[Wikipedia-l] de:Wikipedia edges out Britannica (among others)

[Mark Williamson]

What about Pokémon? Did we beat all the other encyclopedias at Pokémon? ;p

--node

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 09:52:06 -0400, Sj <2.718281828 at gmail.com> wrote:
> The de: Wikipedia recently underwent its second professional content
> test, this time overseen by Die Zeit, Germany's leading weekly
> newspaper.  And friends, this "popular dispenser of knowledge on the
> Internet", this "desert of text", is HOT.  While it is "completely
> without [multi]media" and "does not support complex search queries",
> it "stands in first place when it comes to text content," receiving
> top aggregate marks in three broad content categories -- Natural
> Science and Technology, Humanities and Social Science, and Culture --
> matched only by Encarta Professional.  Moreover, its "lead in current
> events is a mile wide".
> 
> This review was longer than the c't review -- seven terms in each of
> 21 fields -- but the article was shorter and less detailed.  Die ZEIT
> was kind enough to extend the comparison to include both smaller
> German encyclopedias (Data Becker, aimed at a younger audience, and
> Universallexikon) and the English-language Britannica 2005 DVD.
> Britannica, she of the "legendary 32-volume set,"  took top marks in
> the sciences, but fell down when it came to sports and, most notably,
> current events.  All the same, "the 165,000 well-sorted Web links
> alone are worth the price".
> 
> As to that perennial bugbear, editorial responsibility, the reviewers
> tackle it with bold eloquence:
> 
>     "Those concerned with the quality of [Wikipedia] articles,
>    because no established editorship takes responsibility for
>    them, can rest at ease: we had most of the Wikipedia articles
>    we examined judged separately by specialists in their
>    respective fields, and they were thoroughly done. The texts
>    still have gaps here and there, but they make up for it
>    elsewhere with precise and detailed descriptions. And
>    everyone can engage himself as a gap-filler: clicking on the
>    link "edit this article" makes the reader an author."
> 
> It's enough to make me want to be a first-time author all over again.
> 
> Original article : http://www.zeit.de/2004/43/C-Enzyklop_8adien-Test
> (English translation available onli^B^B^B^B on request.)
> 
> --
> +sj+
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