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NEWS ABOUT: Wikipedia

In Internet Age, No Story Can Be Held

Wikipedia announced Russert's death before NBC did

(Newser) - When Tim Russert died on June 13, NBC News held off reporting his death until it had notified the broadcaster's family. But by the time Tom Brokaw announced the news, NBC had been scooped—by Wikipedia, which broke the story 40 minutes earlier. As the New York Times reports, the... More »

Has It Gone, Or Just Gone Online?

NYT columnist gets nervous as Oxford Dictionary hits the web

(Newser) - The Oxford English Dictionary—the 3-volume one with the magnifying glass—has ditched its hard copy and gone digital for good, which makes one "bookish middle-class" writer nervous. "Other totemic college books could go out of style, maybe," Virginia Heffernan writes in the New York Times. But... More »

Wikipedia Goes to Print —in German

Publisher plans single volume of 50K most-searched entries

(Newser) - Wikipedia will soon hit bookshelves, the AP reports: German giant Bertelsmann AG is publishing a condensed print edition of the user-generated encyclopedia. The One-Volume Wikipedia Encyclopedia will contain 50,000 of the most-searched-for German entries this year—and it could be the first in an annual series. “A yearbook... More »

China Wikipedia Access Not So Impressive

Recent move isn't enough to meet IOC's request for openness

(Newser) - It's good for Chinese Internet users that the government has lifted bans on Wikipedia and Blogspot, but the move isn't the great breakthrough it may seem to be. If the policy change was intended to fulfill requests from the International Olympic Committee for an open internet, it falls well short... More »

Beijing Eases Limits on Wikipedia

But topics such as Tibet, Tiananmen remain off limits

(Newser) - Prodded by the International Olympic Committee, China has seemingly eased restrictions on the English-language version of Wikipedia, Reuters reports. But authorities continue to block access to articles related to sensitive topics such as Tibet and Tiananmen Square. Users in Shanghai and Beijing, the site of the summer Olympics, reported being... More »

New Site Wants Your Wikipedia Rejected Bio

Biographicon invites the real average Joes to tell their tales

(Newser) - While Wikipedia may promote itself as an encyclopedia of, for, and by the people, anybody who's had his stint as autobiographer cut short by the infamous "notability" requirement knows the site to be otherwise. Or so hope the creators of startup Biographicon, a website that invites the nobodies of... More »

Wikipedia Weighs Big Questions

Site struggles with funding, charges of impropriety

(Newser) - Forget dot-com excesses: A piece of printer paper taped to the door and cut-price desks and chairs from eBay and Craigslist are all that distinguish the new San Francisco office of the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia. "We are about as unsophisticated as we could possibly be," its executive... More »

Wiki's Wales Accused of Inappropriate Spending

Claims he abused his foundation's trust

(Newser) - Jimmy Wales has been hit with allegations that he abused his position as founder of Wikipedia, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. A former Wikipedia employee, Danny Wool, has claimed on his blog that Wales used his Wikimedia Foundation credit card for personal expenses. Meanwhile, a former girlfriend released chat transcripts... More »

Species Site Overwhelmed by Traffic on Opening Day

Encyclopedia of Life will eventually describe all 1.8M species on Earth

(Newser) - A much-anticipated web encyclopedia of all Earth’s life forms crashed hours after its launch yesterday, inundated by traffic. The Encyclopedia of Life had 11.5 million hits in its first 5½ hours—including 2 hours down—leading the site’s founders to ask their opposites at Wikipedia for bandwidth... More »

Wiki Survey Aims to Find Out Who Posts — and Why

Site will try to ID its anonymous authors

(Newser) - Wikipedia wants to know more about its anonymous authors and has launched a worldwide survey to find out who they are, how much they post, and what type of people go from casual browsers to active contributors. In a first for the site, the survey will attempt to unearth authors'... More »

Wikipedia Founder to Debut Search Engine

'Wikia Search' will allow users to tweak results

(Newser) - Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales will open his new project, Wikia Search, next week. Unlike top search giants such as Google and Yahoo, Wikia Search will use open algorithms instead of proprietary search methods. The new engine will also allow users to contribute to—and ideally improve the accuracy of—search... More »

Felon Became Top Exec for Wikipedia

Woman with long criminal record was COO for 6+ months

(Newser) -  Wikipedia had a convicted felon in one of its highest executive positions for over six months this year, The Register reports. Carolyn Bothwell Doran was on probation for a DUI that caused a death when she became the charitable foundation's chief operating officer in January, says the UK-based web... More »

Google Takes On Wikipedia

Online encyclopedia is in beta testing

(Newser) - The company is developing a collaborative online encyclopedia, called the "knol project," that will allow contributors to earn money by including Google ads on their pages. Google won't edit content, but will give high search ranking to entries it considers high quality, reports CNET. Users will also be... More »

Schools Ban Wikipedia

District officials not bullish on popular online encyclopedia

(Newser) - Wikipedia's so quick and easy—too easy, ruled a New Jersey school district, the latest of many to ban use of the popular online encyclopedia by its students and block it on school computers, fearing potentially erroneous information from the communally edited site will pollute minds and papers. “Kids... More »

Wiki Founder May Take on Facebook

Jimmy Wales' new project combines networking, search

(Newser) - Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is apparently going after Facebook and Google in the social-networking arena, Wired reports. Wales showed slides of his upcoming project during a speech in South Africa, and a tech blogger on hand described it as a "search/social networking hybrid" that incorporates elements of both internet... More »

Wikipedia Insiders Launch Competitors

Wired profiles former employees out to offer 'more accurate' articles

(Newser) - Danny Wool is following on the heels of Larry Sanger, says a Wired profile of Wiki's next-of-kin, becoming a former Wikipedian who's gone out on his own to offer "more accurate" content. While Wool’s Veropedia refurbishes Wikipedia articles, Sanger’s Citizendium quickly jettisoned that approach, declaring them unsalvageable.... More »

Wikimedia Begins '07 Fundraiser

(Newser) - The Wikimedia foundation, non-profit operator of Wikipedia and related sites, announced the start of its annual fundraiser today, News.com reports. The pledge drive, which will run through December 22, will finance general improvements to the online encyclopedia as well as a planned expansion of the site into geographic areas... More »

Has Wiki Replaced the College Library?

Not quite: Undergrads still turn to more traditional sources

(Newser) - Contrary to expectations, college students are not rushing online for answers to research assignments. A new survey shows only 3% of undergraduates with research tasks went to Wikipedia first and only 13% tried search engines. The largest number, 40%,  turned to course materials first and 23% sought out the... More »

CIA, Wal-Mart, Fox News Purge Wiki Entries

Hacker reveals vanity changes to online encyclopedia articles

(Newser) - A new data-mining tool has tracked the identities of the anonymous users who make edits to Wikipedia entries—and revealed that Wal-Mart, voting-machine magnate Diebold, and even Fox News have tried to bowdlerize or spin their appearances in the online encyclopedia. And they're not the only ones, Wired reports. More »

Online Maps Give Personal View of World

User-generated custom atlases are becoming guides to everything

(Newser) - Taking a page from Wikipedia, Internet users are harnessing the collective knowledge of millions and applying it to maps. On the rapidly growing "GeoWeb," surfers create custom atlases using mapping technology by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and others. The user-generated maps can highlight anything from stores to previously unavailable... More »

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