Larry Sanger
Encyclopedia
Lawrence Mark "Larry" Sanger (born July 16, 1968) is an American philosopher
, co-founder of Wikipedia
, and the founder of Citizendium
.
He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska
. From an early age he has been interested in philosophy
. Sanger received a Bachelor of Arts
in philosophy from Reed College
in 1991 and a Doctor of Philosophy
in philosophy from Ohio State University
in 2000. Most of his philosophical work has focused on epistemology, the theory of knowledge.
He has been involved with various online encyclopedia projects
. He is the former editor-in-chief of Nupedia
,
chief organizer (2001–2002) of its successor, Wikipedia, and founding editor-in-chief of Citizendium. From his position at Nupedia, he assembled the process for article development. Sanger proposed implementing a wiki
, which led directly to the creation of Wikipedia. Initially Wikipedia was a complementary project for Nupedia. He was Wikipedia's early community leader and established many of its original policies. He spearheaded an alternative wiki-based project, Citizendium.
Sanger left Wikipedia in 2002, and has since been critical of the project. He articulated that despite its merits, Wikipedia lacks credibility
due to, among other things, a lack of respect for expertise. After leaving the project, Sanger taught philosophy
at Ohio State University
and was an early strategist for the expert-authored Encyclopedia of Earth
. On September 15, 2006 he publicly announced Citizendium, first envisioned as a fork
of Wikipedia. It was launched on March 25, 2007. Citizendium represents an effort to create a credible and free-access encyclopedia. Sanger had aimed to bring more accountability to the internet encyclopedia model.
He is currently working on developing educational projects for individuals behind WatchKnowLearn
and is designing a program to teach children how to read. He started blogging on various subjects, including baby reading. He also works part-time as a writer, speaker, and consultant on the topic of collaborative online communities
.
. When he was seven years old, the family moved to Anchorage, Alaska
,
where Sanger spent his formative years and excelled in the classroom. At an early age, he was interested in philosophical topics. Alan Boraas from Anchorage Daily News
writes "I can visualize the scene in his high school counselor's office when he announced his intended major. 'Kid,' I can hear the counselor say, 'What are you ever going to do with philosophy?' 'Well, change the way the world thinks, for one thing.'"
He graduated from high school in 1986 and went off to Reed College
, majoring
in philosophy
. As a college student, he explored the understanding and sources of knowledge. He also became interested in the Internet and its publishing abilities. These interests helped him to realize the benefits of using a wiki for an online encyclopedia.
He set up an early attempt with a listserver as a medium for students and tutors to meet up for "expert tutoring" and "to act as a forum for discussion of tutorials, tutorial methods, and the possibility and merits of a voluntary, free network of individual tutors and students finding each other via the Internet for education outside the traditional university setting."
He started and moderated a philosophy discussion list. The Association for Systematic Philosophy, managed by Sanger, published a journal.
Dated March 22, 1994, Sanger wrote in his opening manifesto
:
He received a Bachelor of Arts
in philosophy
from Reed College
in 1991, a Master of Arts
from Ohio State University
in 1995, and a Doctor of Philosophy
from Ohio State University
in 2000.
His bachelor thesis is titled Descartes' methods and their theoretical background
and his doctoral thesis concerned Epistemic Circularity: An Essay on the Problem of Meta-Justification.
From 1998 to 2000 he ran a website called "Sanger's Review of Y2K News Reports" (formerly at sangersreview.com), a resource for Y2K
watchers.
In December 2001 Sanger was married,
meeting his wife online,
and they have since had two children.
was a Web-based
encyclopedia
whose articles were written by experts and licensed as free content.
It was co-founded by Jimmy Wales
and underwritten by Bomis
, with Sanger hired as editor-in-chief.
He developed a review process for articles and recruited editors. Articles were reviewed before being posted on the site.
Frustrated at the slow progress of Nupedia,
in January 2001, Sanger proposed a wiki
be created to spur article development,
and the result of this proposal was Wikipedia
,
officially launched on January 15, 2001.
It was initially intended as a collaborative wiki for the public to write entries that would then be fed into the Nupedia review process of expertise. The majority of Nupedia's experts wanted little to do with this project, so Sanger initiated a separate site named Wikipedia.
To the surprise of Sanger and Wales, within a few days of launching, Wikipedia had outgrown Nupedia, and a small community of editors gathered. By virtue of his position with Nupedia, Sanger spearheaded and named the project, and formulated much of the original policy, including "Ignore all rules
,"
"Neutral point of view",
and "Verifiability". Wikipedia quickly took off, but just months after it was launched, things started to go off the rails and by the summer of 2001, Sanger says, the new online community was being overrun by what he described as "trolls" and "anarchist-types", who were "opposed to the idea that anyone should have any kind of authority that others do not". Sanger responded by proposing a stronger emphasis for expert editors, individuals with the authority to resolve disputes and enforce the rules.
Tired of endless content battles and feeling he had a lack of support from Wales, Sanger eventually left the project.
Sanger was the only paid editor of Wikipedia, a status he held from January 15, 2001, until March 1, 2002. Sanger worked on and promoted both the Nupedia and Wikipedia projects until Bomis discontinued funding for his position in February 2002 after the collapse in Internet advertising spending;
Sanger resigned as editor-in-chief of Nupedia and as chief organizer of Wikipedia on March 1.
