Fastinating post by LeeAnn Prescott based on Hitwise data about how people access Wikipedia. The chart shows

the steadily increasing market share of visits to Wikipedia. What you’ll notice upon closer examination is that Wikipedia’s traffic is tied to the academic school year. That bump in December 2005? Finals and term paper time. The subsequent dip? Christmas vacation. The larger bump in May 06? Finals again. Another dip in traffic during the summer months, and another surge in September as school starts.