Jimmy Wales
| Jimmy Wales | |
|---|---|
 Jimmy Wales in 2008 |
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| Born | Jimmy Donal Wales August 7, 1966 [note] Huntsville, Alabama, US |
| Residence | London, England, UK |
| Nationality | United States |
| Other names | Jimbo (online nickname) |
| Alma mater | Auburn University University of Alabama Indiana University Bloomington |
| Occupation | Internet entrepreneur |
| Known for | Co-founding Wikipedia |
| Title | President of Wikia, Inc. (2004–present) Chairman, Wikimedia Foundation (June 2003 – October 2006) Chairman Emeritus, Wikimedia Foundation (October 2006-present) |
| Successor | Florence Devouard |
| Board member of | Wikimedia Foundation, Creative Commons, Socialtext, MIT Center for Collective Intelligence (advisory board) |
| Awards | EFF Pioneer Award (2006), The Economist's Business Process Award (2008), The Global Brand Icon of the Year Award (2008) |
| Website | |
| Personal weblog English Wikipedia userpage |
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Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales (/ˈdoʊnəl ˈweɪlz/; born August 7, 1966[1]) is an American Internet entrepreneur, best known as a co-founder of Wikipedia and Wikia.[2][3] Wales was born in Huntsville, Alabama, United States. There, he went to Randolph School. He then earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in finance. In 1996, he and two partners founded Bomis. Bomis was an Internet portal with entertainment and adult content. The company gave money for Nupedia (2000–2003) and, after that, Wikipedia.
On January 15, 2001, with Larry Sanger and others, Wales launched Wikipedia. Wikipedia was and still is a free, open content encyclopedia. It grew and became popular very quickly. As Wikipedia because known to the public, he became the project’s promoter and spokesman. He is often called a co-founder of Wikipedia, though he has argued the "co-" part. He said he was the only founder.[4][5] Wales is on the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation. In 2004, he co-founded Wikia, a wiki-hosting service which tries to make money.
Personal life [change]
Wales has been married twice. He also has one child.[6][7] When he was 20, Wales married Pam.[7] Pam was a worker at a store in Alabama.[7] He met his second wife, Christine Rohan, through a friend in Chicago.[6] They had a daughter before their marriage ended. Wales moved to San Diego in 1998. In 2002, he moved again to Florida.[8] In 2007, he still lives there.[9] As of 2012 he lives in London, England[10].
He says that he follows the idea of Objectivism. He also says that he is a libertarian to some extent.
References [change]
- ↑
- Horovitz, David (2011-07-01). "Jimmy Wales’s benevolent Wikipedia wisdom". The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=227389. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
- "Jimmy Wales". Monroe, Florida's County Clerk website (Marriage License Database). http://www.clerk-of-the-court.com/default.asp. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
- editor, Clifford Thompson... (February 28, 2007). Current Biography Yearbook. H. W. Wilson. ISBN 978-0824210748.
- Who's Who In America: Diamond Edition (60 ed.). Marquis Who's Who. October 12, 2005. ISBN 978-0837969909.
- ↑ "Wikipedia: 50 languages, 1/2 million articles". Wikimedia Foundation Press Release. Wikimedia Foundation. 2004-04-25. http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_press_releases/500,000_Wikipedia_articles&oldid=473206. Retrieved 2009-04-10."The Wikipedia project was founded in January 2001 by Internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales and philosopher Larry Sanger," quoted from the April 25th, 2004 first-ever press release issued by the Wikimedia Foundation.
•"Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, reaches its 100,000th article". Wikipedia Press Release. Wikipedia. 2003-01-21. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Press_releases/January_2003&oldid=93032067. Retrieved 2009-04-10. - ↑ "Brain scan: The free-knowledge fundamentalist". Technology Quarterly (The Economist). 2008-06-05. http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11484062. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
- ↑ Bergstein, Brian (March 25, 2007). "Sanger says he co-started Wikipedia". MSNBC. Associated Press. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17798723/. Retrieved March 26, 2007. "The nascent Web encyclopedia Citizendium springs from Larry Sanger, a philosophy Ph.D. who counts himself as a co-founder of Wikipedia, the site he now hopes to usurp. The claim does not seem particularly controversial—Sanger has long been cited as a co-founder. Yet the other founder, Jimmy Wales, is not happy about it."
- ↑ Olson, Parmy (October 18, 2006). "A New Kid On The Wiki Block". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2006/10/18/sanger-wikipedia-citizendium-face-cx_po_1018autofacescan02.html. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Q & A". q-and-a.org. http://www.q-and-a.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1042. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Jimmy Wales: Celebrities: Wmagazine.com". wmagazine.com. http://www.wmagazine.com/celebrities/2008/09/jimmy_wales. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ↑ "Business & Technology: He's the "God-King," but you can call him Jimbo". seattletimes.nwsource.com. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003525473_btwikipedia15.html. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ↑ "Jimmy Wales - Wikipedia - New York Times". nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18wwln-domains-.html?_r=2&oref=slogin. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ↑ Hough, Stephen (11 Mar 2012). "Jimmy Wales: Wikipedia chief to advise Whitehall on policy". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/9137339/Jimmy-Wales-Wikipedia-chief-to-advise-Whitehall-on-policy.html. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
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