Die Geschichte der Wikimedia-Bewegung startet offiziell mit der Erschaffung des englischen Wikipedias am 15. Januar 2001. Versionen in anderen Sprachen (Deutsch, Französisch und Spanisch) und Schwesternprojekte wurden in den folgenden Monaten und Jahren gegründet.
Im Jahr 2003 verkündete Jimmy Wales die Schaffung von "Wikimedia Foundation", die offizielle Organisation, um die Wikimedia Projekte zu pflegen und zu fördern. Im Jahr 2004 wurde das erste Board of Trustees eingesetzt und die Gemeinschaft wählte ihre ersten Boardmitglieder.
In 2004, German Wikipedians founded an association called “Wikimedia Deutschland” to support the local Wikimedia community and to promote Free Knowledge in Germany. The first Wikimedia Chapter was born.
Chapters are independent organizations founded to support and promote the Wikimedia projects in a specified geographical region (country). Like the Wikimedia Foundation, they aim to "empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally". 40 chapters currently exist, with at least one Chapter on every inhabited continent.
In 2012, the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation approved User Groups and Thematic Organisations as additional models of Wikimedia groups. As of July 2014, there are 40 Chapters, 1 Thematic Organisation and 12 User Groups officially recognised as Wikimedia affiliates.
Today, almost 500 Million people visit the Wikimedia projects, and more than 80,000 people are actively contributing to those projects every month.
Links und Dokumente
The following collection of links and documents gives an overview over the context, history and development of the Wikimedia movement.
Annual report on the Funds Dissemination Committee process 2012-2013, chapter “The WMF Executive Director’s Reflections on the FDC Process“, by Sue Gardner (WMF)