"The online encyclopedia now holds more than seven million articles and has become a standard guide for anyone seeking information. The Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization in San Francisco, California, runs the project with about 700 employees, but Wikipedia still relies entirely on unpaid volunteers to write and edit its articles: hundreds of thousands of people contribute to the site each month, under a set of community-developed rules to deal with disagreements, cut down self-promotion and generate consensus."
"Wales' book, The Seven Rules of Trust, released in October, tells the tale of Wikipedia's origins and how the project highlights lessons in earning and maintaining trust. Wales spoke to Nature about the importance of scientific transparency and the rise of artificial intelligence. Everything about Wikipedia is a worship of expertise. We have rules about citing quality sources: newspapers, magazines, academic journals, peer-reviewed literature and books from reputable publishers. That's very different from letting anyone offer a random opinion."
"It is true that you don't have to be an expert to write a Wikipedia article. But, for lots of topics, having amateur passion is a great way to get started. It's like journalism: journalists have to write about topics that they aren't experts in, but hopefully they consult and quote the experts. Then, the journalist can make sense of it."
Wikipedia launched in 2001 and now contains more than seven million articles. A foundation with about 700 employees administers the project while unpaid volunteers create and edit content, guided by community-developed rules that manage disagreements, limit self-promotion and build consensus. The project emphasizes expertise through mandatory citation of quality sources such as newspapers, magazines, academic journals, peer-reviewed literature and reputable books. Non-experts can contribute, often starting with amateur passion, but reliable articles arise when contributors consult and quote experts. Seven trust principles include being personal, collaborating, having a mission, giving trust to get trust, staying civil, not taking sides, and being transparent.
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