Encarta

Encarta is a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation. As of 2008^[update], the complete English version, Encarta Premium consists of more than 62,000 articles ^[1], numerous photos and illustrations, music clips, videos, interactivities, timelines, maps and atlas, and homework tools, and is available on the World Wide Web by yearly subscription or by purchase on DVD-ROM or multiple CD-ROMs. Many articles can also be viewed online free of charge, a service supported by advertisements.^[2]

Microsoft publishes similar encyclopedias under the Encarta trademark in various languages, including German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese. Localized versions may contain contents licensed from available national sources and may contain more or less content than the full English version. For example, the Dutch version has content from the Dutch Winkler Prins encyclopedia.

History

Following the first multimedia Academic American Encyclopedia, Microsoft initiated Encarta by purchasing non-exclusive rights to the Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia, incorporating it into its first edition in 1993. (Funk & Wagnalls continued to publish revised editions for several years independently of Encarta, but then ceased printing in the late 1990s.) Funk & Wagnalls had been a third-tier encyclopedia available at cut rates in grocery stores, where volumes were sold individually as well as in one collected set. The name Encarta was created for Microsoft by an advertising agency, successfully guessing that it sounded better than Funk & Wagnalls. ^[3] Microsoft had originally approached Encyclopædia Britannica, the gold standard of encyclopedias for over a century, in the 1980s, but it declined, believing its print media sales would be hurt; however the Benton Foundation was forced to sell Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. at below book value in 1996 when the print sales could no longer compete with Encarta and the Microsoft distribution channel which gave away free copies with computer systems.^[4]

In the late 1990s, Microsoft bought Collier's Encyclopedia and New Merit Scholar's Encyclopedia from Macmillan and incorporated them into Encarta. Thus the current Microsoft Encarta can be considered the successor of the Funk and Wagnalls, Collier, and New Merit Scholar encyclopedias. None of these formerly successful encyclopedias are still in print, being unable to adapt to the new market dynamics of electronic encyclopedias.

Microsoft has introduced several regional versions of Encarta, but some of them have been discontinued. For example, the Brazilian version was introduced in 1999 and suspended in 2002.^[5] The Spanish version is somewhat smaller than the English one, at 42,000 articles.

In July 2006, Websters Multimedia, a Bellevue, Washington subsidiary of London-based Websters International Publishers, took over maintenance of Encarta from Microsoft.^[6]

The latest version is Encarta Premium 2009, released in August 2008.^[1]

Contents

Encarta's Visual Browser

Encarta's standard edition^[7] includes approximately 50,000 articles, with additional images, videos and sounds. The premium editions contain over 62,000 articles and other multimedia content, such as 25,000 pictures and illustrations, over 300 videos and animations, and an interactive atlas with 1.8 million locations. Its articles are integrated with multimedia content and may have a collection of links to websites selected by its editors. A sidebar may display alternative views or original materials relevant to the topic.

Encarta's Visual Browser, available since the 2004 version, presents a user with a list of related topics. Its multimedia includes virtual 3-dimensional tours of ancient structures, for example the Acropolis; 2-dimensional panoramic images of world wonders or cities; and a virtual flight program which moves the user over landscape.

Encarta also included a trivia game called "MindMaze" (till Encarta 2007) in which the player explores a castle by answering questions whose answers could be found in the encyclopedia's articles. The feature has been removed in 2008 and later versions. ^{[8] [9]}

For years, Encarta came in three primary software editions: Basic, Premium, and Reference Library (price and features in that order.) Beginning in 2006, however, when Websters Multimedia took over its maintenance, Encarta became a feature of Microsoft Student as the premier Microsoft educational software program. Although it is possible to purchase only the Encarta encyclopedia separately, Microsoft Student bundles together Encarta Premium with Microsoft Math (a graphing calculator software) and templates for Microsoft Office. In addition, the Reference Library was discontinued, absorbed into a newer, more comprehensive Premium package. Encarta's user interface is shared with Microsoft Student, and has been steamlined to reduce clutter with only a Search box which returns relevant results; however it is no longer possible to simply browse all the encyclopedia articles alphabetically.

World Atlas

The dynamic maps are generated with the same engine that powered Microsoft MapPoint software. The map is a virtual globe that one can freely rotate and magnify to any location down to major streets for big cities. The globe has multiple surfaces displaying political boundaries, physical landmarks, and statistical information. One can selectively display different sized cities, various geological or man-made features and reference lines in a map.