Sanger's stated reason for ending his participation in Wikipedia and Nupedia as a volunteer was that he could not do justice to the task as a part-time volunteer. Nupedia shut down in 2003,
shortly after Wikipedia's second anniversary.
In light of Wales' view, Sanger posted on his personal webpage several links which supported his role as a co-founder.
The citations include earlier versions of selected Wikipedia pages, •
•
•
press releases from Wikipedia in the years of 2002–2004, •
•
and early media coverage stories •
describing Wikipedia as founded by Wales and Sanger. Sanger was identified as a co-founder of Wikipedia at least as early as September 2001. Jimmy Wales identified himself in August 2002 as "co-founder" of Wikipedia.
During the time of Sanger's involvement in the project, he was routinely known as a co-founder. The Wikimedia Foundation
's first press release in 2004 described Sanger as co-founder.
Sanger is widely cited in the media as a co-founder. •
•
•
While Sanger organized the project Wales concentrated on Bomis.
It was only in 2005, after Wales first began his efforts to identify himself as the sole founder of Wikipedia by downplaying Sanger's early role, that Wales first claimed that he had actually initially heard of the wiki concept in 2001 not from Sanger, but instead from Jeremy Rosenfeld.
Wales had also been quoted in the press as far back as October 2001, stating that it was "Larry (who) had the idea to use Wiki software."
According to all known documents actually dating from before 2005, the critical concept of marrying two of the three fundamental elements of Wikipedia, namely an encyclopedia and a wiki, first took form when Sanger met up with an old friend, Ben Kovitz. This meeting occurred at a dinner on January 2, 2001, and it was here that Sanger was first introduced to the functionality of wiki software. Kovitz was a computer programmer and a regular on Ward Cunningham
's wiki
.
Sanger thought a wiki would be a good platform to use and decided to present the idea to Jimmy Wales, at that time the head of Bomis.
Sanger initially proposed the wiki concept to Wales and suggested it be applied to Nupedia and, after some initial skepticism, Wales agreed to try it.
Sanger formally proposed a "feeder" project for Nupedia titled "Nupedia Wiki" and created a new page on Ward's wiki named "WikiPedia."
It was Jimmy Wales who added the third critical ingredient to the mix. He directed Sanger to give essentially unrestricted editorial access to this new wiki to the "non expert" public. Sanger came up with the name 'Wikipedia', which at the time, Sanger wrote that he believed would merely be, "a silly name for what was at first a very silly project."
Sanger first conceived of the wiki-based encyclopedia project only as a means to hopefully accelerate Nupedia's slow growth. During Wikipedia's critical first year of growth, Sanger spearheaded and guided the following that gathered around this nucleus. Through this early period, he served as Wikipedia's editor-in-chief, a position which has not been filled since his departure from Wikipedia. •
Sanger is also credited with creating and enforcing the policies and strategy that made Wikipedia possible during its first formative year.
Thus it was that Wikipedia was in fact an accidental spin-off of Nupedia.
Originally it was only intended to act as a 'feeder site' to generate rough articles for Nupedia, where the articles would then theoretically be 'polished up' by the 'more qualified' volunteer editors that were expected to be found there.
In December 2004, Sanger wrote a critical article for the website Kuro5hin
, in which he admitted that there had existed "a certain poisonous social or political atmosphere in the project" that had also accounted for his departure.
While claiming "to appreciate the merits of Wikipedia fully" and to know and support "the mission and broad policy outlines of Wikipedia very well," Sanger maintained that there are serious problems with the project. There was, he wrote, a lack of public perception of credibility, and the project put "difficult people, trolls
, and their enablers" into too much prominence; these problems, he maintained, were a feature of the project's "anti-elitism, or lack of respect for expertise." The article was the subject of much controversy in the blogosphere
, and led to some reaction in the news media as well.
In September 2009, Sanger mentioned one reason for distancing himself from Wikipedia: "I thought that the project would never have the amount of credibility it could have if it were not somehow more open and welcoming to experts." He pointed out "The other problem was the community had essentially been taken over by trolls to a great extent. That was a real problem, and Jimmy Wales absolutely refused to do anything about it."
Sanger identifies the purpose of the Internet as being equally about communication, as it is about information;
Stressing that successful communication needn't be informative, and that good communication is very different than good information. Sanger is careful to point out his criticisms of Wikipedia aren't as much based on its lack of meritocracy
, but rather in its credibility as an informational medium. Sanger sees most web 2.0
websites as being built upon communication and socialization, instead of impersonal information resources. As a consequence of this, Sanger sees a continuing demand for more authoritative information sources. Saying: "Even in the field of encyclopedias, while the industry does seem to have taken a blow, some of the heavyweights are still alive and kicking."
Sanger, a philosophy instructor,
began work as a lecturer at The Ohio State University, where he taught philosophy
until June 2005. His professional interests are epistemology (in particular), early modern philosophy, and ethics
. In his spare time, he plays and teaches Irish traditional music
on the fiddle in Columbus
and Dayton
, Ohio
, and also manages a site about the Donegal fiddle tradition
.
In December 2005, Digital Universe Foundation
announced that Sanger had been hired as Director of Distributed Content Programs.
He would be a key organizer of the Digital Universe Encyclopedia web projects which was launched in early 2006.
The Digital Universe encyclopedia plans to recruit recognized experts to write articles, and to check user-submitted articles for accuracy. The first step in this effort is the expert-authored and edited Encyclopedia of Earth
,
an electronic reference about the Earth
.
