Britannica’s New Site
More Participation and Collaboration from Experts and Readers
Encyclopaedia Britannica is about to launch a new initiative that we’re very enthusiastic about. The main thrust of this initiative is to promote greater participation by both our expert contributors and readers. Both groups will be invited to play a larger role in expanding, improving, and maintaining the information we publish on the Web under the Encyclopaedia Britannica name as well as in sharing content they create with other Britannica visitors. A complete redesign, editing tools, and incentive programs will give expert contributors and users the means to take part in the further improvement of Encyclopaedia Britannica and in the creation and publication of their own work.
These efforts not only will improve the scope and quality of Encyclopaedia Britannica, but they’ll also allow expert contributors and readers to supplement this content with their own. The result will be a place with broader and more relevant coverage for information seekers and a welcoming community for scholars, experts, and lay contributors.
The planning of this service is almost finished, and we’ve been working on its implementation for a few months now. We are far enough along in the process to tell you about it today and invite your comments. Here are its main features. (We’ve also included thumbnail images of select features from the new site. Click to enlarge them if you’d like to get an idea of what each feature will look like.)
The Britannica Online site will become the hub of a new online community that will welcome and engage thousands of scholars and experts with whom we already have relationships. Encyclopaedia Britannica has long been written by a community of scholars from all over the world, and this distinguished group of people has always been one of our greatest assets. Today it is possible to increase the strength and size of this community online and to provide its members with incentives to become involved with Britannica on a more sustained and consistent basis.
To elicit their participation in our new online community of scholars, we will provide our contributors with a reward system and a rich online home that will enable them to promote themselves, their work, and their services; allow them to showcase and publish their various works-in-progress in front of the Britannica audience; and help them find and interact with colleagues around the world. In this way our online community of scholars not only will be able to interact with our editors and content in a more effective manner; they will also be able to share directly with Britannica’s visitors content that they may have created outside Encyclopaedia Britannica and will allow those visitors to suggest changes and additions to that content.
As part of our longstanding tradition, engaging a prominent community of scholars will continue to be a key requirement. With this new site and initiatives we will be able to recruit new members beyond our current contributor base, through recommendations from existing contributors, applications from expert communities, and by inviting select members of our user community.
Readers and users will also be invited into an online community where they can work and publish at Britannica’s site under their own names. Interested users will be able to prepare articles, essays, and multimedia presentations on subjects in which they’re interested. Britannica will help them with research and publishing tools and by allowing them to easily use text and non-text material from Encyclopaedia Britannica in their work. We will publish the final products on our site for the benefit of all readers, with all due attribution and credit to the people who created them. The authors will have the option of collaborating with others on their work, but each author will retain control of his or her own work.
Encyclopaedia Britannica will continue to form the core base of knowledge and information on the site, though the material created by contributors and the user community, which each member will control and be credited for, will be published alongside the encyclopedia. Encyclopaedia Britannica itself will continue to be edited according to the most rigorous standards and will bear the imprimatur “Britannica Checked” to distinguish it from material on the site for which Britannica editors are not responsible.
However, our new editing tools, user interface and reward system will facilitate and motivate expert contributors and readers alike to suggest text changes, updates, photos, videos, bibliographies, Web links and other reference materials and improvements to Encyclopaedia Britannica itself. All such suggestions will be considered by editors, and if they’re found to have merit they’ll be fact-checked and vetted before they’re published. Anyone whose contributions are accepted for publication will be credited in detailed article-history pages in the encyclopedia.
Two things we believe distinguish this effort from other projects of online collaboration are (1) the active involvement of the expert contributors with whom we already have relationships; and (2) the fact that all contributions to Encyclopaedia Britannica’s core content will continue to be checked and vetted by our expert editorial staff before they’re published.
In this way we aim to leverage the power of the Internet to integrate the work of many people in a common project and on a large scale, but without relinquishing the editorial oversight that makes Britannica’s content trustworthy.
The Britannica Online Web site has been redesigned to prepare for the introduction of these new features, and while the redesigned site is not finished, we would like to give you a glimpse of it now and invite your thoughts and feedback. You can preview the new site, which is still in beta testing, at http://www.britannica.com/bps/home. A portion of the people who visit Britannica Online today are being routed to this site and are using it now; soon it will replace our current site at www.britannica.com entirely, and the new features we have described above will be introduced in the weeks and months ahead.
[Please see comments related to this post by Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.]
