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Encyclopedia Britannica creates online reference
Posted: 2009-01-24 03:30pm
by Setzer
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7846986.stm
The Encyclopaedia Britannica has unveiled a plan to let readers help keep the reference work up to date.
Under the plan, readers and contributing experts will help expand and maintain entries online.
Experts will also be enrolled in a reward scheme and given help to promote their command of a subject.
However, Britannica said it would not follow Wikipedia in letting a wide range of people make contributions to its encyclopaedia.
This is certainly interesting. I love the wide range of info wikipedia has, but I don't like the doubts on its reliability. It's OK for pop culture, but a more serious resource would be useful for research.
Re: Encyclopedia Britannica creates online reference
Posted: 2009-01-24 03:36pm
by General Zod
Some more detail would be nice because this article is confusing. In one sentence it says readers and contributing experts will help expand and maintain entries, but in the same paragraph it says it's not going to go the wikipedia route. What do they mean by "readers" in this case then?
Re: Encyclopedia Britannica creates online reference
Posted: 2009-01-24 04:12pm
by Bounty
General Zod wrote:Some more detail would be nice because this article is confusing. In one sentence it says readers and contributing experts will help expand and maintain entries, but in the same paragraph it says it's not going to go the wikipedia route. What do they mean by "readers" in this case then?
Try reading the article:
Britannica plans to do more with the experts that have already made contributions. They will be encouraged to keep articles up to date and be given a chance to promote their own expertise.
Selected readers will also be invited to contribute and many readers will be able to use Britannica materials to create their own works that will be featured on the site.
However, it warned these would sit alongside the encyclopaedia entries and the official material would carry a "Britannica Checked" stamp, to distinguish it from the user-generated content.
So it's a three-tiered system - vetted experts will continue to keep the articles updated, new readers will be brought in to assist on merit, and user-created content is featured alongside official articles and flagged as such.
Re: Encyclopedia Britannica creates online reference
Posted: 2009-01-24 04:19pm
by General Zod
Bounty wrote:
Try reading the article:
I didn't expect there to be more since there was only a snipped paragraph quoted. . .though I'm wondering why the full thing wasn't quoted now. Oh well.
Re: Encyclopedia Britannica creates online reference
Posted: 2009-01-24 09:52pm
by Setzer
I seldom quote the entirety of articles I post. It's just habit. I made sure to include the link, though.