Ask questions to Mr. Brion Vibber (WikiPedia CTO) only on Crazy Engineers!

[ash]

Hold up bro, dont get confused with Wiki and Wikipedia Wiki is the software that Wikipedia uses, first developed by Howard Cunningham.

*scratches head* ok.. lets think of a question.

Q. In light of the fact that Wikipedia is a popular source for college students to rely on for research, do you think information is best searched from the internet rather than books? Will the likes of Wikipedia diminish the importance of academic books?

[MaRo]

I want to ask if some MSN robot can be setup to deliever usable information to IM users, like I may ask him about certain piece of information and it get the answer rapidly as if I'm talking to friend?

I want to thank you as long as endless of times for Wikipedia


And Of course thanks CE for all great opportunities

[The_Big_K]

Originally Posted by crazyboy

Q1 Sir, you are running such a enormous web repository, there must have some great ideas behind the security of Wiki? How you keep Wiki safe from the hackers attack? Is it n-tier server set-ups make its security powerful or you are using some other tools for security?

Q2 Sir, Wiki is one of the most popular web encyclopedia; still we haven't seen commercialization of Wiki (i.e. no Advertisements) till now? Do we have any such plans in future?

Question #1 is super! , Question #2 - I think wikipedia is meant to be free. Recently they accepted donations to keep wikipedia running.

My question:

Could you please tell us about your role in Running Wikipedia?

[crazyboy]

Q3. Sir, Wiki is one of the most leading and updated online encyclopedia. How you make sure the search results it gives are the most accurate and appropriate?

Q4. Sir, which DataBase you are using for WikiPedia? Why?

Q5. Sir, How you manage to update such a huge database? There are 'n' number of inventions happens everyday, on the other hand as soon as we try to search anything on WikiPedia which is invented recently, we get the correct answer. What is the mechanism by which Wiki's Database get all the updates?

-CrazyBoy

[kidakaka]

Shucks, looks like I came in a little late!! Sorry Biggie, completely tied up at work ... no breathing space

my questions -
1. How do you handle DRM and information rights?
2. What is the typical bandwidth requirements of such a system? How is the hosting being structured? How do you manage to fund such a venture without any obvious revenue sources?
3. With the onslaught of so many web 2.0 applications coming into picture, have you considered "pimping up" wiki into a more smoother web application?
4. What about introducing semantics in wiki - any thoughts?
5. There are some of me-too's available in the market for a public wiki (you know who I am referring to), what is that ability you think which will help in positioning yours differently?