Wikipedia Academy to teach Wiki-editing

The founder of the popular website “wikipedia.org”— an easy source of free open content online encyclopedia has launched the ‘Wikipedia Academy’ in Chennai with a sole purpose to bump up its popularity among the rural people across the country.

The 42-year-old US national Jimmy Wales, the founder of the wikipedia, launching the Wikipedia Academy in Chennai Friday said: “This is the first in Asia after Germany where it was launched last month.”

Wikipedia Academy is a global, non-profit initiative that aims to train people to edit and contribute back to Wikipedia.

Noticing the least participation of Indians in the Wikipedia, as it provides online users the facility to add or edit information, Wales told reporters that Academy would focus more on spreading education and supporting Wikipedia by contributing articles on it.

Astonished over the fewer users’ participation (edit or contribute), Wales said statistics show that less than 1% of Wikipedia users in India contribute back. This attitude defeats the whole purpose of establishing Wikipedia that is so rich with information.

He also said that so far materials on Wikipedia are available in only 250 out of 7000 global languages. The aim is to encourage regional language to have a presence in Wikipedia and with its reach to the rural population residing in remote areas would in true sense serve the real purpose of its foundation.

Wikipedia Academy is a non-profit voluntary organization among online users to teach Wiki editing to people who want to contribute to Wikipedia, and the very editing procedures could be taught within two hours.

Wikipedia Academy thus is an honest attempt to achieve the sole purpose – Turning users from ‘Read Only’ to ‘Read and Write’. So, if you have any information which you think others should know, come and contribute on Wikipedia.