| Wikipedia
2005
Throughout the history of civilization, mankind has repeatedly attempted to assemble all of the world’s knowledge at a single location. Such efforts include the Library of Alexandria and the work of the Encyclopedists in the 18th century. Wikipedia is the Digital Age’s response to this challenge.
In addition to standard knowledge, this online encyclopedia now also encompasses information about a wide range of highly specialized fields and reports on current events. Content is created totally by users and can be freely modified.
Wikipedia is based on special wiki software that enables any user to input his/her own contributions or to revise existing ones. Nevertheless, the procedure that has established itself among “wikipediasts” is that articles may not be revised directly; rather, all proposed corrections have to be conferred on in advance at a discussion site.
The Wikipedia project has three defining characteristics: it’s an encyclopedia; it’s a wiki, which means it can be edited by virtually anyone; and it’s open content that is available under the terms of the Copyleft GNU Free Documentation License.
In 2004, Wikipedia (http://wikipedia.org) was awarded the Golden Nica in the Prix Ars Electronica’s Digital Communities category.
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