Wikipedia Co-Founder to Visit VCU

By Tom Gresham

"A Conversation with Jimmy Wales" is scheduled for 4 p.m. in the Commonwealth Ballroom of the VCU Student Commons, 907 Floyd Ave. The event is free and open to the public, though seating is limited.

Wales will discuss the future of Wikipedia and his other wiki-based projects, such as Wiktionary and Wikinews. In the space of five years, Wikipedia, an open source, collaboratively authored reference work, has become one of the most visited sites on the Internet. Scholars, librarians and others continue to debate its usefulness and authority.

Preceding Wales' appearance, a panel will examine Wikipedia on April 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the VCU Student Commons Theater. That event is free and open to the public.

The Wikipedia events at VCU are part of the year-long series, "Creating and Consuming Culture in the Digital Age," which is sponsored by the Department of English in collaboration with the School of the Mass Communications and the School of the Arts. It is funded by the VCU Honors Program through its National Endowment for the Humanities Year program.

For more information about these events and others in the series, visit www.creatingculture.vcu.edu or call 804-828-1331.