Thursday, October 16, 2008

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

School Library Journal's article "Britannica Gets Wikified" explains how this venerable encyclopedia is launching an open source project which will allow experts and the public to create and share knowledge on their site. The carefully edited Encyclopaedia Britannica will continue to exist but there will be another section for its new "community of scholars". Works posted by the public will not be checked for grammar, spelling or punctuation. Unlike, Wikipedia each contributor will have total control of his/her article and can decide whether to permit others to contribute. Readers will also be allowed to rank the accuracy of the information. I tried to find this on the website but the ads were making me crazy.