June 6th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
[…] surrenders to Wikipedia model britannicanet.com » Blog Archive » Britannicaâ??s New Site. I think we can post this one under ‘it was always going to happen’. According to the britannicanet […]
June 6th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
[…] a standard reference source for scholarship, largely because of its tightly controlled editing, the Encyclopaedia Britannica announced this week it was throwing open its elegantly-bound covers to the masses. It will allow the “user […]
June 6th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
[…] del todo, naturalmente, pero mucho, tal y como cuentan ellos mismos. Si no puedes vencer a tu enemigo… adopta sus m?todos. Y es que en breve Britannica va a […]
June 6th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
[…] here and here and here and here. I’ll have to assess this later. It looks like a welcome […]
June 7th, 2008 at 12:22 am
[…] ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Sorry for the unseemly and raucous laughter. This just totally cracks me up. […]
June 7th, 2008 at 8:24 am
[…] bijdragen van internetgebruikers. Dat maakte de uitgever van het gerenommeerde naslagwerk deze week bekend op het weblog van de Britannica. De Britannica hoopt dat het wiki-achtige initiatief zorgt voor […]
June 7th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
[…] De Britannica verandert mee […]
June 7th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
[…] a standard reference source for scholarship, largely because of its tightly controlled editing, the Encyclopaedia Britannica announced this week it was throwing open its elegantly-bound covers to the masses. It will allow the “user […]
June 7th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
[…] “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.” […]
June 8th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
[…] the new web site will reveal a complete redesign, editing tools, and incentive programs. On the Britannica blog, it says: These efforts not only will improve the scope and quality of Encyclopaedia Britannica, but […]
June 8th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I don’t know Brittanica. I think I would focus less on trying to compete with Wikipedia and more on shifting your business model completely. How could you better monetize all the research you do? Who could you partner with on the web to give them value-added projects? Maybe you’re already working along these lines, but I haven’t heard about it. Big name, high profile partnership is what I’m thinking of for you guys.
June 9th, 2008 at 7:55 am
[…] never thought it would happen - but the Encyclopedia Britannica is opening its pages to everyone […]
June 9th, 2008 at 10:00 am
[…] read on the Encyclopaedia Britannica blog that they have decided to move their entire works into a wiki […]
June 9th, 2008 at 10:27 am
[…] Britannica press release emphasizes how they are not Wikipedia (which isn’t named, of course): Two things we believe […]
June 9th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
A sad day in Britannica-ville: “Resolve to be a master of change, not a victim of it.” — Brian Tracy
June 9th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
[…] Britannica has just announced that it’s developing what seems to be a parallel site in which end-users can contribute content to the Encyclopedia as they do in Wikipedia. It looks like the user-contributed content will appear side by side with their original content (which will be marked “Britannica checked” to distinguish it from the flotsam and jetsam of the hoi polloi). A beta version of the new Britannical Online is available. […]
June 9th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Mike N,
Thanks for your thoughts. We’re always on the lookout for worthwhile partnerships, and I don’t think any of the things you proprose are incompatible with what we’re doing today with the new site. Please stay tuned. Though a number of people see this as an effort to compete with Wikipedia, in many ways it’s the opposite of the wiki model in that everyone gets personal credit for his or her own contributions, and you control the future of the work you publish on the site. You can solicit the help of others and take their advice and suggestions (or not) to the extent you want to, but no one will be able to undo your work without your blessing.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
[…] a standard reference source for scholarship, largely because of its tightly controlled editing, the Encyclopaedia Britannica announced this week it was throwing open its elegantly-bound covers to the masses. It will allow the “user […]
June 10th, 2008 at 2:19 am
[…] O anúncio no blog: http://britannicanet.com/?p=86 […]
June 10th, 2008 at 6:17 am
[…] blog da Enciclopedia Britannica (Britannicanet) anunciou que pretende investir na creación dunha comunidade online para compartir información na Web. Para […]
June 10th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
[…] cognome, foto e l’eventuale titolo che certifichi la competenza in una determinata materia. Secondo il blog di Britannica, gli studiosi potranno usufruire di un sistema di remunerazione, promuovere il loro […]
June 10th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
[…] Britannica quer criar comunidade online “O blog da Enciclopédia Britannica (Britannicanet) anunciou que pretende investir na criação de uma comunidade online de especialistas e leitores para o […]
June 11th, 2008 at 10:31 am
[…] Britannica’s New Site […]
June 11th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
[…] Vanuit Engeland bereikte ons vorige week het bericht dat de Encyclopedia Britannica ook vergevorderde plannen heeft voor een interactieve website waar internetgebruikers de […]
June 11th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Hello,
What will happen to subscribers to the EB database? Will this new website be free? The answers may have been in the press releases etc, but I didn’t quite catch it if they were, so I would appreciate clarification. thanks,
a reference librarian whose library subscribes to EB.
