Larry Sanger (b. 1968) is an American philosopher, internet-project developer, and computer scientist best known as a co-founder of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia he helped launch in 2001 and for which he proposed the name. [1] Trained as a philosopher specializing in epistemology, he served as editor-in-chief of the earlier Nupedia project before helping to build a more open, collaborative model of encyclopedia-writing, and he later founded the alternative reference work Citizendium. [2]
Early life and education
Larry Sanger was born on July 16, 1968, in Bellevue, Washington, and grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, where he attended Service High School. He developed an early interest in philosophy and questions about the nature of knowledge. [2]
He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Reed College in 1991 and completed a doctorate in philosophy at Ohio State University in 2000, specializing in epistemology, the theory of knowledge. For a time he also taught philosophy. [2]
Nupedia and Wikipedia
In 2000, Sanger was hired as editor-in-chief of Nupedia, a free online encyclopedia that relied on a rigorous, expert-led review process. When progress proved slow, Sanger and Nupedia's funder, Jimmy Wales, launched a companion project in January 2001 built on wiki software that let anyone edit articles, and Sanger proposed the name "Wikipedia." [1]
As the project's early organizer, he helped establish foundational editorial conventions, including the influential neutral point of view policy. Nupedia was eventually discontinued and its articles absorbed into the far faster-growing Wikipedia. Sanger left the project in 2002 after his paid position ended. [1]
Later projects and criticism
In 2006 Sanger announced Citizendium, an encyclopedia intended to pair open participation with oversight from credentialed experts and the use of contributors' real names. [3] He went on to work on other education and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
In later years Sanger became a prominent critic of Wikipedia, contending that the site had strayed from the neutrality principles he helped articulate in its early days. [1]
Legacy
Sanger is widely credited as a co-founder of Wikipedia, one of the most-visited websites in the world, although the precise attribution of its founding has been a subject of public discussion. [1] His advocacy for collaborative, openly editable reference works has had a lasting influence on how knowledge is produced and distributed online.