In April 2006, Sanger published "Text and Collaboration: A personal manifesto for the Text Outline Project" arguing for the importance of what he called "strong collaboration" (that is, collaboration in which people work on the parts they're interested and nobody gets to claim control), the possibility that strong collaboration could be more effective with a less anarchistic set of ground rules than Wikipedia, and the creation of a new Text Outline Project to create The Book of the World, featuring summaries of the arguments of the great philosophers, organized by topic and time, along with summaries of their debates.
The question of accuracy over Wikipedia article content spurred Sanger to unveil plans for a new encyclopedia called Citizendium
, the citizen's compendium.
At the Wizards of OS
conference in September 2006, Sanger announced Citizendium as a fork
of Wikipedia. The objectives of the fork were to address various perceived flaws in the Wikipedia system. The main differences would be no anonymous editing: every author/editor would have to be identified by his/her real name, no "top-down" hierarchy of editors: it would aspire to be a "real encyclopedia."
More differences are discussed at the Citizendium website in the FAQ
.
The initial fork was of the English language Wikipedia.
Prior to its March 2007 public launch, Citizendium favored an emphasis on its own original articles.
On September 27, 2006 Sanger announced that he would take a leave of absence from Digital Universe "in order to set up a fully independent Citizendium Foundation."
In 2007 Sanger examined the possibilities for education online. He explained, "Imagine that education were not delivered but organized and managed in a way that were fully digitized, decentralized, self-directed, asynchronous, and at-a-distance." He further stated, "There would be no bureaucracy to enforce anything beyond some very basic rules, and decision-making would be placed almost entirely in the hands of teachers and students."
In 2008, Sanger was at Oxford University
to debate the proposition that "the internet is the future of knowledge." Sanger agreed that today's wikis and blogs are fundamentally changing the way knowledge is created and distributed.
The launch coincided with a feature-length
Associated Press
article that ran widely, with a title in USA Today
of "Citizendium aims to be better Wikipedia."
}}
Unlike Wales, who has compared his role in Wikipedia with that of a British monarch
,
Sanger said he would not head Citizendium indefinitely, and in 2007 announced his intention to step off the leadership team in two or three years.
Two weeks after the launch of Citizendium, Sanger criticized Wikipedia, stating the latter was "broken beyond repair," and had a range of problems "from serious management problems, to an often dysfunctional community, to frequently unreliable content, and to a whole series of scandals."
Sanger stated in part:
Citizendium has a form of peer-review
, in which the site's content is subject to "gentle expert oversight."
In reference to creating a new encyclopedia project Sanger stated: "I think there is a need for a more reliable and free [online] encyclopedia. If we can create a more reliable and free encyclopedia, particularly if we adopt a different system than Wikipedia's, then we should."
As Citizendium's editor-in-chief, Sanger commented in late October 2007 about its first anniversary, from its initial private launch date of October 30, 2006.
Citizendium's readers, he said, have only just begun to see the power of the project's model:
When asked in an interview with The Minnesota Daily
: Do you see a role for Citizendium anywhere in academia? He responded: "Of course. The idea is it will be good enough for professors to be able to send their students and students to get reliable information from. I know a lot of students use Wikipedia as a place to start to learn about a subject. For that purpose it's fine. I actually think, as a place to start to get some information, it's a fine resource. Approved articles on Citizendium hopefully will be more reliable than articles on Wikipedia."
encyclopedias
, Citizendium represents an effort to establish a scholarly and credible online encyclopedia. Sanger aims to improve upon the wiki-based encyclopedia model by bringing more accountability and academic quality to articles.
In an interview with CNET News
in 2007 Sanger explained the reasons for starting a Wikipedia alternative:
Citizendium is wiki-based, and several aspects set it apart from Wikipedia.
Prospective contributors on Citizendium are required to sign in using real names.
Users of Wikipedia may contribute anonymously, or create a username. This username does not necessarily have a connection with their real name.
Experts in their field of expertise have a role in the Citizendium community to approve articles on the basis of accuracy. The Good Article and the Featured Article systems on Wikipedia employs a review by editors.
Wikipedia is perceived to promote consensus and not truth
and verifiability is the inclusion criteria – reporting on what other sources have to say.
Citizendium experts have the final say for article content
and it is not necessary to cite a source for a content decision on Citizendium. Citizendium attempts to prevent future wiki-vandalism in the tradition of Stephen Colbert
, who once asked users on air to add false information to articles about elephants.
He had worked at WatchKnowLearn project, a non-profit online community devoted to rating and organizing into a large directory hundreds of thousands of short videos and other media, making it possible to find subjects taught to school kids watchable on one website. Business Edge Services and Technologies, Inc. completed the project under the direction of Larry Sanger.
Sanger was the executive director of the system.
In April 2010 Sanger sent a letter to the FBI detailing his concern that Wikimedia Commons was hosting child pornography
in its pedophilia
and lolicon
categories later clarified as "obscene visual representations of the abuse of children". Sanger said that he felt obligated to report it because he realized the statutes required that one do so or risk prosecution. The Register wrote that the law says "it is not a required element of any offense under this section that the minor depicted actually exist."
On September 22, 2010, Sanger stepped down as editor-in-chief of Citizendium but is still willing to offer advice and continues to support the goals of the project. In December 2010, commenting to WikiLeaks
, he said: "Speaking as Wikipedia's co-founder, I consider you enemies of the U.S.—not just the government, but the people."
