RIYADH: The Arabic content in the Wikipedia is very small as compared with Arab population, said Jimmy Wales, founder of the Wikipedia. Wales was speaking as a keynote speaker on the third day of 2nd International Conference on e-Learning and Distance Education in Riyadh, Wednesday. Dr. Khaled Al-Anqari, Minister of Higher Education, inaugurated the four-day event on Monday. About 80 international speakers and some thousands of participants including university professors, teachers, instructors, students and their parents are attending different sessions divided into six main topics. The National Center for e-Learning and Distance Learning, the organizer of the event, conducted 22 workshops two days before the official opening of the conference. Some of the leading international experts and instructors on e-learning addressed the participants. Wales flew in Riyadh Wednesday specially to address the conference. He was supposed to attend the inaugural session of the conference on Monday, but he got delayed because of a new arrival in his family, the birth of a baby girl, he told the audience. Wales said he would not hold the Arabic contributors for the lack of Arabic content in the Wikipedia but largely attributed to the difficulties involved with a number of international languages that includes Arabic. “The Arabic content on Wikipedia is very small as compared with the number of Arabic-speaking states and the population in the region,” said Wales referring to approximately 143,000 article on Arabic version of Wikipedia. Wikipedia is currently engaged in the enhancement of content on a number of international languages, Wales said. “The latest developments are that Wikipedia is opening a new office in the Indian subcontinent, the first such office outside the United States of America,” he said. He said the office will contribute in identifying the major progresses made in Hindi, the national language of India. He said Wikipedia as part of next five-year strategy is looking to development markets that are evolving rapidly, “and this is we have a focus on Indian market.” Answering a question, Wales said opening an office in Saudi Arabia is also a possibility. “We are even exploring possibilities of opening an office in Saudi Arabia, which can help Wikipedia to enhance its Arabic content,” Wales said. He said the website (Wikipedia) that has an annual budget of $20 million is non-profitable site. The site runs on funds raised from donations. However, the Wikipedia team has been engaged in negotiations with some of the leading Arabic contributors on ways and means of increasing the Arabic entries on a number of topics.
