Bizwiki is a free directory of businesses that anyone can contribute to and edit. As the UK focused part of this international network, Bizwiki.co.uk aims to become the largest, most comprehensive directory of British businesses on the Web.

Bizwiki's goal is to follow in the footsteps of two of the most influential contributor-built projects of the Internet Age, the Open Directory Project (also known as DMOZ) and Wikipedia. Where the Open Directory aims to become the definitive catalogue of the Web, and Wikipedia to become the largest reference site, Bizwiki is focussed on gathering and publishing detailed information about the world's companies, businesses and organisations - even those without a web site or online presence of their own.

The Bizwiki site is built around a self-organised and collaborative community that any of our users are invited to join. We hope to enable a thriving community to grow, and intend to add social and networking features to allow people to form groups of shared experiences and expertise to collaborate with peers.

Rather than the usual experience of just reading what a website has to say, everyone is invited to actively participate. Users can help produce for themselves the best and most comprehensive index of business on the web, or the most detailed index of companies in their town or even street.

There is no cost to add a company to Bizwiki, no on-going fees for businesses appearing on the site. The site and its content are made available for searching to the general public free of charge.

Bizwiki is an ongoing project to which almost anybody can contribute. With rare exceptions, Bizwiki articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet, simply by registering and clicking the 'edit this page' link. It is by users editing and adding to the information on the site that it will grow and improve and become more useful. Everyone is invited to add information, citations, cross-references or reviews as long as they do so within Bizwiki's editing policies and to an appropriate standard. If you would like to join in and add your voice to this project, simply sign up now or have a look at our 'Getting Started' ideas.

This site is dedicated to collecting and publishing business information rather than opinion. In some cases, what a user will most want to know is other peoples' experiences with a business, so we have decided to add reviews as an alternative place for users to share opinions that would otherwise inevitably filter through into the information section. More about Reviews on Bizwiki.

Versions of Bizwiki focussed on the business communities in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are planned over the next year. Plans for multi-lingual versions and user-contributed business directories for other nations are also being explored.