He is working on developing educational projects for individuals behind WatchKnowLearn
, originally named WatchKnow. He is producing a reading-tutorial app
that will be applicable for beginning readers of all ages. The name of his new reading project is Reading Bear.http://watchknowreader.busedge.com/ He began blogging on various subjects, including baby reading. A blog post, "Is There a New Geek Anti-Intellectualism?" was discussed in 2011. He is a writer, speaker, and a consultant on the topic of collaborative online communities
.
Academic work
Essays
Presentations
American philosophy
American philosophy is the philosophical activity or output of Americans, both within the United States and abroad. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that while American philosophy lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can nevertheless be seen as both reflecting and...
, co-founder of Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, and the founder of Citizendium
Citizendium
Citizendium is an English-language wiki-based free encyclopedia project launched by Larry Sanger, who co-founded Wikipedia in 2001....
.
He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
. From an early age he has been interested in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. Sanger received a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in philosophy from Reed College
Reed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
in 1991 and a Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in philosophy from Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
in 2000. Most of his philosophical work has focused on epistemology, the theory of knowledge.
He has been involved with various online encyclopedia projects
Internet encyclopedia project
An Internet encyclopedia project is a large database of useful information, accessible via the World Wide Web. The idea to build a free encyclopedia using the Internet can be traced at least to the 1993 Interpedia proposal; it was planned as an encyclopedia on the Internet to which everyone could...
. He is the former editor-in-chief of Nupedia
Nupedia
Nupedia was an English-language Web-based encyclopedia whose articles were written by experts and licensed as free content. It was founded by Jimmy Wales and underwritten by Bomis, with Larry Sanger as editor-in-chief...
,
chief organizer (2001–2002) of its successor, Wikipedia, and founding editor-in-chief of Citizendium. From his position at Nupedia, he assembled the process for article development. Sanger proposed implementing a wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
, which led directly to the creation of Wikipedia. Initially Wikipedia was a complementary project for Nupedia. He was Wikipedia's early community leader and established many of its original policies. He spearheaded an alternative wiki-based project, Citizendium.
Sanger left Wikipedia in 2002, and has since been critical of the project. He articulated that despite its merits, Wikipedia lacks credibility
Credibility
Credibility refers to the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message.Traditionally, modern, credibility has two key components: trustworthiness and expertise, which both have objective and subjective components. Trustworthiness is based more on subjective...
due to, among other things, a lack of respect for expertise. After leaving the project, Sanger taught philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
and was an early strategist for the expert-authored Encyclopedia of Earth
Encyclopedia of Earth
The Encyclopedia of Earth is an electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The Encyclopedia is described as a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and other approved experts, who...
. On September 15, 2006 he publicly announced Citizendium, first envisioned as a fork
Fork (software development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...
of Wikipedia. It was launched on March 25, 2007. Citizendium represents an effort to create a credible and free-access encyclopedia. Sanger had aimed to bring more accountability to the internet encyclopedia model.
He is currently working on developing educational projects for individuals behind WatchKnowLearn
WatchKnowLearn
WatchKnowLearn is a free, non-profit, K-12 repository of educational videos. The website aggregates and organizes videos found on existing websites, as well as inviting users to upload original content...
and is designing a program to teach children how to read. He started blogging on various subjects, including baby reading. He also works part-time as a writer, speaker, and consultant on the topic of collaborative online communities
Virtual community
A virtual community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals...
.
Early life and education
Sanger was born in Bellevue, WashingtonBellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
. When he was seven years old, the family moved to Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
,
where Sanger spent his formative years and excelled in the classroom. At an early age, he was interested in philosophical topics. Alan Boraas from Anchorage Daily News
Anchorage Daily News
The Anchorage Daily News is a daily newspaper based in Anchorage, Alaska, in the United States. It is often referred to colloquially as either "the Daily News" or "the ADN"...
writes "I can visualize the scene in his high school counselor's office when he announced his intended major. 'Kid,' I can hear the counselor say, 'What are you ever going to do with philosophy?' 'Well, change the way the world thinks, for one thing.'"
He graduated from high school in 1986 and went off to Reed College
Reed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
, majoring
Academic major
In the United States and Canada, an academic major or major concentration is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits....
in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. As a college student, he explored the understanding and sources of knowledge. He also became interested in the Internet and its publishing abilities. These interests helped him to realize the benefits of using a wiki for an online encyclopedia.
He set up an early attempt with a listserver as a medium for students and tutors to meet up for "expert tutoring" and "to act as a forum for discussion of tutorials, tutorial methods, and the possibility and merits of a voluntary, free network of individual tutors and students finding each other via the Internet for education outside the traditional university setting."
He started and moderated a philosophy discussion list. The Association for Systematic Philosophy, managed by Sanger, published a journal.
Dated March 22, 1994, Sanger wrote in his opening manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
:
The history of philosophy is full of disagreement and confusion. One reaction by philosophers to this state of things is to doubt whether the truth about philosophy can ever be known, or whether there is any such thing as the truth about philosophy. But there is another reaction: one may set out to think more carefully and methodically than one's intellectual forebears.
He received a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
from Reed College
Reed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
in 1991, a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
from Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
in 1995, and a Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
in 2000.
His bachelor thesis is titled Descartes' methods and their theoretical background
and his doctoral thesis concerned Epistemic Circularity: An Essay on the Problem of Meta-Justification.
