egan with its launch on 15 January 2001, two days after the domain was

registered[2] by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. Its technological and conceptual
underpinnings predate this; the earliest known proposal for an online encyclopedia
was made by Rick Gates in 1993,[3] but the concept of a free-as-in-freedom online
encyclopedia (as distinct from mere open source)[4] was proposed by Richard
Stallman in December of 2000.[5]

Crucially, Stallman's concept specifically included the idea that no central

organization should control editing. This characteristic was in stark contrast to
contemporary digital encyclopedias such as Microsoft Encarta, Encyclop�dia
Britannica, and even Bomis's Nupedia, which was Wikipedia's direct predecessor. In
2001, the license for Nupedia was changed to GFDL, and Wales and Sanger launched
Wikipedia using the concept and technology of a wiki pioneered in 1995 by Ward
Cunningham.[6] Initially, Wikipedia was intended to complement Nupedia, an online
encyclopedia project edited solely by experts, by providing additional draft
articles and ideas for it. In practice, Wikipedia quickly overtook Nupedia,
becoming a global project in multiple languages and inspiring a wide range of other
online reference projects.

According to Alexa Internet, as of 10 October 2017, Wikipedia is the world's fifth-

most-popular website in terms of overall visitor traffic.[7] Wikipedia's worldwide
monthly readership is approximately 495 million.[8] Worldwide in August 2015, WMF
Labs tallied 18 billion page views for the month.[9] According to comScore,
Wikipedia receives over 117 million monthly unique visitors from the United States
alone.[10]egan with its launch on 15 January 2001, two days after the domain was
registered[2] by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. Its technological and conceptual
underpinnings predate this; the earliest known proposal for an online encyclopedia
was made by Rick Gates in 1993,[3] but the concept of a free-as-in-freedom online
encyclopedia (as distinct from mere open source)[4] was proposed by Richard
Stallman in December of 2000.[5]

Crucially, Stallman's concept specifically included the idea that no central

organization should control editing. This characteristic was in stark contrast to
contemporary digital encyclopedias such as Microsoft Encarta, Encyclop�dia
Britannica, and even Bomis's Nupedia, which was Wikipedia's direct predecessor. In
2001, the license for Nupedia was changed to GFDL, and Wales and Sanger launched
Wikipedia using the concept and technology of a wiki pioneered in 1995 by Ward
Cunningham.[6] Initially, Wikipedia was intended to complement Nupedia, an online
encyclopedia project edited solely by experts, by providing additional draft
articles and ideas for it. In practice, Wikipedia quickly overtook Nupedia,
becoming a global project in multiple languages and inspiring a wide range of other
online reference projects.

According to Alexa Internet, as of 10 October 2017, Wikipedia is the world's fifth-

most-popular website in terms of overall visitor traffic.[7] Wikipedia's worldwide
monthly readership is approximately 495 million.[8] Worldwide in August 2015, WMF
Labs tallied 18 billion page views for the month.[9] According to comScore,
Wikipedia receives over 117 million monthly unique visitors from the United States
alone.[10]egan with its launch on 15 January 2001, two days after the domain was
registered[2] by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. Its technological and conceptual
underpinnings predate this; the earliest known proposal for an online encyclopedia
was made by Rick Gates in 1993,[3] but the concept of a free-as-in-freedom online
encyclopedia (as distinct from mere open source)[4] was proposed by Richard
Stallman in December of 2000.[5]

Crucially, Stallman's concept specifically included the idea that no central

organization should control editing. This characteristic was in stark contrast to
contemporary digital encyclopedias such as Microsoft Encarta, Encyclop�dia
Britannica, and even Bomis's Nupedia, which was Wikipedia's direct predecessor. In
2001, the license for Nupedia was changed to GFDL, and Wales and Sanger launched
Wikipedia using the concept and technology of a wiki pioneered in 1995 by Ward
Cunningham.[6] Initially, Wikipedia was intended to complement Nupedia, an online
encyclopedia project edited solely by experts, by providing additional draft
articles and ideas for it. In practice, Wikipedia quickly overtook Nupedia,
becoming a global project in multiple languages and inspiring a wide range of other
online reference projects.

