Craigslist founder Craig Newmark joins advisory group for nonprofit that runs Wikipedia

Craigslist founder joins Wikimedia advisory board

SAN FRANCISCO — The nonprofit group that runs online encyclopedia Wikipedia said Friday that it named Craig Newmark, the founder of Web classifieds site Craigslist, to its advisory board.

The Wikimedia Foundation said it chose Newmark as an adviser because of his work as an innovator and evangelist and his understanding of Web-based communities.

Newmark founded Craigslist as an e-mail list of San Francisco events in 1995. It now includes classifieds sites around the world. He currently works as a customer service representative for the site.

The Wikimedia Foundation put together the board in 2007 to get input from technology, education and culture leaders. Members include Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder Mitch Kapor and venture capitalist Roger McNamee.