Editing History of Wikipedia (section)

===Background===
The concept of compiling the world's knowledge in a single location dates back to the ancient [[Library of Alexandria]] and [[Library of Pergamum]], and there are ancient precursors of the idea of a comprehensive encyclopedia, such as [[Pliny the Elder]]'s ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Naturalis historia]]'', but the modern concept of a general-purpose, widely distributed, printed encyclopedia originates with [[Denis Diderot]] and the 18th-century French [[Encyclopédie|encyclopedists]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miloš |first=Todorović |year=2018 |title=From Diderot's Encyclopedia to Wales's Wikipedia: a brief history of collecting and sharing knowledge |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347489594 |journal=Časopis KSIO |volume=1 |pages=88–102 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.3235309 |access-date=20 October 2021}}</ref> The idea of using automated machinery beyond the [[printing press]] to build a more useful encyclopedia can be traced to [[Paul Otlet]]'s 1934 book ''[[Traité de Documentation]]''. Otlet also founded the [[Mundaneum]], an institution dedicated to indexing the world's knowledge, in 1910. This concept of a machine-assisted encyclopedia was further expanded in [[H. G. Wells]]' book of essays ''[[World Brain]]'' (1938) and [[Vannevar Bush]]'s future vision of the [[microfilm]]-based [[Memex]] in his essay "[[As We May Think]]" (1945).<ref name="reaglechap2">Reagle, Joseph (2010). ''Good Faith Collaboration.  The Culture of Wikipedia''. MIT Press. {{ISBN|978-0262014472}}. Chapter 2: "The Pursuit of the Universal Encyclopedia".</ref> Another milestone was [[Ted Nelson]]'s [[hypertext]] design [[Project Xanadu]], which began in 1960.<ref name=reaglechap2/>

The use of volunteers was integral in making and maintaining Wikipedia. However, even without the internet, huge complex projects of similar nature had made use of volunteers. Specifically, the creation of the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' was conceived with the speech at the London Library, on [[Guy Fawkes Day]], 5 November 1857, by [[Richard Chenevix Trench]]. It took about 70 years to complete. Dr. Trench envisioned a grand new dictionary of every word in the English language, and to be used democratically and freely. According to author Simon Winchester, "The undertaking of the scheme, he said, was beyond the ability of any one man. To peruse all of English literature{{snd}}and to comb the London and New York newspapers and the most literate of the magazines and journals{{snd}}must be instead 'the combined action of many.' It would be necessary to recruit a team{{snd}}moreover, a huge one{{snd}}probably comprising hundreds and hundreds of unpaid amateurs, all of them working as volunteers."<ref>Winchester, Simon (1998). ''The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary''. Harpers, p. 106.</ref>

Advances in information technology in the late 20th century led to changes in the form of encyclopedias. While previous encyclopedias, notably the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', were often book-based, Microsoft's [[Encarta]], published in 1993, was available on CD-ROM and [[hyperlink]]ed. The development of the [[World Wide Web]] led to many attempts to develop [[Online encyclopedia|internet encyclopedia projects]]. An early proposal for an online encyclopedia was [[Interpedia]] in 1993 by [[Rick Gates (Internet pioneer)|Rick Gates]];<ref name="listserv.uh.edu" /> this project died before generating any encyclopedic content. [[Free software]] proponent [[Richard Stallman]] described the usefulness of a "Free Universal Encyclopedia and Learning Resource" in 1998.<ref name="stallmanencyclopedia">{{Cite web |last=Stallman |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Stallman |year=1998 |title=The Free Universal Encyclopedia and Learning Resource (1998 Draft) |url=https://www.gnu.org/encyclopedia/free-encyclopedia-1998-draft.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124065108/https://www.gnu.org/encyclopedia/free-encyclopedia-1998-draft.html |archive-date=24 January 2021 |access-date=29 October 2021 |publisher=GNU}}</ref> His published document outlined how to "ensure that progress continues towards this best and most natural outcome."

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales said that the concept of Wikipedia came when he was a graduate student at [[Indiana University Bloomington|Indiana University]], where he was impressed with the successes of the [[open-source movement]] and found Richard Stallman's [[GNU Manifesto|Emacs Manifesto]] promoting [[free software movement|free software]] and a sharing economy interesting. Wales also credits [[Austrian School]] economist [[Friedrich Hayek]]'s essay, "[[The Use of Knowledge in Society]]," which he read as an undergraduate,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-09-30 |title=Know It All - The New Yorker |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/07/31/know-it-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140930011944/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/07/31/know-it-all |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-09-30 |access-date=2024-11-07 }}</ref> as "central" to his thinking about "how to manage the Wikipedia project."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mangu-Ward |first=Katherine |date=2007-05-30 |title=Wikipedia and Beyond |url=https://reason.com/2007/05/30/wikipedia-and-beyond/ |access-date=2024-11-07 |website=Reason.com |language=en-US}}</ref> The essay asserts that [[Dispersed knowledge|information is decentralized]]—that each individual only knows a small fraction of what is known collectively—and that as a result, decisions are best made by those with local knowledge, rather than by a central authority. At the time, Wales was studying finance and was intrigued by the incentives of the many people who contributed as volunteers toward creating free software, where many examples were having excellent results.<ref>{{Citation |title=Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales: "I have this crazy idea that people will pay for free news" |url=https://play.acast.com/s/dannyinthevalley/wikipediasjimmywales |access-date=16 March 2023 |website=Danny in the Valley |date=19 January 2018 |language=en |archive-date=16 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316055526/https://play.acast.com/s/dannyinthevalley/wikipediasjimmywales |url-status=live }} Richard Stallman discussed at 20min, with further Open Source discussion at 16min.</ref> According to ''[[The Economist]]'', Wikipedia "has its roots in the [[Technological utopianism|techno-optimism]] that characterised the internet at the end of the 20th century. It held that ordinary people could use their computers as tools for liberation, education, and enlightenment."<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 January 2021 |title=Wikipedia is 20, and its reputation has never been higher |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/international/2021/01/09/wikipedia-is-20-and-its-reputation-has-never-been-higher |access-date=29 August 2022 |issn=0013-0613 |archive-date=31 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231224550/https://www.economist.com/international/2021/01/09/wikipedia-is-20-and-its-reputation-has-never-been-higher |url-status=live }}</ref>