According to Alexa Internet, as of 10 October 2017, Wikipedia is the world's fifth-

most-popular website in terms of overall visitor traffic.[7] Wikipedia's worldwide
monthly readership is approximately 495 million.[8] Worldwide in August 2015, WMF
Labs tallied 18 billion page views for the month.[9] According to comScore,
Wikipedia receives over 117 million monthly unique visitors from the United States
alone.[10]egan with its launch on 15 January 2001, two days after the domain was
registered[2] by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. Its technological and conceptual
underpinnings predate this; the earliest known proposal for an online encyclopedia
was made by Rick Gates in 1993,[3] but the concept of a free-as-in-freedom online
encyclopedia (as distinct from mere open source)[4] was proposed by Richard
Stallman in December of 2000.[5]

Crucially, Stallman's concept specifically included the idea that no central

organization should control editing. This characteristic was in stark contrast to
contemporary digital encyclopedias such as Microsoft Encarta, Encyclop�dia
Britannica, and even Bomis's Nupedia, which was Wikipedia's direct predecessor. In
2001, the license for Nupedia was changed to GFDL, and Wales and Sanger launched
Wikipedia using the concept and technology of a wiki pioneered in 1995 by Ward
Cunningham.[6] Initially, Wikipedia was intended to complement Nupedia, an online
encyclopedia project edited solely by experts, by providing additional draft
articles and ideas for it. In practice, Wikipedia quickly overtook Nupedia,
becoming a global project in multiple languages and inspiring a wide range of other
online reference projects.

According to Alexa Internet, as of 10 October 2017, Wikipedia is the world's fifth-

most-popular website in terms of overall visitor traffic.[7] Wikipedia's worldwide
monthly readership is approximately 495 million.[8] Worldwide in August 2015, WMF
Labs tallied 18 billion page views for the month.[9] According to comScore,
Wikipedia receives over 117 million monthly unique visitors from the United States
alone.[10]egan with its launch on 15 January 2001, two days after the domain was
registered[2] by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. Its technological and conceptual
underpinnings predate this; the earliest known proposal for an online encyclopedia
was made by Rick Gates in 1993,[3] but the concept of a free-as-in-freedom online
encyclopedia (as distinct from mere open source)[4] was proposed by Richard
Stallman in December of 2000.[5]

Crucially, Stallman's concept specifically included the idea that no central

organization should control editing. This characteristic was in stark contrast to
contemporary digital encyclopedias such as Microsoft Encarta, Encyclop�dia
Britannica, and even Bomis's Nupedia, which was Wikipedia's direct predecessor. In
2001, the license for Nupedia was changed to GFDL, and Wales and Sanger launched
Wikipedia using the concept and technology of a wiki pioneered in 1995 by Ward
Cunningham.[6] Initially, Wikipedia was intended to complement Nupedia, an online
encyclopedia project edited solely by experts, by providing additional draft
articles and ideas for it. In practice, Wikipedia quickly overtook Nupedia,
becoming a global project in multiple languages and inspiring a wide range of other
online reference projects.

According to Alexa Internet, as of 10 October 2017, Wikipedia is the world's fifth-

most-popular website in terms of overall visitor traffic.[7] Wikipedia's worldwide
monthly readership is approximately 495 million.[8] Worldwide in August 2015, WMF
Labs tallied 18 billion page views for the month.[9] According to comScore,
Wikipedia receives over 117 million monthly unique visitors from the United States
alone.[10]egan with its launch on 15 January 2001, two days after the domain was
registered[2] by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. Its technological and conceptual
underpinnings predate this; the earliest known proposal for an online encyclopedia
was made by Rick Gates in 1993,[3] but the concept of a free-as-in-freedom online
encyclopedia (as distinct from mere open source)[4] was proposed by Richard
Stallman in December of 2000.[5]

Crucially, Stallman's concept specifically included the idea that no central

organization should control editing. This characteristic was in stark contrast to
contemporary digital encyclopedias such as Microsoft Encarta, Encyclop�dia
Britannica, and even Bomis's Nupedia, which was Wikipedia's direct predecessor. In
2001, the license for Nupedia was changed to GFDL, and Wales and Sanger launched
Wikipedia using the concept and technology of a wiki pioneered in 1995 by Ward
Cunningham.[6] Initially, Wikipedia was intended to complement Nupedia, an online
encyclopedia project edited solely by experts, by providing additional draft
articles and ideas for it. In practice, Wikipedia quickly overtook Nupedia,
becoming a global project in multiple languages and inspiring a wide range of other
online reference projects.

According to Alexa Internet, as of 10 October 2017, Wikipedia is the world's fifth-

most-popular website in terms of overall visitor traffic.[7] Wikipedia's worldwide
monthly readership is approximately 495 million.[8] Worldwide in August 2015, WMF
Labs tallied 18 billion page views for the month.[9] According to comScore,
Wikipedia receives over 117 million monthly unique visitors from the United States
alone.[10]