Editing Wikipedia (section)

== Cultural impact{{anchor|Impact}} ==
=== Trusted source to combat fake news ===
In 2017–18, after a barrage of false news reports, both Facebook and YouTube announced they would rely on Wikipedia to help their users evaluate reports and reject false news. [[Noam Cohen]], writing in ''The Washington Post'' states, "YouTube's reliance on Wikipedia to set the record straight builds on the thinking of another fact-challenged platform, the Facebook social network, which announced last year that Wikipedia would help its users root out '[[fake news]]'."<ref name="auto"/> {{As of|2020|11|post=,}} Alexa records the daily pageviews per visitor as 3.03 and the average daily time on site as 3:46 minutes.<ref name="Alexa siteinfo" />

=== Readership ===
In February 2014, ''The New York Times'' reported that Wikipedia was ranked fifth globally among all websites, stating "With 18 billion page views and nearly 500 million unique visitors a month, ... Wikipedia trails just Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft and Google, the largest with 1.2 billion unique visitors."<ref name="small screen" /> However, its ranking dropped to 13th globally by June 2020 due mostly to a rise in popularity of Chinese websites for online shopping.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.alexa.com/topsites |title=The top 500 sites on the web |website=Alexa |access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref>

In addition to [[logistic function|logistic growth]] in the number of its articles,<ref name="modelling" /> Wikipedia has steadily gained status as a general reference website since its inception in 2001.<ref name="comscore" /> About 50 percent of search engine traffic to Wikipedia comes from Google,<ref name="hitwisegoogle" /> a good portion of which is related to academic research.<ref name="hitwiseAcademic" /> The number of readers of Wikipedia worldwide reached 365&nbsp;million at the end of 2009.<ref name="365M">{{cite web |url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/TED2010%2C_Stuart_West_full_presentation_updated_with_January_data.pdf |title = Wikipedia's Evolving Impact: slideshow presentation at TED2010 |first = Stuart |last = West |access-date = October 23, 2015}}</ref> The [[Pew Research Center|Pew]] Internet and American Life project found that one third of US Internet users consulted Wikipedia.<ref name="Wikipedia users" /> In 2011 ''Business Insider'' gave Wikipedia a valuation of $4&nbsp;billion if it ran advertisements.<ref>{{cite web |author = SAI |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/2011-digital-100#7-wikimedia-foundation-wikipedia-7 |title = The World's Most Valuable Startups |website = Business Insider |date = October 7, 2011 |access-date = June 14, 2014}}</ref>

According to "Wikipedia Readership Survey 2011", the average age of Wikipedia readers is 36, with a rough parity between genders. Almost half of Wikipedia readers visit the site more than five times a month, and a similar number of readers specifically look for Wikipedia in search engine results. About 47 percent of Wikipedia readers do not realize that Wikipedia is a non-profit organization.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikipedia_Readership_Survey_2011/Results |title = Research: Wikipedia Readership Survey 2011/Results – Meta |publisher = Wikimedia |date = February 6, 2012 |access-date = April 16, 2014}}</ref>

==== COVID-19 pandemic ====
{{main|Wikipedia coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic}}
During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], Wikipedia's coverage of the pandemic received international media attention, and brought an increase in Wikipedia readership overall.<ref>{{cite news|title=Wikipedia breaks five-year record with high traffic in pandemic|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1551521|last=Jahangir|first=Ramsha|date=April 23, 2020|website=DAWN.COM|language=en|access-date=May 4, 2020}}</ref>

