Galaxiki

infobox website
name = Galaxiki


caption = Screenshot of Galaxiki's portal
url = http://www.galaxiki.org/
commercial = Partly
location = Luxembourg
type = Virtual community
language = english, other languages are planned
registration = required
owner = Jos Kirps & the Galaxiki Project
author = Jos Kirps & the Galaxiki Project

Galaxiki is a web-based, free content virtual community web 2.0 project. It consists of a virtual galaxy with over a million stars and solar systems that can be explored using a 2-dimensional map. Each star, each planet and each moon represents one wiki page, the idea behind the project is that Galaxiki site members, also called Galaxicians, can edit those pages and write fictional histories about them.

Galaxiki's name is a portmanteau of the words "galaxy" and "wiki" (a type of collaborative website).

The Galaxiki rules say that real world physics should be respected, but it also allows some popular exceptions known from most science fiction novels, such as traveling faster than light or using paranormal powers for example [ cite web | title = Galaxiki rules | url = http://www.galaxiki.org/cgi-bin/local/perl/galaxiki/support.pl?mode=rules | publisher = Galaxiki.org | accessdate = 2007-08-15 ] . This also implies that species inside the Galaxiki world can meet (at least if their solar systems are in a closer range), which is a challenge for Galaxicians as they have to make sure to eliminate inconsistencies. Science fiction stories on Galaxiki are published by default under the GNU Free Documentation License, but site users may also opt for other licenses.

Galaxiki membership, editing solar systems and using all other site features is free. To finance the project, solar systems can be "freed", which means that Galaxicians can make solar systems writable by making a small donation to the project. It is also possible to "purchase" individual solar systems to make their related wiki pages read-only for all other site members. There is a dedicated page for sponsors or advertisers too, but the project itself states that there shall be only an absolute minimum of advertising.

Most solar systems are currently still locked, but new solar systems are open automatically for the community every day. When a Galaxician "frees" a solar system he/she can decide if the system shall become open for the entire community, or if the system shall become a private project. In this case it is also possible to dedicate the star or solar system to someone.

Galaxiki was launched as a prototype on March 12, 2007, it was officially launched on July 1, 2007. It was Linux Journal's ".org site of the week" on July 11, 2007 [ cite web | title = Linux Journal Weekly News Notes -- July 11, 2007 | url = http://lists.ssc.com/pipermail/lj-announce/2007-July.txt | publisher = Linuxjournal.com | accessdate = 2007-08-15 ] , listed under "best websites in August 2007" on about.com [ cite web | title = About.com best websites August 2007 | url = http://websearch.about.com/od/bestsitesimagegalleries/ig/Best-Web-Sites-August-2007 | publisher = Aboutl.com | accessdate = 2007-08-15 ] on August 3rd and it was Yahoo's "Pick of the Day" [ cite web | title = Yahoo.com Pick of the Day August 27th 2007 | url = http://beta.picks.yahoo.com/picks/2226/galaxiki | publisher = Yahoo.com | accessdate = 2007-08-30 ] on August 27th. It now has over 1900 registered users ("Galaxicians") and there are more than 2000 solar systems open for the community or registered by individual users.

Software and hardware

The Galaxiki software is based on the CorneliOS virtual web OS and web application framework, a software project which is run by Galaxiki's creator Jos Kirps. CorneliOS is available als Open Source software under the GNU General Public License license, although the extension made for the Galaxiki project are closed source. Both CorneliOS and the extra Galaxiki code are written in Perl and make use of the Apache HTTP Server, Galaxiki's wiki runs on a MySQL database. Galaxiki currently runs on a single Linux server in Germany.

See also

* List of wikis
* Open content
* User-generated content

References

External links

* [http://www.galaxiki.org Galaxiki] - the main page of the project
* [http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41710] - The Inquirer: What do you get the man who has everything?
* [http://mashable.com/2007/07/16/galaxiki] - Mashable: Galaxiki Launches Niche Wiki for Creating Your own Outer Space
* [http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2007/07/13/the-galaxiki-project] - Slice of SciFi: Did You Edit Your Virtual Solar System Today?