Sources

• http://www.wikipedia.com
•
• http://answers.yahoo.com
•
• http://www.about.com
•
Information Websites
 Industry Overview
Various forms of
information websites
are available online
including internet
encyclopedias, news
providers, open
forums, contributor
forums, and
government websites
Some websites operate

under the copyleft

licensing
Several competitors

emerging
(Citizendium, Google’s
 Wikipedia History
• Began as Bomis, transformed into
Nupedia, and launched as Wikipedia
Wiki=Quick (Hawaiian) and
Pedia=Encyclopedia
• A wiki is a website that allows the easy
creation and editing of any number of
interlinked web pages via a web
browser using a simplified markup
language
• Originally Wikipedia.com, but later
changed to Wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia includes 15 million free articles
in over two hundred languages
 Wikipedia History
• Wikipedia is a
registered
trademark of the
not-for-profit
Wikimedia
Foundation, which
has created a family
of free-content
Wikia (formerly
projects which are Wikicities) is a free
built by user web hosting service
contributions for wikis
Wikia hosts several

thousand wikis using

the wiki software
MediaWiki
Wikipedia Company
Statistics
 Key Individuals
• Jimmy Wales is
historically cited as
a co-founder of
Wikipedia, though
he has disputed the
"co-" designation in
declaring himself
the sole founder.
• Wales is currently the
President of Wikia,
Inc. and Chairman
of Wikimedia
•
Competition
Competitive Advantage

Easily Accessible by Everyone

Free to Everyone

Correction made by populous

Major Competition
About.com Homepage
Wikipedia Homepage
 SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
 Weaknesses:


 Wide variety of  Large contributor base

information  Written mostly by
 Open to anyone amateurs
 Larger contributor  Significant missing
base information
 Articles written by  Edited by anyone
consensus  Vandalism to articles
 Ability to cite sources  Misinformation
 3.3 million articles in  Funding through
English donations
 Free to use
 400,000,000 edits
 SWOT Analysis
Opportunities:
 Threats


• Continually being • Lack of funding

updated with new • 400,000,000 edits
information with only 1,700
• 68 million visitors administrators
monthly and (equates to
growing 235,294 edits per
• Received a grant to administrator)
improve quality of • Maintaining and
information verifying accuracy
• Umbrella company is of information
expanding • Competitors with
• financing such as
Yahoo Answers
Website Marketing
Website Marketing
 Website Analysis
• Site Structure
– Seek and find information from these sites
– Some featured content
• Ordering Process
– User input through search bar, engine, link to information page
• Delivery and Shipping
– Through the world wide web aka the internet
– Cost to user by Internet Service Provider for useage
• Return policy
– Go back a page, close your browser, control alt delete, throw your
computer out of the window, this list can go on and on…
– Also able to edit information, if the user is unhappy with current
selections
• Security and Privacy
– You are not safe what you post on information sites - available to
general public
– Anonymous is not really anonymous in recent debates
– “All contributions made to a Project, and all publicly available
information about those contributions, are irrevocably licensed
and may be freely copied, quoted, reused and adapted by third
parties with few restrictions. “ -Wikipedia
•
 Website Analysis
Customer Service


 All have multiple options to resolve problems

 Dedicated pages for customer service
 FAQ’s, ask a question, contact numbers for further assistance.
 Search options

Unique Uses of Technology



 All use interactive approach to ask direct questions

 Ask a professional/guide

Content Visibility/Design Elements



 References are at times hidden

 Category Tables are not clearly defined
 Help pages can be more direct.


 Ground Finding and
Recommendations
The major difference Like
between Wikipedia and Variety of information
other information websites
Ability for real-time updates
is the combination of open
forum style editing and Availability of sources

dedicated editors Easily searchable

Depending on the
Free to use
information being sought
after it is perceived as an 

unreliable source, Dislike

however, according to a Dead links
2005 study by CNET
Perceived misinformation
Wikipedia is about as
accurate as Britannica. The 

study found averages of

2.92 mistakes per article
for Britannica and 3.86 for
Wikipedia.

 Ground Finding and
Recommendations
Without Wikipedia it can
 Recommendations
be assumed that other for Wikipedia:
online encyclopedias
Continue to expand
would be more
popular resources for available
information including information
previously printed Add additional
encyclopedias and
open forums editors
 Increase public

relations to ensure
accuracy of
information
Expand Wiki

software to for-
 Our Website
• Information Websites - Team 3
Thank You!