With less than two weeks until the largest online encyclopaedia marks its eleventh anniversary, Wikipedia has raised a record $20 million from a continuous stream of donations - worldwide.  The Wikimedia foundation which has 100,000 volunteers working on its Wikipedia and its ten sister projects has announced today that the money has helped perserve their independance.  Sue Gardner, the executive director of the Foundation said that not only is their model working "fantastically well" but the funding allows them to "focus solely on providing a useful public service".

The past few months have seen banners featured on the site from Wikipedia's volunteer editors, including Co-founder Jimmy Wales explaining why donations should be made. 

Personally, whilst I'm well aware that "hoaxes" have indeed in the past originated from the universal community that is "Wiki" I still to this day find the whole concept fascinating.  Well before facebook and other social media moved in to the limelight, Wikimedia was fasioning a site that not only invited interaction from those in the know but also encouraged user participation.  Today, pretty much every subject is covered and there is little that gets past the knowledge hungry volunteers should you try to "alter the truth".  Granted most high profile hoaxes typically center around Celebrity misfortune but if you actually actively monitor the site these disappear pretty quicky if unproven. 

Either way, what they've done with Wikipedia is epic in terms of its achievements and I for one hope they continue to grow from strength to strength over the next decade.

Steve Bradley