__NOTOC__ Title page of the New American edition of the (1899) (EB), the authoritative reference book first published in 1768, is planning to let readers edit its entries, , its president said Friday, as it battles to keep pace with online like  . The 241-year-old publication, Encyclopædia Britannica, is a general published by a privately held company, , and is the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still in print. The Britannica articles are directed at educated adult readers. First published between 1768 and 1771 in  , , it quickly grew in popularity and size, with its third edition in 1801 reaching over 21 volumes. In February 2007, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. said that it was working with to launch a mobile encyclopedia, to enable users to send questions via text messages. Replies would then be forwarded by AskMenow based on Britannicas' articles. Screen shot of Encyclopædia Britannica article on the front page of  on August 8, 2007 at 3:20 a.m. (eastern time). As Britannica is a business, the company needed to charge, and Web access to the archives cost $70 a year. In April 2008, "Britannica Webshare," a version of the online Encyclopaedia Britannica has been available for free, but only for Web publishers. The simple process requires signing up, giving a site URL, a description, and approval by the company. “This program is intended for people who publish with some regularity on the Internet, be they bloggers, webmasters, or writers. We reserve the right to deny participation to anyone who in our judgment doesn’t qualify,” said . In June 2008, Britannica announced an initiative to facilitate collaboration between online expert and amateur scholarly contributors for Britannica's on-line content (in the spirit of a ), with editorial oversight from Britannica staff. According to its statement titled "Britannica's New Site: More Participation, Collaboration from Experts and Readers," approved contributions would be credited, though contributing automatically grants Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. perpetual, irrevocable license to those contributions. has, however, reported that it became clear how steep of a climb Britannica faces. "Wikipedia received a massive 97 percent share of the online encyclopedia market or visits U.S. Web surfers made to online encyclopedias last week," Web monitoring company said Friday. "MSN was second with 1.27 percent of visits, followed by Encyclopedia.com (0.76 percent), Fact Monster (0.72 percent) and, in fifth place, Britannica.com (0.57 percent). Britannica.com's share of U.S. visits dropped 53 percent last month compared with December 2007," Hitwise added. While Britannica.com has 1.5 million visitors per day, Wikipedia attracts about six million, The Times reported. Hitwise also said that as of last week, Wikipedia ranked the 13th-most-visited site on the Web overall, while Britannica.com was 2,349th. The essential difference is Wikipedia does not charge any fee, while Britannica.com requires a paid subscription for access of some contents. Britannica, however, is issuing a "Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Edition" - the £40 2009 DVD edition of its famous print encyclopaedia. "One of the big questions still on the table is whether Britannica will open its content or maintain its premium membership paid wall. In order to compete with Wikipedia in the Google [search results], Britannica needs to build up inbound links. If content is locked up behind the paid content walls, people will be much more likely to link to other websites with free content -- such as that available on Wikipedia," Hitwise analyst Heather Hopkins noted. A Picture of (current chairman emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation) used in the 2008 Fundraiser Campaign Wikipedia, a not-for-profit collaborative online encyclopedia, in its Wikipedia Foundation's recent drive for public donations, had aimed to raise $ US6 million over the course of six months. On January 1, "it had met the target, from more than 125,000 donors," said  head honcho and co-founder  . He has invoked Wikipedia's "free-culture movement", and its mission "to bring free knowledge to the planet, free of charge and free of advertising". In just the latest incidents in a long and rich history of vandalism since its 2001 launch, and Apple's CEO  , among others, have also been falsely reported as dead on Wikipedia. Wiki means "fast" in Hawaiian and it certainly is, even amid subtle vandalism, since anyone can amend its 2.7m entries. Wikipedia has long struggled with such prankery, and has ever since worked closely with its community to overcome it without adopting harsh protections. Wales issued a statement requesting implementation of the extension: “To the Wikimedia Foundation: per the poll of the English Wikipedia community and upon my personal recommendation, please turn on the flagged revisions feature as approved in the poll.” But the community response was further debate. An organization chart for the  as of 11 January 2008. As of February 2, his request hasn't been implemented. Others have argued that practical considerations should prevent a change that could result in a large backlog of unreviewed edits. "Flagged revisions will suffocate under its own weight," claimed administrator DragonflySixtyseven. Still other Wikipedian editors further argue that the current system works just fine. Wikimedia Board members (from left) Devouard, Ting Chen, Domas Mituzas, executive secretary, and current Chair on Opening Ceremony in WM 2008,  "Now seems an excellent time for Wikipedia to pause and take stock. It has proved the surprising wisdom of crowds as well as their utter idiocy. Its challenge now is to harness the enthusiasm of those volunteers while becoming a more reliable, better written source. And at some point, surely, its founders might want to turn it into a commercial venture. As almost said: "No one but a blockhead ever edited, excepted for money," said , a  freelance journalist and novelist. Map showing existing and planned Wikimedia local chapters through December 2007. Dark blue is existing chapters, Green is Planned chapters, Light blue is Chapters in discussion.