=== Cultural significance ===
{{redirect|Wikipedia in webcomics|the list of Wikipedia's appearances in webcomics|Wikipedia:Wikipedia in webcomics}}
{{main|Wikipedia in culture}}
<!-- Every single cultural, media, or Internet reference to Wikipedia does not need to be mentioned here and differentiation between what constitutes a matter of significance and what is run-of-the-mill is important when adding content here. -->
[[File:Wikipedia Monument in Słubice - detail.JPG|thumb|''[[Wikipedia Monument]]'' in [[Słubice]], Poland (2014, by [[Mihran Hakobyan]])]]
Wikipedia's content has also been used in academic studies, books, conferences, and court cases.<ref name="Wikipedia in media" /><ref name="Bourgeois" /><ref name="ssrn.com Wikipedian Justice 1">{{cite journal|ssrn = 1346311 |title = Wikipedian Justice |date = February 19, 2009 |last1 = Sharma |first1 = Raghav|doi = 10.2139/ssrn.1346311 |s2cid = 233749371 }}</ref> The [[Parliament of Canada]]'s website refers to Wikipedia's article on [[same-sex marriage]] in the "related links" section of its "further reading" list for the ''[[Civil Marriage Act]]''.<ref name="parl.gc.ca same-sex marriage">{{cite web |url=https://www.parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?billId=1585203&View=10 |publisher=LEGISinfo |title=House Government Bill C-38 (38–1) |access-date=September 9, 2014 |archive-date=November 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108095450/http://www.parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?billId=1585203&View=10 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The encyclopedia's assertions are increasingly used as a source by organizations such as the US federal courts and the [[World Intellectual Property Organization]]<ref name="WP_court_source" />—though mainly for ''supporting information'' rather than information decisive to a case.<ref name="Courts turn to Wikipedia" /> Content appearing on Wikipedia has also been cited as a source and referenced in some [[United States Intelligence Community|US intelligence agency]] reports.<ref name="US Intelligence" /> In December 2008, the scientific journal ''[[RNA Biology]]'' launched a new section for descriptions of families of RNA molecules and requires authors who contribute to the section to also submit a draft article on the [[Rfam|RNA family]] for publication in Wikipedia.<ref name="Declan" />

Wikipedia has also been used as a source in journalism,<ref name="ajr.org WP in the newsroom">{{cite news |title = Wikipedia in the Newsroom |url=https://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4461 |date = February–March 2008 |work = American Journalism Review |first = Donna |last = Shaw |access-date = February 11, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805155909/https://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4461 |archive-date = August 5, 2012 |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="twsY23" /> often without attribution, and several reporters have been dismissed for [[plagiarism from Wikipedia|plagiarizing from Wikipedia]].<ref name="shizuoka plagiarized WP 1">{{cite news |title = Shizuoka newspaper plagiarized Wikipedia article |work = Japan News Review |date = July 5, 2007 |url=https://www.japannewsreview.com/society/chubu/20070705page_id=364 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312013353/https://www.japannewsreview.com/society/chubu/20070705page_id%3D364 |archive-date = March 12, 2014 |df = mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="WA Express-News staffer resigns">{{cite web |url=https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA010307.02A.richter.132c153.html |title = Express-News staffer resigns after plagiarism in column is discovered |access-date = January 31, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015045010/https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA010307.02A.richter.132c153.html |archive-date = October 15, 2007}}, ''[[San Antonio Express-News]]'', January 9, 2007.</ref><ref name="starbulletin.com Inquiry prompts dismissal">{{cite web |url=https://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/01/13/news/story03.html |title = Inquiry prompts reporter's dismissal |website = Honolulu Star-Bulletin |first = Frank |last = Bridgewater |access-date = September 9, 2014}}</ref>

In 2006, [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] recognized Wikipedia's participation (along with [[YouTube]], [[Reddit]], [[MySpace]], and [[Facebook]])<ref name="Time2006" /> in the rapid growth of online collaboration and interaction by millions of people worldwide.

In July 2007, Wikipedia was the focus of a 30-minute documentary on [[BBC Radio 4]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tc6x |title = Radio 4 documentary, BBC |access-date = April 24, 2016 |date = 2007 |archive-date = September 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904080952/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tc6x |url-status = dead }}</ref> which argued that, with increased usage and awareness, the number of references to Wikipedia in popular culture is such that the word is one of a select group of 21st-century nouns that are so familiar ([[Google]], [[Facebook]], [[YouTube]]) that they no longer need explanation.

On September 28, 2007, [[Italy|Italian]] politician [[Franco Grillini]] raised a parliamentary question with the minister of cultural resources and activities about the necessity of [[freedom of panorama]]. He said that the lack of such freedom forced Wikipedia, "the seventh most consulted website", to forbid all images of modern Italian buildings and art, and claimed this was hugely damaging to tourist revenues.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.grillini.it/show.php?4885 |title = Comunicato Stampa. On. Franco Grillini. Wikipedia. Interrogazione a Rutelli. Con "diritto di panorama" promuovere arte e architettura contemporanea italiana. Rivedere con urgenza legge copyright |date = October 12, 2007 |language = it |trans-title = Press release. Honorable Franco Grillini. Wikipedia. Interview with Rutelli about the "right to view" promoting contemporary art and architecture of Italy. Review with urgency copyright law |access-date = December 26, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330141810/https://www.grillini.it/show.php?4885 |archive-date = March 30, 2009}}</ref>

