by Brian Solis
Wikipedia, the Interweb’s eight most popular Web site, was granted a $3 million donation from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
According to the press release, the money will support Wikimedia’s organizational development and help to increase the quality of its content and the reach of its services.
According to me, I’d like to see the money hone right in on the quality and accuracy of the content and its contributors. So much of what I read is wrong. And, every time I’ve gone in and added factual content, some other person decides they want to be “the one” who’s loose and questionable content sticks. It’s becoming quite the game, a tiring one at that.
Wikimedia is the parent, non-profit company that oversees Wikipedia’s development. The company grew from 10 last year to 15 this year. The $3m is not in the bank however. It will be distributed in equal portions over three years.
One of the projects which will be supported with the Sloan grant is a software feature called Flagged Revisions, which will allow experienced editors to publicly and visibly grade the quality status of articles — in effect, functioning as a kind of “nutrition labeling” for Wikipedia content. In coming years, Wikimedia also plans to significantly expand outreach events such as Wikipedia Academy, designed to increase Wikipedia’s quality by teaching academics, older people, and other targeted groups how to contribute. Another goal is the distribution of educational content from Wikipedia and its sister projects in non-web-based formats such as DVDs and books, to reach people who are not online.
TechCrunch reports that the foundation had total income of $2.7 million and expenses of about $2.1 million last year. It stands to be notably higher this year.
As Sue Gardner, executive director of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, notes, Wikipedia has been “operating on a shoestring: unable to pursue partnerships, execute projects, or even to effectively fundraise. This institutional support from Sloan will enable us to make progress on some key goals: increasing quality, broadening participation, and distributing free knowledge to people without Internet connectivity.”
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