__NOTOC__ Title page of the New American edition of the (1899) (EB), the authoritative reference book first published in 1768, is planning to let readers edit its entries, , its president said Friday, as it battles to keep pace with online like Wikipedia . The 241-year-old publication, Encyclopædia Britannica, is a general published by a privately held company, , and is the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still in print. The Britannica articles are directed at educated adult readers. First published between 1768 and 1771 in Edinburgh, Scotland , it quickly grew in popularity and size, with its third edition in 1801 reaching over 21 volumes. In February 2007, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. said that it was working with to launch a mobile encyclopedia, to enable users to send questions via text messages. Replies would then be forwarded by AskMenow based on Britannicas' articles. Screen shot of Encyclopædia Britannica article on the front page of Wikipedia on August 8, 2007 at 3:20 a.m. (eastern time). As Britannica is a business, the company needed to charge, and Web access to the archives cost $70 a year. In April 2008, "Britannica Webshare," a version of the online Encyclopaedia Britannica has been available for free, but only for Web publishers. The simple process requires signing up, giving a site URL, a description, and approval by the company. “This program is intended for people who publish with some regularity on the Internet, be they bloggers, webmasters, or writers. We reserve the right to deny participation to anyone who in our judgment doesn’t qualify,” said . In June 2008, Britannica announced an initiative to facilitate collaboration between online expert and amateur scholarly contributors for Britannica's on-line content (in the spirit of a ), with editorial oversight from Britannica staff. According to its statement titled "Britannica's New Site: More Participation, Collaboration from Experts and Readers," approved contributions would be credited, though contributing automatically grants Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. perpetual, irrevocable license to those contributions. has, however, reported that it became clear how steep of a climb Britannica faces. "Wikipedia received a massive 97 percent share of the online encyclopedia market or visits U.S. Web surfers made to online encyclopedias last week," Web monitoring company said Friday. "MSN was second with 1.27 percent of visits, followed by Encyclopedia.com (0.76 percent), Fact Monster (0.72 percent) and, in fifth place, Britannica.com (0.57 percent). Britannica.com's share of U.S. visits dropped 53 percent last month compared with December 2007," Hitwise added. While Britannica.com has 1.5 million visitors per day, Wikipedia attracts about six million, The Times reported. Hitwise also said that as of last week, Wikipedia ranked the 13th-most-visited site on the Web overall, while Britannica.com was 2,349th. The essential difference is Wikipedia does not charge any fee, while Britannica.com requires a paid subscription for access of some contents. Britannica, however, is issuing a "Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Edition" - the £40 2009 DVD edition of its famous print encyclopaedia. "One of the big questions still on the table is whether Britannica will open its content or maintain its premium membership paid wall. In order to compete with Wikipedia in the Google [search results], Britannica needs to build up inbound links. If content is locked up behind the paid content walls, people will be much more likely to link to other websites with free content -- such as that available on Wikipedia," Hitwise analyst Heather Hopkins noted. A Picture of Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales (current chairman emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation) used in the 2008 Fundraiser Campaign Wikipedia, a not-for-profit collaborative online encyclopedia, in its Wikipedia Foundation's recent drive for public donations, had aimed to raise $ US6 million over the course of six months. On January 1, "it had met the target, from more than 125,000 donors," said Wikipedia head honcho and co-founder Jimmy Wales . He has invoked Wikipedia's "free-culture movement", and its mission "to bring free knowledge to the planet, free of charge and free of advertising". In just the latest incidents in a long and rich history of vandalism since its 2001 launch, and Apple's CEO Steve Jobs , among others, have also been falsely reported as dead on Wikipedia. Wiki means "fast" in Hawaiian and it certainly is, even amid subtle vandalism, since anyone can amend its 2.7m entries. Wikipedia has long struggled with such prankery, and has ever since worked closely with its community to overcome it without adopting harsh protections. Wales issued a statement requesting implementation of the extension: “To the Wikimedia Foundation: per the poll of the English Wikipedia community and upon my personal recommendation, please turn on the flagged revisions feature as approved in the poll.” But the community response was further debate. An organization chart for the Wikimedia Foundation as of 11 January 2008. As of February 2, his request hasn't been implemented. Others have argued that practical considerations should prevent a change that could result in a large backlog of unreviewed edits. "Flagged revisions will suffocate under its own weight," claimed administrator DragonflySixtyseven. Still other Wikipedian editors further argue that the current system works just fine. Wikimedia Board members (from left) Devouard, Ting Chen, Domas Mituzas, executive secretary, and current Chair on Opening Ceremony in WM 2008, Alexandria "Now seems an excellent time for Wikipedia to pause and take stock. It has proved the surprising wisdom of crowds as well as their utter idiocy. Its challenge now is to harness the enthusiasm of those volunteers while becoming a more reliable, better written source. And at some point, surely, its founders might want to turn it into a commercial venture. As almost said: "No one but a blockhead ever edited, excepted for money," said , a British freelance journalist and novelist. Map showing existing and planned Wikimedia local chapters through December 2007. Dark blue is existing chapters, Green is Planned chapters, Light blue is Chapters in discussion.
