ANATOMY OF THE BIGGEST WRITING PROJECT EVER UNDERTAKEN

Simply put, Wikipedia is a freely-accessible online encyclopedia, which span across several languages. It has its roots in a relatively unknown web-portal company named Bomis Inc.

Bomis Inc. founded Nupedia in March 2000, and proceeded to assign it what was initially expected to be another complementary project. This project emanated as a free Internet-based English language encyclopedia, which was earmarked to be launched on a future date.

Right from its launch on the 15th day of January 2001, Wikipedia was destined for lofty heights. So, it is not exactly unexpected that many sources, (like the O'Reilly and the Pogue Press), acknowledge it today as the grandest writing project ever undertaken. And while that may be subject to discussion, what remains undisputed is the fact that it remains the most frequently updated encyclopedia in existence.

Its co-founder and pioneering editor-in-chief was Larry Sanger. He was strategy-driven: inclined to steer the project towards any direction that general consensus would dictate. But it was his pal and co-founder named Jimmy Wales who conceived the idea of a live, all-encompassing, up-to-date, and publicly-editable encyclopedia.

No sooner was Wikipedia launched that it flung its doors wide-open for the general public. It was willing to welcome anybody, (from any part of the world), who wishes to register and serve as a content editor and/or contributor. I am humbled to be one of those many people. And also, happy to rank it as my Most Valuable Online Resource!

Wikipedia ambled into full-scale operation almost completely independent of its parent Nupedia. However, it emulated the professional creeds of Nupedia: the most vital of which is uncompromising neutrality. Just few years into its young life, Wikipedia pages seem ubiquitous. They quickly became the lifeblood of many Search Engines: constantly turning up at the top or near-top of almost every Google search.

At the moment, Wikipedia exists in more than two hundred languages; with a total of about twelve million articles in-house. Regardless of the interface language, the underlying software suites which power all editions of Wikipedia are the same. These suites are simply referred to as Media-Wiki. They are owned and maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation; which is a prominent nonprofit organization.

Wikimedia Foundation also established and oversees seven other online collaborative projects.
These include:

1.       Wiktionary: a collaborative project for creating free lexical databases in every language.

2.       Wikinews: an online free news resource, which permits site visitors to add and/or edit contents.

3.       Wikisource: a community-maintained online library—with various content compositions.

4.       Wikiquote: a collaboratively designed and maintained free quote database

5.       Wikibooks: an assembly of open content book-modules, which exist in various languages.

6.       Wikiversity: an expanded project, which is devoted to learning resources.

7.       Wikispecies: a directory of species embracing plants and animals: including viruses, bacteria, etc

Newer wiki-associated collaborative and interactive projects have, and will continue to evolve. Some of these are: Wikitravel, Wikianswers, Wikimapia, and so on.

Meanwhile, one of the most fascinating things about (the English version of) Wikipedia is its near-full dependence on the tireless efforts of millions of volunteers located across the globe. In fact, it only boasts of about a dozen regular employees. And this figure includes its few programmers!

Wikipedia's basic operations costs involve hardware purchase, in-house or outsourced software designs and implementations, and the renting of bandwidth, which facilitates its presence and ultimate existence. These are what cost money in the venture. It pays nothing for all of its associated writings. These efforts (including regular updates and editings) are borne by many souls whose compensation are limited to intrinsic satisfaction, and a good sense of accomplishment.

It is worth noting that Wikipedia and its sister-networks are not all sweet and no sour. Therefore the biggest downside of its trademark "all-welcome all-edit open door policy" is that vandalism and abuse would inevitably creep in. There is no overcoming this threat. However, that is another reason why the project will remain ongoing. Never to be completed! Any such undertaken: with its focus on remaining perpetually current, will as well remain a perpetual work-in-progress. It will never be a finished product—in the true sense of the word.

In conclusion, I would say that Wikipedia is an impressive phenomenon. Its growth prospects are good. With emphases on quality: in conjunction with adequate monitoring, the project would evolve and mature like no other. Its future is bright. And as a faithful user and contributor, I (personally) regard it as the ultimate weapon in any intellectual combat. Yeah! The eternal champion of reference resources!!

VALENTINE ODUENYI.