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{{Infobox Celebrity {{Infobox Celebrity
| name = Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales | name = Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales
| image = Jimmy Wales.jpg | image = Jimmy Wales.jpg
| caption = Jimmy Wales (April 2006) | caption = Jimmy Wales (April 2006)
| birth_date = ], ] | birth_date = ]
| birth_place = ], ] | birth_place = ], ]
| death_date = | death_date =
| death_place = | death_place =
| occupation = President of the ] | occupation = Chair of the ]
| salary = | salary =
| networth = | networth =
| website = <!-- Please don't turn this into an internal link, see below--> | website = <!-- Please don't turn this into an internal link, see below-->
| footnotes = | footnotes =
}}
⚫ }}'''Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales''' is the founder and char of the ] and, together with ], co-founder of ] He previously made his living as a trader in Chicago, which made him wealthy and as co-founder with ] of ]. In May 2006, Wales was named one of '']'' magazine's 100 most influential people.<ref name=influence>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187286,00.html|title=Jimmy Wales: The (Proud) Amateur Who Created Misplaced Pages|date=]|accessdate=2006-04-30|last=Anderson|first=Chris}}</ref>
'''Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales''' (born ], ])<ref>{{cite web | last = Wales | first = Jimmy | title = Wikimedia Foundation Inc.: Board of Trustees | url = http://wikimediafoundation.org/search/?title=Board_of_Trustees&diff=prev&oldid=406 | accessdate =2006-07-15}}</ref>
is the founder and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the ],<ref name="wmfbylaws">{{cite web|author=Wikimedia Foundation Inc.|title=Bylaws|publisher=wikimediafoundation.org|url=http://www.wikimediafoundation.org/bylaws.pdf|accessdate=2006-05-21}}</ref> a ] corporation that operates the free online encyclopedia, ], and several other ] projects. He is also founder of the for-profit company ], which is legally unrelated to Wikimedia.

⚫ In May 2006, Wales was named one of '']'' magazine's 100 most influential people.<ref name=influence>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187286,00.html|title=Jimmy Wales: The (Proud) Amateur Who Created Misplaced Pages|date=]|accessdate=2006-04-30|last=Anderson|first=Chris}}</ref>


==Early life and education== ==Early life and education==
Wales was born in ]. His father was a ] manager, while his mother, Doris, and grandmother, Erma, ran a small ], "in the tradition of the ],"<ref name="qanda">{{cite web|title= Q&A: Jimmy Wales, Misplaced Pages founder|author=]|url=http://qanda.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1042|work=]|date= September 25, 2005|accessdate=2006-07-11}}</ref> where Wales was educated. There were four children in his grade most of the time, so the school grouped together first through fourth grades, and fifth through eighth grades.
Wales was born in ], and his legal ] is Jimmy, not "James". His father is a ] manager.


Wales' mother, Doris, and grandmother, Erma, ran a very small ], as he put it "in the tradition of the ]" and its philosophy of education was significantly influenced by the ]. Wales attended this ] and his mother and grandmother were his primary teachers. There were four children in his grade most of the time, so the school grouped together first through fourth grades, and fifth through eighth grades. As such, he had a fair amount of freedom to study whatever he liked and he spent many hours poring over the '']'' during this time. <ref name="qanda">{{cite web|title= Q&A: Jimmy Wales, Misplaced Pages founder|author=]|url=http://qanda.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1042|work=]|accessdate=2006-03-10}}</ref><ref name="newsweek1">{{cite news|url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6298340|title=It's Like a Blog, But It's a Wiki|author=Brad Stone|publisher=]|date=]|accessdate=2006-05-20}}</ref> A 2005 ''Time'' magazine article characterized this educational experience as ].<ref>{{cite news|title=It's a Wiki, Wiki World|author=Taylor, Chris|publisher=]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1066904-3,00.html|accessdate=2005-05-29}}</ref> A 2005 ''Time'' magazine article incorrectly reported that Wales was ].<ref name="qanda"/><ref>{{cite news|title=It's a Wiki, Wiki World|author=Taylor, Chris|publisher=]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1066904-3,00.html|accessdate=2005-05-29}}</ref> Strictly speaking he was not, but he did note that his schooling experience was "in a sense similar",<ref name="qanda"/> since his mother and grandmother were his primary teachers. The school's philosophy of education was significantly influenced by the ], and students had a fair amount of freedom to study whatever they liked. Wales has said that he spent many hours poring over the '']'' during this time.<ref name="newsweek1">{{cite news| url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6298340| title=It's Like a Blog, But It's a Wiki| first=Brad| last=Stone| publisher=]| date=]| accessdate=2006-05-20}}</ref>