[[File:Wikipedia, an introduction - Erasmus Prize 2015.webm|thumb|upright=1|thumbtime=00:36.00|Wikipedia, an introduction – [[Erasmus Prize]] 2015]]
[[File:Quadriga-verleihung-rr-02.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[Jimmy Wales]] accepts the 2008 [[Quadriga (award)|Quadriga]] ''A Mission of Enlightenment'' award on behalf of Wikipedia]]
On September 16, 2007, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported that Wikipedia had become a focal point in the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 US election campaign]], saying: "Type a candidate's name into Google, and among the first results is a Wikipedia page, making those entries arguably as important as any ad in defining a candidate. Already, the presidential entries are being edited, dissected and debated countless times each day."<ref name="WP.com WP election usage">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/16/AR2007091601699_pf.html |title = On Wikipedia, Debating 2008 Hopefuls' Every Facet |author = Jose Antonio Vargas |newspaper = The Washington Post |date = September 17, 2007 |access-date = December 26, 2008}}</ref> An October 2007 [[Reuters]] article, titled "Wikipedia page the latest status symbol", reported the recent phenomenon of how having a Wikipedia article vindicates one's notability.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2232893820071022?sp=true |title = Wikipedia page the latest status symbol |first = Jennifer |last = Ablan |work = Reuters |date = October 22, 2007 |access-date = October 24, 2007}}</ref>

Active participation also has an impact. Law students have been assigned to write Wikipedia articles as an exercise in clear and succinct writing for an uninitiated audience.<ref name="LER students write for WP 1">{{cite journal |title = Engaging with the World: Students of Comparative Law Write for Wikipedia |journal = Legal Education Review |volume = 19 |issue = 1 and 2 |year = 2009 |pages = 83–98 |author = Witzleb, Normann}}</ref>

A working group led by [[Peter Stone (professor)|Peter Stone]] (formed as a part of the [[Stanford]]-based project [[One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence]]) in its report called Wikipedia "the best-known example of crowdsourcing{{nbsp}}... that far exceeds traditionally-compiled information sources, such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, in scale and depth."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ai100.stanford.edu/2016-report/section-i-what-artificial-intelligence/ai-research-trends |title = AI Research Trends |author = <!-- Staff writer(s); no by-line. --> |website = One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100) |publisher = Stanford University |access-date = September 3, 2016 }}</ref>

In a 2017 opinion piece for ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'', [[Hossein Derakhshan]] describes Wikipedia as "one of the last remaining pillars of the [[openness|open]] and [[decentralization#Centralization and redecentralization of the Internet|decentralized web]]" and contrasted its existence as a text-based source of knowledge with [[social media]] and [[social networking service]]s, the latter having "since colonized the web for television's values". For Derakhshan, Wikipedia's goal as an encyclopedia represents the [[Age of Enlightenment]] tradition of [[rationality]] triumphing over emotions, a trend which he considers "endangered" due to the "gradual shift from a [[typography|typographic]] culture to a photographic one, which in turn mean[s] a shift from rationality to emotions, exposition to entertainment". Rather than "{{lang|la|[[sapere aude]]}}" ({{literal translation|'dare to know'|lk=on}}), social networks have led to a culture of "[d]are not to care to know". This is while Wikipedia faces "a more concerning problem" than funding, namely "a flattening growth rate in the number of contributors to the website". Consequently, the challenge for Wikipedia and those who use it is to "save Wikipedia and its promise of a free and open collection of all human knowledge amid the conquest of new and old television—how to collect and preserve knowledge when nobody cares to know."<ref>{{cite news|last=Derakhshan|first=Hossein|author-link=Hossein Derakhshan|date=October 19, 2017|title=How Social Media Endangers Knowledge|url=https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedias-fate-shows-how-the-web-endangers-knowledge/|url-status=live|department=Business|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|publisher=[[Condé Nast]]|eissn=1078-3148|issn=1059-1028|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022190537/https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedias-fate-shows-how-the-web-endangers-knowledge/|archive-date=October 22, 2018|access-date=October 22, 2018}}</ref>

==== Awards ====
[[File:Wikipedia team visiting to Parliament of Oviedo Spain 2015.JPG|thumb|upright=1|Wikipedia team visiting the Parliament of Asturias]]
[[File:Spanish Wikipedians meetup.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Wikipedians meeting after the 2015 Asturias awards ceremony]]
Wikipedia won two major awards in May 2004.<ref name="WP awards for WP 1">[[m:Trophy box|"Trophy box"]], {{srlink|Wikipedia:Meta|Meta-Wiki}} (March 28, 2005).</ref> The first was a Golden Nica for Digital Communities of the annual [[Prix Ars Electronica]] contest; this came with a €10,000 (£6,588; $12,700) grant and an invitation to present at the PAE Cyberarts Festival in Austria later that year. The second was a Judges' [[Webby Award]] for the "community" category.<ref name="webbyawards WP awards 1">{{cite news |url=https://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/winners-2004.php |title = Webby Awards 2004 |publisher = The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences |year = 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722174246/https://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/winners-2004.php |archive-date = July 22, 2011}}</ref>

