Chapter: Re-inventions
Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That was Jimmy Wales vision when he started working on Wikipedia. Since its launch in 2001 as “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit”, it has blossomed to contain explanations to more than a billion words spread over ten million articles in 250 languages, including 2.5 million articles in English.
All the entries has an “Edit this page” button on it, available to all. Every one of us is an expert at something, and on Wikipedia no subject is too narrow to have an entry. However, experts can be wrong, historians don’t always agree on the developments of passed events and scientists don’t always agree on the specifics of physics and chemistry. Also, wiki entries are sometimes written by experts, and other times written by amateurs. They can be a great form of quick reference, but before you rely too much on an entry it can be a good idea to verify the information. In other words: While relying on a wiki to provide you with more information on actor Morgan Freeman is fine, but relying on a wiki for the possible drug interactions between your heart pressure medicine and your cholesterol medicine is probably something you want to verify somewhere else.
Possible Moral
Before Wikipedia, the availability of knowledge was a matter connected to financial means. Everything from education, encyclopedias or library cards – cost money. Wikipedia on the other hand is free and can be used by anyone. What’s the most amazing part however, is that this online encyclopedia with millions of articles was put together by volunteers. It wasn’t their job and they didn’t get paid. Wikipedia is a great example of what amateur user contributors can achieve. It’s fascinating that Wikipedia doesn’t collapse into anarchy. It’s constantly being improved on and the employees and users work together to heal it from hackers and spammers.
Story from We All Need Heroes: Stories of the Brave and Foolish.
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We All Need Heroes
Short StoryHey there! Here you'll find a collection of mixed stories from my debut book 'We All Need Heroes', which celebrates people with brave and innovative ideas. The finished book is filled with a huge mix of inspirational and fun short-stories of people...
