Polish Wikipedia marks 10th anniversary

Wikipedia Polska can now boast over 800,000 articles, making it the fifth largest branch of the global enterprise. The free internet encyclopedia is currently available in over 280 languages.

The Polish site was founded in 2001 by two academics, Krzysztof Jasiutowicz and Pawel Jochym. Both had previously worked on the English-language version of the encyclopedia.

Speaking to the Dziennik Polski newspaper, Dr Tomasz Ganicz, chairman of the Polish Wikipedia Association, said that there are between 10 and 15 million individual users of the Polish site per month.

Ganicz estimates that Polish Wikipedia has a core of about 300 very active editors, who work on roughly 100 matters per month. However, all in all, there are approximately 10,000 so-called Wikipedians who contribute a more modest, yet regular input.

As with the other versions of the site, maintenance is funded by donors.

According to Ganicz, although dozens of new articles still appear daily, the period of the most dynamic growth for the site is over. However, that certainly doesn't mean that there is a lack of things to do.

“Existing articles are changed, corrected, updated,” he says.

“The world and reality change. New events, personalities and inventions are emerging. The process will never end.”

A two-day meeting with debates marked the tenth anniversary over the weekend, hosted in the western city of Poznan. (nh/pg)

Source: PAP