From 1998 to 2000 he ran a website called "Sanger's Review of Y2K News Reports" (formerly at sangersreview.com), a resource for Y2K
Year 2000 problem
The Year 2000 problem was a problem for both digital and non-digital documentation and data storage situations which resulted from the practice of abbreviating a four-digit year to two digits.In computer programs, the practice of representing the year with two...
watchers.
In December 2001 Sanger was married,
meeting his wife online,
and they have since had two children.
Nupedia and Wikipedia
NupediaNupedia
Nupedia was an English-language Web-based encyclopedia whose articles were written by experts and licensed as free content. It was founded by Jimmy Wales and underwritten by Bomis, with Larry Sanger as editor-in-chief...
was a Web-based
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
whose articles were written by experts and licensed as free content.
It was co-founded by Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....
and underwritten by Bomis
Bomis
Bomis was a dot-com company founded in 1996 by Jimmy Wales and Tim Shell. Its primary business was the sale of advertising on the Bomis.com search portal, and to provide support for the free encyclopedia projects Nupedia and Wikipedia...
, with Sanger hired as editor-in-chief.
He developed a review process for articles and recruited editors. Articles were reviewed before being posted on the site.
Frustrated at the slow progress of Nupedia,
in January 2001, Sanger proposed a wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
be created to spur article development,
and the result of this proposal was Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
,
officially launched on January 15, 2001.
It was initially intended as a collaborative wiki for the public to write entries that would then be fed into the Nupedia review process of expertise. The majority of Nupedia's experts wanted little to do with this project, so Sanger initiated a separate site named Wikipedia.
To the surprise of Sanger and Wales, within a few days of launching, Wikipedia had outgrown Nupedia, and a small community of editors gathered. By virtue of his position with Nupedia, Sanger spearheaded and named the project, and formulated much of the original policy, including "Ignore all rules
Ignore all rules
"Ignore all rules" is a rule to set rules aside.The stance of ignoring all rules is itself a rule, constituting a paradox. A scholar on Immanuel Kant's view of genius states that this critical stance is accordingly transcended by the autonomy of genius: "Genius demonstrates its autonomy not by...
,"
"Neutral point of view",
and "Verifiability". Wikipedia quickly took off, but just months after it was launched, things started to go off the rails and by the summer of 2001, Sanger says, the new online community was being overrun by what he described as "trolls" and "anarchist-types", who were "opposed to the idea that anyone should have any kind of authority that others do not". Sanger responded by proposing a stronger emphasis for expert editors, individuals with the authority to resolve disputes and enforce the rules.
Tired of endless content battles and feeling he had a lack of support from Wales, Sanger eventually left the project.
Sanger was the only paid editor of Wikipedia, a status he held from January 15, 2001, until March 1, 2002. Sanger worked on and promoted both the Nupedia and Wikipedia projects until Bomis discontinued funding for his position in February 2002 after the collapse in Internet advertising spending;
Sanger resigned as editor-in-chief of Nupedia and as chief organizer of Wikipedia on March 1.
Sanger's stated reason for ending his participation in Wikipedia and Nupedia as a volunteer was that he could not do justice to the task as a part-time volunteer. Nupedia shut down in 2003,
shortly after Wikipedia's second anniversary.
Origins of Wikipedia
Wales started to play down Sanger's role in the founding of the project in 2005, a few years after Sanger left Wikipedia.In light of Wales' view, Sanger posted on his personal webpage several links which supported his role as a co-founder.
The citations include earlier versions of selected Wikipedia pages, •
•
•
press releases from Wikipedia in the years of 2002–2004, •
•
and early media coverage stories •
describing Wikipedia as founded by Wales and Sanger. Sanger was identified as a co-founder of Wikipedia at least as early as September 2001. Jimmy Wales identified himself in August 2002 as "co-founder" of Wikipedia.
During the time of Sanger's involvement in the project, he was routinely known as a co-founder. The Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is an American non-profit charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, and organized under the laws of the state of Florida, where it was initially based...
's first press release in 2004 described Sanger as co-founder.
Sanger is widely cited in the media as a co-founder. •
•
•
While Sanger organized the project Wales concentrated on Bomis.
It was only in 2005, after Wales first began his efforts to identify himself as the sole founder of Wikipedia by downplaying Sanger's early role, that Wales first claimed that he had actually initially heard of the wiki concept in 2001 not from Sanger, but instead from Jeremy Rosenfeld.
Wales had also been quoted in the press as far back as October 2001, stating that it was "Larry (who) had the idea to use Wiki software."
According to all known documents actually dating from before 2005, the critical concept of marrying two of the three fundamental elements of Wikipedia, namely an encyclopedia and a wiki, first took form when Sanger met up with an old friend, Ben Kovitz. This meeting occurred at a dinner on January 2, 2001, and it was here that Sanger was first introduced to the functionality of wiki software. Kovitz was a computer programmer and a regular on Ward Cunningham
Ward Cunningham
Howard G. "Ward" Cunningham is an American computer programmer who developed the first wiki. A pioneer in both design patterns and Extreme Programming, he started programming the software WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on the website of his software consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham , on...
's wiki
WikiWikiWeb
WikiWikiWeb is a term that has been used to refer to four things: the first wiki, or user-editable website, launched on 25 March 1995 by Ward Cunningham as part of the Portland Pattern Repository ; the Perl-based application that was used to run it, also developed by Cunningham, which was the first...
