Wikipedia to open first office outside US in India
October 29, 2010 | Views
:
204
NEW DELHI: Wikimedia, theowners of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, plans to open its first non-USoffice in India as it seeks to take advantage of the country's openInternet culture, the group told AFP Friday.
"Thereis a lot of enthusiasm for Wikimedia in India, a strong communitywithin India and a general commitment to free knowledge," Wikimediachief global development officer Barry Newstead said in emailedcomments.
"We hope to support Indians to realisethe vision of 'a world in which every single person can freely share inthe sum of all knowledge'."
The planned investmentin India would be the first time the non-profit group, whoseuser-generated encyclopedia is one of the biggest online brands, hasopened an office outside of its home US market.
The company is currently looking for a location but is expected to open the office in the next few months.
Wikimedia co-founder Jimmy Wales will be in India's commercial capitalMumbai on Sunday and will address an open meeting where he will givefurther details of the group's strategy for the country.
He told Indian technology website ciol.com this week that the officewould initially have two to four people who work with Indiancontributors, helping with technical support, software and promotion.
Since its creation in 2001, the site has grown rapidly and attractednearly 78 million visitors monthly as of January 2010, Wikipedia sayson its website.
There are more than 91,000 active contributors working on more than 16 million articles in more than 270 languages.