Most People Didn't Know That Wikipedia Was Invented By An Alabama Native
By Lisa Battles|Published January 19, 2024
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Lisa Battles
Author
Lisa has traveled the U.S. for over a decade, seeking out and sharing the stories of its most interesting places, people, and experiences. A journalism graduate of Auburn University, she has been a content strategist, editor, and writer for more than 25 years. Lisa has worked in community news, PR, and marketing with a focus on tourism, hospitality, and economic development. Besides following her curiosity around every corner, she's a devoted dog mom of two and advocate for animal welfare.
Odds are you’ve used Wikipedia, the free, online encyclopedia and largest reference resource in history. It gets around two billion visitors a month, at least according to a citation on its page about itself. Suffice it to say one of the two billion visits was mine when I showed up to confirm that it is a little-known invention from Alabama. More specifically, in 2001, Wikipedia sprung from the mind of Jimmy Wales, a native Alabamian.
Wales was born in the North Alabama city of Huntsville, where he grew up through his school-age years.
After graduating from the private, college preparatory Randolph School, he enrolled at Auburn University, where he earned an undergraduate degree in finance.
Wales then moved on to the University of Alabama, where he earned a master's degree in finance before departing to pursue a doctoral degree at Indiana University. He also developed his interest in the Internet during those years, which grew and persisted into his first couple of years working in financial trading.
By the mid-1990s, the appeal of entrepreneurship called Wales to join partners in founding a web portal called Bomis, which eventually enabled him to start Nupedia with Larry Sanger in 2000. A year later, Sanger discovered the collaborative capabilities of wikis, so the pair introduced the concept as a subset of Nupedia, an online encyclopedia that allowed users to contribute and yet was more traditionally structured. People strongly favored the completely open wiki approach, and this new Wikipedia quickly became the star.
In 2003, Wales established the Wikimedia Foundation in St. Petersburg, Florida, which he eventually moved to San Francisco, where it has its headquarters today. The foundation created a nonprofit mechanism to fund Wikimedia and other wiki-based projects, which helps underscores their credibility.
The foundation employs approximately 700 people. An annual Wikimedia Conference gathers foundation employees, chapters, user groups, and other associated organizations worldwide.
Every January 15, Wikipedia enthusiasts celebrate Wikipedia Day, which marks the date of its founding. Cake is not required, but who doesn't love an excuse for it?
Did you know Wikipedia has Alabama origins? Thanks to Wikipedia, we now both probably know much more about that than before. Hence the beauty of the platform, when it works as intended. We guarantee it’s not the only little-known invention from Alabama that may surprise you. Let us know what you think.
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