.
Sanger thought a wiki would be a good platform to use and decided to present the idea to Jimmy Wales, at that time the head of Bomis.
Sanger initially proposed the wiki concept to Wales and suggested it be applied to Nupedia and, after some initial skepticism, Wales agreed to try it.
Sanger formally proposed a "feeder" project for Nupedia titled "Nupedia Wiki" and created a new page on Ward's wiki named "WikiPedia."
It was Jimmy Wales who added the third critical ingredient to the mix. He directed Sanger to give essentially unrestricted editorial access to this new wiki to the "non expert" public. Sanger came up with the name 'Wikipedia', which at the time, Sanger wrote that he believed would merely be, "a silly name for what was at first a very silly project."
Sanger first conceived of the wiki-based encyclopedia project only as a means to hopefully accelerate Nupedia's slow growth. During Wikipedia's critical first year of growth, Sanger spearheaded and guided the following that gathered around this nucleus. Through this early period, he served as Wikipedia's editor-in-chief, a position which has not been filled since his departure from Wikipedia. •
Sanger is also credited with creating and enforcing the policies and strategy that made Wikipedia possible during its first formative year.
Thus it was that Wikipedia was in fact an accidental spin-off of Nupedia.
Originally it was only intended to act as a 'feeder site' to generate rough articles for Nupedia, where the articles would then theoretically be 'polished up' by the 'more qualified' volunteer editors that were expected to be found there.
Post-Wikipedia
Since Sanger parted ways with Wikipedia in 2002 he has been critical of its accuracy, among other things.In December 2004, Sanger wrote a critical article for the website Kuro5hin
Kuro5hin
Kuro5hin is a collaborative discussion website. Articles are created and submitted by Kuro5hin's users and submitted to queue for evaluation. Site members can vote for or against publishing an article and, once the article has reached a certain number of votes, it is then published to the site...
, in which he admitted that there had existed "a certain poisonous social or political atmosphere in the project" that had also accounted for his departure.
While claiming "to appreciate the merits of Wikipedia fully" and to know and support "the mission and broad policy outlines of Wikipedia very well," Sanger maintained that there are serious problems with the project. There was, he wrote, a lack of public perception of credibility, and the project put "difficult people, trolls
Troll (Internet)
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...
, and their enablers" into too much prominence; these problems, he maintained, were a feature of the project's "anti-elitism, or lack of respect for expertise." The article was the subject of much controversy in the blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
, and led to some reaction in the news media as well.
In September 2009, Sanger mentioned one reason for distancing himself from Wikipedia: "I thought that the project would never have the amount of credibility it could have if it were not somehow more open and welcoming to experts." He pointed out "The other problem was the community had essentially been taken over by trolls to a great extent. That was a real problem, and Jimmy Wales absolutely refused to do anything about it."
Sanger identifies the purpose of the Internet as being equally about communication, as it is about information;
Stressing that successful communication needn't be informative, and that good communication is very different than good information. Sanger is careful to point out his criticisms of Wikipedia aren't as much based on its lack of meritocracy
Meritocracy
Meritocracy, in the first, most administrative sense, is a system of government or other administration wherein appointments and responsibilities are objectively assigned to individuals based upon their "merits", namely intelligence, credentials, and education, determined through evaluations or...
, but rather in its credibility as an informational medium. Sanger sees most web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
websites as being built upon communication and socialization, instead of impersonal information resources. As a consequence of this, Sanger sees a continuing demand for more authoritative information sources. Saying: "Even in the field of encyclopedias, while the industry does seem to have taken a blow, some of the heavyweights are still alive and kicking."
Sanger, a philosophy instructor,
began work as a lecturer at The Ohio State University, where he taught philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
until June 2005. His professional interests are epistemology (in particular), early modern philosophy, and ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
. In his spare time, he plays and teaches Irish traditional music
Music of Ireland
Irish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces...
on the fiddle in Columbus
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
and Dayton
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, and also manages a site about the Donegal fiddle tradition
Donegal fiddle tradition
The Donegal fiddle tradition is a type of Irish traditional music, based on a two-hundred year-old tradition of playing the fiddle in County Donegal, Ireland...
.
In December 2005, Digital Universe Foundation
Digital Universe
Digital Universe is a free online information service founded in 2006. The project aims to create a "network of portals designed to provide high-quality information and services to the public"...
announced that Sanger had been hired as Director of Distributed Content Programs.
He would be a key organizer of the Digital Universe Encyclopedia web projects which was launched in early 2006.
The Digital Universe encyclopedia plans to recruit recognized experts to write articles, and to check user-submitted articles for accuracy. The first step in this effort is the expert-authored and edited Encyclopedia of Earth
Encyclopedia of Earth
The Encyclopedia of Earth is an electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The Encyclopedia is described as a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and other approved experts, who...
,
an electronic reference about the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
In April 2006, Sanger published "Text and Collaboration: A personal manifesto for the Text Outline Project" arguing for the importance of what he called "strong collaboration" (that is, collaboration in which people work on the parts they're interested and nobody gets to claim control), the possibility that strong collaboration could be more effective with a less anarchistic set of ground rules than Wikipedia, and the creation of a new Text Outline Project to create The Book of the World, featuring summaries of the arguments of the great philosophers, organized by topic and time, along with summaries of their debates.
