[WikiEN-l] Germany's Brockhaus Encyclopedia goes online

[Keith Old]

G'day folks,

Deutsche Welle reports that Germany's Brockhaus encyclopedia will go online
and be supported by advertising.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3125497,00.html

 The German encyclopedia publisher Brockhaus said it would place its
reference works on the Internet to offset falling revenues. Unlike popular
reference work Wikipedia, it will be ad-sponsored and professionally edited.

It's the paper death of a classic. The German publisher Brockhaus has been
printing its encyclopedias for nearly 200 years, and anyone who's had the
money has boasted a collection of the handsome works on their bookshelves
for all the world to admire.



But the Internet has been a thorn in Brockhaus' side years now, forcing the
company to reevaluate its strategy. The German version of the democratic
digital reference work Wikipedia has been seen as cutting into Brockhaus'
profits.



"Though official figures are not yet out for 2007, we can expect losses of
around several million euros," a Brockhaus spokesperson said earlier this
week.



(more in link)



Regards





*Keith Old*