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. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... “URL” redirects here. ... A virtual community or online community is a group of people that primarily interact via some form of mechanism such as letters, telephone, email or Usenet rather than face to face. ... WWWs historical logo designed by Robert Cailliau The World Wide Web (commonly shortened to the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. ... Free content is any kind of functional work, artwork, or other creative content upon which no legal restriction has been placed that significantly interferes with peoples freedom to use, understand, redistribute, improve, and share the content. ... A virtual community or online community is a group of people that primarily interact via some form of mechanism such as letters, telephone, email or Usenet rather than face to face. ... The phrase Web 2. ... NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, is about 17,000 parsecs in diameter and approximately 20 million parsecs distant. ... STAR is an acronym for: Organizations Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers], the self-regulatory body for the entertainment ticket industry in the UK. Society for Telescopy, Astronomy, and Radio, a non-profit New Jersey astronomy club. ... Major features of the Solar System (not to scale; from left to right): Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, the asteroid belt, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and its Moon, and Mars. ...

Galaxiki's name is a portmanteau of the words galaxy and wiki (a type of collaborative website). A portmanteau (IPA pronunciation: RP, US) is a word or morpheme that fuses two or more words or word parts to give a combined or loaded meaning. ... NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, is about 17,000 parsecs in diameter and approximately 20 million parsecs distant. ... Look up Wiki in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

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^[1]. 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. Bold text // “GFDL” redirects here. ...

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^[2], listed under "best websites in August 2007" on about.com^[3] on August 3rd and it was Yahoo's "Pick of the Day"^[4] on August 27th. It now has over 1300 registered users ("Galaxicians") and there are more than 1200 solar systems open for the community or registered by individual users. is the 71st day of the year (72nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 192nd day of the year (193rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...

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. Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely-used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ... Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Perl Programming Perl is a dynamic programming language created by Larry Wall and first released in 1987. ... The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to simply as Apache, is a web server notable for playing a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web. ... MySQL (pronounced (IPA) , my S Q L) is a multithreaded, multi-user SQL database management system (DBMS)[1] which has, according to MySQL AB, more than 10 million installations. ... Linux (IPA pronunciation: ) is a Unix-like computer operating system. ...

See also

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

// This is an incomplete list of wikis (sites based on the wiki model) of comparative notability. ... Open content, coined by analogy with open source, (though technically it is actually share-alike) describes any kind of creative work including articles, pictures, audio, and video that is published in a format that explicitly allows the copying of the information. ... User-generated content (UGC), also known as Consumer Generated Media or User-created Content (UCC) [1], refers to various kinds of media content that are produced by end-users, (as opposed to traditional media producers such as professional writers, publishers, journalists, licensed broadcasters and production companies). ...

External links

• Galaxiki - the main page of the project
• [1] - Yahoo: Pick of the Day
• [2] - About.com: Web Site of the Day
• [3] - The Inquirer: What do you get the man who has everything?
• [4] - Mashable: Galaxiki Launches Niche Wiki for Creating Your own Outer Space
• [5] - Slice of SciFi: Did You Edit Your Virtual Solar System Today?