The question of accuracy over Wikipedia article content spurred Sanger to unveil plans for a new encyclopedia called Citizendium
Citizendium
Citizendium is an English-language wiki-based free encyclopedia project launched by Larry Sanger, who co-founded Wikipedia in 2001....
, the citizen's compendium.
At the Wizards of OS
Wizards of OS
Wizards of OS is a Berlin-based conference.Its topics are the cultural and political potentials of free software, software technology, digital networks and media, and more generally information freedom and open cooperation in the creation and proliferation of knowledge...
conference in September 2006, Sanger announced Citizendium as a fork
Fork (software development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...
of Wikipedia. The objectives of the fork were to address various perceived flaws in the Wikipedia system. The main differences would be no anonymous editing: every author/editor would have to be identified by his/her real name, no "top-down" hierarchy of editors: it would aspire to be a "real encyclopedia."
More differences are discussed at the Citizendium website in the FAQ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions are listed questions and answers, all supposed to be commonly asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic. "FAQ" is usually pronounced as an initialism rather than an acronym, but an acronym form does exist. Since the acronym FAQ originated in textual...
.
The initial fork was of the English language Wikipedia.
Prior to its March 2007 public launch, Citizendium favored an emphasis on its own original articles.
On September 27, 2006 Sanger announced that he would take a leave of absence from Digital Universe "in order to set up a fully independent Citizendium Foundation."
In 2007 Sanger examined the possibilities for education online. He explained, "Imagine that education were not delivered but organized and managed in a way that were fully digitized, decentralized, self-directed, asynchronous, and at-a-distance." He further stated, "There would be no bureaucracy to enforce anything beyond some very basic rules, and decision-making would be placed almost entirely in the hands of teachers and students."
In 2008, Sanger was at Oxford University
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
to debate the proposition that "the internet is the future of knowledge." Sanger agreed that today's wikis and blogs are fundamentally changing the way knowledge is created and distributed.
Citizendium
On March 25, 2007, Citizendium ended its pilot phase, entering a live and publicly readable beta phase.The launch coincided with a feature-length
Feature story
- Published Features & news :While the distinction between published features and news is often clear, when approached conceptually there are few hard boundaries between the two. It is quite possible to write a feature in the style of a news story, for instance...
Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
article that ran widely, with a title in USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
of "Citizendium aims to be better Wikipedia."
}}
Unlike Wales, who has compared his role in Wikipedia with that of a British monarch
British monarchy
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
,
Sanger said he would not head Citizendium indefinitely, and in 2007 announced his intention to step off the leadership team in two or three years.
Two weeks after the launch of Citizendium, Sanger criticized Wikipedia, stating the latter was "broken beyond repair," and had a range of problems "from serious management problems, to an often dysfunctional community, to frequently unreliable content, and to a whole series of scandals."
Sanger stated in part:
The work of the Wikipedians has astounded the world, but the amateur nature of Wikipedia's contributions, whose authors remain anonymous, is not for everyone. Some experts are hostile toward the idea of Wikipedia and many avoid Wikipedia altogether. We may take Wikipedia as an early prototype of the application of open source hacker principles to content rather than code. I want to argue that it is just that, an early prototype, rather than a mature model of how such principles should be applied to reference, scholarly and educational content. Where Wikipedia shares the culture of anonymity found in the broader Internet, the Citizendium will have a culture of real-world, personal responsibility.
Citizendium has a form of peer-review
Peer review
Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...
, in which the site's content is subject to "gentle expert oversight."
In reference to creating a new encyclopedia project Sanger stated: "I think there is a need for a more reliable and free [online] encyclopedia. If we can create a more reliable and free encyclopedia, particularly if we adopt a different system than Wikipedia's, then we should."
As Citizendium's editor-in-chief, Sanger commented in late October 2007 about its first anniversary, from its initial private launch date of October 30, 2006.
Citizendium's readers, he said, have only just begun to see the power of the project's model:
Simply put, we've pioneered a new and better way to use wikis, and an interesting, dynamic way to build an online knowledge base. Increasingly, the Citizendium is looking like the next step in the evolution of the collaborative Internet.
The project's fundamentals are solid and growing stronger through motivated, diligent effort. Given enough time and enough people, the results would surely be amazing. If this possibility is amazing, it is even more amazing that it's within our grasp. What I do know is that if we do have a good chance to create something so stupefyingly useful for humanity, we must try.
When asked in an interview with The Minnesota Daily
Minnesota Daily
The Minnesota Daily is the campus newspaper of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, published Monday-Thursday while school is in session, and published weekly on Wednesdays during summer sessions. Published since 1900, the paper is one of the largest student-run and student-written newspapers...
: Do you see a role for Citizendium anywhere in academia? He responded: "Of course. The idea is it will be good enough for professors to be able to send their students and students to get reliable information from. I know a lot of students use Wikipedia as a place to start to learn about a subject. For that purpose it's fine. I actually think, as a place to start to get some information, it's a fine resource. Approved articles on Citizendium hopefully will be more reliable than articles on Wikipedia."
Contrast to Wikipedia
Building on Sanger's experience from other collaborativeCollaboration
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
encyclopedias
Internet encyclopedia project
An Internet encyclopedia project is a large database of useful information, accessible via the World Wide Web. The idea to build a free encyclopedia using the Internet can be traced at least to the 1993 Interpedia proposal; it was planned as an encyclopedia on the Internet to which everyone could...
