Wikipedia Picks Up $140,000 In #Bitcoin #Donations In One Week

#GNN - In late July, #Wikipedia announced that it would accept donations in bitcoin. In its first week of accepting bitcoin, Wikipedia racked up $140,000 in new funds, according to Coinbase, the service that powers its cryptocurrency influx.

CoinDesk, a publication that tracks bitcoin and other alternative, digital currencies heralds the news as suggesting “the staying power of digital currency donations, owing to the combination of tax benefits and transaction cost savings.” I’m slightly more skeptical, but it is without doubt that the donations are welcome at Wikipedia.

As TechCrunch previously reported, the Wikimedia Foundation — parent to Wikipedia — doesn’t intend to hold bitcoin, but instead convert it to dollars at the time of donation. TechCrunch also noted that the Foundation raised $18.7 million last year, making this $140,000 less than one percent of its prior haul. But one percent in a week could add up to a tidy figure, provided bitcoin donations continue.

Coinbase doesn’t charge non-profits transaction fees.

Recently, bitcoin has faded from the news media as the price of the stuff has settled into a predictable range, and volume isn’t growing. So, there hasn’t been too much to talk about.

What should we expect regarding donations to Wikipedia? That they slow down. How do we know? Bitcoin sales at Overstock.com slowed after an initial burst. Still, bitcoin donations to Wikipedia could make a material difference to its parent group.

IMAGE BY JASON BENJAMIN UNDER PUBLIC DOMAIN LICENSE (IMAGE HAS BEEN MODIFIED)

Wikipedia Tests SMS Access to Site for People Without an Internet Connection

One of Wikipedia's biggest goals is to expand its reach. That may sound strange coming from one of the biggest sites in the world. But even if everyone on the internet used Wikipedia, there would still be more than four billion people out there who can't reach it because, obviously, they don't have an internet connection.

Almost everyone though has a phone. In many places, it is the only piece of technology people own.

Wikipedia has been working on getting more information to people using basic phones or who only have access to the mobile web, via the Wikipedia Zero initiative.

Wikipedia Zero is a stripped down version of the site (there are no images, for example) that is offered for free, i.e. it doesn't count towards mobile data caps, in partnership with carriers.

Now, Wikipedia is pushing even further by making it possible to access the information even without an internet connection.

This partnership with Airtel will help provide Wikipedia access to 70 million new users in sub-saharan Africa, starting in Kenya, Wikipedia announced.

One exciting aspect of this partnership is that we are reaching a group of people we’ve never been able to reach before: mobile phone customers who don’t have internet access, it added.

We are testing a service to allow access to Wikipedia articles via text message. It can work with any phone, even the most basic feature phone. You don’t even need an application, it said.

The system is not particularly hard to use. Users send a message to a fixed number and submit their query. They then get the option to choose between the pages that fit their queries.

Once they select a subject, they get a list of the section headers in the article for that subject. They'll then be able to select any portion of the article that interests them. (GNN) (Yoogle)