Wikipedia

Wikipedia: The Multi-Language, Free-Content, Open Source Encyclopedia

The advent of the Internet awakened an extraordinary hope that information on a multitude of topics would soon be at everyone's disposal. The reality was less altruistic. The first Internet inhabitants were the porn industry. Along with it came a plethora of junk (by the way, do you know what a plethora is?). Soon after came the Internet bubble, where companies onlined up to offer free content, hoping that if they attracted enough browsers, they'd make a profit on volume. Unfortunately, for many, it took a shattered portfolio to see the absurdity of this concept. The model has since turned to pay for use sites and sites that advertise for actual paying customers. The pay sites, by definition are not open to the public. The sites that advertise, too often require registration* in order to add value to their clients, so those too are not open. I was loosing hope for the fountain of knowledge I had envisioned the Internet becoming.

Fortunately, a few months ago, I began finding a great deal of open source material on the Internet. Open source material includes programs and information that is valuable and open to the public. One of my favorite finds is the Open Source Encyclopedia known as Wikipedia. It is financed via donations and created and maintained by the general public. It now holds over 1/4 million articles on various topics.

Articles I have created or with which I have assisted include:

• Amália Rodrigues
• List of Bullfighters
• Orange County, New York
• Crawford, New York
• Pine Bush, New York

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* See my Blog on BugMeNot to deal with sites that require registration.