Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to speak in Dublin next week

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales will visit Dublin on 26 October to discuss the fight against fake news, the launch of his recent news website WikiTribune, and how threats to online knowledge-sharing can be combatted with evidence-based journalism.

Hosted by the IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the company that manages and maintains Ireland’s country domain name, .ie, Mr Wales will speak at an event celebrating Ireland’s Internet Day in Trinity College Dublin on Thursday, 26 October. Tickets can be booked online.

Now in its third year, Ireland’s Internet Day, which coincides with international Internet Day, aims to promote awareness, knowledge, use and understanding of the internet in Ireland by its citizens, businesses and communities. It highlights the achievements of Irish and international internet entrepreneurs and the impact on society of the internet innovations and technologies.

Mr Wales, previously ranked as one of TIME Magazine’s most influential people in the world, founded the free encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, in 2001. Wikipedia is the fifth most visited website globally and counts half a billion unique visitors each month.

Mr Wales is also the president of Wikia, a for-profit wiki hosting company that allows users to build their own specialised wikis typically relating to a specific interest or ‘fandom’.

On a mission to combat the rise of ‘fake news’ with evidence-based journalism, this year Mr Wales will launch WikiTribune, a collaborative online news publication that allows professional journalists and volunteers to work side by side, co-researching and co-writing articles together.

Commenting, David Curtin, Chief Executive of IEDR, said: “IEDR is delighted to host Ireland’s third annual Internet Day, and to welcome the visionary internet icon Jimmy Wales to Ireland, to join us for the celebration.

“Alongside the founders of Google, Facebook and Twitter, Jimmy Wales has been one of the most important contributors to the modern internet age. Through Wikipedia, the sum of human knowledge is available to us in hundreds of different languages from the convenience of our smartphones and computers, for free and in real time.

“Mr Wales’s vision of a more open internet, accessible to everyone, is something that aligns with IEDR’s objectives for the internet in Ireland and the overarching theme of Internet Day. We want to make the internet more accessible to individuals and to businesses the length and breadth of the country, be they in the centre of Dublin or rural Roscommon.”

Jimmy Wales’s Internet Day address will take place on Thursday, 26 October at 18:15 in the MacNeill Theatre, Hamilton Building, Trinity College Dublin. Tickets cost €15, with all proceeds going to CoderDojo, the volunteer programming club for young people.

To book a ticket, visit: https://irelandsinternetday.eventbrite.com.