The new web application Xikipedia displays Simple Wikipedia articles in a social media feed format

Developer Lyra Rebein launched the Xikipedia web application. It is a feed that displays articles from Simple Wikipedia in the format of social media posts. The goal of the project is to offer an alternative to the usual news scrolling, which is often accompanied by a stream of negative information.

What is known

Xikipedia uses content from Simple Wikipedia — an English language version of the encyclopedia adapted for basic language proficiency. The algorithm works without using machine learning. All processing is done locally, data is not stored or transmitted to third parties. Information disappears after the page is refreshed or the tab is closed.

The Xikipedia interface is structured as a feed. Each post is a concise summary of an article with an image. Users can like a post. As a result of such actions, posts from similar categories, related topics, or parent sections appear more frequently in the feed. There is also an option to choose specific thematic categories or create your own.

Clicking on a post opens the full article in Simple Wikipedia. Due to the random selection principle, the developer warns that the feed may contain materials not suitable for all audiences. Before starting work, the system loads approximately 40 megabytes of data.

The Simple Wikipedia database has more than 278,000 articles. Some of them may be outdated. For example, articles about musicians sometimes lack new albums. The developer notes that Xikipedia should be considered as a starting point for exploring new topics.

Source: Xikipedia