In 2007, readers of brandchannel.com voted Wikipedia as the fourth-highest brand ranking, receiving 15 percent of the votes in answer to the question "Which brand had the most impact on our lives in 2006?"<ref name="brandchannel.com awards 1">{{cite news |first = Anthony |last = Zumpano |title = Similar Search Results: Google Wins |url=https://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=352 |publisher = Interbrand |date = January 29, 2007 |access-date = January 28, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070220095907/https://brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=352 |archive-date = February 20, 2007}}</ref>

In September 2008, Wikipedia received [[Quadriga (award)|Quadriga]] ''A Mission of Enlightenment'' award of Werkstatt Deutschland along with [[Boris Tadić]], [[Eckart Höfling]], and [[Peter Gabriel]]. The award was presented to Wales by [[David Weinberger]].<ref name="loomarea.com WP award 1">{{cite web |url=https://loomarea.com/die_quadriga/e/index.php?title=Award_2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915140714/https://loomarea.com/die_quadriga/e/index.php?title=Award_2008 |url-status=dead |archive-date = September 15, 2008 |title = Die Quadriga – Award 2008 |access-date = December 26, 2008}}</ref>

In 2015, Wikipedia was awarded both the annual [[Erasmus Prize]], which recognizes exceptional contributions to culture, society or social sciences,<ref name="EP2015">{{cite web |url=https://www.erasmusprijs.org/?lang=en&page=Erasmusprijs |title = Erasmus Prize – Praemium Erasmianum |publisher = Praemium Erasmianum Foundation |access-date = January 15, 2015}}</ref> and the [[Spain|Spanish]] [[Princess of Asturias Award]] on International Cooperation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fpa.es/es/premios-princesa-de-asturias/premiados/2015-wikipedia.html?especifica=0&idCategoria=0&anio=2015&especifica=0 |title = Premio Princesa de Asturias de Cooperación Internacional 2015 |publisher = Fundación Princesa de Asturias |access-date = June 17, 2015}}</ref> Speaking at the Asturian Parliament in Oviedo, the city that hosts the awards ceremony, [[Jimmy Wales]] praised the work of the [[Asturian language]] Wikipedia users.<ref>{{cite news |title = Los fundadores de Wikipedia destacan la versión en asturiano |url=https://www.lne.es/sociedad-cultura/2015/10/22/fundadores-wikipedia-destacan-version-asturiano/1830529.html |newspaper = La Nueva España |language = es |trans-title = The founders of Wikipedia highlight the Asturian version |access-date = October 20, 2015}}</ref>

==== Satire ====
{{category see also|Parodies of Wikipedia}}
Many parodies target Wikipedia's openness and susceptibility to inserted inaccuracies, with characters vandalizing or modifying the online encyclopedia project's articles.

Comedian [[Stephen Colbert]] has parodied or referenced Wikipedia on numerous episodes of his show ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' and coined the related term ''[[wikiality]]'', meaning "together we can create a reality that we all agree on—the reality we just agreed on".<ref name="wikiality" /> Another example can be found in "Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years of American Independence", a July 2006 front-page article in ''[[The Onion]]'',<ref name="onion WP 750 years 1">{{cite web |url=https://www.theonion.com/articles/wikipedia-celebrates-750-years-of-american-indepen,2007/ |title = Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years Of American Independence |access-date = October 15, 2006 |date = July 26, 2006 |website = [[The Onion]]}}</ref> as well as the 2010 ''The Onion'' article "'L.A. Law' Wikipedia Page Viewed 874 Times Today".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theonion.com/articles/la-law-wikipedia-page-viewed-874-times-today,18521/ |title = 'L.A. Law' Wikipedia Page Viewed 874 Times Today |date = November 24, 2010 |website = [[The Onion]]}}</ref>

