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[San Francisco | Reuters News Service, 7 September 2005] -
The Wikipedia, which has surged this year to become the most popular reference site on the Web, is fast overtaking several major news sites as the place where people swarm for context on breaking events.Traffic to the multilingual network of sites has grown 154% over the past year, according to research firm Hitwise. At current growth rates, it is set to overtake The New York Times on the Web, the Drudge Report and other news sites.But the rising status of the site as the Web's intellectual demilitarised zone, the favoured place people look for background on an issue or to settle a polemical dispute, also poses challenges for the volunteer ethic that gave it rise."We are growing from a cheerful small town where everyone waves off their front porch to the subway of New York City where everyone rushes by," said Jimmy Wales, the founder of the volunteer encyclopaedia. "How do you preserve the culture that has worked so well?"From hot topics like Internet, sex and Hitler – some of Wikipedia's most popular entries – to obscure technical or scientific subjects, the site draws users attracted by its professed neutrality in defining controversial topics.The Wikipedia (http://wwww.wikipedia.org) is based on a form of collaborative Web editing software known as "wikis" designed for group editing, in contrast to self-published blogs, which are typically used for personal commentary.Some 350 000 people have contributed to the grassroots publishing phenomenon, which lets any Web user contribute terms, background context or just correct spelling for 2 million words or phrases in more than 25 active languages.Wikipedians, as avid contributors are known, have developed a set of practical policies to limit mudslinging over fighting words such as "terrorism" or, more obscurely, a controversial Web programming technology known as "Ajax"."The Wikipedia community is still a community that doesn't lock its doors at night," said technology forecaster Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California.A new publishing modelWales, a former options trader, said he considered an academic peer-reviewed site before founding Wikipedia four years ago.Instead, he bet on the wisdom of amateurs, depending on simple ethics like "anyone can edit any page," "a neutral point of view," and "no original research" – in other words, every fact must be attributed to recognised, impartial sources."When cyberspace was small, it was mostly interesting people who knew something about one another," Saffo said. "Now it's cybersuburbia. The wiki is still an elite medium."The labyrinth of links within Wikipedia is beginning to make its mark on breaking news events. With troves of richly researched content, contributors can quickly assemble relevant links to Wikipedia material that others can edit and improve.Wikipedia recently attracted 22.3% of users searching for information on "Gaza Strip", tying the CIA World Factbook (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/). It has drawn five times more US traffic than Google News, Yahoo News or BBC, according to Hitwise analyst Bill Tancer.Similarly, in April, Wikipedia tied with CNN.com as the number two most visited site among US Web users searching for details on the new Pope Benedict. Newadvent.org, a Catholic encyclopaedia, was the most visited site among people seeking to learn more about Joseph Ratzinger, according to Hitwise data.Clay Shirky, a New York University adjunct professor who has tracked Wikipedia's rise, said the site has outgrown its roots as an encyclopaedia to become a model of collective publishing on the Web."Its users have come to understand the value of group-editing, of being formally committed to a neutral point of view and of rapid updating" as new information becomes available, Shirky said.Bringing order to the WebWikipedia has become the number one reference site on the Web, with double the traffic of Dictionary.com.The business model of Wikipedia is a constant work in progress. Wikipedia Foundation, its Saint Petersburg, Florida-based parent organisation, is a non-profit that depends on donations and has no plans to accept advertising.But by relying on the power of community, Wikipedia poses a stark contrast to the top-down editorial approach at Yahoo News or the computer-driven story selection of Google News, not to mention traditional media.Contributors aim to dodge controversies by offering multiple definitions of confusing words.Wikipedians are debating how to avoid locking nettlesome pages such as terrorism. Ideas under consideration include implementing a form of "broadcast delay" that would impose a few-minute pause before any editing of controversial pages shows up on the main site.Wales said the community is also looking at offering readers a link to a "stable" version of a definition that they could compare with the latest edited version.
Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication and redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
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