Wanted Geek Culture

Wanted Geek Culture

Entrepreneurs by Janet Leiser | Senior Editor

Skip the business card exchanges and formal networking events, says Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. Focus on events for geeks to "talk tech" if the Tampa Bay area wants to become part of the newer Web 2.0 community.

There just aren't enough tech geeks in the Tampa Bay area, says Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who was named one of Time's most influential people for his free online dictionary that is one of the top visited Web sites.

It takes a large concentration of techies who gather regularly to "talk tech" to create a Web 2.0 community, which Wales, 40, says is sorely needed in the area.

Growing a Web 2.0 community (the name given to the Web community that came about following the dot-com crash) isn't about networking or exchanging business cards, Wales says. What works are informal weekend events, called BarCamps, where techies gather to discuss work and share ideas.

"There's a certain geek culture that's about the artistry of what we're doing," Wales says. "It's not all about business and connections."

The local tech community, Wales says, "needs to step up" and hold BarCamps to encourage creativity and innovation.

St. Petersburg resident Wales, a former options trader, directs Wikipedia, with a 2006 budget of $1.5 million and a projected 2007 budget of $3 million, and his for-profit startup, Wikia Inc., which enables online communities to share information, news, stories, media and opinions.

Silicon Valley-based Wikia, which received $4 million in venture capital this year, hosts some of the world's largest "wikis" outside of the Wikimedia Foundation, including uncyclopedia.org, a parody of Wikipedia; memory-alpha.org, a Star Trek encyclopedia; and starwars.wikia.com, a community devoted to Star Wars.

Wales, who moved to Pinellas County about four years ago from San Diego, says he loves the Tampa Bay area, even though he spends about 200 days annually traveling in the United States and about 35 countries.

He's not really involved with the local tech community, he says, adding, "At times it's like being in Siberia."

On the other hand, the Huntsville, Ala., native says that's a good thing.

Wales, who describes himself as an "anticredentialist," challenged the local status quo last month when he was quoted in a daily newspaper as saying there isn't much of a local Web 2.0 community - the day after he accepted the Tampa Bay Technology Forum's first Visionary Achievement Award at a black-tie event.

What makes Wikipedia so special other than it's free and available to anyone who can surf the Internet?

It's written and edited by those who use it, called Wikipedians, in 120 languages. No more weight is given to experts than amateurs. And Wikipedians can write or edit entries whenever they like.

"People are contributing from every part of the world," Wales says. "It's not U.S. centric. Although there is a difference in the level of participation."

Wales has been criticized for editing the 6-page Wikipedia entry on himself, but the site's core principle is to write from a neutral point-of-view.

Wales was quoted in Slashdot as saying: "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing."

Another 1 billion people around the world are expected to go online within five to 10 years as access to the Internet and computers becomes even cheaper, he says.

"We are going to hear from people we have not heard from before," Wales. "It's going to be spectacular."

Online sites and communities, of which Wales says Wikipedia is a small part, will bring about global social change as all people are given an equal voice, he says.

"There'll be a pretty dramatic change in global conversation as we hear from more and more people," he adds.