[Foundation-l] Britannica became free

[Delirium]

David Gerard wrote:
> (A tangential note: I consider NPOV to be our most important
> innovation - much more radical than merely letting anyone edit your
> encyclopedia. The concept of "neutrality" has existed in various
> guises, but not like Wikipedia does it, with the consequences it has
> as a source of information for the world.)

I guess I don't really agree on this--- it's been the trend in reference 
works for decades to split tertiary reference material (neutral 
summaries of scholarly consensus, published as encyclopedias) from 
critical surveys and novel arguments (published in journals or as 
non-reference books). The trend was becoming dominant by at least the 
1970s I'd say; a good example of the modern encyclopedia in this style 
is the [[Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire]] (published 1971-1992) 
which explicitly aims for a neutral summary of scholarly consensus on 
each of its subjects, which scholars can all use as a reference point. 
(Where scholars disagree, it simply notes that fact, sometimes 
summarizing each side's argument.)

-Mark