Most everybody with access to the Internet is aware of the dominant presence of Wikipedia as a vast repository of information that's freely accessible to all at absolutely no cost to users. Since it was established in 2001 or over two decades ago, Wikipedia has virtually supplanted the role of traditional printed encyclopedias.
Today, Wikipedia's website has already accumulated over 6,664,166 articles in an estimated 300 languages, undoubtedy tapping to the hilt the Internet's potential for making general knowledge and even expert information truly accessible to everyone on the planet who needs or wants it.
This, as Gutes Gutermman suggests in the article "Issue 01: Who Builds The Internet?" in the June 8, 2023 issue of the
BylineByline.com website, is made possible by the largely invisible community of Wikipedia editors: "These editors, driven by a shared passion for knowledge and armed with a commitment to information, play an instrumental role in shaping the Internet landscape we navigate each day. Their tireless efforts are the building blocks upon which the internet's foundations rest, with Wikipedia standing tall as a testament to their ingenuity and collective wisdom."
IMAGE CREDIT: PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM KEELANThe five Wikipedia editors interviewed by the author for this article
Guterman talked to five Wikipedia editors--just a "small fraction of its 121,246 active editors," he says--and listened to their views about their work. Summing up, he paid tribute to them as "not just writers" but "architects whose job is never done...architects whose job is as big as the Internet itself."
Read Gutes Guterman's full article "Issue 01: Who Builds The Internet?" in the Forum now!
