Wikipedia turns 10; targets India to grow

New York, Jan 13: The San Francisco based online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is set to open its first overseas office in India. The website which turns 10-years-old on Saturday, Jan 15 had planned to celebrate the anniversary in various countries.

The news that can excite any Indian that Wikipedia is all set to hold 60 programmes in all around the country.

Wikipedia Executive Director Sue Gardner said that after India, they had planned to expand the website to Brazil and then to the Middle-East and then to North Africa.

Gardner said, “India was picked as the first base abroad in the developing world because of its fruitful environment including valuing education, free speech and a culture of intellectual debate."

Gardner said that Wikipedia wants to attract new people to edit encyclopedia. “We don't move in the world of IPOs and valuation and investment," She added, “who runs the non-profit foundation behind Wikipedia. We never talk about it, we never think about it."

Wikipedia has 410 million visitors every month and in its recent funding, the website has raised $16 million. On average, only from global North, the website bagged 2.1 billion page views.

The internet users are increasing day by day in India, especially through mobile phones. One of the reasons that officials of Wikipedia wanted to expand their reach to India is the population of the nation.

Wikipedia is expected to open its new office in the couple of months with a small staff in one of the biggest cities in India.

OneIndia News