Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:A Dynamic Reference Work∗†∗

Edward N. Zalta , Colin Allen , Uri Nodelman†Stanford University and Texas A&M University
zalta@stanford.edu, colin-allen@tamu.edu, nodelman@stanford.edu∗The primary goal of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy project <http://plato.stanford.edu/> is to produce
an authoritative and comprehensive reference work devoted
to the academic discipline of philosophy that will be kept
up to date dynamically so as to remain useful to those inacademia and the general public. To accomplish this goal
we have designed and implemented web-based software bywhich academic philosophers can collaboratively write andmaintain such a ‘dynamic reference work’. Our implementation has features that are not found in any other online
reference work in any discipline, and that enable the profession of philosophy to maintain such a reference work without
the cost or level of staff support required for traditional reference work publishing.
A dynamic reference work is a new concept in digital libraries technology. We define this concept as follows: (1) it
is published in a continuously revisable electronic medium,(2) it offers a comprehensive set of entries on topics in a target discipline, (3) it provides the authors of the entries withelectronic access to the reference work’s central web server,
so that they can remotely edit and update private copies of
their entries and submit them for publication according toa regular update schedule and at any other time it becomes
necessary to revise, (4) it maintains quality by way of a
distinguished Board of Editors, the members of which commission the entries and referee both the initial versions of
the entries and subsequent substantive modifications, prior
to publication on the web, and (5) it creates, and makes publicly available, archives of the entries on at least a quarterly
basis (i.e., these contain fixed versions of the entries, which
can be cited in scholarly publications). A dynamic reference
work based on this model constantly evolves and becomes
responsive to new research.
Clauses (3) and (4) of this definition indicate that a dynamic reference work is not merely a revisable reference
work or one that is published online. Successful implementation of the dynamic aspects of this definition depend uponthe ease with which the authors, subject editors, and theprincipal editor have access to the tools and information thatallow entries at all stages of the work flow to be managed
asynchronously. In such an environment, each entry has its
own deadlines and it is necessary to track electronically thelocation of every entry in the work flow and provide automated reminders to individuals with work pending. Our success in organizing 75 distinguished editorial board members
Copyright is held by the author/owner.
JCDL’01, June 24-28, 2001, Roanoke, Virginia, USA.
ACM 1-58113-345-6/01/0006.

to oversee 450 expert authors, working to a set of deadlines
specified by our work flow, distinguishes our project fromother, less formal, on-line encyclopedia projects.
We will demonstrate how our password-protected web interfaces and our back-end processing system and workflow
system work together to facilitate this collaborative effort.
Our system has several unique features designed to simplify
the collaborative production of a dynamic reference work including tools for web-based editing of html source and sideby-side comparison of file versions. The web interface for authors allows them to: (1) download our templates and style
sheets, (2) to upload their new entries into a private area of
our web server, (3) to remotely edit copies of their entries
which are stored in this private area, and (4) to submit theirentries for editorial review. The web interface for subject
editors allows them to: (1) add important or new topics inphilosophy to our database, (2) commission authors to write
entries, (3) examine and comment on the new or revised entries submitted by the authors prior to publication, (4) display, in their web browser, revised and original entries sideby-side, with the differences highlighted , and (5) accept orreject entries and revisions. The principal editor has a web
interface, by which this collaborative workflow system is administered. Among other things, it tracks deadlines for eachstage of the publication and revision process for each entry.
We have designed our software in such a way that authors
and subject editors require only basic computer skills to participate effectively in the project. Authors may also use any
html-authoring software to create their entries, which then
are automatically formatted by our software and may be easily maintained by authors through the web interface. (Thisauthor-friendliness is an advantage of our html-based systemover currently available xml-based alternatives.) Our use of
cgi scripts also means that our browser-based interfaces areaccessible from any internet-connected workstation without
the installation of any special software. Thus the system enables an international collection of authors and subject editors to solicit, submit, review, revise, publish, and updatehigh quality articles under the guidance of a principal editor,
with minimal support from a programmer and other staff.
The technical specifications of our system are describedin the project description of our NSF/DLI-2 proposal (accepted in August 2000), which may be found at the URL:
<http://plato.stanford.edu/NSF/project-description.pdf>
This research is supported by NSF grant #IIS-9981549.