In an April 2007 episode of the American television comedy [[The Office (American TV series)|''The Office'']], office manager ([[Michael Scott (The Office)|Michael Scott]]) is shown relying on a hypothetical Wikipedia article for information on [[negotiation]] tactics to assist him in negotiating lesser pay for an employee.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.officetally.com/the-office-the-negotiation |title = The Office: The Negotiation, 3.19 |date = April 5, 2007 |access-date = December 27, 2014}}</ref> Viewers of the show tried to add the episode's mention of the page as a section of the actual Wikipedia article on negotiation, but this effort was prevented by other users on the article's talk page.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2007-04-12-office-wikipedia_N.htm |title = 'Office' fans, inspired by Michael Scott, flock to edit Wikipedia |newspaper=[[USA Today]]|date = April 12, 2007 |access-date = December 12, 2014}}</ref>

"[[My Number One Doctor]]", a 2007 episode of the television show ''[[Scrubs (TV series)|Scrubs]]'', played on the perception that Wikipedia is an unreliable reference tool with a scene in which [[Perry Cox]] reacts to a patient who says that a Wikipedia article indicates that the [[raw food diet]] reverses the effects of [[bone cancer]] by retorting that the same editor who wrote that article also wrote the [[list of Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series) episodes|''Battlestar Galactica'' episode guide]].<ref name="Bakken one doctor 1">Bakken, Janae. "[[My Number One Doctor]]"; ''[[Scrubs (TV series)|Scrubs]]''; [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]; December 6, 2007.</ref>

In 2008, the comedy website ''[[CollegeHumor]]'' produced a video sketch named "Professor Wikipedia", in which the fictitious Professor Wikipedia instructs a class with a medley of unverifiable and occasionally absurd statements.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.collegehumor.com/video/3581424/professor-wikipedia |title = Professor Wikipedia |publisher = CollegeHumor |date = November 17, 2009 |access-date = April 19, 2011 |format = Video |archive-date = April 12, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110412213526/http://www.collegehumor.com/video/3581424/professor-wikipedia |url-status = dead }}</ref>

The ''[[Dilbert]]'' comic strip from May 8, 2009, features a character supporting an improbable claim by saying "Give me ten minutes and then check Wikipedia."<ref name="dilbert WP funny 1">{{cite web |url=https://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-05-08 |title = Dilbert comic strip for 05/08/2009 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive |publisher = Universal Uclick |date = May 8, 2009 |access-date = March 10, 2013}}</ref>

In July 2009, [[BBC Radio 4]] broadcast a comedy series called ''[[Bigipedia]]'', which was set on a website which was a parody of Wikipedia. Some of the sketches were directly inspired by Wikipedia and its articles.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.comedy.org.uk/guide/radio/bigipedia/interview/ |title = Interview With Nick Doody and Matt Kirshen |website = [[British Comedy Guide]] |access-date = July 31, 2009 |archive-date = July 31, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090731150008/http://www.comedy.org.uk/guide/radio/bigipedia/interview |url-status = dead }}</ref>

On August 23, 2013, the ''[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]'' website published a cartoon with this caption: "Dammit, [[Chelsea Manning|Manning]], have you considered the pronoun war that this is going to start on your Wikipedia page?"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/Dammit-Manning-have-you-considered-the-pronoun-war-that-this-is-going-t-Cartoon-Prints_i9813981_.htm |title = Manning/Wikipedia cartoon |access-date = August 26, 2013 |first = Emily |last = Flake |author-link = Emily Flake |date = August 23, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012052730/https://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/Dammit-Manning-have-you-considered-the-pronoun-war-that-this-is-going-t-Cartoon-Prints_i9813981_.htm |archive-date = October 12, 2014 |df = mdy-all}}</ref> The cartoon referred to Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning), an American activist, politician, and former United States Army soldier and a [[trans woman]].

In December 2015, [[John Julius Norwich]] stated, in a letter published in ''[[The Times]]'' newspaper, that as a historian he resorted to Wikipedia "at least a dozen times a day", and had never yet caught it out. He described it as "a work of reference as useful as any in existence", with so wide a range that it is almost impossible to find a person, place, or thing that it has left uncovered and that he could never have written his last two books without it.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/letters/article4639755.ece |title = The obstacles to reforming our prisons |date = December 14, 2015|journal = The Times |access-date = June 5, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/sitesearch.do?querystring=john%20julius%20norwich&p=tto&pf=all&bl=on |title = John Julius Norwich – Search – The Times |website = thetimes.co.uk |access-date = June 5, 2016 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

