‘erttokrow the capital of Turkmenistar? Cr howto make chicken fricassee? Or what goes in a Cuban cigar? The fis pace you Probably tum ois Wikipedia Join te gana, It a gang that now has access to over 18 milion erties in 279 languages. And the striking thing about Wikipedia is that isnt hightying professors who are proving the answers. I'S amateurs. Wikipedia is 4 perlect example of ‘crowd sourcing ‘Anyone can add an entry. Anyone can exit it No qualifications are necessary. short, the site uses the masses to pod) thor Information, and the resul is tho world’s biggest encyclopedia. But is the most reliable? Ask one of is ‘ounders, Lay Sanger ~ who went on to lecture at Ohio Stato Univrsity - and the answer Is an unaqulvocal ‘no’. Sanger doosr't lt is students use Wikpadia or ‘hair research; he knows they can simply Invent information, put anonymously on ‘Wikipeda, and claim its accurate. Other academics also have their coubis. One ‘amously compared the ste to a publi. ‘ollet seat: you never know who's used it belore you. But they are now prababiy in ‘the minorty ITS so easy to et, how come, n several recent research studies, Whipadia nas been found to be as accurate as other encyclopedias inclucing the Encylopedia Bntanica, whien has existed for 250 years? How come, with all the potential ‘vandals’ kean to reunite history accorting 4o their ow ideologies, Wikipedia, it tums ou, is generally tustworthy? The answer 's that the editors of Wikipedia care more ‘han the vandals. The Massachusetts Insitute of Technology @VIT) did a study and found that obscene comments added on Wikeda were, on averace, removed vin a hundred seconds, For the vandal, its about as worthwhile as a orf artist using ivisibie ink, Those who run Wikipedia are aso sawy enough ioknow when about of vandalism is sping to occur During the 2004 Bush-Kerry US election, realising thatthe supporters of each candidate would altempl to smear ‘he opponent on Wikipedia, the company locked the nities on George Bush and ohn Key, So, inthis ulopia of crowd sourcing, who ‘exaciyis making the decisions? The boss is founder Jimmy Wales. In 2000, Wales was «a regular guy looking to combine his two hobbies: nosing through the Encycopedin Brttanica and surfing the Intanal Online he found himself discussing all sorts of ‘topics and meeting all sorts of people ‘on obscure maling fists. He decided he ‘wanted ta sot up something longor lasting and fun Fun! is a big word for Jimmy ‘Waios. Ono ofthe world's great optimists, Waias has breezed through life enjoying Pretty much everything he's tumed his hand to, Ineuding trading options and ‘tures and founding nupedia, Wikipedia's ‘orerunne. Nupedis didnt have a massive impact Hused the old mode’ of experts wetting entries, but ten Wales and his co‘ounder, Lary Sanger, decided ta experiment with a relatively new technology: 2 wiki. The ‘wiki got its name because the inventor had his honeymoon in Hawa, where you ‘catch the ‘wiki wiki (quick) bus fom the airport. The idea of a wiki is that anyone ‘can contribute to a website; is 2 pooling ‘of knowledge. With this technology in piace, Wikipedia exploded in popularity Within its frst year contributors. wrote 20,000 enves in 18 languages. ‘And the fture? For most ofits shor history, Wikipedia as been staffed by a group of volunteers, with only a handful actualy ‘geting paid. By 2011 te company’s pa ‘employees had grown io over 60. fl surely need more in the flue, asthe company ‘vies to expand its poouiaty in Asia, Sou ‘America and the Middle East. Ws aso ‘uying to improve the qualty of enies by ‘teaming uo with universes to get some ‘expert input and working with maseums to ‘supply batter images. AS the world shrinks ‘and poopie’ this for information grows, its tkaly that Wikpatia wil kaop growing, to. As forthe capital of Turkmenistan, t's ‘Aefigaat. And f you need pct, you know ‘where to ook.