'Wikipedia' transforming internet into multilingual medium

Washington, May 23 (UNI) The online encyclopedia 'Wikipedia' is helping transform the internet from a largely English-based medium into a global repository of knowledge in a multitude of languages, and its founder Jimmy Wales spends much of his time promoting freedom of speech around the world.

''It does not take a lot of technology to foster open dialogue and debate, Mr ''Wales said during a US State Department-sponsored web chat. ''What is needed mostly, I think, is more content in local languages, and support from people around the world to help others join in the global conversation.'' Wikipedia, a free multilingual Web-based encyclopedia written by thousands of volunteers around the globe in many languages, was founded in 2001 and has grown, according to its Website, ''into the largest reference website on the Internet''. It is funded by donations from the general public.

''Wikipedia has been very successful in our multilingual efforts,'' Mr Wales said. ''Less than 1/3 of our total work is in English. The fact that all of our work is freely licensed means that the impact of our work is only beginning to be felt.'' According to the Wikipedia Website, there are more than 200 language editions of Wikipedia, around 130 of which are active.

Fourteen editions -- English (the original), German, French, Polish, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Swedish, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian,Chinese, Norwegian and Finnish -- contain more than 50,000 articles each.

The ''wiki''in Wikipedia comes from the Hawaiian phrase "wiki wiki" meaning quick. In this case, a wiki is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit all content, very quickly and easily, sometimes without the need for registration, the Website notes.

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