This page has been removed from search engines' indexes.
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. [1]
Wikipedia is a free global information resource. [2] It is an encyclopedia created and managed by a global community of volunteers who work on what interests them. [3] There are about 20 million registered editors; 80,000 active users; 1,400 "administrators"; and only about 200 employees. It is the sixth or seventh biggest website in the world containing 30 million articles, in 286 languages, with 2 billion edits, 8000 views per second and over 500 million monthly visitors. [4] [5]
Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects:
Wikipedia is free to read and all content in Wikipedia is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License (CC-BY-SA). This means that it is free to use as well. As long as you attribute it (that is, acknowledge the item's creator), all material from Wikipedia can be used by anyone, for any purpose, including commercial purposes.
Wikipedia is a publication whose genre is "Encyclopaedia". It is not journalism, it is not a series of essays, blogs or research papers. Wikipedia articles are not commentary. Neither do they make a case for any editor's point of view. Wikipedia strives to provide a fact-based, neutral, balanced account of what is known about a notable topic. "Notability" is the encyclopedia's idea of an accession policy and the first paragraph of every article is supposed to set out what makes the topic or individual notable enough for inclusion.
The encyclopaedia has become part of the educational process at all levels - primary, secondary and tertiary, either as a first port of call for information and sources or as a means of learning to check sources and be discriminating about them. [6] Writing the encyclopedia is a useful means of learning about the topic; learning about providing good references; collaborating with others; abiding by editorial policies; page layout as well as translating. [7] [8]
Wikipedia is part of the Free Culture Movement - one of many endeavours dedicated to producing and sharing knowledge rather than consuming it or locking it away. As "the world’s largest repository of human knowledge", it defends the "right to speak, share and create freely". [9] Transparency is a core value. [10] It makes knowledge available about and through a range of media - words and images; music and sounds. The content of the encyclopaedia is free to use and re-use. That is, it is both gratis and libre.
There is an ambiguity about the word "free" in the English language. Free in English means either liberty and/or cost. There is a difference between open source and free with regard to software. Free software can be referred to as F/OSS, FOSS or FLOSS. [11] OSS = open source software (anyone can read it); L = libre (anyone can edit and use it). The transparency and openness (truth) is the best guard against bugs (software and political), which is why security agencies won’t use it. Everything in FLOSS and WP is open and traceable – the editors, the dates, the changes.
Text Plagiarising is a copyright violation. Plagiarised text will be deleted.
Images must be either in the public domain or have a Creative Commons licence. [18]
Examples of relationship between Australian libraries and Wikipedia.
Wikipedia helping to break down the digital divide.
"...it is more important than ever for higher education to teach students to apply metacognitive skills — searching, retrieving, authenticating, critically evaluating and attributing material ..." [28]
It is no longer about simply consuming knowledge. For students as much as for teachers, it is about producing knowledge and sharing it.
Wikidata: Video introduction for beginners
A musical visualisation of Wikipedia editing activity
Wikimedia Commons is the central media repository for the encyclopaedia. It is not to be confused with Creative Commons, which is an organisation that "provides copyright licences to facilitate sharing and reuse of creative content". [31] Architecture is just one of the categories that attract photographers who contribute freely-licensed images. [32]
Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) is a global photography competition through which Wikimedians contribute clear photographs to record and make available good images of the world’s built heritage. [33]
Wiki Loves Earth (WLE) A global photographic contest for natural heritage. [34]
The work is done by volunteers who are committed to sharing knowledge, education and freedom of access to information. Free-licence documentary video about Aaron Swartz: The Internet's Own Boy (Run time: 120 minutes) [35] [36]
Editors work collaboratively on articles. There are no deadlines. No one "owns" any article. Each article improves by virtue of the oversight and contributions of others. Considerations of balance, facts, structure, indeed everything, are carried out on "Talk" pages. Disagreements are resolved by discussion and consensus is reached, sometimes after a long time, with reference to policies.
Wikipedia:The answer to life, the universe, and everything.
The Five Pillars of Wikipedia set out its principles. In brief, articles must:
- be about something that is Notable;
- contain information that is Verifiable;
- be written with a Neutral Point of View;
- present No Original Research. That is, article contents and claims must be attributable.
As the encyclopedia is a work in progress, the quality of an article varies according to the effort and time given to it. Quality is determined in particular by the referencing (about which the policy is strict), and also by the writing (conciseness, clarity, tone, accuracy) as well as the layout (images, structure). There are policies to support all these aspects. There is also a quality matrix which accords a quality status to an article ranging from a "Stub" [37] to "Featured Article". [38]
People use Wikipedia and want it to be accurate. Vandalism [39] is controlled by:
Editors are called "users" and they each have a "User name" and a "User page" through which they introduce themselves to you and often give their motivation, particular interests and reveal their skills. The Username sticks with every edit you make and is best if it is "real-world anonymous". It becomes your Wikipedia identity and your wiki reputation is built on it.
You can watch some of the activity happening on Wikipedia live around the globe through this feed of Wikipedia Vision.
Tabs
Functionalities
Useful
The menu bar at the left contains a number of links to useful information, including:
WikiProjects
People interested in particular topics join groups to work together
{{
cite web}}
: External link in |website=
(
help)
{{
cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher=
(
help)
This page has been removed from search engines' indexes.
