A post on the Wikimedia Foundation blog by Sue Gardner, Executive Director of Wikimedia, says that the 2009 drive began last week.
She Writes:
When Jimmy Wales founded Wikipedia in 2001, it was just an experiment. Nobody imagined Wikipedia would really succeed — least of all, probably, Jimmy. He just thought it would be interesting to try.
But now, fewer than 10 years later, the number of people who use Wikipedia has grown to 330 million. Students, teachers, tourists, entrepreneurs, parents, job-hunters, retired people, doctors, artists, engineers — everywhere around the world. We use Wikipedia because it’s free, it’s convenient, and it gives us the information we’re looking for. It’s always there when we want it.
Gardner says this year’s fundraising goal is $7.5 million.
The 2009 slogan is “Wikipedia Forever.” You’ll see it at the top of every Wikipedia entry. Clicking on it takes you to this page with a picture of Jimmy Wales, an FAQ, and a box to make your donation. The mobile version has a box bar at the top of every page asking you to text the word WIKI to a number and make a $10 donation.
Source: Wikipedia Blog
Wikipedia has become more than just a website,” said Jimmy Wales, founder of the free online encyclopedia, which is now one of the five most popular websites in the
world according to comScore. “For millions of people, it’s become an indispensable part of their daily lives.”
Funds raised by the campaign will be used to defray normal operating costs such as the cost of bandwidth and servers, as well as to support projects aimed at making Wikipedia easier to use, encouraging more people to contribute, and increasing the availability of free knowledge for more people, in more languages, in more parts of the world. Wikipedia currently offers 13 million articles in over 250 languages, and is used by 330 million people around the world.
See Also: Listen Online: BBC Radio Interview: Jimmy Wales Wants to Make Wikipedia More “Worldly”
See Also: Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales Sits Down for an Exclusive Interview with Silicon.com
See Also: Wikipedia Co-Founder Jimmy Wales Interviewed by Yale Daily News
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on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 and is filed under Information Industry, Social Media.
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