"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's purpose is to benefit readers by presenting information on all branches of knowledge. Hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, it consists of freely editable content, whose articles also have numerous links to guide readers towards more information.
Wikipedia differs from printed references in important ways. It is continually created and updated, and encyclopedic articles on new events appear within minutes rather than months or years. Because anyone can improve Wikipedia, it has become more comprehensive than any other encyclopedia. Its contributors enhance its articles' quality and quantity, and remove misinformation, errors and vandalism. Any reader can fix a mistake or add more information to what has already been written (see Researching with Wikipedia
).
Begin by simply clicking the Edit or Edit sourcebuttons or the pencil icon at the top of any non-protected page or section.
Wikipedia has tested the wisdom of the crowd since 2001 and found that it succeeds.