''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Online

Encyclopædia Britannica Online

The website's homepage with its screenshot taken on February 4, 2008.
Available in English
Owner Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc[1]
Website britannica.com
Commercial Yes

Encyclopædia Britannica Online is the website of the Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. and its Encyclopædia Britannica, with more than 120,000 articles that are updated regularly.[2] It has daily features, updates and links to news reports from The New York Times and the BBC. The 2010 edition of the Britannica was the last printed version and was sold until stock ran out in 2012.[3]

Roughly 60% of Encyclopædia Britannica's revenue comes from online operations, of which around 15% comes from subscriptions to the consumer version of the website.[4] Subscriptions are available on a yearly, monthly or weekly basis.[5] Special subscription plans are offered to schools, colleges and libraries; such institutional subscribers constitute an important part of Britannica's business. Beginning in early 2007, the Britannica makes articles freely available if they are hyperlinked from an external site. Non-subscribers are served pop-ups and advertising.[6]

On 3 June 2008, an initiative to facilitate collaboration between online expert and amateur scholarly contributors for Britannica's online content (in the spirit of a wiki), with editorial oversight from Britannica staff, was announced.[7][8] Approved contributions would be credited,[9] though contributing automatically grants Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. perpetual, irrevocable license to those contributions.[10]

On 22 January 2009, Britannica's president, Jorge Cauz, announced that the company would be accepting edits and additions to the online Britannica website from the public. The print edition of the encyclopædia was not affected by the changes.[11] Individuals wishing to edit the Britannica website will have to register under their real name and address prior to editing or submitting their content.[12] All edits submitted will be reviewed and checked and will have to be approved by the encyclopædia's professional staff.[12] Contributions from non-academic users will sit in a separate section from the expert-generated Britannica content,[13] as will content submitted by non-Britannica scholars.[14] Articles written by users, if vetted and approved, will also only be available in a special section of the website, separate from the professional articles.[11][14] Official Britannica material would carry a "Britannica Checked" stamp, to distinguish it from the user-generated content.[15]

Information can be found using subjects or a search function. Current news is provided by The New York Times, the BBC, and SBS World News. Videos are available for viewing online. Timelines give interactive breakdowns of the history of subject areas. Data and statistics are available for every country. Maps are provided. Quotations are available by the author or subject.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Corporate Site". Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Corporate Site. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "Britannica Online". Britannica.com. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
  3. ↑ "Change: It's OK. Really.". Britannica.com. 13 March 2012.
  4. ↑ Graham Charlton (10 February 2009). "Q&A: Ian Grant of Encyclopædia Britannica UK [interview]". Econsultancy. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  5. ↑ "Britannica Online Store—BT Click&Buy". Britannica.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2006. Retrieved 27 September 2006.
  6. ↑ "Instructions for linking to the Britannica articles". Britannica.com. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
  7. ↑ Collaboration and the Voices of Experts Jorge Cauz, 3 June 2008
  8. ↑ Van Buskirk, Eliot (9 June 2008). "Encyclopædia Britannica To Follow Modified Wikipedia Model | Epicenter | Wired.com". Blog.wired.com. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  9. ↑ Staff writer. "Encyclopædia Britannica dips toe in Wiki waters". PC Pro, 9 June 2008.
  10. ↑ "Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Corporate Site". Corporate.britannica.com. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  11. 1 2 Encyclopædia Britannica fights back against Wikipedia. The Telegraph. 01-22-2009
  12. 1 2 "Britannica looking to give Wikipedia a run for its money with online editing". Tgdaily.com. 23 January 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  13. ↑ "Encyclopædia Britannica takes on Wikipedia". DigitalJournal.com. 25 January 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  14. 1 2 Britannica 2.0 shows Wikipedia how it's done at the Wayback Machine (archived July 14, 2011). Times Online. 01-22-2009
  15. ↑ Britannica reaches out to the web. BBC. 01-24-2009
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.