===Preparatory school and university=== ===Preparatory school and university===
After eighth grade, Wales went to ], a ]. There, he was exposed to its computer lab. He later claimed that the expense of this school was burdensome for his family. He received his ] from ] and his ] from the ] both in ]. Later, he took courses offered in the ] finance programs at the University of Alabama and ]. He taught at both universities during his postgraduate studies, but did not write the ] required to earn a Ph.D. After eighth grade, Wales went to ], a ], which was an early supporter of computer labs and other technology for student use. Wales has said that the school was expensive for his family, but that education was regarded as important. "Education was always a passion in my household … you know, the very traditional approach to knowledge and learning and establishing that as a base for a good life."<ref name="qanda"/> He received his ] in ] from ] and started with the ] finance programs at the ] that he left with a ] in finance.<ref name="qanda"/> After that, he took courses offered in the Ph.D. finance program at ]. He taught at both universities during his postgraduate studies, but did not write the ] required to earn a Ph.D.<ref name="qanda"/>


==Career==
==Finance and Internet career==
In 1994, Wales went on to became the Research Director working for ] at ] a ] and ] ] in ] which he did for six years.<ref name="qanda"/><ref>{{cite web |author=Wikimedia Foundation Inc. | title = Board of Trustees | url = http://wikimediafoundation.org/Board_of_Trustees | accessdate = 2006-07-15}}</ref> He earned enough to "support himself and his wife for the rest of their lives."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Book Stops Here|author= Pink, Daniel H|publisher=]|url=http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/wiki.html?pg=3|accessdate=2006-06-28}}</ref> In 1994, Wales went on to became the Research Director at Chicago Options Associates a ] and ] ] in ] which he did for six years.<ref name="qanda"/><ref>{{cite web |author=Wikimedia Foundation Inc. | title = Board of Trustees | url = http://wikimediafoundation.org/Board_of_Trustees | accessdate = 2006-07-15}}</ref> In 1996, he founded a search portal called ], which also sold adult content until mid-2005. He was asked in a September 2005 ] interview about his previous involvement with what the interviewer, ], called "dirty pictures". In response, Wales described Bomis as a "guy-oriented search engine", with a market similar to ].<ref name="qanda"/> In an interview with '']'', he also explained that he disputed the categorization of Bomis content as "soft-core pornography": "If ] movies are ], it was porn. In other words, no, it was not."<ref>{{cite web|first=Evan|last=Hansen|title=Misplaced Pages Founder Looks Out for Number 1|url=http://www.wirednews.com/news/culture/0,1284,69880,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2|accessdate=2006-07-14}}</ref> He is no longer actively involved in the company.
] chose to characterize his earnings as having "made a ] ] on currency fluctuations." <ref> </ref>


⚫ In March 2000, he started a peer-reviewed, open-content encyclopedia, ] ("the 💕"), and hired ] to be its editor-in-chief.<ref name="qanda"/> While Wales was CEO, Bomis donated over ]100,000 (primarily through salaries and providing free Internet access) to ] and ], and continued supporting them into 2002.
In 1996, Wales founded a search portal called ] in ], which, among other services, sold adult content.

⚫ ==Misplaced Pages and the Wikimedia Foundation Inc.==


⚫ ==Misplaced Pages and the Wikimedia Foundation==
], ], during a shooting break of a documentary film on Misplaced Pages created by French-German TV station ].]] ], ], during a shooting break of a documentary film on Misplaced Pages created by French-German TV station ].]]
{{main|History of Misplaced Pages}} {{main|History of Misplaced Pages}}
Using a wiki to create an encyclopedia was publicly proposed by ] on ], ], and Wales worked on setting one up, starting it on ], ]. Misplaced Pages was at that point a ]-based site intended for collaboration on early encyclopedic content for submission to ] for peer review, but Misplaced Pages's rapid growth soon made it the dominant project and Nupedia was mothballed. Sanger dropped out of the project in 2002, posting a resignation on his Misplaced Pages user page.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/User:Larry_Sanger|title=User Page|author=]|accessdate=2006-04-12}}</ref> He has since criticized Wales's approach to the project,<ref>{{cite web|author=]|title=Why Misplaced Pages Must Jettison Its Anti-Elitism|publisher=]|url=http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/30/142458/25|date=]}}</ref> describing Wales as "decidedly anti-elitist".
⚫ In March 2000, he started a peer-reviewed, open-content encyclopedia, ] ("the 💕"), and hired ] to be its editor-in-chief.<ref name="qanda"/> While Wales was CEO, Bomis donated over ]100,000 (primarily through salaries and providing free Internet access) to ] and ], and continued supporting them into 2002. Ultimately, it was a failure in that it only produced 30 articles over the two-year lifetime of the project, at which point Wales dismissed Sanger in February 2002.


