Nupedia was an English-language, online encyclopedia whose articles were written by volunteer contributors with appropriate subject matter expertise, reviewed by expert editors before publication, and licensed as free content. It was founded by Jimmy Wales and underwritten by Bomis, with Larry Sanger as editor-in-chief. Nupedia operated from October 1999[1][2] until September 2003. It is best known today as the predecessor of Wikipedia. Nupedia had a seven-step approval process to control content of articles before being posted, rather than live wiki-based updating. Nupedia was designed by committee, with experts to predefine the rules, and it had only 21 articles in its first year, compared to Wikipedia posting 200 articles in the first month, and 18,000 in the first year.[3]
All three logos used by Nupedia. The first logo was used from March to August 2000, the second from August 2000 to February 2001, and the third from February 2001 to September 2003.
Unlike Wikipedia, Nupedia was not a wiki; it was instead characterized by an extensive peer-review process, designed to make its articles of a quality comparable to that of professional encyclopedias. Nupedia wanted scholars (ideally with PhDs) to volunteer content.[4] Before it ceased operating, Nupedia produced 24 approved articles[5][6][7] that had completed its review process and another 150 articles were in progress.[8] Wales preferred Wikipedia's easier posting of articles, while Sanger preferred the peer-reviewed approach used by Nupedia[3] and later founded Citizendium in 2006 as an expert-reviewed alternative to Wikipedia.[9]
In June 2008, CNET UK listed Nupedia as one of the greatest defunct Web sites in the still-young history of the Internet, noting how the strict control had limited the posting of articles.[10]
In October 1999,[11] Jimmy Wales began thinking about an online encyclopedia built by volunteers and, in January 2000, hired Larry Sanger to oversee its development.[2] The project officially went online on 9 March 2000.[12] By November 2000, however, only two full-length articles had been published.[13]
From its beginning, Nupedia was a free content encyclopedia,[12] with Bomis intending to generate revenue from online ads on Nupedia.com.[13] Initially the project used a homegrown license, the Nupedia Open Content License. In January 2001, it switched to the GNU Free Documentation License at the urging of Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation.[14] Also in January 2001, Nupedia started Wikipedia as a side-project to allow collaboration on articles before entering the peer review process.[15] This attracted interest from both sides, as it provided the less bureaucratic structure favored by advocates of the GNE encyclopedia. As a result, GNE never really developed, and the threat of competition between the projects was averted. As Wikipedia grew and attracted contributors, it quickly developed a life of its own and began to function largely independently of Nupedia, although Sanger initially led activity on Wikipedia by virtue of his position as Nupedia's editor-in-chief.
Besides leading to discontinuation of the GNE project, Wikipedia also led to the gradual demise of Nupedia. Due to the collapse of the internet economy at that time, Jimmy Wales decided to discontinue funding for a salaried editor-in-chief in December 2001,[2] and Sanger resigned from both projects shortly thereafter.[16] After Sanger's departure, Nupedia increasingly became an afterthought to Wikipedia; of the Nupedia articles that completed the review process, only two did so after 2001. As Nupedia dwindled into inactivity, the idea of converting it into a stable version of approved Wikipedia articles was occasionally broached, but never implemented. Nupedia's server later crashed in September 2003.[17][18] Nupedia's encyclopedic content was assimilated into Wikipedia.[19]
Nupedia had a seven-step editorial process, consisting of:
Assignment
Finding a lead reviewer
Lead review
Open review
Lead copyediting
Open copyediting
Final approval and markup
Authors were expected to have expert knowledge (although the definition of expert allowed for a degree of flexibility, and it was acknowledged that some articles could be written by a good writer, rather than an expert per se)[20] and the editors approving articles for publication were expected "to be true experts in their fields and (with few exceptions) [to] possess PhDs".[21]
Ruth Ifcher was someone Sanger depended upon and worked closely with on Nupedia's early policies and procedures. Ifcher, holding several higher degrees, was a computer programmer and former copy editor and agreed to be volunteer chief copy editor.[22]
Software development
Nupedia was powered by NupeCode collaborative software. NupeCode is free/open source software (released under the GNU General Public License) designed for large peer review projects. The code was available via Nupedia's CVS repository. One of the problems experienced by Nupedia during much of its existence was that the software lacked functionality. Much of the missing functionality had been mocked-up using underlined blocks of text which appeared to be hyperlinks, but actually were not.[citation needed]
As part of the project, a new version of the original software (called "NuNupedia") was under development. NuNupedia was implemented for testing at SourceForge, but never reached a sufficient stage of development to replace the original software.[23]
^"Nupedia.com WHOIS, DNS, & DomainTools". WHOIS. 2016. from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
^ abcPoe, Marshall (September 2006). "The Hive". The Atlantic. from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2007.
