The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the Encyclopaedia Britannica is “about to launch a new initiative” that will allow users to participate in the EB Wikipedia-style. From the press release, “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… 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.” Much more information available in the press release and on the Britannica Blog, where surprisingly there’s only one actual comment about the new initiative, even though it was announced 3 days ago!
I think this is an excellent idea, and an excellent example of old media attempting to innovate – movie and record companies take note. I hope it works. I do think maybe they need to tweak their Google Ads on the new beta site though… Wow, there are a lot of ads on that site. Don’t like all the flashy ones…