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. [1]
Wikipedia is a free global information resource. [2] It is an encyclopedia created and managed by a global community of volunteers who work on what interests them. [3] There are about 20 million registered editors; 80,000 active users; 1,400 "administrators"; and only about 200 employees. It is the sixth or seventh biggest website in the world containing 30 million articles, in 286 languages, with 2 billion edits, 8000 views per second and over 500 million monthly visitors. [4] [5]
Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects:
Wikipedia is free to read and all content in Wikipedia is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License (CC-BY-SA). This means that it is free to use as well. As long as you attribute it (that is, acknowledge the item's creator), all material from Wikipedia can be used by anyone, for any purpose, including commercial purposes.
Wikipedia is a publication whose genre is "Encyclopaedia". It is not journalism, it is not a series of essays, blogs or research papers. Wikipedia articles are not commentary. Neither do they make a case for any editor's point of view. Wikipedia strives to provide a fact-based, neutral, balanced account of what is known about a notable topic. "Notability" is the encyclopedia's idea of an accession policy and the first paragraph of every article is supposed to set out what makes the topic or individual notable enough for inclusion.
The encyclopaedia has become part of the educational process at all levels - primary, secondary and tertiary, either as a first port of call for information and sources or as a means of learning to check sources and be discriminating about them. [6] Writing the encyclopedia is a useful means of learning about the topic; learning about providing good references; collaborating with others; abiding by editorial policies; page layout as well as translating. [7] [8]
Wikipedia is part of the Free Culture Movement - one of many endeavours dedicated to producing and sharing knowledge rather than consuming it or locking it away. As "the world’s largest repository of human knowledge", it defends the "right to speak, share and create freely". [9] Transparency is a core value. [10] It makes knowledge available about and through a range of media - words and images; music and sounds. The content of the encyclopaedia is free to use and re-use. That is, it is both gratis and libre.
There is an ambiguity about the word "free" in the English language. Free in English means either liberty and/or cost. There is a difference between open source and free with regard to software. Free software can be referred to as F/OSS, FOSS or FLOSS. [11] OSS = open source software (anyone can read it); L = libre (anyone can edit and use it). The transparency and openness (truth) is the best guard against bugs (software and political), which is why security agencies won’t use it. Everything in FLOSS and WP is open and traceable – the editors, the dates, the changes.
Text Plagiarising is a copyright violation. Plagiarised text will be deleted.
Images must be either in the public domain or have a Creative Commons licence. [18]
Examples of relationship between Australian libraries and Wikipedia.
Wikipedia helping to break down the digital divide.
"...it is more important than ever for higher education to teach students to apply metacognitive skills — searching, retrieving, authenticating, critically evaluating and attributing material ..." [28]
It is no longer about simply consuming knowledge. For students as much as for teachers, it is about producing knowledge and sharing it.
Wikidata: Video introduction for beginners
A musical visualisation of Wikipedia editing activity
Wikimedia Commons is the central media repository for the encyclopaedia. It is not to be confused with Creative Commons, which is an organisation that "provides copyright licences to facilitate sharing and reuse of creative content". [31] Architecture is just one of the categories that attract photographers who contribute freely-licensed images. [32]
Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) is a global photography competition through which Wikimedians contribute clear photographs to record and make available good images of the world’s built heritage. [33]
Wiki Loves Earth (WLE) A global photographic contest for natural heritage. [34]
The work is done by volunteers who are committed to sharing knowledge, education and freedom of access to information. Free-licence documentary video about Aaron Swartz: The Internet's Own Boy (Run time: 120 minutes) [35] [36]
Editors work collaboratively on articles. There are no deadlines. No one "owns" any article. Each article improves by virtue of the oversight and contributions of others. Considerations of balance, facts, structure, indeed everything, are carried out on "Talk" pages. Disagreements are resolved by discussion and consensus is reached, sometimes after a long time, with reference to policies.
Wikipedia:The answer to life, the universe, and everything.
The Five Pillars of Wikipedia set out its principles. In brief, articles must:
- be about something that is Notable;
- contain information that is Verifiable;
- be written with a Neutral Point of View;
- present No Original Research. That is, article contents and claims must be attributable.
As the encyclopedia is a work in progress, the quality of an article varies according to the effort and time given to it. Quality is determined in particular by the referencing (about which the policy is strict), and also by the writing (conciseness, clarity, tone, accuracy) as well as the layout (images, structure). There are policies to support all these aspects. There is also a quality matrix which accords a quality status to an article ranging from a "Stub" [37] to "Featured Article". [38]
People use Wikipedia and want it to be accurate. Vandalism [39] is controlled by:
Editors are called "users" and they each have a "User name" and a "User page" through which they introduce themselves to you and often give their motivation, particular interests and reveal their skills. The Username sticks with every edit you make and is best if it is "real-world anonymous". It becomes your Wikipedia identity and your wiki reputation is built on it.
You can watch some of the activity happening on Wikipedia live around the globe through this feed of Wikipedia Vision.
Tabs
Functionalities
Useful
The menu bar at the left contains a number of links to useful information, including:
WikiProjects
People interested in particular topics join groups to work together
{{
cite web}}
: External link in |website=
(
help)
{{
cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher=
(
help)