead - the English-speaking section (4.2 million), German (1.58 million), French (1.38 million), as well as Italian (1 million 30 thousand). In the near future, the Italians are likely to lag behind the Russian-speaking partition.

The millionth article appeared exactly on the 12th anniversary of the founding of the Russian-language Wikipedia - the section was founded on May 11, 2001. The first material in it was the article "Elephant." Then the articles "Russia," "Mammoths," "Red Book," "St. Petersburg" appeared... A ten thousandth article appeared in December 2004, in August 2006 the 100 thousandth article was written, in February 2010 Wikipedia was replenished with 500 thousandth article.

Participants in the Russian Wikipedia represent 55 states (72.5% are Russians, 11.6% are Ukrainians, 2.8% are from Kazakhstan). Monthly articles of the Russian Wikipedia are viewed over a billion times.

2011: 666,666 articles

The Russian-language version of Wikipedia announced that on February 22, 2011, an article was written in it under the number 666,666. She became an article about the village of Veseloe in the Odessa region of Ukraine. In the English "Wikipedia" 666,666th article was written 6 years ago - August 4, 2005, and in German - November 18, 2007. Past similar "frontiers" of the Russian "Wikipedia": 555,555 articles - July 2010, 444,444 articles - October 2009, 111111 articles - October 2006.

History

2021: Sale of Wikipedia's first page at auction as an NFT for $750,000

On December 15, 2021, at Christie's in the form of an indispensable token (NFT), Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales sold the first message published on the website of the online encyclopedia for $750 thousand.

Wales typed the words "Hello, World!" after the launch of "Wikipedia" on January 15, 2001, and the moment was immortalized into an irreplaceable token (NFT), Christie's said in a statement. NFTs are turning digital artworks and other collectible items into one-of-a-kind, verifiable assets that are easy to trade on blockchain, prompting a huge surge of interest in the art world. The owner of the token becomes the sole owner of a certain digital object - be it a picture, gif, video, tweet or song. In this case, the buyer received the right to own the first publication on the site, which, however, does not make it inaccessible to others.

Wikipedia's first page sold at auction in the form of NFT for $750,000

As frequent Wikipedia users in the course of our own work, we consider it an honor that we were entrusted with two objects related to the birth of this transformative achievement. It's a testament to the power of what crowdsourcing can achieve: providing billions of people with access to a vast array of information - all for free, said internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales.

It is noted that part of the proceeds from the sale will be aimed at supporting WT.Social, an alternative project of social networks in Wales, which was created in 2019, as well as various charitable organizations. In a statement after the sale, Peter Clarinet, a senior specialist at the auction house, noted that the result highlights the growing interest of collectors in the history of the Internet. Clarinet added that he initially assumed that the cost of the NFT would be from $100 thousand to $150 thousand.^[4]

2020: In the top 50 largest Internet sites in the world

The largest Internet sites in the world for November 2020

2019: Lockdown in China

In mid-May 2019, it became known about the blocking of Wikipedia in China. Local residents cannot access the materials of the Internet encyclopedia not only in Chinese, but also in all other languages.

According to the BBC in the Wikimedia Foundation, which supports the Wikipedia infrastructure, the site was blocked in mainland China back in April 2019.

China blocked Wikipedia in all languages

After a thorough analysis of our statistics on internal traffic, we can confirm that Wikipedia is blocked for all language versions, the Wikimedia Foundation said.

The GreatFire.org organization, which monitors Internet censorship in China, clarifies that the site has not been available in the country since April 23.

Wikimedia Foundation spokeswoman Samantha Lien told Reuters that the foundation has not received any explanation from the Chinese authorities for blocking the service.

When one country, region or culture cannot participate in global communication on Wikipedia, the whole world becomes poorer, she said.

The BBC notes that Wikipedia is occasionally blocked by governments of different countries. For example, in 2017, the service was disabled in Turkey, and in 2019 it was periodically blocked in Venezuela.

At the end of March 2019, the Wikipedia portal section  in Italian became unavailable to users due to the protest action of its authors and the leadership against the reform of the EU copyright regulations on the Internet.

The "Wikipedia" section in Chinese was launched in May 2001. By May 2019, the service, as well as some articles, were repeatedly blocked in the PRC. In June 2015, access to the Wikipedia section in Chinese was completely blocked. In April 2019, the blocking affected all language segments., Facebook, and Twitter Instagram other large foreign social networks have long been blocked in the PRC.^[5]

2012: Video Player Launch

In November 2012, it became known that Wikipedia and its sister sites will introduce HTML5-enabled video player on their pages.

The open source player was created with the participation of Kaltura and can play audio and video files. Kaltura solutions use the so-called "wiki model" - developers provide users with tools with which they can collaborate on content.

The player supports open multimedia format. WebM This will allow you to post videos with a "free" license from YouTube and other resources on Wikipedia. You can add subtitles in different languages ​ ​ and accompanying labels to videos. Video can be translated into a different format if the current^[6] does not meet the needs of the Wikipedia user^[6]

The development of the player has been carried out since 2008. The Kaltura player will replace an old player that has been in use since 2007. Its drawback was that it only supported the Ogg Theora format. The transition to a new player is designed to increase the number of videos on Wikipedia - as of November 2012, there are about 15 thousand of them, according to All Things Digital.

Videos can be added by registered Wikipedia users. Note that inserting a video from YouTube into the Wikipedia article directly (using HTML code) will not work: you must first upload the video to Wikisclad.

Wikipedia insists that users wishing to post their videos on the site distribute them in an open format and under a Creative Commons license. There are also requirements for content: video should be educational in nature. "No dancing cats or skateboarding dogs - 'Wikipedia' needs your help building a high-quality archive of encyclopedic materials," the website says videoonwikipedia.com.

2011

As of January 2011, the encyclopedia database contains almost 18 million articles in more than 260 languages. In recent months, the Wikimedia Foundation has accumulated about $16 million in donations made by netizens. The largest Wikipedia section is English-language: more than 3.5 million articles. Two more "millionaires" - German and French segments. The Russian-language section is the tenth largest: almost 650 thousand articles (for reference: in February 2010 there were about 500 thousand).

Notes