Wiki:pedia Zines
Cecilia Zhang
In the past two decades, Wikipedia has gone from an underdog, unpromising experiment to the world’s largest and most widely accessed encyclopedia. It started as an empty platform and evolved into millions of articles purely from volunteer participation and an ambitious vision of free knowledge. The site is a labour of love, one that is built from community, from humor and thoughtfulness. It is no less a feat than a termite mound, built individually, one edit at a time.
“It's a misconception people work for free,” stated Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia. “They have fun for free.” This kind of fun is all over the meta pages of the site: talk pages, commentaries, wiki-newspapers,, in-person meetups and beyond. There is a passionate, robust community of Wikipedia editors working together tirelessly behind the scenes to make everything happen, not unlike a massive multiplayer video game.
Wiki:pedia Zines, a series of freely distributed magazines, presents a deep dive into the culture of Wikipedia. Each issue focuses on a specific topic, from Wikipedian policies, to humor, to language, to author bias etc. Questions like: who edits Wikipedia? What content is allowed? Why are people so passionate about the site? are all questions that are addressed in the zines. Each zine hopes to bring both a critical and joyful lens in viewing Wikipedia; rooted in the understanding that behind each article, is a passionate and imperfect volunteer, dedicating their time towards the ambitious pursuit of free knowledge for all.