Wikipedia founder at Bett 2015

Jimmy Wales, leading technology futurist and founder of Wikipedia, has been announced as a keynote speaker at Bett 2015

Ranked as one of TIME Magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People’, Wales is set to inspire educators at Bett 2015 in his session, ‘The New Paradigm of Open Access to Information’ on Wednesday 21 January 2015, the opening day of the event at ExCeL London.

As a leading technology futurist, Wales will discuss how open-source and open-content technology is changing the way we access information. He will highlight how this will affect the fundamental ways that businesses interact in the future, and the session will support educators in ensuring their students are acquainted with this rapidly evolving technology, and able to compete in the digital workforce.

“Ten years ago I said ‘Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.’ That’s what we’re doing,” says Wales.

“In my Bett 2015 keynote, I look forward to explaining the journey we have taken across that last decade, the pedagogical aspects of the Wikipedia project and why – as the world’s 5th most visited website – Wikipedia resonates so strongly with the Bett 2015 theme ‘enhancing access to education, through technology’. Wikipedia embraces the tensions between traditional and innovative models of education, evidence-based education and creating collaborative minds and personalised teaching, some of the major themes of Bett.” 

Hear from Jimmy Wales in the Bett Arena, on Wednesday 21 January 2015. His session, ‘The New Paradigm of Open Access to Information’ will take place at 12:00 – 13:00.