Jimmy Wales

American Internet Entrepreneur--Founder of Wikipedia

Schedule:

1730 hours, 27th January, 2008

About the speaker:

Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales, is an American Internet entrepreneur best known for founding Wikipedia.org, as well as other wiki-related organizations, including the charitable organization Wikimedia Foundation, and the for-profit company Wikia, Inc.

Wales received his Bachelor's degree in finance from Auburn University and his Master's in finance from University of Alabama. He was appointed a fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School in 2005 and in 2006, he joined the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization Creative Commons.

In January of 2001, Wales started Wikipedia.org, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and in mid-2003, Wales set up the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization based in St. Petersburg, Florida, to support the Wikipedia.org site.

In 2004, Wales co-founded Wikia, Inc. with Angela Beesley. Wikia, Inc. is a for-profit company based on principles similar to Wikipedia.org, which allows people to contribute information and opinions on any topic, in any language.

As part of his work at Wikia, Inc., Wales is developing a human-powered search engine, Search Wikia, which will be based on the same open, transparent, community-driven principles of Wikia and Wikipeida.

Recently, The World Economic Forum recognized Wales as one of the “Young Global Leaders” of 2007. This prestigious award acknowledges the top 250 young leaders for their professional accomplishments, their commitment to society and their potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. In addition, Wales received the “Time 100 Award” in 2006, as he was named one of the world’s most influential people in the “Scientists & Thinkers” category.

For further queries contact:

Prateek Raj

Manager, Lecture Series

Techfest 2008

+91 98201 16174

prateek[at]techfest[dot]org