Wikipedia explores new revenue opportunities

Free online encyclopedia Wikipedia may launch trivia games and quiz programs to boost funds and could veer from its no advertising policy in the future to raise cash for charity, its founder said on Thursday, according to Reuters.

Jimmy Wales, who founded the free, multi-lingual virtual encyclopedia in 2001, told Reuters the firm will continue to eschew advertising for now. "When we're turning down millions and millions of dollars in advertising revenue that could be used, to for example, put computers in schools in Africa...we have to very thoughtful and responsible about why we're doing it," he said in an interview.

Wikipedia, which can be edited by anyone, is the ninth most popular Web site in the world according to Web traffic monitoring site Alexa.com. The Wikipedia Foundation, which runs the encyclopedia Web site, last year raised some $1 million from donations and was expected to spend up to $3 million this year, Wales said.

The former futures trader, who has become an evangelist for the free sharing of technology, has said users should work together to improve search engines, working on the same principle as Wikipedia.

Wikipedia offers a wide ringe of services including WikiSuccess, Wikiversity, Wikiquote, Wikinews, Wikibooks etc.