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*