Wales later took issue with this description in a C-SPAN interview,<ref name="qanda" /> describing himself as not anti-elitist but "perhaps anti-credentialist. To me the key thing is getting it right. And if a person's really smart and they're doing fantastic work, I don't care if they're a high school kid or a Harvard professor."
Sometime in 2000, ] was the first person to privately mention to Wales the idea to make the encyclopedia ]-based, but Rosenfeld then took no further action. Wales failed to act promptly on this new idea. Sanger independently conceived of this idea on ] ] and immediately declared his conception publicly. Wales started to set up a wiki on ], ] but then he delegated the actual development of the encyclopedia back to Sanger. Sanger later coined the name "]" for the project.


In mid-2003, Wales set up the ], a ]-based ], to support Misplaced Pages and its younger sibling projects. He appointed himself and two business partners who are not active Wikipedians to the five-member board; the remaining two members are elected community representatives. This move relieved him and Bomis from the increasing financial burden of supporting Misplaced Pages while keeping his leadership position.
When first operational, Misplaced Pages was intended for collaboration on early encyclopedic content for submission to Nupedia for peer review. Misplaced Pages growth rate was rapid and soon dwarfed Nupedia and by avoiding the rate-controlling step of peer review, article count grew exponentially.


⚫ In 2004, Wales was quoted as saying that he had spent around US$500,000 on the establishment and operation of his Wiki projects. By the end of its February 2005 fund drive, the Wikimedia Foundation was supported entirely by grants and donations. Wales has become increasingly involved with promoting and speaking about its projects, and to this end, he travels to conferences and Wikimedia functions, such as "Wikimeets" and ]. The Foundation's travel budget was US$25,000 in 2005; how much of this total was used by Wales himself has not been published.<ref>{{cite web|author=Wikimedia Foundation Inc.|url=http://wikimediafoundation.org/Budget/2005|title=2005 Budget|accessdate=2006-04-12}}</ref> On ], ], he gave a talk at ]'s LongNow Foundation entitled "Vision: Misplaced Pages and the Future of Free Culture," where he discussed the philosophical underpinnings of Misplaced Pages, his support for the ] movement, and the difficulties the Wikimedia Foundation may confront as it grows in size.
After being dismissed, Sanger, posted a resignation on his Misplaced Pages user page to his now unpaid role within Misplaced Pages. He had no official title; he was merely saying goodbye.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/User:Larry_Sanger|title=User Page|author=]|accessdate=2006-04-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=]|title=Why Misplaced Pages Must Jettison Its Anti-Elitism|publisher=]|url=http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/30/142458/25|date=]}}</ref> Wales has claimed that he is "perhaps anti-credentialist." He added: "To me the key thing is getting it right. And if a person's really smart and they're doing fantastic work, I don't care if they're a high school kid or a Harvard professor." Wales does care if the person has been banned by himself, his appointed Arbitration Committee or blocked by the Foundation volunteer "administrators".


===Controversy===
While Wales was CEO of Bomis, the company had donated over ]100,000 (primarily through salaries and providing free Internet access) to Nupedia and Misplaced Pages. In mid-2003, Wales moved to ] and set up the ] to support Misplaced Pages and its newer sibling or "sister" projects. For the Board of this new orgnaization, he appointed himself, Davis and Shell onto its Board, and he assinged two additional seats for elected community representatives. Finances between Bomis and the Foundation were separate.
While Larry Sanger referred to himself as the co-founder of Misplaced Pages as early as January 2002,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/Wikipedia_and_why_it_matters|author=]|title=What Misplaced Pages is and why it matters|accessdate=2006-04-12 }}</ref> Wales says he has always called himself the sole founder of Misplaced Pages. The press frequently referred to Sanger and Wales as co-founders, but this began to change after Sanger's departure. For example, a 2004 '']'' magazine article stated that " created Misplaced Pages", without mentioning Sanger.<ref name="newsweek1" /> In 2006, Wales told the '']'' that "it's preposterous" to call Sanger the co-founder.<ref>{{cite web| first=Janet |last=Knott |title=Bias, sabotage haunt Misplaced Pages's free world| url=http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/02/12/bias_sabotage_haunt_wikipedias_free_world/?page=4| publisher=]| date=]| accessdate=2006-04-12}}</ref> Sanger has strongly contested this assertion, claiming that, in addition to developing Misplaced Pages in its early phase, he also had the idea of applying the wiki concept to the building of a 💕. It is undisputed that he also coined the name of the project. He has said: "I remember very clearly the evening when I got the idea for Misplaced Pages." He nevertheless ascribed the broader idea to Wales: "To be clear, the idea of an open source, collaborative encyclopedia, open to contribution by ordinary people, was entirely Jimmy's, not mine, and the funding was entirely by Bomis. (…) The actual development of this encyclopedia was the task he gave me to work on."<ref>{{cite news|author=]|title=The Early History of Nupedia and Misplaced Pages: A Memoir|publisher=]|url=http://features.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/18/164213|date=]|accessdate=2005-04-18}}</ref> Wales has credited a Bomis employee named ] as the person who "initially came up with the idea to make the encyclopedia wiki-based."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy||title=Edit to Misplaced Pages article "Jimmy Wales"|publisher=]|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Jimmy_Wales&diff=next&oldid=29849184|date=2005-12-02}}</ref>