=== Sister projects{{snd}}Wikimedia ===
{{main|Wikimedia project}}
Wikipedia has spawned several sister projects, which are also wikis run by the [[Wikimedia Foundation]]. These other [[Wikimedia projects]] include [[Wiktionary]], a dictionary project launched in December 2002,<ref name="WM dictionary 1" /> [[Wikiquote]], a collection of quotations created a week after Wikimedia launched, [[Wikibooks]], a collection of collaboratively written free textbooks and annotated texts, [[Wikimedia Commons]], a site devoted to free-knowledge multimedia, [[Wikinews]], for citizen journalism, and [[Wikiversity]], a project for the creation of free learning materials and the provision of online learning activities.<ref name="OurProjects" /> Another sister project of Wikipedia, [[Wikispecies]], is a catalogue of species. In 2012 [[Wikivoyage]], an editable travel guide, and [[Wikidata]], an editable knowledge base, launched.

=== Publishing ===
[[File:WikiMedia DC 2013 Annual Meeting 08.JPG|right|thumb|A group of Wikimedians of the [[Wikimedia DC]] chapter at the 2013 DC Wikimedia annual meeting standing in front of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ''(back left)'' at the US National Archives]]
The most obvious economic effect of Wikipedia has been the death of commercial encyclopedias, especially the printed versions, e.g. ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', which were unable to compete with a product that is essentially free.<ref>{{cite web |last1 = Bosman |first1 = Julie |title = After 244 Years, Encyclopaedia Britannica Stops the Presses |url=https://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com//2012/03/13/after-244-years-encyclopaedia-britannica-stops-the-presses/ |website = The New York Times |access-date = January 26, 2015 |date = March 13, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gizmocrazed.com/2012/03/encyclopedia-britannica-dies-at-the-hands-of-wikipedia-infographic/ |title = ''Encyclopedia Britannica Dies At The Hands Of Wikipedia'', Gizmocrazed.com (with ''statista'' infographic from NYTimes.com) |publisher = Gizmocrazed.com |date = March 20, 2012 |access-date = June 14, 2014}}</ref><ref name="FT impact on traditional media">{{cite news |author = Christopher Caldwell (journalist) |author-link = Christopher Caldwell (journalist) |date = June 14, 2013 |title = A chapter in the Enlightenment closes |url=https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae22314a-d383-11e2-b3ff-00144feab7de.html |newspaper = [[Financial Times|ft.com]] |access-date = June 15, 2013 |quote = Bertelsmann did not resort to euphemism this week when it announced the end of the Brockhaus encyclopedia brand. Brockhaus had been publishing reference books for two centuries when the media group bought it in 2008. [...] The internet has finished off Brockhaus altogether. [...] What Germans like is Wikipedia.}}</ref> [[Nicholas G. Carr|Nicholas Carr]] wrote a 2005 essay, "The amorality of [[Web 2.0]]", that criticized websites with [[user-generated content]], like Wikipedia, for possibly leading to professional (and, in his view, superior) content producers' going out of business, because "free trumps quality all the time". Carr wrote: "Implicit in the ecstatic visions of Web 2.0 is the hegemony of the amateur. I for one can't imagine anything more frightening."<ref name="RType WP traditional media impact 1">{{cite web |title = The amorality of Web 2.0 |url=https://www.roughtype.com/archives/2005/10/the_amorality_o.php |date = October 3, 2005 |website = Rough Type |access-date = July 15, 2006}}</ref> Others dispute the notion that Wikipedia, or similar efforts, will entirely displace traditional publications. For instance, [[Chris Anderson (writer)|Chris Anderson]], the editor-in-chief of ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired Magazine]]'', wrote in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' that the "[[wisdom of the crowd|wisdom of crowds]]" approach of Wikipedia will not displace top [[scientific journal]]s, with their rigorous [[peer review]] process.<ref name="nature.com crowds wisdom" />

There is also an ongoing debate about the influence of Wikipedia on the biography publishing business. "The worry is that, if you can get all that information from Wikipedia, what's left for biography?" said [[Kathryn Hughes]], professor of life writing at the University of East Anglia and author of ''The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton'' and ''George Eliot: the Last Victorian''.<ref>{{cite news |first = Alison |last = Flood |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/feb/07/traditional-biography-shakespeare-breakfast |title = Alison Flood: ''Should traditional biography be buried alongside Shakespeare's breakfast?'' |journal = The Guardian |date = February 7, 2013|access-date = June 14, 2014}}</ref>

