Wikipedia is a vestige of an earlier de-commodified, open sourced internet. This week Katherine Maher, the departing CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, joins to talk about the history of Wikipedia, its organization, and its ability to endure amidst a changing internet.
Wikipedia is not like a lot of our current internet. It’s not like sites like Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube that mines its users’ attention and tries to capture it through push notifications and algorithms in order to maximize profits. Wikipedia is a vestige of an earlier de-commodified, open sourced internet. It’s an amazing well of knowledge built from decentralized human collaboration that anyone with an internet connection can freely access. It is an incredible institution where users can read and learn about almost anything. This week Katherine Maher, the departing CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, joins to talk about the history of Wikipedia, its organization, and its ability to endure amidst a changing internet.