Innovation Blog

Wikipedia – 10 Years Old!   When Vision Defeats Greed

By Shlomo Maital

 

  Jimmy Wales

 

On Jan. 15, Wikipedia, the on-line encyclopedia whose entries are written by the users and readers themselves, celebrates its 10th anniversary.   What can we learn from Wikipedia’s decade of innovation?

  An entire new discipline known as wikinomics has sprung up, based on the notion of products and services created and developed by the users themselves.  Many companies, notably Procter & Gamble and Lego, have enlisted users successfully as an integral part of their product development, and MIT Professor Eric von Hippel has written a book about democratizing innovation (to be consistent, he offers free downloads).  Lately, IBM and other global firms have implemented versions of this idea.

  Founder (co-founder?) Jimmy Wales could have made a huge fortune from Wikipedia, because it is one of the websites that attracts the most eyeballs, and that could easily be transformed into advertising revenues.  But he refuses.  His vision is to retain the popular open flavor of Wikipedia and stay away from revenue, bottom-line and money-making and wealth creation.  I salute him.  There aren’t many entrepreneurs who willingly turn down a check for $1 billion. 

   Wikipedia has many many flaws.  Some of its material has clear biases, written by those pushing a special interest.  Some of its material is inaccurate.  Political wars are fought in Wikipedia.  Yet for sheer ease in getting basic facts about almost anything, Wikipedia is unrivalled.  It has changed the way I work and write, and I am sure has changed the world for millions of others.  

    Wikipedia has some 3.5 million articles in English alone. According to one of its principals, Susan Gardner, Wikipedia’s vision is  “to offer “the sum total of all human knowledge” in the native language of all of Wikipedia’s users.  This vision reminds me of Google.  Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergei Brin, sought to bring all the information in any language to any person, at any time.  But Google took a commercial route, with advertising revenue and an IPO.   It reportedly has over $30 b. in cash stashed away, waiting for its next strategic play.   

    In contrast, Wikipedia relies on contributions, struggles to raise money, depends on hard-working volunteers, and steadfastly refuses to play the capitalist game.  Instead it wants to implement its vision, bringing all the knowledge to everyone, anywhere, in any language. 

    The big question is, can Wikipedia triumph and implement its vision without resources, without a true business model?  Would it serve its users better with an advertising business model?  Jimmy Wales is steadfast.  Let’s wish him well, and follow this wonderful experiment with interest and affection.