Wikipedia:Prime objective
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Vision statement
According to Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, "the closest thing we have to a Prime Directive"[1] is to:
"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing."[2][3]
And that is the world that we, the Wikipedia community, as part of the Wikimedia movement, are working toward.
Intention
Obviously, the body of all knowledge is far too vast to be compiled into a single work. Keep in mind that Wikipedia has never been intended to be "the sum of all human knowledge" (read Jimbo's quote carefully, and the rest of the interview it came from). As an encyclopedia, Wikipedia is intended to to help provide free access to that knowledge, and be a start in the effort to bring about a world in which all knowledge is freely available to everyone.
How?
Being an encyclopedia, Wikipedia is a highly useful summary of the world's knowledge. As such, it provides specialized jargon which readers may use as search terms to further explore subjects on the Internet. In addition, Wikipedia serves as a direct gateway to the world's knowledge by presenting links and references to further sources of information on all manner of subjects.
In these ways—presenting summaries, search terms, links, and references—Wikipedia provides greater and greater access over time for more and more people to (the sum of all) human knowledge.
Perhaps the rest of the knowledge workers of the world will follow Wikipedia's example as a free and open global resource and turn Jimbo's vision into reality. In that regard, and many others, Wikipedia, and the Wikipedia community, are paving the way.
ye haw
See also
- Wikipedia is an encyclopedia
- The Wikipedia Creed (just another essay but you might like it)
References
- ^ Wikipedia edit by User:Jimbo Wales, 22:49, 14 October 2012 (UTC)
- ^ "Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Responds". Slashdot.org (Interview, Q&A). SlashdotMedia. July 28, 2004. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
Wikipedia is an excellent project, and Slashdot readers' questions for Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales were just as excellent -- as are Jimmy Wales' answers to 12 of the highest-moderated questions you submitted.
- ^ wikimediafoundation.org Vision. Consulted on 30 September 2019
Further reading (external links)
- In a nutshell, what is Wikipedia? And what is the Wikimedia Foundation? - The Wikimedia Foundation
- Mission statement - The Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikimedia values - The six values of the Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikimedia founding principles - Principles generally supported by all of the Wikimedia communities