Wikipedia’s future lies in poorer countries
The site’s volunteer workforce has plateaued in the West, but is surging in Asia and Africa
THE MISSION statement “to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” belongs to Google. However, the search engine’s ask-me-anything usefulness relies partly on the unpaid labour of the army of volunteer editors at Wikipedia, a collaborative online encyclopedia. Overseen by a not-for-profit group and dependent on constant donations of both money and time, Wikipedia is a brittle foundation for the world’s informational ecosystem (see International).
This article appeared in the Graphic detail section of the print edition under the headline "A rich-world Wikipeak"
From the January 7th 2021 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Graphic detail
The world’s most, and least, walkable cities
Those who want to ditch their car might want to avoid North America
How countries rank by military spending
Our analysis shows how NATO allies match up against their rivals
The Republicans who still haven’t endorsed Donald Trump
Notable holdouts show he hasn’t consolidated the party yet