CZ:About/Brief version

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The Citizendium (sit-ih-ZEN-dee-um), a "citizens' compendium of everything," is an open wiki project aimed at creating an enormous, free, and reliable encyclopedia. The project, started by a founder of Wikipedia, aims to improve on the Wikipedia model by adding "gentle expert oversight" and requiring contributors to use their real names. We have over 4500 articles and hundreds of contributors.

Why another online encyclopedia?

The world needs a trustworthy free encyclopedia. We aim to create that by providing a responsibly governed global community where real-named contributors work under expert guidance and all are accountable.

What is Citizendium trying to achieve?

Quality
Our goal is to accurately capture the full range of humanity's knowledge. Over time, our expert-approved articles will be authoritative, error-free, and magisterial, as expected of encyclopedia articles. See our progress. Toward this end, varied experts will not only help write articles but offer project guidance.

Quantity
Paper and print space does not constrain us—our project is digital. Millions of detailed, nuanced articles are possible.

A new sort of online community
We welcome experts as well as the general public. We are governed by a regularly changing group of people tasked to manage a public trust in conformity with a relatively stable code of rules. We have little tolerance for disruption and abuse.

What are "Authors"?

Anyone who feels they can benefit the project can be an author. The main thing authors do is collaboratively write encyclopedia articles, but many do a lot more, which you can learn about here.

What are "Editors"?

The editor role is a Citizendium distinctive. In short, editors are verifiable experts in their field. They guide the crafting of articles and approve articles as authoritative. They do more, too, which you can learn about here.

Some experts have explained why they're involved.

I don't see myself as an expert. Can I still participate?

Yes! Most of our contributors are authors and some have no formal credentials. We're guided by expert editors, not experts-only, and there are many levels of expertise.

Both editors and authors can register here.

What if my native language isn't English?

See also: CZ:International

Our contributors are from around the world. If your English writing is not near-native, however, you'll need to hold off for a Citizendium in your native language. You can discuss that here.

What progress has occurred so far?

See also: CZ:Statistics

Since our public launch late in March 2007, we have grown to over 5,200 articles and 2,200 contributors. And many thousands of messages have been exchanged on our forums and mailing lists. We expect not only continued growth but acceleration.

Will someone else profit from my contributions?

We are a nonprofit project that is nearly 100% volunteer.

Will I be paid for my contributions?

All contributors donate what they write under the Creative Commons-Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. We are a free project.

Why do you ask for donations on the front page?

Server rentals and bandwidth costs money, plus we try to pay a technical person and the Editor-in-Chief. Your help sustains this important work, and all donations are tax-deductible.

How can I find out more about your contributors?

All of our authors and editors use their real names. You can browse Citizendium authors and Citizendium editors. Or you can just search for a name.

Where can I find out more?

• FAQ
• Statement of Fundamental Policies
• The Citizendium one year on: a strong start and an amazing future (October 2007; first year progress report)
• Press
• Latest press release
• Older press releases: 1 | 2 | 3
• Toward a New Compendium of Knowledge (September 2006; original project manifesto; outdated, but articulates the grounds for the project; [essay_shorter.html shorter version])
• Why the Citizendium Will (Probably) Succeed (March 2007)
• Why Citizendium editors are involved: some testimonials (compiled winter 2006-7)

Other essays:

• Who Says We Know: On the New Politics of Knowledge (Edge.org, April 2007)
• How to Think about Strong Collaboration among Professionals (text of keynote at Handelsblatt IT Congress from Jan. 30, 2007)
• Why Make Room for Experts in Web 2.0? (text of keynote at SDForum from Oct. 24, 2006)
• The Role of Content Brokers in the Era of Free Content (articulates one of the Citizendium Foundation's concepts for funding free content)

Larry Sanger is the author of the above writings, unless otherwise noted. Others are welcome to submit essays in a similar vein.

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