WK 3.2 Reading - Hanane Ben Abdeslam

Twenty years ago, the owner of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales, sent the message to the world on why he created Wikipedia. His vision was to make sure that schools across the world and countries who have a low income, who cannot afford books or internet access, could be able to find information on his encyclopedia. This was a new way for the society to being able to develop their knowledge. The encyclopedia was developed by a community of volunteers who were working separately, but all worked together to launch a good Wikipage. Back in the days not everyone had the opportunity to access the internet for free, or at all. But these volunteers managed to write articles based on their knowledge. According to the reading, it was their mission for the world to give information, and knowledge in many different languages for free. The volunteers I wrote about earlier, could work on these articles under a free license, this means that whoever works on an article, can modify, adapt, reuse or redistribute it. So, back in those days, while J. Wales thought a lot about how his encyclopedia would reach people who didn’t had access to the internet, but succeeded through technological developments, such as optimizing radio, TV, transport, and photography. This was also loved by people, so it was a good link for him to stay on the ground with Wikipedia. Moreover, before we had technology programs, the idea of creating an encyclopedia or another device, is attributed to Vannaevar Bush (1890-1974). He was an electrical engineer and during World War II he outlined the idea for a ‘Memex’, an enlarged intimate addition to memory. The Memex was seen as a microfilm device in which a person could storage all their books, records, and communication.

What I find particularly interesting in this article, is that the idea of inventing a personal encyclopedic device was thought of eras ago. Unfortunately, this concept was presented much larger to innovators, and they therefore didn’t want wo continue this project with V. Bush.

If Vannaever Bush had achieved success with his ‘Memex’ concept, Wikipedia would have probably not existed today. But we would now probably continue with new developments regarding the ‘Memex’ in this time. How do you think how this would have worked out for Wikipedia? Would there be a new medium for encyclopedia or would technological scientist develop discover further expansions?

Hanane Ben Abdeslam