I had a small revelation just the other day. I was chatting on IM with Angela Beasley, the co-founder of Wikia, when it occurred to me I have never actually written anything about this extraordinary person. Considering all the folks I have reviewed or interviewed; I cannot believe Angela has not been the subject of one of my posts. My fondness for all things wiki and particularly the people behind the curtain is no big secret. So, I hope you will allow me to present one of the most diligent and interesting people on the Web. Angela is simply great, and here is why.

Back in October, 2004, Angela Beasley and Jimmy Wales founded the for-profit Wiki platform Wikia. Angela is currently VP of community relations for Wikia, and I know of no one that is so absorbed or dedicated to their creation. Every time I talk to her she is tirelessly (well almost tirelessly as she does work lots) trying to improve Wikia for the people. Angela was involved in Wikipedia, the Wikimedia board and currently chairs the Foundation’s Communications Committee. Like Jimmy, Angela is one of the busiest and most active people I know, but somehow she always finds the time for just one more task.

An article at Principled Innovation highlights some of Angela’s unbelievable contributions to Wikia and the Web at large as well, including the more than 50,000 edits of Wikipedia articles in the last 5 years. That is 50,000 edits, an unbelievable number given the community building aspects and board responsibilities Angela has undertaken. Angela never seems to run out of time for people or her passion. As for her take on this new Web of ours and an insight into the soul of Wikia and the vision she has - I quote from this interview at PI. When asked for her projection for social media and Web 2.0 Angela responded so:

To start with, I think we’ll simply see a lot more companies and websites taking this “Web 2.0? approach as they begin to understand the value of wider participation and collaboration. What I hope to see after that is for some of these technologies to start working with each other in more productive ways. Right now, they’re usually used as stand alone applications and there are few attempts at combining the approaches from different types of social media. However, there are a growing number of examples of “mashups” where people are finding innovative ways of combining different aspects of technologies and different types of content from unrelated sites. One example is Placeopedia which combines Wikipedia with Google maps. So, I expect that convergence of the technologies is something we will see more of over the next few years.

Here is the fundamental difference between people who live the vision and those that use it. Participation and collaboration are not just buzz words to Angela or Jimmy for that matter, but fundamental parts of their lives. I know this for an actual fact, because every single time I talk with Angela, she is immersed in all things Wikia. Furthermore, she has never once told me she was too busy to listen to an idea or give her help or opinion on anything. The art of Wikipedia and Wikia is in the collaborative nature of these creations. This is a well known fact, though many ridicule or detract from their value.

Beyond applauding my friends like Angela, I sincerely bring these people to light because they are people we can identify with, look up to and in the end people who can help elevate the rest of us. I honestly believe this is a fundamental goal of theirs, though they are far to humble to admit such lofty goals. In all my experience, we are far more capable than we ever imagine. We do not always have to agree on everything to see unequivocally what is good versus mediocre. So, for her part in a very great endeavor, here kindness and the potential for good that resides there,

I just wanted to share still another great person with you all. I am sure that if all of us approached work and our visions as Angela does, then we could achieve far more than we ever realized possible. This is the gift of believing in the power of human beings. Angela also maintains a blog here and and you can check out her wiki here.