The maps contain hyperlinks to related articles ("Map Trek") and also supports a "Dynamic Sensor" that provides the latitude, longitude, place name, population and local time for any point on the globe. Encarta also generates a visible-light moon atlas with names of major craters and hyperlinks. However, it does not include a planetarium. In addition to database generated maps, many other illustrative maps in Encarta ("Historical Maps") are drawn by artists. Some more advanced maps are interactive: for example, the large African map for Africana can display information such as political boundaries or the distribution of African flora.

Encarta Dictionary

When Encarta was released as part of the "Reference Suite" in 1998 (through to 2000), Microsoft bundled "Microsoft Bookshelf" with the other programs (Encarta Encyclopedia 98 Deluxe Edition, Encarta Desk Atlas, Encarta Virtual Globe 98, and Encarta Research Organizer). However, this was redundant.

Bookshelf was discontinued in 2000, and in later Encarta editions (Encarta Suite 2000 and onwards), Bookshelf was replaced with a dedicated Encarta Dictionary, a superset of the printed edition.

There has been some controversy over the decision, since the dictionary lacks the other books provided in Bookshelf which many found to be a useful reference, such as Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (replaced with a quotations section in Encarta that links to relevant articles and people) and an Internet Directory (although now a moot point since many of the sites listed in offline directories aren't around anymore).

Technology

Before the emergence of the world wide web for information browsing, Microsoft recognized the importance of having an engine that supported a multimedia markup language, full text search, and extensibility using software objects. The hypertext display, hyperlinking and search software was created by a team of CD-ROM Division developers in the late 1980s who designed it as a generalized engine for uses as diverse as interactive help, document management systems and as ambitious as a multimedia encyclopedia. Encarta was able to use various Microsoft technologies because it was extensible with software components for displaying unique types of multimedia information. For example, a snap in map engine is adapted from its MapPoint software. More information on the hypertext and search engine used by Encarta may be found in the Microsoft Bookshelf article.

Unlike Microsoft Office, Encarta software only supports Microsoft Windows with Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Encarta 98 was the last version to be released for the Macintosh. However, an Apple Macintosh or Linux/Unix user with Internet connection may still access Encarta's website.

Encarta uses database technologies to generate much of its multimedia content. For example, Encarta generates each zoomable map from a global geographic information system database on demand.

When a user uses the copy and paste function of Microsoft Windows on Encarta on more than five words, Encarta automatically appends a copyright boilerplate message after the paste.

User editing of Encarta

Early in 2005, the online Encarta started to allow users to suggest changes to existing articles.^[10] Articles are not immediately updated. Instead, user feedback is submitted to Encarta's editors for review, copyediting, and approval.^[11] Contributors are not paid for their submissions.^[12]

Using Encarta via a chatbot

Encarta's content is accessible using a conversational interface on Windows Live Messenger via the MSN Bot "Encarta Instant Answers".^[13] The bot can answer many encyclopedia related questions directly in the IM window. It uses short sentences from the Encarta website, and sometimes displays full articles in the Internet Explorer-based browser on the right. It also can complete simple maths and advanced algebra problems. This service is also available in German,^[14] Spanish,^[15] French^[16] and Japanese.^[17]

Access through Live Search

Users can get two free hours on Encarta by using Microsoft's search engine at Live.com. It is done by searching "Definition: (word)" and accessing a link leading to Encarta Online.

Assessment

Some criticism of the encyclopedia has focused on some articles being slow to be updated. For example, an early 2005 edition of the article about the political philosopher John Rawls opens with "Rawls, John (1921- )," although he had died on November 24, 2002. Encarta failed to note the date of his passing until April 2005—about 2½ years after the event.

Robert McHenry, while Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopædia Britannica, criticized^[18] Encarta for differences in factual content between national versions of Encarta, accusing Microsoft of "pandering to local prejudices" instead of presenting subjects objectively.^[19] An article written by Bill Gates addressed the nature of writing encyclopedia for different regions.^[20]

See also

• Reference software
• List of encyclopedias
• Microsoft Music Central - Music encyclopedia
• List of online encyclopedias

References

External links

• MSN Encarta Online — with limited free access and features.
• Encarta products
• History and some other information about Encarta by Microsoft
• Official Encarta blog (last posting in March 2006)
• Encarta SupportZone A website run by Stephen Stakey, a Microsoft MVP for MSN Encarta, that gives support and tips for Encarta users.
• Review of Microsoft Encarta Africana A review by Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, Professor, Department of African American Studies, Temple University, Philadelphia