Jure Cuhalev

Image via Wikipedia

Alexandria was once a place of a very ancient library – Ancient Alexandria Library. But it burned down, which was really a shame.
In our minds, libraries are often places with lots of “dusty documents” which are not connected. But thanks to ICT we can go and build new libraries that are fully connected.
Connecting points between Alexandria Library and Wikimedia foundation:

• We need a world where access to knowledge is an fundamental light, and access to sharing is fundamental duty. Libraries often share documents with other libraries.
• But sharing of knowledge also fits greatly into Wikimedia projects. A wish for future project – 3D representation of knowledge.
• Time in which Wikimedia grew. When it started it was just 5 people on shoe-string budget. 5 years now – 6 million dollars organization, staff of 18 with offices in San Francisco; 300 servers, brand new clear mission statement and lots of policies and charters.
• Lots of great new growing projects Commons, Wikinews, etc. Incredible growth of pages and internet rankings. Wikipedia helps 700 million people.

Announcement: Egyptian-Arabic Wikipedia was approved as latest new Wikipedia language.

Wikimania is not just about the project, and technology. It’s really about people.

Related posts:

1. Wikimania 2008 wrap-up notes
2. Brian McNeil, Craig Spurrier – Wikinews for Wikipedians – How News is easier then an Encyclopedia [Wikimania 2008 notes]
3. Hoda Baraka – Education and the Wiki paradigm; a tug of war? [Wikimania 2008 notes]
4. Angela Beesley – Beyond encylopedias – The rest of the library [Wikimania 2008 notes]
5. Juergen Galler (Google) – Content creation strategies for emerging countries [Wikimania 2008 notes]