The Fountainhead
- Wikipedia, a free online encyclopaedia that anybody can contribute to, has 3.6 million articles in its English version
- Over 60% of Wikipedia’s traffic comes from the US, Germany, Japan, the UK, Canada, France
- Big opportunities now in China, South Korea and India, where less than 10% of online population use Wikipedia now
- Most popular Indian language Wikipedias: Hindi (97,013 articles), Marathi (33,711), Tamil (32,439), Bangla (22,234) and Malayalam (18,193)
***
Chances are you haven’t heard of Angika, or even realised you had heard it being spoken. Indeed, the odds are greater you came across it online, especially on Wikipedia. As the world’s most popular encyclopaedia seeks to grow outside the West, it is lesser known languages like Angika—spoken mainly in Bihar and Jharkhand—that the site promoters are betting on. Currently in incubation, along with 19 other Indian...

THIS ARTICLE IS PRICELESS...
To read this piece, and more such stories in India's most exciting and exacting magazine, plus get access to our 25-year archives goldmine, please subscribe.