=== Research use ===
Wikipedia has been widely used as a [[text corpus|corpus]] for linguistic research in [[computational linguistics]], [[information retrieval]] and [[natural language processing]]. In particular, it commonly serves as a target knowledge base for the [[entity linking]] problem, which is then called "wikification",<ref name="wikify">{{cite conference |url=https://www.cse.unt.edu/~tarau/teaching/NLP/papers/Mihalcea-2007-Wikify-Linking_Documents_to_Encyclopedic.pdf |title=Wikify!: linking documents to encyclopedic knowledge |first1=Mihalcea |last1=Rada |first2=Andras |last2=Csomai |author1-link=Rada Mihalcea |date=November 2007 |conference=ACM [[Conference on Information and Knowledge Management]] |book-title=CIKM '07: Proceedings of the sixteenth ACM conference on Conference on information and knowledge management |publisher=[[Association for Computing Machinery]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160218062051/https://www.cse.unt.edu/~tarau/teaching/NLP/papers/Mihalcea-2007-Wikify-Linking_Documents_to_Encyclopedic.pdf |archive-date=February 18, 2016 |location=Lisbon; New York City|pages=233–242 |isbn=978-1595938039 |doi=10.1145/1321440.1321475 |url-status=live}}</ref> and to the related problem of [[word-sense disambiguation]].<ref name="milne witten WP usage 1">{{cite conference |chapter-url=https://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~ihw/papers/08-DNM-IHW-LearningToLinkWithWikipedia.pdf |chapter=Learning to Link with Wikipedia |first1=David |last1=Milne |first2=Ian H. |last2=Witten |title=Proceeding of the 17th ACM conference on Information and knowledge mining - CIKM '08 |author2-link=Ian H. Witten |date=October 2008 |conference=ACM [[Conference on Information and Knowledge Management]] |book-title=CIKM '08: Proceedings of the seventeenth ACM conference on Conference on information and knowledge management |publisher=[[Association for Computing Machinery]] |location=Napa Valley, CA; New York City |pages=509–518 |isbn=978-1595939913 |doi=10.1145/1458082.1458150|citeseerx=10.1.1.148.3617 }}</ref> Methods similar to wikification can in turn be used to find "missing" links in Wikipedia.<ref name="discovering missing WP links 1">{{cite conference |chapter-url=https://staff.science.uva.nl/~mdr/Publications/Files/linkkdd2005.pdf |chapter=Discovering missing links in Wikipedia |author1=Sisay Fissaha Adafre |author2=Maarten de Rijke |title=Proceedings of the 3rd international workshop on Link discovery - LinkKDD '05 |author2-link=Maarten de Rijke |date=August 2005 |conference=ACM LinkKDD |book-title=LinkKDD '05: Proceedings of the 3rd international workshop on Link discovery |publisher=[[Association for Computing Machinery]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717054413/https://staff.science.uva.nl/~mdr/Publications/Files/linkkdd2005.pdf |archive-date=July 17, 2012 |location=Chicago; New York City |pages=90–97 |isbn=978-1595931351 |doi=10.1145/1134271.1134284 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2015, French researchers José Lages of the [[University of Franche-Comté]] in [[Besançon]] and Dima Shepelyansky of [[Paul Sabatier University]] in [[Toulouse]] published a global university ranking based on Wikipedia scholarly citations.<ref name=mitmining>{{cite news|title = Wikipedia-Mining Algorithm Reveals World's Most Influential Universities: An algorithm's list of the most influential universities contains some surprising entries|url = https://www.technologyreview.com/view/544266/wikipedia-mining-algorithm-reveals-worlds-most-influential-universities/|access-date = December 27, 2015|work = [[MIT Technology Review]]|date = December 7, 2015|archive-date = February 1, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160201174817/https://www.technologyreview.com/view/544266/wikipedia-mining-algorithm-reveals-worlds-most-influential-universities/|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref name=harvardisonlymarmow>{{cite news |last1 = Marmow Shaw |first1 = Jessica |title = Harvard is only the 3rd most influential university in the world, according to this list |url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/two-universities-beat-harvard-in-this-surprising-school-ranking-2015-12-09 |access-date = December 27, 2015 |work = [[MarketWatch]] |date = December 10, 2015}}</ref><ref name=wikipediarankingtimesworldunifranche>{{cite news |last1 = Bothwell |first1 = Ellie |title = Wikipedia Ranking of World Universities: the top 100. List ranks institutions by search engine results and Wikipedia appearances |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/wikipedia-ranking-world-universities-top-100 |access-date = December 27, 2015 |work = [[Times Higher Education]] |date = December 15, 2015}}</ref> They used [[PageRank]], [[CheiRank]] and similar algorithms "followed by the number of appearances in the 24 different language editions of Wikipedia (descending order) and the century in which they were founded (ascending order)".<ref name=wikipediarankingtimesworldunifranche /><ref>{{cite journal | title = Wikipedia ranking of world universities | author1 = Lages, J. | author2 =  Patt, A. | author3 =  Shepelyansky, D. | journal = Eur. Phys. J. B | volume = 89 | number = 69 | year = 2016 | page = 69 | doi = 10.1140/epjb/e2016-60922-0| arxiv = 1511.09021 | bibcode = 2016EPJB...89...69L | s2cid = 1965378 }}</ref> The study was updated in 2019.<ref>{{cite journal | author1 = Coquidé, C. | author2 = Lages, J. | author3 = Shepelyansky, D.L. | title = World influence and interactions of universities from Wikipedia networks. | journal = Eur. Phys. J. B | volume = 92 | number = 3 | year = 2019 | page = 3 | doi = 10.1140/epjb/e2018-90532-7| arxiv = 1809.00332 | bibcode = 2019EPJB...92....3C | s2cid = 52154548 }}</ref>

