Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

WWales, Jimmy(1966– )AmericanInternet EntrepreneurJimmy Wales is a key force behind Wikipedia, the community-editedonline encyclopedia that has become a popularstop for Web users seeking information about any of millionsof topics.Wales was born on August 7, 1966, in Huntsville, Alabama,and received his early education in a tiny privateschool run by his mother and grandmother. However, Walesthen went to an advanced college preparatory school inHuntsville, where he was extensively exposed to computertechnology. Wales went on to earn a bachelor’s degree infinance from Auburn University and a master’s in finance atthe University of Alabama. He entered but did not completethe doctoral program, later attributing his dropping out toboredom. During the 1990s Wales became research directorat Chicago Options Associates, trading so successfully incurrency and interest rate options that he achieved lifetimefinancial security.By that time Wales had become involved with the growinge-commerce boom. However, his first project, an “eroticsearch engine” called Bomis, would be controversial. Usingthe Bomis site, Wales and Larry Sanger then launchedtheir first online encyclopedia, Nupedia. In 2001, however,Sanger suggested the use of wiki software (see wikisand Wikipedia). Wales and Sanger set up the parametersfor how users would contribute, collaborate, and reviewarticles. Wikipedia soon far outstripped Nupedia. Sangerand Wales found themselves in frequent disagreement, andSanger left Wikipedia in 2002.Wikipedia and BeyondIn 2003 Wales established the Wikimedia Foundation, anonprofit organization to support Wikipedia and a varietyof new projects based on online communities. In 2004Wales and Angela Beesley founded a for-profit company,Wikia, Inc. Besides making it easy for individuals andcommunities to organize and manage their own wikis andblogs, Wikia also intends to apply the wiki collaborativeprinciple to creating a search engine that would draw uponusers’ own expertise and interests and operate “transparently.”Wales believes this model will prove to be superiorto proprietary operations such as Google.Wales was criticized in 2005 for editing his own biographyin Wikipedia, downplaying the pornographic natureof Bomis and minimizing Sanger’s role as a cofounder ofWikipedia. Wales later expressed regrets about his editing,while continuing to insist that Sanger’s role was that ofan employee rather than a cofounder. (Sanger later createdCitizendium, an online encyclopedia that requires strictercredentials for editors.)Politically, Wales describes himself as a passionateobjectivist (follower of Ayn Rand’s philosophy) and a libertarianwho admires philosopher-economist F. A. Hayek(though distancing himself from the Libertarian Party).Wales’s interest in decentralized, emergent organizations(such as Wikipedia and Wikia) can be seen as flowing outof his political philosophy. At the same time, the scope and500