FOUNDER of the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, which is written in collaborative fashion by the internet community, is launching a rival service edited by experts.
A test version of "Citizendium", to be launched this week in California, will use experienced editors and subject authorities to review information submitted by web surfers.
"Wikipedia has accomplished great things, but the world can do even better," said Larry Sanger, the Wikipedia founder who is spearheading the Citizendium "free knowledge project".
"By engaging expert editors, eliminating anonymous contribution, and launching a more mature community under a new charter, a much broader and more influential group of people and institutions will be able to improve upon Wikipedia's extremely useful, but often uneven work," he said.
Wikipedia was created in 2001 as a website where users could freely contribute, edit and refine entries. It relied on the principle that people who knew better would correct factual errors introduced by others.
Wikipedia blossomed into a widely consulted online reference bank with accuracy reported to be on par with the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Mr Sanger parted ways with Wikipedia in 2002 and became a vociferous critic of its accuracy.
The plan for Citizendium is to guarantee more reliable information. Mr Sanger said content from internet users would have to pass muster with editors, scholars or others with minimum levels of qualifications based on "real world" markers such as college diplomas.
Mr Sanger said Citizendium would start with "mirroring" the content of Wikipedia and then set out to improve or replace it.
AFP
www.citizendium.org
