Wikipedia Jimmy Wales Lectures at BITS Pilani APOGEE 2009
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur known for his role in the creation of wikipedia, a free, open-content encyclopedia launched in 2001. He is also a Board Member and Chair Emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation. Later he co-founded Wikia, a privately owned, free Web-hosting service, along with Angela Beesley.
Wikipedia was one of the innovations that became the bridge between the early computer bulletin boards that techies were using to swap information in the early- to mid-1990s, before most people had an inkling of the Internet, and the social-networking phenomenon of today. Named for the Hawaiian word for "quick," Wikipedia now commands 97 percent of the online reference market, while more established names like Britannica and others cling to the remainder.
Jimmy Wales was in Pilani on March 26, 2009 to give a lecture for the students of Birla Institute of Technology and Science – BITS which is one among the top ranking universities in India today having campuses at Pilani, Dubai, Goa and Hyderabad. Recently the National Assessment and Accreditation Council NAAC reaccredited BITS with 3.71 CGPA out of 4 and awarded “A” grade “Very Good” status to BITS.
APOGEE stands for “A Professions Oriented Gathering over Educational Experience”. This TechFest of BITS Pilani which has ISO Certification has always been one among the top ranking Tech Fests of various T Schools in India today. APOGEE which saw its silver jubilee two years back is in its 27th year and is going on from 23 March to 27 March 2009.
In his lecture, Jimmy explained how wikipedia evolved, its present popularity, quality issues, etc. For that matter Jimmy’s own page in wikipedia says his date of birth according to his marriage certificate is 07 Aug 1966 while as per his driving licence it is 08 Aug 1966 and leaves the actual date of birth for a wild guess.
To him if wikipedia was the encyclopedia in the library, wikia is the rest of the library. Quoting the report in Nature which said that Wikipedia came close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries, Jimmy Wales in a lighter vein remarked that what was worrying was the finding that Britannica had errors.
Wikipedia, which is a remarkable achievement by any standards with millions of entries in various languages which include English, German, Japanese, Spanish, Telugu, Hindi, Bengali etc has become a major internet research tool since its inception in 2001
In a way wikia challenges google and let there be no doubt that for Jimmy who has taken up the same as a mission with passion, there are no dreams too large, no innovation unimaginable and no frontiers beyond reach. Throughout his talk, Jimmy had the audience in the jam packed auditorium of the Institute eating out of his hands and was his usual best in answering a volley of questions posed by the students.
At BITS Pilani when Jimmy reiterated his clarion call “Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge” the Richter scale measured over 8 and there was a tsunami of applause throughout his speech.
The talk concluded with Dr G Sundar Dean Practice School Division of BITS Pilani presenting a glittering memento – the emblem of the Institute to Jimmy Wales. With Jimmy Wales talk, APOGEE 2009 with Levitate as the theme has indeed been climbing greater heights this year. APOGEE is indeed a jewel in the crown for Brand BITS.
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