In late 2005, a related controversy arose regarding Wales and the Misplaced Pages entry on himself. After ''Wired'' Magazine picked up on work from ], Wales confirmed that he had (visibly and under his own name) edited his own biography on Misplaced Pages, a practice generally frowned upon within the Misplaced Pages community and even by Wales himself.<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title=Jimmy Wales response in "Daniel C. Boyer on wikipedia" thread|work=wikien-l mailing list|url=http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=wikien-l&m=105999934110753&w=2|date=]|accessdate=2006-06-09}}</ref>
⚫ By 2004, Wales had spent around US$500,000 on the establishment and operation of the Foundation. Wales has since claimed that this was a substantial fraction of his net worth. By the end of its February 2005 fund drive, the Foundation was supported entirely by grants and donations. Wales has become increasingly involved with promoting and speaking about its projects, and to this end, he travels to conferences and Foundation functions, such as "Wikimeets" and ]. The Foundation's travel budget was US$25,000 in 2005; how much of this total was used by Wales himself has not been published.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wikimediafoundation.org/Budget/2005|title=Wikimedia Foundation's 2005 Budget|accessdate=2006-04-12}}</ref>


Wales's edits<ref>Jimmy Wales' edits of , , and , 2005.</ref> were in line with his view that Larry Sanger should not be considered a co-founder of Misplaced Pages. When some other editors undid his edits, Wales repeated them twice. His edits changed specific references to Misplaced Pages's origins as well as the description of Bomis. Wales said in the ''Wired'' interview, "People shouldn't do it, including me. I wish I hadn't done it."<ref name="wirednews">{{cite web|author=Hansen, Evan|title=Misplaced Pages Founder Edits Own Bio|work=Wired News|publisher=Wired|url=http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69880,00.html|accessdate=2006-02-14}}</ref> The article said: "Wales has also repeatedly revised the description of a search site he founded called Bomis, which included a section with adult photos called 'Bomis Babes'."<ref name="wirednews" />
⚫ Inspired by the success of Misplaced Pages, Wales has founded the for-profit company Wikia, Inc., which hosts various wikis and manages the ] project. It is financially and legal separate from the Foudnation.


===Motivations behind Misplaced Pages=== ===Motivations behind Misplaced Pages===
In an interview with ], Wales explained the purpose of Misplaced Pages by saying, "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."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="Misplaced Pages Founder Jimmy Wales Replies"| publisher=]|url=http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/28/1351230|date=]|accessdate=2006-06-07}}</ref> In an interview with ], Wales explained the purpose of Misplaced Pages by saying, "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."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="Misplaced Pages Founder Jimmy Wales Replies"| publisher=]|url=http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/28/1351230|date=]|accessdate=2006-06-07}}</ref> Likewise, in a December 2005 appeal for donations to Wikimedia, Wales explained his motivation for his Misplaced Pages work by saying "I'm doing this for the child in Africa."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="A Personal Appeal from Misplaced Pages Founder Jimmy Wales"|publisher=Wikimedia Foundation Inc.|url=http://wikimediafoundation.org/Personal_Appeal|accessdate=2006-06-01}}</ref>

In a December 2005 appeal for donations to the Foundation, Wales explained his motivation for his Misplaced Pages work by saying "I'm doing this for the child in Africa."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="A Personal Appeal from Misplaced Pages Founder Jimmy Wales"|publisher=wikimediafoundation.org|url=http://wikimediafoundation.org/Personal_Appeal|accessdate=2006-06-01}}</ref> In response to critics who pointed out that these motivations were inconsistent with Wales' Objectivist worldview (see "]" section in this article), he replied, "Do we have a source for me claiming that my 'Misplaced Pages activities do not serve a selfish end'? No, we do not. (…) For what is it worth, I think it is in my rational self-interest to care about what happens to kids in Africa, and far from being destructive of my self-interest, it is beneficial to my self-interest."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="Talk:Jimmy Wales"|work=en.wikipedia.org|publisher=]|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Talk:Jimmy_Wales&diff=55321582&oldid=55105689|accessdate=2006-06-07}}</ref>

On ], ], he gave a talk at ]'s LongNow Foundation entitled "Vision: Misplaced Pages and the Future of Free Culture," where he discussed the philosophical underpinnings of Misplaced Pages, his support for the ] movement.

===Seigenthaler controversy===

In late 2005, Wales chose to edit his own Misplaced Pages biography, removing references to Sanger and to the Bomis soft-core pictures. A minor controversy arose and Wales has avoided Misplaced Pages autobiography by his own hand since. This controversy was soon overshadowed by the ], in which Wales made serveral public appearances with the semi-retired journalist.


==Philosophical and political views== ==Philosophical and political views==
Wales has been a passionate adherent of the ] of ]. ] has participated in a Objectivist Usenet group that Wales moderated.<ref>{{cite newsgroup|author=Wales, Jimmy|title=Re: Anyone here care about ideas?|date=] ]|newsgroup=alt.philosophy.objectivism|url=http://groups.google.com/group/alt.philosophy.objectivism/browse_thread/thread/e64022f15de23f31/bfb2b00ad61301c7?q=&rnum=2#bfb2b00ad61301c7}}</ref> Wales has labeled himself a ], qualifying his remark by referring to the ] as "lunatics".<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="Q & A: Jimmy Wales"|url=http://www.q-and-a.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1042|accessdate=2006-06-05}}</ref> From 1992 to 1996, he ran the electronic mailing list "Moderated Discussion of Objectivist Philosophy,"<ref>{{cite newsgroup|author=Wales, Jimmy|title=Re: Objectivism of Ayn Rand|date=] ]|newsgroup=talk.philosophy.misc|id=Bv1u8x.Bnv@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu|url=http://groups.google.com/group/talk.philosophy.misc/msg/8c5e626c70a213f8?dmode=source}}</ref> and in 2002, he began moderating ''Atlantis'',<ref>The wetheliving.com website is down as of ] - the prior cite is {{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20050207071329/www.wetheliving.com/mailman/listinfo/atlantis|title=Jimmy Wales begins moderating Atlantis mailing list|date=unknown}}</ref> an Objectivism-related mailing list on the Objectivist community site ''We the Living''. Wales has been a passionate adherent of the ] of ]. When asked by Brian Lamb in his appearance on '']'' about Rand, Wales cited "the virtue of independence" as important to him personally. When asked if he could trace "the Ayn Rand connection" to having a political philosophy at the time of the interview, Wales reluctantly labeled himself a ], qualifying his remark by referring to the ] as "lunatics" and citing "freedom, liberty, basically individual rights, that idea of dealing with other people in a matter that is not initiating force against them" as his guiding principles.<ref name="qanda" /> From 1992 to 1996, he ran the electronic mailing list "Moderated Discussion of Objectivist Philosophy".<ref>{{cite newsgroup|author=Wales, Jimmy|title=Re: Objectivism of Ayn Rand|date=] ]|newsgroup=talk.philosophy.misc|id=Bv1u8x.Bnv@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu|url=http://groups.google.com/group/talk.philosophy.misc/msg/8c5e626c70a213f8?dmode=source}}</ref>


==Other activities== ==Other activities==
⚫ Inspired by the success of Misplaced Pages, Wales has founded the for-profit company ] (separate from ]), which hosts various wikis and manages the ] project.
⚫ Wales was appointed a fellow of the ] at ] in 2005. On ], ] Wales joined the ] of ], a provider of wiki technology to businesses.<ref>{{cite news|title=Misplaced Pages Founder Joins Socialtext Board|date=] ]|publisher=]|url=http://www.socialtext.com/weblog/051003wikiwales.html}}</ref> In 2006, he joined the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization ].<ref>{{cite news|title=Creative Commons Adds Two New Board Members|date=] ]|publisher=]|url=http://creativecommons.org/press-releases/entry/5840}}</ref>


⚫ He was appointed a fellow of the ] at ] in 2005. On ], ], according to a press release,<ref>{{cite news|title=Misplaced Pages Founder Joins Socialtext Board|date=] ]|publisher=]|url=http://www.socialtext.com/weblog/051003wikiwales.html}}</ref> Wales joined the ] of ], a provider of wiki technology to businesses. In 2006, he joined the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization ].<ref>{{cite news|title=Creative Commons Adds Two New Board Members|date=] ]|publisher=]|url=http://creativecommons.org/press-releases/entry/5840}}</ref>
⚫ Wales lives in ] with his wife Christine and their daughter.

⚫ Wales lives in ] with his wife and daughter.


==Awards== ==Awards==
], by '']'', a daily Internet ].]] ], by '']'', a daily Internet ].]]
Wales received an ] from ] on ], ]. The ] awarded him a Pioneer Award on ], ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/14632|title=EFF Honors Craigslist, Gigi Sohn, and Jimmy Wales with Pioneer Awards|date=]|publisher=Kansas City infoZine News|accessdate=2006-06-05}}</ref> Wales received an ] from ] on ], ]. The ] awarded him a Pioneer Award on ], ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/14632|title=EFF Honors Craigslist, Gigi Sohn, and Jimmy Wales with Pioneer Awards|date=]|publisher=Kansas City infoZine News|accessdate=2006-06-05}}</ref>

Wales was the first person listed in the "Scientists & Thinkers" section of the ], ] special edition of '']'' ("The lives and ideas of the world's most influential people"), listing ].<ref name=influence /> Wales was the first person listed in the "Scientists & Thinkers" section of the ], ] special edition of '']'' ("The lives and ideas of the world's most influential people"), listing ].<ref name=influence />

==Published works== ==Published works==
*Robert Brooks, Jon Corson, and J. Donal Wales. , in ''Advances in Futures and Options Research'', volume 7, 1994. See also ]. *Robert Brooks, Jon Corson, and J. Donal Wales. , in ''Advances in Futures and Options Research'', volume 7, 1994. See also ].

==References== ==References==
<div class = "references-small"><references /></div> <div class = "references-small"><references /></div>

==Further reading== ==Further reading==
<div class = "references-small">
{{Spoken Misplaced Pages|Jimmy Wales.ogg|2005-04-06}} {{Spoken Misplaced Pages|Jimmy Wales.ogg|2005-04-06}}
{{commons|category:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo Wales}} {{commons|category:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo Wales}}
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*<!-- please do not make this an internal link; see ] and this article's talk page for reasons --> *<!-- please do not make this an internal link; see ] and this article's talk page for reasons -->
*</div> *</div>

===News media=== ===News media===
<div class = "references-small">
*{{cite news|url=http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-06-30-wiki_x.htm|title=It's a Wiki world out there for the Web's groupmind|publisher=]|date=]}} *{{cite news|url=http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-06-30-wiki_x.htm|title=It's a Wiki world out there for the Web's groupmind|publisher=]|date=]}}
*{{cite news|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2005/09/26/focus4.html|title=St. Petersburg tech brain creates 'wiki' world with online encyclopedia|publisher=Tampa Bay Business Journal|author=Michael Hinman|date=]}} *{{cite news|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2005/09/26/focus4.html|title=St. Petersburg tech brain creates 'wiki' world with online encyclopedia|publisher=Tampa Bay Business Journal|author=Michael Hinman|date=]}}
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*{{cite news|url=http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1136024385322320.xml&coll=2|title=Alabamian is brain behind Misplaced Pages|publisher=The Birmingham News|author=Joseph D. Bryant|date=]}} *{{cite news|url=http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1136024385322320.xml&coll=2|title=Alabamian is brain behind Misplaced Pages|publisher=The Birmingham News|author=Joseph D. Bryant|date=]}}
*{{cite news|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-1962714,00.html|title=Misplaced Pages Chief considers taking ads|publisher=]|author=Rhys Blakely|date=]}}</div> *{{cite news|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-1962714,00.html|title=Misplaced Pages Chief considers taking ads|publisher=]|author=Rhys Blakely|date=]}}</div>

===Audio/Video=== ===Audio/Video===
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*{{nndb name|id=953/000114611|name=Jimbo Wales}} *{{nndb name|id=953/000114611|name=Jimbo Wales}}

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Revision as of 05:29, 20 July 2006

Template:Sprotect-banneduser

Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales
Jimmy Wales (April 2006)
Born1966-08-07
Huntsville, Alabama
OccupationChair of the Wikimedia Foundation
WebsiteUser Page

Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales (born August 7, 1966) is the founder and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit corporation that operates the free online encyclopedia, Misplaced Pages, and several other wiki projects. He is also founder of the for-profit company Wikia, Inc., which is legally unrelated to Wikimedia.

In May 2006, Wales was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people.

Early life and education

Wales was born in Huntsville, Alabama. His father was a grocery store manager, while his mother, Doris, and grandmother, Erma, ran a small private school, "in the tradition of the one-room schoolhouse," where Wales was educated. There were four children in his grade most of the time, so the school grouped together first through fourth grades, and fifth through eighth grades.

A 2005 Time magazine article incorrectly reported that Wales was homeschooled. Strictly speaking he was not, but he did note that his schooling experience was "in a sense similar", since his mother and grandmother were his primary teachers. The school's philosophy of education was significantly influenced by the Montessori method, and students had a fair amount of freedom to study whatever they liked. Wales has said that he spent many hours poring over the World Book Encyclopedia during this time.

Preparatory school and university

After eighth grade, Wales went to Randolph School, a college prep school, which was an early supporter of computer labs and other technology for student use. Wales has said that the school was expensive for his family, but that education was regarded as important. "Education was always a passion in my household … you know, the very traditional approach to knowledge and learning and establishing that as a base for a good life." He received his Bachelor's degree in finance from Auburn University and started with the Ph.D. finance programs at the University of Alabama that he left with a Master's in finance. After that, he took courses offered in the Ph.D. finance program at Indiana University. He taught at both universities during his postgraduate studies, but did not write the doctoral dissertation required to earn a Ph.D.

