Jimbo Wales, founder, Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation and Wikia

The founder of the go-to informational resource Wikipedia, “Jimbo” Wales will talk about what's next on his agenda, his opinions on the politics of the Internet and his thoughts on the accuracy of Wiki posts. Wales, who has plans to develop Wikia Search, will specifically discuss his battle against Google’s domination of search engine technology and his attempt to introduce a new search engine which emphasizes transparency and less spam.

Ranked 12th in Forbes Magazine’s first annual “Web Celeb’s 25,” and listed in 2006 in TIME Magazine’s 100 influential people, Wales changed the way millions access information when he opened the collaborative authorship software, called wiki, to the world's Internet users, creating a web site with boundless encyclopedic information called Wikipedia. Begun in 2001, Wikipedia was developed with the help of Larry Sanger.


In 2003, Wales founded a non-profit company Wikimedia to support Wikipedia and his other projects. Wales originally made the money he would invest in Wikipedia with the controversial Bomis, considered by Wales to be a “guy-oriented search engine,” similar to the magazine Maxim, though Bomis has also been alleged to deal in soft-core pornography. Before becoming involved with internet technology, Wales worked for, Chicago Options Associates, an options and futures trader. Wales received his B.A. from Auburn University and his Master’s in finance from Alabama University.

This program was recorded live on July 18, 2007