[Reader-list] Encyclopedia Britannica goes Wikipedia way

[Nishant]

Britannica reaches out to the web
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The Encyclopaedia Britannica has unveiled a plan to let readers help
keep the reference work up to date.
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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 the Wikipedia in letting
a wide range of people make contributions to its encyclopaedia.

User choice

"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.

He added: "We believe that the creation and documentation of knowledge
is a collaborative process but not a democratic one."

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.

Alongside the move towards more openness, will be a re-design of the
Britannica site and the creation of the web-based tools that visitors
can use to put together their own reference materials.

Britannica has unveiled a beta, or trial, version of what will become
the finished Britannica Online website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7846986.stm