Problem: Encyclopedia Americana is one of the largest general encyclopedias in the English language. Following the acquisition of Grolier in 2000, the encyclopedia has been produced by Scholastic.

The encyclopedia has more than 45,000 articles, most of them more than 500 words and many running to considerable length (the "United States" article is over 300,000 words). The work's coverage of American and Canadian geography and history has been a traditional strength. Written by 6,500 contributors, the "Encyclopedia Americana" includes over 9,000 bibliographies, 150,000 cross-references, 1,000+ tables, 1,200 maps, and almost 4,500 black-and-white line art and color images. It also has 680 factboxes. Most articles are signed by their contributors.

Long available as a 30-volume print set, the "Encyclopedia Americana" is now marketed as an online encyclopedia requiring a subscription. In March 2008, Scholastic said that print sales remained good but that the company was still deciding on the future of the print edition. The company did not produce an edition in 2007, a change from its previous approach of releasing a revised print edition each year. The most recent print edition of the "Encyclopedia Americana" was published in 2006.

The online version of the "Encyclopedia Americana", first introduced in 1997, continues to be updated and sold. This work, like the print set from which it is derived, is designed for high school and first-year college students along with public library users. It is available to libraries as one of the options in the Grolier Online reference service, which also includes the "Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia", intended for middle and high school students, and "The New Book of Knowledge", an encyclopedia for elementary and middle school students. Grolier Online is not available to individual subscribers.
1. When was the online version of the encyclopedia put out?
2. Is it still updated?
3. What kind of students is it designed for?
4. And who else?
5. What is made for middle and high school kids?
6. What is designed for elementary students?
7. Is the online service available to individuals?
8. What is the biggest encyclopedia in the English language?
9. Who has produced it after the year 2000?
10. After they acquired what?
11. How many articles are in the books?
12. How many words are most?
13. How long is the United States article?
14. Is geography a strength for the encyclopedias?
15. What else is a strong point?
16. How many bibliographies are there?
17. In what year was a print edition published?
18. How many cross-references were there?
19. How many factboxes are there?
20. How many books were in a typical print edition?
Answer: 1. 1997
2. Yes.
3. high school and first-year college
4. public library users
5. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia
6. The New Book of Knowledge
7. No.
8. Encyclopedia Americana
9. Scholastic
10. Grolier
11. 45,000
12. more than 500
13. over 300,000 words
14. YEs
15. history
16. over 9,000
17. 2006
18. 150,000
19. 680
20. 30

Q: Knowledge is a familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something, such as facts, information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquired through experience or education by perceiving, discovering, or learning.

Knowledge can refer to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. It can be implicit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); it can be more or less formal or systematic. In philosophy, the study of knowledge is called epistemology; the philosopher Plato famously defined knowledge as "justified true belief", though this definition is now thought by some analytic philosophers to be problematic because of the Gettier problems while others defend the platonic definition. However, several definitions of knowledge and theories to explain it exist.

Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception, communication, and reasoning; while knowledge is also said to be related to the capacity of "acknowledgment" in human beings.

The definition of knowledge is a matter of ongoing debate among philosophers in the field of epistemology. The classical definition, described but not ultimately endorsed by Plato, specifies that a statement must meet three in order to be considered knowledge: it must be justified, true, and believed. Some claim that these conditions are not sufficient, as Gettier case examples allegedly demonstrate. There are a number of alternatives proposed, including Robert Nozick's arguments for a requirement that knowledge 'tracks the truth' and Simon Blackburn's additional requirement that we do not want to say that those who meet any of these conditions 'through a defect, flaw, or failure' have knowledge. Richard Kirkham suggests that our definition of knowledge requires that the evidence for the belief necessitates its truth.

Answer the following questions:
1. Who said knowledge is justified true belief?
2. Do recent philosophers agree?
3. Why do some disagree?
4. How is knowledge obtained?
5. Is it implicit or explicit?
6. What does it mean to be implicit?
7. And explicit?
8. What term is used for the study of knowledge?
9. How many processes are involved with acquiring knowledge?
10. Are these simple processes?
11. Would communicating be one of them?
12. Is there much disagreement about the definition of knowledge?
13. In the classical sense, how many things must be true for something to be considered knowledge?
14. What are those?
15. Who described this definition?
16. Did he agree with the premise?
17. What do some philosophers claim?
18. What showed that that is likely the case?
19. What requirement would Nozick add to the list?
20. What does Kirkham say the definition should also require?
A: 1. Plato
2. some do
3. because of the Gettier problems
4. unknown
5. its both
6. like as with practical skill or expertise
7. as in the theoretical understanding of a subject
8. epistemology
9. Three
10. no
11. yes
12. yes
13. three
14. it must be justified, true, and believed.
15. Plato
16. no
17. they claim that these conditions are not sufficient
18. Gettier case examples
19. that knowledge tracks the truth
20. evidence

Problem: Digital rights management (DRM) is a set of access control technologies for restricting the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM technologies try to control the use, modification, and distribution of copyrighted works (such as software and multimedia content), as well as systems within devices that enforce these policies.

The use of digital rights management is not universally accepted. Proponents of DRM argue that it is necessary to prevent intellectual property from being copied freely, just as physical locks are needed to prevent personal property from being stolen, that it can help the copyright holder maintain artistic control, and that it can ensure continued revenue streams. Those opposed to DRM contend there is no evidence that DRM helps prevent copyright infringement, arguing instead that it serves only to inconvenience legitimate customers, and that DRM helps big business stifle innovation and competition. Furthermore, works can become permanently inaccessible if the DRM scheme changes or if the service is discontinued. DRM can also restrict users from exercising their legal rights under the copyright law, such as backing up copies of CDs or DVDs (instead having to buy another copy, if it can still be purchased), lending materials out through a library, accessing works in the public domain, or using copyrighted materials for research and education under the fair use doctrine, and under French law. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) consider the use of DRM systems to be an anti-competitive practice.
1. what does DRM stand for?
2. does it control access to technology?
3. what kind of works does it control access to?
4. does this include software?
5. can it affect the device itself?
6. is it widely accepted?
7. what do those who dislike it say there is no evidence of?
8. has it been compared to physical locks?
9. can it stop people from making copies of their cds?
10. what would happen if it goes away?
11. does it try to control how people use content?
12. what does it help businesses do?
Answer:
1. Digital rights management
2. yes
3. copyrighted
4. yes
5. yes
6. no
7. that it helps prevent copyright infringement
8. yes
9. yes
10. works can become permanently inaccessible
11. yes
12. stifle innovation and competition