Wikinews:Questions for Jimbo

Kim Bruning is interviewing Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales (Wikipedia founder) at Wikimania. Here are the questions we want to ask him:

Wikimedia criticisms

• Many criticise Wikipedia for potentially being inaccurate. In particular, one journalist suggested that Wikipedia articles are unsuitable as references for high school pupils. How would you counter this?

• Some of the Wikipedia articles on science are somewhat inaccessible for laypeople - too technical. Do you feel this is a problem?

• Wikinews has had little original reporting, and has rather become a "Wikipedia for news" - ie articles written from other existing sources. Is this is a disappointment?

• Do you have enough editors to ensure that what goes in isn't crap? I've seen some writings which are so out of touch, and deliberately biased. And suspect the editors might not be able to detect the bias.

Wikipedia growth

• Wikipedia's forerunner was Nupedia. What was your inspiration for that project?

• Do you see Wikipedia becoming an internet brand as well known as the likes of Yahoo and Google?

• If we reach google-levels of traffic, significant investment in hardware and software will be required. How do you see funding for the sites being sustained over the long term?

Jimbo's thoughts

• How much personal control do you retain over the projects?

• Are there any aspects of the projects you are currently unhappy about?

• Make Jimbo say this again :-):

Imagine a world where every single person is given free access to the sum of human knowledge.

We don't have to imagine it.

We're doing it.

• According to this Reuters article from Friday, you plan to restrict editing on certain articles. Can you expand on/clarify your plans? (this is making some serious waves at the moment - we need answers!) Jimbo's mail-list answer. time related.

• Seems related: Some articles that became Wikipedia's examples of quality, called Featured Articles, have since then changed as much as to make them fall below the quality line. Do you think that in the future something will be done regarding minimum stability for articles voted by the consensus as "good enough"?

• And another: With the reported tightening of WikiEditing Practices in the future in order to combat vandalism being sourced to you alone, will the change in edit policy be put to the community to decide, as per the rules of Wikipedia? Also, do you feel that the restriction of editing power, regardless of the relatively minimal vandalism that occurs, could have a chilling effect on the internet revolution of the Wiki? time related.

• Have you read The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations (by James Surowiecki)? Do you believe that eventually Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects will emerge as the most comprehensive and factually accurate sources of information? Jacoplane

Technical

• Are you still looking for more offers for hosting?

• <Killer?> Google offered hosting earlier this year, but nothing has materialised - instead, Yahoo stepped into the breach. What happened with Google? He may or may not answer this

• Yahoo has made a substantial offer of servers in Korea. Do you have any fears over hosting content outside the United States? Time related? Are these up already?

• How do you think about recently announced Linux fund to Wikipedia? Do you have any idea how to use it - $500 for a month?

Future

• Are there still plans for Wikipedia to published in print and on DVD? And in which language(s)?

• How can you deal with the increasing amounts of vandalism? Maybe one day you can make it so you must register / log in to edit?

• Some Wikinews members have expanded the project past just written articles and into areas of audio and video fields. Do you think Wikinews will benefit from these methods of reporting?

• Will you consider holding the next Wikimania in India? Welcome to Goa...

• Is there any time in the future that users may be able to use just one account for all Wikimedia Foundation projects?

Misc (but no less important...)

• Whose idea was Wikimania? How was the location chosen? can't we look this up?

• What do you think are the economic implications of mass, free content in news and information sector being potentially far more successful than traditional companies with employees?

• Is any effort being made to engage the 1 billion+ people in India? also ask anthere!

• Part of the tension between the Western and Muslim worlds could be down to a lack of understanding. Do you believe Wikipedia could help bridge that gap? Are Arabian languages supported? Is there much translation between the two, or exchange of editors? chosen? anthere knows a lot about this!

• How goes the current relationship between WMF and other open source projects?

• Is it legally possible for a corporate entity to use the name Wikipedia for an intranet application? For Example, AppleWikipedia or SonyWikipedia, etc. Isn't this a help desk question? But ok.

• What things were accomplished at Wikimania? (just changed tense)

• What are your feelings regarding articles about schools and the belief of some that all schools are inherently notable?