, Citizendium represents an effort to establish a scholarly and credible online encyclopedia. Sanger aims to improve upon the wiki-based encyclopedia model by bringing more accountability and academic quality to articles.
In an interview with CNET News
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
in 2007 Sanger explained the reasons for starting a Wikipedia alternative:
I think we absolutely need another wiki—first of all, simply because Wikipedia lacks credibility, unfortunately. It's a good starting place, as people say—on some subjects anyway—but it isn't really what we want out of a reliable reference resource. And frankly, I don't think that the Wikipedia community is prepared to make the changes that I think need to be made in order to transform Wikipedia into something that's really reliable.
Citizendium is wiki-based, and several aspects set it apart from Wikipedia.
Prospective contributors on Citizendium are required to sign in using real names.
Users of Wikipedia may contribute anonymously, or create a username. This username does not necessarily have a connection with their real name.
Experts in their field of expertise have a role in the Citizendium community to approve articles on the basis of accuracy. The Good Article and the Featured Article systems on Wikipedia employs a review by editors.
Wikipedia is perceived to promote consensus and not truth
and verifiability is the inclusion criteria – reporting on what other sources have to say.
Citizendium experts have the final say for article content
and it is not necessary to cite a source for a content decision on Citizendium. Citizendium attempts to prevent future wiki-vandalism in the tradition of Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
, who once asked users on air to add false information to articles about elephants.
Post-Citizendium
In early 2009, Sanger effectively ceased to edit Citizendium, although an announcement confirming this was not made until July 30, 2009 on the Citizendium-l mailinglist.He had worked at WatchKnowLearn project, a non-profit online community devoted to rating and organizing into a large directory hundreds of thousands of short videos and other media, making it possible to find subjects taught to school kids watchable on one website. Business Edge Services and Technologies, Inc. completed the project under the direction of Larry Sanger.
Sanger was the executive director of the system.
In April 2010 Sanger sent a letter to the FBI detailing his concern that Wikimedia Commons was hosting child pornography
Child pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
in its pedophilia
Pedophilia
As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children...
and lolicon
Lolicon
, also romanised as lolikon or rorikon, is a Japanese portmanteau of the phrase "Lolita complex". In Japan, the term describes an attraction to underage girls or an individual with such an attraction...
categories later clarified as "obscene visual representations of the abuse of children". Sanger said that he felt obligated to report it because he realized the statutes required that one do so or risk prosecution. The Register wrote that the law says "it is not a required element of any offense under this section that the minor depicted actually exist."
On September 22, 2010, Sanger stepped down as editor-in-chief of Citizendium but is still willing to offer advice and continues to support the goals of the project. In December 2010, commenting to WikiLeaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
, he said: "Speaking as Wikipedia's co-founder, I consider you enemies of the U.S.—not just the government, but the people."
He is working on developing educational projects for individuals behind WatchKnowLearn
WatchKnowLearn
WatchKnowLearn is a free, non-profit, K-12 repository of educational videos. The website aggregates and organizes videos found on existing websites, as well as inviting users to upload original content...
, originally named WatchKnow. He is producing a reading-tutorial app
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
that will be applicable for beginning readers of all ages. The name of his new reading project is Reading Bear.http://watchknowreader.busedge.com/ He began blogging on various subjects, including baby reading. A blog post, "Is There a New Geek Anti-Intellectualism?" was discussed in 2011. He is a writer, speaker, and a consultant on the topic of collaborative online communities
Virtual community
A virtual community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals...
.
Selected writings
A partial list of academic work, essays, and presentations Sanger has written:Academic work
- Epistemic Circularity: An Essay on the Problem of Meta-Justification – doctoral thesis.
- Descartes' methods and their theoretical background – bachelor thesis.
Essays
- How and Why I Taught My Toddler to Read (PDF). LarrySanger.org, December, 2010.
- Individual Knowledge in the Internet Age. Educause Review, April 2010.
- The Fate of Expertise after Wikipedia (PDF). Episteme – Edinburgh University Press, February 2009.
- Who Says We Know: On The New Politics of Knowledge. Edge Foundation – Edge Reality Club, April 2007.
- Why the Citizendium Will (Probably) Succeed. Citizendium, March 2007.
- Humanity's Coming Enlightenment. Edge Foundation – World Question Center, 2007.
- Toward a New Compendium of Knowledge. Citizendium, September 2006.
Presentations
- What Strong Collaboration Means for Scholarly Publishing. Keynote at the Annual Meeting of Society for Scholarly Publishing, San Francisco, CA, June 7, 2007.
- How to Think about Strong Collaboration among Professionals. Keynote at the Handelsblatt IT Congress, Bonn, Germany, January 30, 2007.
- Why Make Room for Experts in Web 2.0?. Opening keynote at the SVForum, The Business of New Media, Santa Clara, CA, October 25, 2006.
External links
- Larry Sanger – Sanger's personal website. – Sanger's account on the English Wikipedia.
- User:Larry Sanger/Origins of Wikipedia – An essay discussing the origins of Wikipedia.
- Epistemic Circularity: An Essay on the Problem of Meta-Justification – index.
- Video interview: Larry Sanger talks about Wikipedia and his plans with Citizendium – Mostly in English, with a German introduction and subtitles.
- Looong interview with me by Dan Schneider in Cosmoetica – An in-depth interview with Sanger.