[WikiEN-l] Watch out Wikipedia, here comes Britannica 2.0

[David Gerard]

2009/1/22 Keith Old <keithold at gmail.com>:

> "In a move to take on Wikipedia, the *Encyclopedia Britannica* is inviting
> the hoi polloi to edit, enhance and contribute to its online version.


http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/22/1336241

I found this anonymous Slashdot comment interesting:


===
That's exactly the problem, and one which the Britannica guy doesn't
get. I'm only minimally interested in what some expert at Britannica
thinks is the right answer, and a bunch of citations back to the print
version of their encyclopedia as justification is useless.

It's the plethora of sources in the Wikipedia articles that are most
valuable. I know the Wikipedia article is a cobbled together opinion
that might be worthless and even wrong. So what? I can read the cited
sources and form my own opinion, an option which Britannica doesn't
really offer. They think they are their own authority and that their
readers can end their investigation there because of the high quality.
Sorry, that's stupid. Real research doesn't work that way. The days of
"proof by authority" are rapidly fading. "[Citation needed]" is the
way that real science has always worked, and most other subjects. You
figure it out for yourself by reviewing what has already been done,
and you back up your claims. It isn't perfect, but it is much better
than no citations or "because we're Britannica!"

Even if Britannica does pop up in Google's search results I usually
don't bother looking, because I know it probably won't tell me
anything I don't already know. Meanwhile the Wikipedia article
probably cites the most relevant and recent papers, and maybe even has
a link to a PDF of it or another relevant website. I can dig deeper.
The citations are weak in Britannica.

Google's ranking is appropriate because it reflects the fact that
people link to the Wikipedia articles more, probably because those
articles really are more useful as a starting point for research.
===


- d.