An ‘Independent Web Advice’ Blog

Wikipedia - makes me cry with joy!

I believe the internet is the most beautiful creation made by human kind.

In my humble opinion it represents our best hope for the future of our planet, our economies and our lives.

Why? I shall show you.

I shall demonstrate, in a single example, a concept on the internet that is changing the way our world will work forever. The consequences of this single example could be overwhelming. Do I exaggerate? No. Definitely not.

Once upon a time you had to pay quite a lot of money to buy the Encyclopedia Brittanica. Now you can log on and visit the Wikipedia. Before you go there, let me just explain one thing about the Wikipedia, it is nothing like the Encyclopedia Brittanica, it is far more exciting.

Anyone can register on the Wikipedia, log in, and edit any page. Anywhere you feel you can add value, you can edit. You can even start whole new chapters or even portals. (Some sections are more protected than that, some pages are open for anyone, registered or not, to edit.)

It is now one of the top 20 websites in the world! Forget searching Google for information, search the Wikipedia. But it does not stop there.

The Wikipedia has over 1.3 million articles (and I mean really good, high quality, in depth, remarkably cross referenced, reliable and up to date articles) in the english version alone.

In the meantime, the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization, have also given us these remarkable sites. Visit them all, they are magnificent examples of the internet changing our lives, forever.

Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

Wikinews
News of course

Wikiquote
Collection of quotations

Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals

Wikispecies
Directory of species

Wikisource
Free-content library

Wikiversity
Free learning materials and activities

A list like that just makes me want to cry with joy. While the world goes to war over oil, some of us are still trying to be just human kind.

Leave a Reply