Join the Wikipedia Community

What is Wikipedia?

Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger had an idea to use a simple software tool for collaborative writing and editing (called a wiki) to write an online encyclopedia. They coined the term Wikipedia, and the site went live on January 15, 2001. Within a month, Wikipedia had six hundred topics.

After a year, there were twenty thousand. Today, Wikipedia boasts over 3 million topics in the English language alone.

“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing.”
Jimmy Wales

Wikipedia has become the filter for the vast amounts of information online. Because there are no physical limits on its size, it can be all-inclusive. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers create the topics visited by millions of people every day. Ranked among the top 10 most-visited sites on the Internet, Wikipedia is society's premier tale of collective organization and achievement.

How you can get involved?

We encourage you to join the global Wikipedia community. If you feel that topics are missing from your WikiReader, don't be afraid to contribute. If you discover spelling or grammar errors, please help out. Wikipedia is a system that does not favor the Ph.D. over the well-read amateur. If you know the facts, you can be a part of the movement.

How to get started:

1. If you have never used a wiki, please read the guidelines on Wikipedia's getting started topic.
2. Make a note of the topic's title on your WikiReader that you want to edit.
3. From the main Wikipedia page, type in this title into the search field and press search. This will take you to the online version of the topic on your WikiReader.
4. Click on “Edit” to enter the editing mode.
5. Make your changes. Remember to cite your sources, and click save.
6. That's it!

Congratulations. Your contributions will be enjoyed by millions of people around the world and appear in the next WikiReader update.