Nupedia

Nupedia was a web-based, free content encyclopedia project. It was notable for its open content licensing and its rigorous peer-review process designed to ensure high-quality articles. Founded by Jimmy Wales and under the chief editorship of Larry Sanger, Nupedia operated from March 2000 until September 2003.

A key characteristic of Nupedia was its reliance on volunteer expert contributors. Articles were submitted and then subjected to a multi-stage review process involving expert editors, a content director, and a final copyediting stage. This process, while intended to guarantee accuracy and objectivity, also resulted in a slow rate of article creation.

Nupedia was initially licensed under its own Nupedia Open Content License. Later, it switched to the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), the same license used by its sister project, Wikipedia.

Wikipedia was originally conceived as a feeder project for Nupedia, designed to allow for more rapid content creation. However, Wikipedia quickly outgrew Nupedia in both size and popularity. The slow and cumbersome review process of Nupedia, coupled with the more open and collaborative nature of Wikipedia, led to the eventual demise of Nupedia. Although Nupedia ultimately failed to become a widely used encyclopedia, it played a crucial role in the development and success of Wikipedia, demonstrating the potential of open-source, collaborative knowledge creation on the internet.