^ abSanger, Larry (18 April 2005). "The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia: A Memoir". Slashdot. from the original on 25 May 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
^"When Wikipedia was young: the early years". VatorNews. 13 June 2017. from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
^"Wikipedia founder forks Wikipedia". from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
^Lanxon, Nate (5 June 2008). "The greatest defunct Web sites and dotcom disasters". CNET UK. p. 5. from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
^"NuPedia.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
^ abGouthro, Liane (10 March 2000). "Building the world's biggest encyclopedia". PC World. Archived from the original on 19 July 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
^ abFrauenfelder, Mark (21 November 2000). "The next generation of online encyclopedias". The Industry Standard/CNN. from the original on 14 August 2004. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
^jwales (17 January 2001). "Re:GNUPedia = Nupedia?". GNUPedia Project Starting. Slashdot. Archived from the original on 26 June 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
^Larry Sanger (10 January 2001). . Nupedia-l mailing list. Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 14 April 2003.
^Sanger, Larry. "My Resignation". Wikipedia-L. Bomis, Inc. from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
^"1 Nazis and Norms". reagle.org. from the original on 30 April 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
^Reagle, p. 6 sfn error: no target: CITEREFReagle (help)
^. Nupedia. 16 November 2000. Archived from the original on 31 March 2001. Retrieved 3 June 2010. The rule of thumb an editor should bear in mind is: would an article on this topic be of significantly greater quality if it were written by an expert on the subject? If yes, we will require that the writer be an expert on the subject. If no, nonspecialists (who are good writers) are more than welcome.
^. Nupedia. Archived from the original on 10 April 2001. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^Lih, Andrew (2009). The Wikipedia Revolution. New York: Hyperion. p. 37. ISBN9781401303716.
^"NuNupedia". SourceForge. from the original on 28 October 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
Further reading
Larry Sanger, The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia: A Memoir Part 1 and Part 2. Slashdot, April 2005.
Larry Sanger, "Nupedia.com Statement of Editorial Policy, Version 2.1," Printable Version dated 10 May 2000.
Larry Sanger, "Nupedia.com Statement of Editorial Policy, Version 3.2," Printable Version dated 23 June 2000.
