World’s Largest Online Info Source Turns 25

Wikipedia, the world’s online information resource, turns 25 today, marking a quarter century of making trustworthy, human-powered knowledge accessible worldwide.

Through a Wikipedia 25 campaign launched today, the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, released for the first time a video “docuseries,” sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the lives and stories of Wikipedia volunteer editors around the world. All of the knowledge on Wikipedia is created and maintained by a global community of nearly 250,000 volunteer editors who write, edit, and fact-check information according to rigorous standards of neutrality and reliability.

“Wikipedia is a digital wonder of the world, unlike anything else. It has overcome countless challenges and changes in its time, thanks to the people behind it and their unwavering commitment to sharing free, reliable knowledge with the world,” said Maryana Iskander, Chief Executive Officer of the Wikimedia Foundation. “With billions of monthly visits and an ever-growing number of organizations relying on Wikipedia’s free, verified knowledge, this platform has become integral to the architecture of the entire internet.”

The series stars eight of these volunteers and their unique purpose and passions for contributing to the online encyclopedia.  It features Nigeria’s very own Goodness Ignatius. Goodness embodies the spirit of cultural stewardship, using Wikipedia to ensure that Nigerian and Ibo traditions are told by those who live them. She is an active contributor across multiple Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons, and a committed member of the Igbo Wikimedians User Group.

A librarian by profession, she co-founded the Ig Wiki Librarians Hub to strengthen collaboration among information professionals within the Igbo community in Nigeria. Her story underscores that, even and especially in the age of AI, knowledge is human, and knowledge needs humans.

The Foundation also launched today a “25 Years of Wikipedia” time capsule, allowing Wikipedia fans worldwide to delve into the past, present, and future of this treasured global resource. Users can listen to Founder Jimmy Wales share in his own words memories from Wikipedia’s origin story, including when he himself installed the site’s very first servers. The capsule also explores Wikipedia’s role during major global events, such as when Wikipedia’s servers almost collapsed in 2009 from site visits following Michael Jackson’s death. It also deep dives into some of the weirdest and most wonderful parts of Wikipedia, like an article on a prescient octopus named Paul.

Wikipedia’s future in the age of AI

Wikipedia has become the go-to source of knowledge on the internet. For 25 years, it and its worldwide community of volunteers have weathered tech disruptions, regulatory challenges, and rising mistrust in information. Through it all, they’ve adapted and evolved, making sure people everywhere can keep accessing and sharing knowledge.

In the AI era, Wikipedia and its human-created and curated knowledge have never been more valuable. Today, Wikipedia is among the top 10 most-visited global websites, and it is the only one to be run by a nonprofit. Its 65 million articles in over 300 languages are viewed nearly 15 billion times every month, and its knowledge power includes generative AI chatbots, search engines, voice assistants, and more. Wikipedia is one of the highest-quality datasets used in training Large Language Models.

There are many ways that people around the world can get involved in the yearlong Wikipedia 25 celebrations. Other highlights include:

• People worldwide are invited to use a new feature on social media to “sign” Wikipedia’s digital birthday card—helping to make it the longest birthday card ever.
• A global, virtual birthday event on 15 January at 4:00 pm UTC, featuring surprise guests, games, entertainment, and more. The event will be livestreamed on Wikipedia’s YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram channels. Other in-person events are planned worldwide.
• Baby Globe, a new mascot inspired by a Wikipedia volunteer’s sketches, can be found in a series of playful, visual surprises on several language versions of Wikipedia when readers turn on ‘Birthday mode’ next month.
• A fresh, festive limited-edition collection of Wikipedia merchandise, starting with a Baby Globe plushie developed in collaboration with Makeship.

“In 2001, Wikipedia started as a dream to share knowledge with everyone, everywhere. No one, including me, knew if it would succeed,” said Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia Founder and Wikimedia Foundation Trustee. “Against all odds, Wikipedia has grown to become the backbone of knowledge on the internet today. Wikipedia demonstrates 25 years of humanity at its best, proving that when people come together in the spirit of building trust and collaboration, they can make the impossible possible.”

“Wikipedia is a digital wonder of the world, unlike anything else. It has overcome countless challenges and changes in its time, thanks to the people behind it and their unwavering commitment to sharing free, reliable knowledge with the world,” said Maryana Iskander, Chief Executive Officer of the Wikimedia Foundation. “With billions of monthly visits and an ever-growing number of organizations relying on Wikipedia’s free, verified knowledge, this platform has become integral to the architecture of the entire internet.”