A
Wikipedia
A
Edinburgh, Scotland
D
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A
Wikipedia
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$70 a year. In April 2008, "Britannica Webshare," a version of the online Encyclopaedia Britannica has been available for free, but only for Web publishers. The simple process requires signing up, giving a site URL, a description, and approval by the company. “This program is intended for people who publish with some regularity on the Internet, be they bloggers, webmasters, or writers. We reserve the right to deny participation to anyone who in our judgment doesn’t qualify,” said . In June 2008, Britannica announced an initiative to facilitate collaboration between online expert and amateur scholarly contributors for Britannica's on-line content (in the spirit of a ), with editorial oversight from Britannica staff. According to its statement titled "Britannica's New Site: More Participation, Collaboration from Experts and Readers," approved contributions would be credited, though contributing automatically grants Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. perpetual, irrevocable license to those contributions. has, however, reported that it became clear how steep of a climb Britannica faces. "Wikipedia received a massive 97 percent share of the online encyclopedia market or visits U.S. Web surfers made to online encyclopedias last week," Web monitoring company said Friday. "MSN was second with 1.27 percent of visits, followed by Encyclopedia.com (0.76 percent), Fact Monster (0.72 percent) and, in fifth place, Britannica.com (0.57 percent). Britannica.com's share of U.S. visits dropped 53 percent last month compared with December 2007," Hitwise added. While Britannica.com has 1.5 million visitors per day, Wikipedia attracts about six million, The Times reported. Hitwise also said that as of last week, Wikipedia ranked the 13th-most-visited site on the Web overall, while Britannica.com was 2,349th. The essential difference is Wikipedia does not charge any fee, while Britannica.com requires a paid subscription for access of some contents. Britannica, however, is issuing a "Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Edition" - the £40 2009 DVD edition of its famous print encyclopaedia. "One of the big questions still on the table is whether Britannica will open its content or maintain its premium membership paid wall. In order to compete with Wikipedia in the Google [search results], Britannica needs to build up inbound links. If content is locked up behind the paid content walls, people will be much more likely to link to other websites with free content -- such as that available on Wikipedia," Hitwise analyst Heather Hopkins noted. A Picture of (current chairman emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation) used in the 2008 Fundraiser Campaign Wikipedia, a not-for-profit collaborative online encyclopedia, in its Wikipedia Foundation's recent drive for public donations, had aimed to raise $
$70 a year. In April 2008, "Britannica Webshare," a version of the online Encyclopaedia Britannica has been available for free, but only for Web publishers. The simple process requires signing up, giving a site URL, a description, and approval by the company. “This program is intended for people who publish with some regularity on the Internet, be they bloggers, webmasters, or writers. We reserve the right to deny participation to anyone who in our judgment doesn’t qualify,” said . In June 2008, Britannica announced an initiative to facilitate collaboration between online expert and amateur scholarly contributors for Britannica's on-line content (in the spirit of a ), with editorial oversight from Britannica staff. According to its statement titled "Britannica's New Site: More Participation, Collaboration from Experts and Readers," approved contributions would be credited, though contributing automatically grants Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. perpetual, irrevocable license to those contributions. has, however, reported that it became clear how steep of a climb Britannica faces. "Wikipedia received a massive 97 percent share of the online encyclopedia market or visits U.S. Web surfers made to online encyclopedias last week," Web monitoring company said Friday. "MSN was second with 1.27 percent of visits, followed by Encyclopedia.com (0.76 percent), Fact Monster (0.72 percent) and, in fifth place, Britannica.com (0.57 percent). Britannica.com's share of U.S. visits dropped 53 percent last month compared with December 2007," Hitwise added. While Britannica.com has 1.5 million visitors per day, Wikipedia attracts about six million, The Times reported. Hitwise also said that as of last week, Wikipedia ranked the 13th-most-visited site on the Web overall, while Britannica.com was 2,349th. The essential difference is Wikipedia does not charge any fee, while Britannica.com requires a paid subscription for access of some contents. Britannica, however, is issuing a "Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Edition" - the £40 2009 DVD edition of its famous print encyclopaedia. "One of the big questions still on the table is whether Britannica will open its content or maintain its premium membership paid wall. In order to compete with Wikipedia in the Google [search results], Britannica needs to build up inbound links. If content is locked up behind the paid content walls, people will be much more likely to link to other websites with free content -- such as that available on Wikipedia," Hitwise analyst Heather Hopkins noted. A Picture of Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales (current chairman emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation) used in the 2008 Fundraiser Campaign Wikipedia, a not-for-profit collaborative online encyclopedia, in its Wikipedia Foundation's recent drive for public donations, had aimed to raise $
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Wikipedia
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Jimmy Wales
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Steve Jobs
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Wikimedia Foundation
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Alexandria
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British