nupedia, confused, with, gnupedia, english, language, online, encyclopedia, whose, articles, were, written, volunteer, contributors, with, appropriate, subject, matter, expertise, reviewed, expert, editors, before, publication, licensed, free, content, founded. Not to be confused with GNUPedia Nupedia was an English language online encyclopedia whose articles were written by volunteer contributors with appropriate subject matter expertise reviewed by expert editors before publication and licensed as free content It was founded by Jimmy Wales and underwritten by Bomis with Larry Sanger as editor in chief Nupedia operated from October 1999 1 2 until September 2003 It is best known today as the predecessor of Wikipedia Nupedia had a seven step approval process to control content of articles before being posted rather than live wiki based updating Nupedia was designed by committee with experts to predefine the rules and it had only 21 articles in its first year compared to Wikipedia posting 200 articles in the first month and 18 000 in the first year 3 NupediaScreenshot from the Wayback MachineType of siteOnline encyclopediaAvailable inEnglishGermanSpanishFrenchItalianDissolvedSeptember 2003OwnerBomis formerly Created byJimmy WalesLarry SangerURLnupedia org www nupedia com at the Wayback Machine archived 8 August 2003 www nupedia com at the Wayback Machine archived 7 April 2000 Launched9 March 2000 22 years ago 2000 03 09 All three logos used by Nupedia The first logo was used from March to August 2000 the second from August 2000 to February 2001 and the third from February 2001 to September 2003 Unlike Wikipedia Nupedia was not a wiki it was instead characterized by an extensive peer review process designed to make its articles of a quality comparable to that of professional encyclopedias Nupedia wanted scholars ideally with PhDs to volunteer content 4 Before it ceased operating Nupedia produced 24 approved articles 5 6 7 that had completed its review process and another 150 articles were in progress 8 Wales preferred Wikipedia s easier posting of articles while Sanger preferred the peer reviewed approach used by Nupedia 3 and later founded Citizendium in 2006 as an expert reviewed alternative to Wikipedia 9 In June 2008 CNET UK listed Nupedia as one of the greatest defunct Web sites in the still young history of the Internet noting how the strict control had limited the posting of articles 10 Contents 1 History 2 Editorial process 3 Software development 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksHistory EditIn October 1999 11 Jimmy Wales began thinking about an online encyclopedia built by volunteers and in January 2000 hired Larry Sanger to oversee its development 2 The project officially went online on 9 March 2000 12 By November 2000 however only two full length articles had been published 13 From its beginning Nupedia was a free content encyclopedia 12 with Bomis intending to generate revenue from online ads on Nupedia com 13 Initially the project used a homegrown license the Nupedia Open Content License In January 2001 it switched to the GNU Free Documentation License at the urging of Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation 14 Also in January 2001 Nupedia started Wikipedia as a side project to allow collaboration on articles before entering the peer review process 15 This attracted interest from both sides as it provided the less bureaucratic structure favored by advocates of the GNE encyclopedia As a result GNE never really developed and the threat of competition between the projects was averted As Wikipedia grew and attracted contributors it quickly developed a life of its own and began to function largely independently of Nupedia although Sanger initially led activity on Wikipedia by virtue of his position as Nupedia s editor in chief Besides leading to discontinuation of the GNE project Wikipedia also led to the gradual demise of Nupedia Due to the collapse of the internet economy at that time Jimmy Wales decided to discontinue funding for a salaried editor in chief in December 2001 2 and Sanger resigned from both projects shortly thereafter 16 After Sanger s departure Nupedia increasingly became an afterthought to Wikipedia of the Nupedia articles that completed the review process only two did so after 2001 As Nupedia dwindled into inactivity the idea of converting it into a stable version of approved Wikipedia articles was occasionally broached but never implemented Nupedia s server later crashed in September 2003 17 18 Nupedia s encyclopedic content was assimilated into Wikipedia 19 Editorial process Edit Example of a Nupedia article on the classical era of music Nupedia had a seven step editorial process consisting of Assignment Finding a lead reviewer Lead review Open review Lead copyediting Open copyediting Final approval and markupAuthors were expected to have expert knowledge although the definition of expert allowed for a degree of flexibility and it was acknowledged that