Press kit/Wikimania 2007/Our projects

Our Projects

[Logos of different Open Source Project]

• Wikipedia:

The multilingual, free content encyclopedia

• Wikimedia Commons

A repository for pictures and other media files under free licenses

• Wikisource

A repository of primary secondary source texts

• Wikiversity

Free learning materials and activities

• WikiBooks

A project to develop free learning materials

• Wikinews

Collaboratively written news

• Wikiquote

A free compendium of quotations

• Wikispecies

Directory of Species

• Wiktionary

Free dictionary and thesaurus

All of our projects are created entirely by volunteers, who can contribute as registered users or anonymous contributors. The projects are designed to be self-correcting over time for both content and users, and are registered under free licenses. Additionally, all content is licensed under a free content license, such as GFDL.

Wikipedia Wikipedia, by far, is our most popular project. Started in January 2001, Wikipedia is the world’s fastest growing, most current, and largest encyclopedia. Currently, there are 6 million articles in over 250 language versions. The Wikipedia logo is considered one of the top five brands in the world, and receives an estimated 7 billion page views per month.

Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons is a media repository for freely licensed photographs, diagrams, animations, music, spoken text, video clips, and other types of useful media resources. Launched on September 7, 2004, Wikimedia Commons currently has 1,676,581 files and 64,562 galleries.

Wikispecies Wikispecies is a free directory of species, with over 100,000 entries. The directory covers animalia, plantae, fungi, bacteria, protista, archaea and all other forms of life.

Wikisource Wikisource is a repository of free primary and secondary source texts. Started in November 2003, the project currently has over 260,000 text units, in various language versions. Besides content acquisition, the project is doing some fascinating translation work never before seen. For example, English Wikisource is translating manuscripts letters written by Michelangelo and Galileo, that Italian Wikisource has. Other examples of work include National Geographic articles, and 1911 Britannica encyclopedias.

Wikiversity Wikiversity offers free-learning materials and activities. Started in 2005, the project has two primary goals: to create and host free content, multimedia learning materials, resources and curricula for all age groups in all languages; and to develop collaborative learning projects and communities around these materials.

Wikibooks Wikibooks was started in 2003 with the mission of creating a collection of open-content and related non-fiction books. Currently, the project has 70,000 "modules" in a multitude of textbooks, study guides, and annotated texts in different subjects ranging from Organic Chemistry to Art History.

Wikinews Wikinews promotes the idea of participatory journalism, with collaboratively written news stories. Currently, the project has 22 language versions.

Wikiquote Wikiquote is a free, online compendium of quotations from notable people and creative works in every language. Currently the project has over 60,000 entries in over 30 languages.

Wiktionary Wiktionary is a free, multilingual dictionary and thesaurus, and the lexicon companion to Wikipedia. The project provides definitions, etymologies, pronunciations, sample quotations, synonyms, and translations. Currently, there are 1,500,000 entries in 170 languages.