CAPE TOWN - Last Week Wikipedia hosted its annual conference (#Wikimania2018) in the African continent for the first time in Cape Town, South Africa.
Wikimania 2018 brought together more than 700 people to discuss how to improve the diversity of knowledge represented on Wikipedia and Wikimedia sites.
The theme of this years conference was “Bridging knowledge gaps, the ubuntu way forward”, which aimed to address gaps in knowledge, particularly those about African people, cultures, and languages, on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects.
One of the participants in the conference was the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales.
He co-founded Wikipedia in January 2001. His ventures as an internet entrepreneur have seen him found the for-profit web hosting company Wikia and news website WikiTribune.
Today Wales remains involved with helping the Wikimedia Foundation support Wikipedia and its sister projects by serving as a spokesperson and member of the organisation’s Board of Trustees.
Wales’ part in creating Wikipedia earned him the distinction of being named in Time magazine’s list of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World” back in 2006.
The Infonomist interviewed Jimmy Wales about the decision to host Wikimania 2018 conference in the African continent, about his media project (WikiTribune) and its role in media and the future of Wikipedia in the 4th Industrial Revolution.