Citizendium wiki puts experts in charge

The co-founder of Wikipedia , Larry Sanger, is to launch a competitor to the online encyclopaedia in which experts will be given the authority to edit the site’s content.

Although Citizendium , or “the citizens’ compendium of everything”, will initially take its content from Wikipedia, it will be repackaged with contributions and corrections by academics and other subject experts.

Announcing the project on the Citizendium website, Sanger said that it was “an experimental new wiki project that will combine public participation with gentle expert guidance” and a “progressive fork” of Wikipedia.

Sanger said the project – expected to launch in the next few weeks – would adopt the free, open and collaborative principles of Wikipedia , but spearhead a new set of “responsibly managed” free knowledge projects.

Citizendium is widely seen as an attempt by Sanger, who will be editor-in-chief, to correct the shortcomings of Wikipedia – in particular, the potential for wrong information to go unnoticed.

These shortcomings concern information professionals, especially in universities, who fear that students are not developing strong information literacy skills. That said, a study in scientific journal Nature last year concluded that Wikipedia’s science articles were as accurate as those in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

In Citizendium, experts will have the final say where there is a dispute over an article that falls within their area of expertise.

Wikipedia spokesman David Gerard welcomed the development.

“It’s excellent news because the more open content there is in the world, the better for everyone,” he said. “We wish Larry good luck with it and will be watching with interest to see the results.”

Those behind the non-profit-making project hope it will be paid for through sponsorship, grants and donations from individuals. Experts will put themselves forward as editors by posting links to their credentials. They are unlikely to be paid initially but may be as funding becomes more stable.

Sanger left Wikipedia in 2002.