June 12th, 2008 at 3:51 am
[…] the Wiki won? The greybeard of encylopaedias Encyclopaedia Britannica has gone the way of Wikipedia. But if you read EB’s press release announcing it would begin […]
June 12th, 2008 at 4:09 am
[…] Britannica’s New Site (britannicanet.com) Encyclopaedia Britannica To Follow Modified Wikipedia Model […]
June 12th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
[…] about the relevancy of Britannica’s business and information models. Then, on June 3, Britannica announced major changes to its online service: Britannica Online is moving towards the direction of the collaborative […]
June 12th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
[…] On June 3rd 2008 Encyclopedia Britannica announced their new vision for their online encyclopedia. Though many comments have centered around how Britannica has collapsed under the pressure of WIkipedia’s fame, I don’t believe this movement towards a more expansive reference tool is equivalent to the Wikipedia model. Taken from their announcement post: These efforts not only will improve the scope and quality of Encyclopaedia Britannica, but they’ll also allow expert contributors and readers to supplement this content with their own. The result will be a place with broader and more relevant coverage for information seekers and a welcoming community for scholars, experts, and lay contributors. […]
June 12th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
[…] de contenidos a un público ampliado, todo gracias al apoyo en las tecnologías digitales. En su web, explicaron: La Enciclopedia Britannica durante mucho tiempo ha sido escrita por una comunidad de estudiosos de […]
June 16th, 2008 at 4:28 am
[…] a standard reference source for scholarship, largely because of its tightly controlled editing, the Encyclopaedia Britannica announced this week it was throwing open its elegantly-bound covers to the masses. It will allow the “user […]
June 17th, 2008 at 1:17 am
[…] there who contribute their knowledge to this resource. I also think it’s pretty neat that Britannica Online is planning on harnessing the power of an internet full of scholars and enthusiast…(i.e. taking a page out of Wikipedia’s e-book). On the other hand, Britannica’s new […]
June 17th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
thank you
June 18th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Respected Sir,
Britannica’s is very most important site for current awareness.
Regards
Amrit
June 18th, 2008 at 8:19 am
iam thankfull to the britanica community for there such user orientd effort…. at the same time a little bit of peer review process should also be there, its collaborative nature,inclusion of web 2.o facilities will naturally enhance the image in the open acess movment………………..
wishing grand success
siba/ nitr
June 18th, 2008 at 10:51 am
[…] On the Britannica blog, it says: These efforts not only will improve the scope and quality of Encyclopaedia Britannica, but they’ll also allow expert contributors and readers to supplement this content with their own. The result will be a place with broader and more relevant coverage for information seekers and a welcoming community for scholars, experts, and lay contributors. […]
June 19th, 2008 at 1:20 am
thank you for the wonderful thought . various fields of masters able to put forth their knowledge for the betterment of human development. wishing you a great success for ever.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:14 am
[…] On the Britannica blog, it says: These efforts not only will improve the scope and quality of Encyclopaedia Britannica, but they’ll also allow expert contributors and readers to supplement this content with their own. The result will be a place with broader and more relevant coverage for information seekers and a welcoming community for scholars, experts, and lay contributors. […]
June 20th, 2008 at 2:09 am
[…] On the Britannica blog, it says: These efforts not only will improve the scope and quality of Encyclopaedia Britannica, but they’ll also allow expert contributors and readers to supplement this content with their own. The result will be a place with broader and more relevant coverage for information seekers and a welcoming community for scholars, experts, and lay contributors. […]
July 1st, 2008 at 6:39 pm
[…] On the Britannica blog, it says: These efforts not only will improve the scope and quality of Encyclopaedia Britannica, but they’ll also allow expert contributors and readers to supplement this content with their own. The result will be a place with broader and more relevant coverage for information seekers and a welcoming community for scholars, experts, and lay contributors. […]
July 8th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
[…] redesigned Britannica site announced in our blog post last month is now live. Please bear in mind that at this point the site represents simply a […]
August 21st, 2008 at 5:27 pm
[…] Britannica’s New Site: More Participation, Collaboration from … […]
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
[…] voelt de Britannica kennelijk ook de druk om te moderniseren. Men kondigt aan dat naast de kern-encyclopedie een ruimte komt waar de externe medewerkers extra materiaal kunnen […]
September 11th, 2008 at 10:00 am
[…] June 9, 2008 by lonelylibrarian Heute über LIS-LINK: Britannica goes Wiki. Auch die renommierte Encyclopaedia Britannica kann sich dem Einfluss von Wikipedia & Co. nicht länger entziehen. Sie öffnet sich ihren Lesern und wird zukünftig Usern erlauben, selber Artikel beizusteuern, welche dann, als solche markiert, neben denen der Britannica-Autoren zu stehen kommen. Nachzulesen in The Wired Campus und auf Britannica.net. […]
January 24th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
[…] is the de facto standard for encyclopedic information on the web. So much so that Brittanica has announced that it will allow regular human beings to submit articles. It’s the de facto standard […]
February 13th, 2009 at 1:35 am
[…] here to tell you: don’t. Even monoliths eventually get it… or even […]
February 24th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
[…] here to tell you: don’t. Even monoliths eventually get it… or even […]
March 11th, 2009 at 2:35 am
[…] Britannica announced this week that it is opening up its content to users, […]
March 12th, 2009 at 11:54 am
[…] Britannica heeft aangekondigd dat het een stapje richting het Wikipedia-model zet met het toevoegen van door gebruikers […]
July 17th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
[…] Britannica wiki […]
July 20th, 2009 at 12:54 am
[…] blog da Enciclopédia Britannica (Britannicanet) anunciou que pretende investir na criação de uma comunidade online de especialistas e leitores para o […]