A 2017 [[MIT]] study suggests that words used on Wikipedia articles end up in scientific publications.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brookshire |first1=Bethany |title=Wikipedia has become a science reference source even though scientists don't cite it |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/scicurious/wikipedia-science-reference-citations |work=ScienceNews |date=February 5, 2018 |department=SciCurious |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-date=February 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210120955/https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/scicurious/wikipedia-science-reference-citations}}</ref><ref>{{cite ssrn| first1=Neil C. |last1=Thompson |first2=Douglas |last2=Hanley |title=Science Is Shaped by Wikipedia: Evidence From a Randomized Control Trial |ssrn=3039505 |date=2017}}</ref>

Studies related to Wikipedia have been using [[machine learning]] and [[artificial intelligence]] to support various operations. One of the most important areas—automatic detection of vandalism<ref>{{cite conference |last1=Sarabadani |first1=Amir |last2=Halfaker |first2=Aaron |last3=Taraborelli |first3=Dario |title=Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on World Wide Web Companion - WWW '17 Companion |author2-link=Aaron Halfaker |chapter=Building automated vandalism detection tools for Wikidata |date=April 2017 |conference= International Conference on World Wide Web Companion |book-title=WWW '17 Companion: Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on World Wide Web Companion |publisher=[[Association for Computing Machinery]] |location=Perth; New York City |pages=1647–1654 |isbn=978-1450349147 |doi=10.1145/3041021.3053366 |arxiv=1703.03861}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference |last1=Potthast |first1=Martin |last2=Stein |first2=Benno |last3=Gerling |first3=Robert |title=Advances in Information Retrieval |chapter=Automatic Vandalism Detection in Wikipedia |book-title=Advances in Information Retrieval |date=2008 |volume=4956 |pages=663–668 |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-78646-7_75 |series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science |isbn=978-3540786450 |editor1-first=Craig |editor1-last=Macdonald |editor2-first=Iadh |editor2-last=Ounis |editor3-first=Vassilis |editor3-last=Plachouras |editor4-first=Ian |editor4-last=Ruthven |editor5-first=Ryen W. |editor5-last=White |conference=30th [[ECIR]] |location=Glasgow |publisher=Springer|citeseerx=10.1.1.188.1093 }}</ref> and [[data quality]] assessment in Wikipedia.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Asthana |first1=Sumit |last2=Halfaker |first2=Aaron |author2-link=Aaron Halfaker |editor1-last=Lampe |editor1-first=Cliff |editor1-link=Cliff Lampe |title=With Few Eyes, All Hoaxes are Deep |journal=Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction |date=November 2018 |volume=2 |issue=CSCW |doi=10.1145/3274290 |at=21 |publisher=[[Association for Computing Machinery]] |location=New York City |issn=2573-0142 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In February 2022, [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|civil servants]] from the UK's [[Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities]] were found to have used Wikipedia for research in the drafting of the [[Levelling up policy of the Boris Johnson government|Levelling Up]] [[Levelling Up White Paper|White Paper]] after journalists at ''[[The Independent]]'' noted that parts of the [[White paper#In government|document]] had been lifted directly from Wikipedia articles on [[Constantinople]] and the [[list of largest cities throughout history]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/levelling-up-plan-copied-wikipedia-michael-gove-b2006757.html|title=Parts of Michael Gove's levelling-up plan 'copied from Wikipedia'|last=Stone|first=Jon|date=3 February 2022|work=[[The Independent]]|access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref>