The news came from Florence Devouard, chair of the board of Wikipedia, speaking at a recent appearance at the Lift 07 conference in Geneva. Devouard suggested that Wikipedia finances were running low, with only enough funding for another 3 to 4 months. She then went on to say that if additional funding was not found, "Wikipedia might disappear."
The blogosphere has speculated heavily on the comments with some declaring that it was simply a cry for help, aimed at deep pocketed donators. Others are calling for Wikipedia to run online advertisements to generate funds for themselves. Indeed, as one of the 20 most popular websites in the world (according to Alexa), a huge amount of revenue could be reaped if Wikipedia was to place banner or contextual ads on each page.
However, many believe that it is highly unlikely that Wikipedia would ever resort to selling ad space, because part of the Wikipedia ethos is to keep the information neutral and unbiased. It also creates a problem for the thousands of volunteer editors who are happy to donate their time to a non-profit organisation, but might feel differently if Wikipedia was making money off the back of their hard work.
Some bloggers have speculated that internet giants such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Ebay or Yahoo would be well placed to scoop up Wikipedia, which is estimated to be worth several hundred million dollars. However, again, many believe Wikipedia would not allow itself to be taken over, as it would compromise the integrity of the entire Wikimedia foundation.
Since the initial statements were made, Wikipedia spokesperson Sandy Ordonez has stated that Ms Devouard's comments were taken out of context and that "Wikipedia will not be closing any time soon." She did, however, acknowledge that there was an ongoing, pressing need for funds.
The Wikipedia organisation was launched in 2001 and has largely been hailed as a huge success. Its mission - "the development and maintenance of online free, open content encyclopedias, in all the languages of the world that will be distributed free of charge to the public" - has earned it massive respect and it's even been deemed "the moral fibre of the internet". Wikipedia has managed to pay for the huge costs of hardware, bandwith and a handful of staff purely from donations by way of supporters.
Though Wikipedia has been criticised by some for containing inaccurate information, it still remains a hugely useful resource, especially as it contains data on recent or very obscure topics that aren't covered in traditional print encyclopaedias.
