Long before it became one of the most visited websites on Earth, Wikipedia began as a radical idea from a curious boy in Huntsville, Alabama. Raised by a father who managed a grocery store and a mother and grandmother who ran a tiny, Montessori-inspired school where “each one teach one” was the guiding principle, Wales grew up surrounded by early computers, space rockets and encyclopaedias bought from door-to-door salesmen. It was there he developed both a fascination with information and a belief that learning should be open to all.
In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with the founder of Wikipedia to trace the unlikely journey from small-town America to one of the most visited websites on the planet. Wales recalls the early days of the internet, the chaotic birth of Wikipedia, and how a community of volunteers built something that “became part of the world’s infrastructure.”
It’s a conversation about trust, optimism and collaboration- from a man who still believes that most people, given the chance, will choose to build something good together.
Find out more about The Seven Rules of Trust: Why It Is Today's Most Essential Superpower by Jimmy Wales here