Career

In 1994, Wales went on to became the Research Director at Chicago Options Associates a futures and options trader in Chicago which he did for six years. In 1996, he founded a search portal called Bomis, which also sold adult content until mid-2005. He was asked in a September 2005 C-SPAN interview about his previous involvement with what the interviewer, Brian Lamb, called "dirty pictures". In response, Wales described Bomis as a "guy-oriented search engine", with a market similar to Maxim magazine. In an interview with Wired News, he also explained that he disputed the categorization of Bomis content as "soft-core pornography": "If R-rated movies are porn, it was porn. In other words, no, it was not." He is no longer actively involved in the company.

In March 2000, he started a peer-reviewed, open-content encyclopedia, Nupedia.com ("the 💕"), and hired Larry Sanger to be its editor-in-chief. While Wales was CEO, Bomis donated over US$100,000 (primarily through salaries and providing free Internet access) to Nupedia and Misplaced Pages, and continued supporting them into 2002.

Misplaced Pages and the Wikimedia Foundation

Jimmy Wales on the Holbeinsteg bridge in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, during a shooting break of a documentary film on Misplaced Pages created by French-German TV station arte.
Main article: History of Misplaced Pages

Using a wiki to create an encyclopedia was publicly proposed by Larry Sanger on January 10, 2001, and Wales worked on setting one up, starting it on January 15, 2001. Misplaced Pages was at that point a wiki-based site intended for collaboration on early encyclopedic content for submission to Nupedia for peer review, but Misplaced Pages's rapid growth soon made it the dominant project and Nupedia was mothballed. Sanger dropped out of the project in 2002, posting a resignation on his Misplaced Pages user page. He has since criticized Wales's approach to the project, describing Wales as "decidedly anti-elitist".

Wales later took issue with this description in a C-SPAN interview, describing himself as not anti-elitist but "perhaps anti-credentialist. To me the key thing is getting it right. And if a person's really smart and they're doing fantastic work, I don't care if they're a high school kid or a Harvard professor."

In mid-2003, Wales set up the Wikimedia Foundation, a St. Petersburg, Florida-based non-profit organization, to support Misplaced Pages and its younger sibling projects. He appointed himself and two business partners who are not active Wikipedians to the five-member board; the remaining two members are elected community representatives. This move relieved him and Bomis from the increasing financial burden of supporting Misplaced Pages while keeping his leadership position.

In 2004, Wales was quoted as saying that he had spent around US$500,000 on the establishment and operation of his Wiki projects. By the end of its February 2005 fund drive, the Wikimedia Foundation was supported entirely by grants and donations. Wales has become increasingly involved with promoting and speaking about its projects, and to this end, he travels to conferences and Wikimedia functions, such as "Wikimeets" and Wikimania. The Foundation's travel budget was US$25,000 in 2005; how much of this total was used by Wales himself has not been published. On April 14, 2006, he gave a talk at Stewart Brand's LongNow Foundation entitled "Vision: Misplaced Pages and the Future of Free Culture," where he discussed the philosophical underpinnings of Misplaced Pages, his support for the Free Culture movement, and the difficulties the Wikimedia Foundation may confront as it grows in size.

Controversy

While Larry Sanger referred to himself as the co-founder of Misplaced Pages as early as January 2002, Wales says he has always called himself the sole founder of Misplaced Pages. The press frequently referred to Sanger and Wales as co-founders, but this began to change after Sanger's departure. For example, a 2004 Newsweek magazine article stated that " created Misplaced Pages", without mentioning Sanger. In 2006, Wales told the Boston Globe that "it's preposterous" to call Sanger the co-founder. Sanger has strongly contested this assertion, claiming that, in addition to developing Misplaced Pages in its early phase, he also had the idea of applying the wiki concept to the building of a 💕. It is undisputed that he also coined the name of the project. He has said: "I remember very clearly the evening when I got the idea for Misplaced Pages." He nevertheless ascribed the broader idea to Wales: "To be clear, the idea of an open source, collaborative encyclopedia, open to contribution by ordinary people, was entirely Jimmy's, not mine, and the funding was entirely by Bomis. (…) The actual development of this encyclopedia was the task he gave me to work on." Wales has credited a Bomis employee named Jeremy Rosenfeld as the person who "initially came up with the idea to make the encyclopedia wiki-based."

In late 2005, a related controversy arose regarding Wales and the Misplaced Pages entry on himself. After Wired Magazine picked up on work from Rogers Cadenhead, Wales confirmed that he had (visibly and under his own name) edited his own biography on Misplaced Pages, a practice generally frowned upon within the Misplaced Pages community and even by Wales himself.

Wales's edits were in line with his view that Larry Sanger should not be considered a co-founder of Misplaced Pages. When some other editors undid his edits, Wales repeated them twice. His edits changed specific references to Misplaced Pages's origins as well as the description of Bomis. Wales said in the Wired interview, "People shouldn't do it, including me. I wish I hadn't done it." The article said: "Wales has also repeatedly revised the description of a search site he founded called Bomis, which included a section with adult photos called 'Bomis Babes'."

