Profile: Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia

The founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales is working as an unpaid adviser to the UK Government helping to open up policy making to the public.

He is an information evangelist and his belief in the power of shared knowledge has driven the remarkable success of Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia.

With entries on more than 20 million subjects looked at by more than 450 million people per month, Jimmy Wales' creation is one of a handful of internet successes that really has changed our lives.

Claire Bolderson hears from associates of Jimmy Wales and from his critics, and of course from the man himself.

This edition of Profile was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday, 17 March 2012 at 19:00 GMT.

Listen again and explore the Profile archive via the Radio 4 website or by downloading the Profile podcast.