Although I had supported Wikipedia for some time, my reasons remained unclear (even for me) until I had the following experience:
I was in an internet cafe in the city of Kumasi, Ghana in the summer of 2006, when I noticed that the man beside me was reading an article on wikipedia. I realized that he could, for a relatively affordable 7000 cedis an hour (~CAD $1.00/hr at the time), access the information of the world in a way that would have been inconceivable a decade before. Hence, Wikipedia for me embodies one of the most powerful concepts to arise from the internet; effectively 'free' knowledge.
Personally, I am an aspiring physical chemist and recreational student of history who, while at Queen's University, completed undergraduate degrees in Engineering Physics and History, and a Master's that investigated carbon nanotubes using ultrafast laser optics. I then received a doctorate in physics as a member of St. John's College at the University of Cambridge as a result of my studies of ultrafast triplet exciton generation in materials for organic photovoltaic devices. I then pursued postdoctoral research into the optical properties of organic semiconductors and inorganic quantum dots at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before continuing on in to academia. I use he/him pronouns while enjoying swing dancing, musical theatre, canoeing, ultimate frisbee, and a cappella music . Hailing from Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, I retain a distinct appreciation for small-town life.
I have developed a few articles more substantively in the past, but now primarily work to clean up minor errors that I happen upon, wikify, and add sources. I submit my small contributions to Wikipedia and thereby the public domain.