Motivations behind Misplaced Pages

In an interview with Slashdot, Wales explained the purpose of Misplaced Pages by saying, "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." Likewise, in a December 2005 appeal for donations to Wikimedia, Wales explained his motivation for his Misplaced Pages work by saying "I'm doing this for the child in Africa."

Philosophical and political views

Wales has been a passionate adherent of the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand. When asked by Brian Lamb in his appearance on Q&A about Rand, Wales cited "the virtue of independence" as important to him personally. When asked if he could trace "the Ayn Rand connection" to having a political philosophy at the time of the interview, Wales reluctantly labeled himself a libertarian, qualifying his remark by referring to the Libertarian Party as "lunatics" and citing "freedom, liberty, basically individual rights, that idea of dealing with other people in a matter that is not initiating force against them" as his guiding principles. From 1992 to 1996, he ran the electronic mailing list "Moderated Discussion of Objectivist Philosophy".

Other activities

Inspired by the success of Misplaced Pages, Wales has founded the for-profit company Wikia, Inc. (separate from Wikimedia), which hosts various wikis and manages the Wikia project.

He was appointed a fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School in 2005. On October 3, 2005, according to a press release, Wales joined the Board of Directors of Socialtext, a provider of wiki technology to businesses. In 2006, he joined the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization Creative Commons.

Wales lives in St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife and daughter.

Awards

Wales being interviewed on the red carpet of the 2006 Time 100, by Rocketboom, a daily Internet vlog.

Wales received an honorary degree from Knox College on June 3, 2006. The Electronic Frontier Foundation awarded him a Pioneer Award on May 3, 2006.

Wales was the first person listed in the "Scientists & Thinkers" section of the May 8, 2006 special edition of Time ("The lives and ideas of the world's most influential people"), listing 100 influential people.

Published works

References

  1. Wales, Jimmy. "Wikimedia Foundation Inc.: Board of Trustees". Retrieved 2006-07-15.
  2. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. "Bylaws" (PDF). wikimediafoundation.org. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
  3. ^ Anderson, Chris (2006-05-08). "Jimmy Wales: The (Proud) Amateur Who Created Misplaced Pages". Retrieved 2006-04-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Lamb, Brian (September 25, 2005). "Q&A: Jimmy Wales, Misplaced Pages founder". C-SPAN. Retrieved 2006-07-11.
  5. Taylor, Chris. "It's a Wiki, Wiki World". Time. Retrieved 2005-05-29.
  6. ^ Stone, Brad (2004-11-01). "It's Like a Blog, But It's a Wiki". Newsweek. Retrieved 2006-05-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. "Board of Trustees". Retrieved 2006-07-15.
  8. Hansen, Evan. "Misplaced Pages Founder Looks Out for Number 1". Retrieved 2006-07-14.
  9. Sanger, Larry. "User Page". Retrieved 2006-04-12.
  10. Sanger, Larry (2004-12-31). "Why Misplaced Pages Must Jettison Its Anti-Elitism". Kuro5hin. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. "2005 Budget". Retrieved 2006-04-12.
  12. Sanger, Larry. "What Misplaced Pages is and why it matters". Retrieved 2006-04-12.
  13. Knott, Janet (2006-02-12). "Bias, sabotage haunt Misplaced Pages's free world". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2006-04-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. Sanger, Larry (2005-04-18). "The Early History of Nupedia and Misplaced Pages: A Memoir". Slashdot. Retrieved 2005-04-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. Wales, Jimmy (2005-12-02). "Edit to Misplaced Pages article "Jimmy Wales"". Misplaced Pages. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  16. Wales, Jimmy (2003-08-04). "Jimmy Wales response in "Daniel C. Boyer on wikipedia" thread". wikien-l mailing list. Retrieved 2006-06-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. Jimmy Wales' edits of 28 October, 9 November, and 2 December, 2005.
  18. ^ Hansen, Evan. "Misplaced Pages Founder Edits Own Bio". Wired News. Wired. Retrieved 2006-02-14.
  19. Wales, Jimmy (2004-07-28). ""Misplaced Pages Founder Jimmy Wales Replies"". Slashdot. Retrieved 2006-06-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. Wales, Jimmy. ""A Personal Appeal from Misplaced Pages Founder Jimmy Wales"". Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
  21. Wales, Jimmy (23 September 1992). "Re: Objectivism of Ayn Rand". Newsgroup: talk.philosophy.misc. Bv1u8x.Bnv@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu. {{cite newsgroup}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. "Misplaced Pages Founder Joins Socialtext Board". Socialtext. 3 October 2005. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. "Creative Commons Adds Two New Board Members". Creative Commons. 30 March 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. "EFF Honors Craigslist, Gigi Sohn, and Jimmy Wales with Pioneer Awards". Kansas City infoZine News. 2006-04-28. Retrieved 2006-06-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Further reading

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