Wikipedia to soon offer articles via text messages

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 23 Feb 2013 8:58

Wikimedia, the parent of the Wikipedia encyclopedia, has revealed plans to offer their 25 million articles via text message.

The plan is to offer the information to users in developing markets where smartphones, and especially Internet connections, are rare.

Users will be able to text the site for specific articles and have it texted back within seconds.

The new initiative will be funded by a $600,000 grant from the Knight Foundation, a large nonprofit media and journalism support organization.

Wikipedia also offers "Wikipedia Zero," a text-only low-bandwidth version of the encyclopedia for those with slower Internet. Launched in 2011, Zero has just been rolled out to 330 million users in Russia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Read more about the initiatives here: The Knight Foundation

Tags: Wikipedia wikimedia SMS knight foundation

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Wikipedia to soon offer articles via text messages

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