some articles could be written by a good writer rather than an expert per se 20 and the editors approving articles for publication were expected to be true experts in their fields and with few exceptions to possess PhDs 21 Ruth Ifcher was someone Sanger depended upon and worked closely with on Nupedia s early policies and procedures Ifcher holding several higher degrees was a computer programmer and former copy editor and agreed to be volunteer chief copy editor 22 Software development EditNupedia was powered by NupeCode collaborative software NupeCode is free open source software released under the GNU General Public License designed for large peer review projects The code was available via Nupedia s CVS repository One of the problems experienced by Nupedia during much of its existence was that the software lacked functionality Much of the missing functionality had been mocked up using underlined blocks of text which appeared to be hyperlinks but actually were not citation needed As part of the project a new version of the original software called NuNupedia was under development NuNupedia was implemented for testing at SourceForge but never reached a sufficient stage of development to replace the original software 23 See also Edit Internet portalList of online encyclopedias List of wikis Scholarpedia Wikipedia Nupedia and Wikipedia Articles copied to WikipediaReferences Edit Nupedia com WHOIS DNS amp DomainTools WHOIS 2016 Archived from the original on 24 July 2017 Retrieved 6 March 2016 a b c Poe Marshall September 2006 The Hive The Atlantic Archived from the original on 26 October 2012 Retrieved 1 January 2007 a b Sanger Larry 18 April 2005 The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia A Memoir Slashdot Archived from the original on 25 May 2009 Retrieved 26 May 2012 Lih Andrew 2009 The Wikipedia Revolution How a Bunch of Nobodies Created the World s Greatest Encyclopedia London Aurum p 38 ISBN 9781845134730 OCLC 280430641 His academic roots compelled Sanger to insist on one rigid requirement for his editors a pedigree We wish editors to be true experts in their fields and with a few exceptions possess Ph Ds read the Nupedia policy Craig 2013 p 84 Ayers 2008 Myers 2006 p 163 When Wikipedia was young the early years VatorNews 13 June 2017 Archived from the original on 26 December 2018 Retrieved 25 July 2018 Wikipedia founder forks Wikipedia Archived from the original on 26 December 2018 Retrieved 7 August 2018 Lanxon Nate 5 June 2008 The greatest defunct Web sites and dotcom disasters CNET UK p 5 Archived from the original on 28 August 2019 Retrieved 16 July 2019 NuPedia com WHOIS DNS amp Domain Info DomainTools WHOIS Archived from the original on 24 July 2017 Retrieved 6 July 2016 a b Gouthro Liane 10 March 2000 Building the world s biggest encyclopedia PC World Archived from the original on 19 July 2009 Retrieved 19 January 2008 a b Frauenfelder Mark 21 November 2000 The next generation of online encyclopedias The Industry Standard CNN Archived from the original on 14 August 2004 Retrieved 14 February 2019 jwales 17 January 2001 Re GNUPedia Nupedia GNUPedia Project Starting Slashdot Archived from the original on 26 June 2013 Retrieved 25 May 2008 Larry Sanger 10 January 2001 Let s make a wiki Nupedia l mailing list Internet Archive Archived from the original on 14 April 2003 Sanger Larry My Resignation Wikipedia L Bomis Inc Archived from the original on 24 December 2019 Retrieved 24 December 2019 1 Nazis and Norms reagle org Archived from the original on 30 April 2020 Retrieved 25 April 2020 Reagle p 6sfn error no target CITEREFReagle help Waters 2010 pp 179 180 Nupedia com Editorial Policy Guidelines Version 3 31 Nupedia 16 November 2000 Archived from the original on 31 March 2001 Retrieved 3 June 2010 The rule of thumb an editor should bear in mind is would an article on this topic be of significantly greater quality if it were written by an expert on the subject If yes we will require that the writer be an expert on the subject If no nonspecialists who are good writers are more than welcome How to be an editor or peer reviewer for Nupedia Nupedia Archived from the original on 10 April 2001 Retrieved 3 June 2010 Lih Andrew 2009 The Wikipedia Revolution New York Hyperion p 37 ISBN 9781401303716 NuNupedia SourceForge Archived from the original on 28 October 2018 Retrieved 16 February 2017 Further reading EditLarry Sanger The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia A Memoir Part 1 and Part 2 Slashdot April 2005 Larry Sanger Nupedia com Statement of Editorial Policy Version 2 1 Printable Version dated 10 May 2000 Larry Sanger Nupedia com Statement of Editorial Policy Version 3 2 Printable Version dated 23 June 2000 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nupedia Earlier versions of Nupedia from the Internet Archive Nupedia revived Nupedia on Fandom Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Nupedia amp oldid 1133078300, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
