Encyclopaedia Britannica Looks to the Web

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Encyclopaedia Britannica Looks to the Web [news.bbc.co.uk]

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.

"We are not abdicating our responsibility as publishers or burying it under the now-fashionable 'wisdom of the crowds'," wrote Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica in a blog entry about the changes.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I think perhaps they are just admitting that they have lost a lot of ground to Wikipedia. Love it or hate it most of us read it and use it ;o)

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Given Wiki's well known problems, I think some sort of online subscription model for these folks could very well take off. There's opportunity there when the leader has a bad reputation for quality/authority, and you've got a reputation for quality/authority.

They've stumbled bad over the last 10-15 years but I this is one online venture that I think could be the next amazon if they did it right.