January 15, 2001
Wikipedia launched
Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched WikipediaA free, collaboratively edited encyclopedia on the web — one of the largest reference works ever built. on January 15, 2001 — a collaboratively edited encyclopedia that became developers' default reference.
What it was for
WikipediaA free, collaboratively edited encyclopedia on the web — one of the largest reference works ever built. is the overview source cited across Techline events — and the daily starting point for programmers researching APIs, history, and standards. Its wikiA website anyone can edit — quick collaborative publishing; Wikipedia is the most famous example. model influenced internal company wikis and Ward Cunningham's original wikiA website anyone can edit — quick collaborative publishing; Wikipedia is the most famous example. concept.
People
- Jimmy Wales — co founder
- Larry Sanger — co founder
Why it's here
WikipediaA free, collaboratively edited encyclopedia on the web — one of the largest reference works ever built. became the universal free reference for technical and historical facts.
Why it mattered
It proved large-scale collaborative knowledge curation could work.
What it solved
Authoritative encyclopedias were expensive, slow to update, and incomplete on tech topics.