In response to the massive popularity of Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica is inviting readers to add their own articles.
A long time ago, back in the days where the internet was just a series of 1s and 0s, the sum total of knowledge came from the 20 or so Encyclopedia Britannica volumes gathering dust on your bookshelf until a school project demanded you look something up.
With the advent of the internet, the sum of human knowledge was poured into one place that anyone with a ‘net connection could reach: Wikipedia. It’s free, updated on a daily basis, covers virtually every subject you could think of, and best of all, doesn’t take up room in your house. Faced with near imminent extinction, Britannica is taking a page from Wikipedia’s book and inviting you to send in new articles.
While there is no payment for these articles, and the articles themselves will be kept separate from the professional articles, (and not appear in the print edition) your name will appear alongside to promote your definition.
“Britannica is widely used in the academic market. Many of the top universities around the world have access to it. We want to tap into the many experts that may have something to say that could improve our content,” said Jorge Cauz, president of Britannica. “I think the future is likely going to be that in every media segment there has to be a symbiotic relationship between editor and reader.”
And while Wikipedia celebrates its eighth birthday, Britannica recently celebrated its 240th. But can they make the leap into the new millennia with this slow a start?
(By the way, the above books come at the knockdown price of £745)
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Published: Jan 23, 2009 10:13 pm