Finnish Wikipedia
Encyclopedia
The Finnish Wikipedia is the edition of Wikipedia
in the Finnish language
(called in Finnish: Suomenkielinen Wikipedia). By article count, it is the 16th largest Wikipedia with about articles as of
The Finnish language project was started in late 2002, but it remained at a very primitive stage until well into 2003. The speed of development picked up somewhat after the MediaWiki software
was upgraded to Phase III in late November, 2003, and continued to increase steadily through 2004.
Despite the small number of native
Finnish speakers, virtually non-existent number of non-native Finnish speakers and the high number of the native speakers who are also fluent in English
, the Finnish Wikipedia is currently the 15th largest Wikipedia with over 250,000 articles. The ratio of Finnish language Wikipedia articles to the number of Finnish speakers is quite high.
which suggested that Time Magazine had missed a trick in not naming Wikipedia the Time Magazine Person of the Year), but inevitably there were some less edifying confrontations with the outside world as well. One major news-story involved a former government minister's article having been adjusted to a more flattering form by internet connections traced back to the computers of the Finnish Legislature. Another dispute was when a former VJ and current newspaper columnist made tabloid headline by asking the police to investigate if her article had contained something that was illegal. The situation was defused however, and the police declared that the complaint was far too vague to be actionable.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
in the Finnish language
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
(called in Finnish: Suomenkielinen Wikipedia). By article count, it is the 16th largest Wikipedia with about articles as of
The Finnish language project was started in late 2002, but it remained at a very primitive stage until well into 2003. The speed of development picked up somewhat after the MediaWiki software
MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a popular free web-based wiki software application. Developed by the Wikimedia Foundation, it is used to run all of its projects, including Wikipedia, Wiktionary and Wikinews. Numerous other wikis around the world also use it to power their websites...
was upgraded to Phase III in late November, 2003, and continued to increase steadily through 2004.
Despite the small number of native
First language
A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...
Finnish speakers, virtually non-existent number of non-native Finnish speakers and the high number of the native speakers who are also fluent in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, the Finnish Wikipedia is currently the 15th largest Wikipedia with over 250,000 articles. The ratio of Finnish language Wikipedia articles to the number of Finnish speakers is quite high.
Accolades and controversies
As with many Wikipedias in other languages, the growing prominence in the media has mostly been with a positive slant (including an editorial from the Finnish newspaper of record Helsingin SanomatHelsingin Sanomat
Helsingin Sanomat is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. In 2008, its daily circulation was 412,421 on weekdays and 468,505 on Sundays...
which suggested that Time Magazine had missed a trick in not naming Wikipedia the Time Magazine Person of the Year), but inevitably there were some less edifying confrontations with the outside world as well. One major news-story involved a former government minister's article having been adjusted to a more flattering form by internet connections traced back to the computers of the Finnish Legislature. Another dispute was when a former VJ and current newspaper columnist made tabloid headline by asking the police to investigate if her article had contained something that was illegal. The situation was defused however, and the police declared that the complaint was far too vague to be actionable.
Milestones
- 200,000 articles - April 12, 2009
- 100,000 articles - February 11, 2007
- 50,000 articles - February 21, 2006
- 15,000 articles - February 9, 2005
- 5,000 articles - April, 2004
- 1,000 articles - September, 2002
External links
Finnish Wikipedia Finnish Wikipedia mobile version- Report from the Finnish Wikipedia, from Wikipedia Signpost (in English WikipediaEnglish WikipediaThe English Wikipedia is the English-language edition of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Founded on 15 January 2001 and reaching three million articles by August 2009, it was the first edition of Wikipedia and remains the largest, with almost three times as many articles as the next...
), 2006-10-23.