Re: [WikiEN-l] Stopping the presses: Britannica to stop printing books
On 14/03/2012, at 11:22 AM, phoebe ayers phoebe.w...@gmail.com wrote: I've been asked to write a short editorial about this development from a Wikipedian's perspective and am curious about (and would love to include) other Wikimedian experiences -- did you use print encyclopedias as a kid? Was a love of print encyclopedias part of your motivation or interest in becoming a Wikipedian? Is there any value in them still? Will you miss it? I remember the print encyclopedias on the shelf as a kid. I thought they were great, there was so much information on them. And then there was Encarta '97 on disc, with games and searchable content. Yes, search! I became a Wikipedian because I learned so much from it, and wanted to help out. But I'll never forget the trusty old encyclopedias. Steven Zhang Sent from my iPad ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
Re: [WikiEN-l] Stopping the presses: Britannica to stop printing books
On 03/13/12 5:22 PM, phoebe ayers wrote: On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 3:49 PM, Samuel Kleinmeta...@gmail.com wrote: 2010's 32-volume set will be its last. (Now I want to get one, to replace my old set!) Future versions will be digital only. I don't use it in print, haven't for years, and have been expecting something like this for a while, but am still surprisingly saddened by it too; there's something about the shelf of volumes that encapsulates the world's knowledge that sort of symbolizes the whole idea of a library to me. I've been asked to write a short editorial about this development from a Wikipedian's perspective and am curious about (and would love to include) other Wikimedian experiences -- did you use print encyclopedias as a kid? Was a love of print encyclopedias part of your motivation or interest in becoming a Wikipedian? Is there any value in them still? Will you miss it? cheers, -- phoebe I've always been a bookish person, even growing up in an environment where books were not featured. I do remember having a two-volume (perhaps the Columbia-Viking) when I was young, and still in primary school. I cherished it, and looked up a lot of different things in it. I don't think that my love of encyclopedias was a factor in becoming a Wikipedian. I think it was mostly a feeling that with all the books that I had already accumulated by 2002 I would be able to contribute something. It was much easier to contribute then. It was fun. I now have maybe a dozen encyclopedias, all acquired since 2002. My latest such addition was 7 volumes from the first American edition of The Edinburgh Encyclopædia from 1832. These older volumes remain important because of the depth they give to knowledge. Fully grasping a subject includes grasping its evolution unencumbered by the static snapshot verified in Wikipedia. This is much as described in the opening paragraphs of Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers. What these older volumes say will often be obsolete, and sometimes absurd, but that information remains a part of a subject's history. They include the mistakes which enable us to measure our success. The extent to which Wikipedia has burrowed into the modern psyche carries a responsibility that is both awesome and awful. Britannica, with all the faults we have acknowledged and through a couple bankruptcies, remained the prima facie source of information for 10 English-speaking generations. We have unseated them, and not only in English. Ray ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
Re: [WikiEN-l] Stopping the presses: Britannica to stop printing books
On 14 March 2012 00:22, phoebe ayers phoebe.w...@gmail.com wrote: I don't use it in print, haven't for years, and have been expecting something like this for a while, but am still surprisingly saddened by it too; there's something about the shelf of volumes that encapsulates the world's knowledge that sort of symbolizes the whole idea of a library to me. I've been asked to write a short editorial about this development from a Wikipedian's perspective and am curious about (and would love to include) other Wikimedian experiences -- did you use print encyclopedias as a kid? Was a love of print encyclopedias part of your motivation or interest in becoming a Wikipedian? Is there any value in them still? Will you miss it? Anecdotal data point: as a kid, I was a reference book nut, although never had a decent encyclopedia. My parents bought me a copy of the Guinness encyclopedia, a colourful one-volume title. 'Twas amazing, but very stubby. Philosophy got all of four pages, as did Christianity, the death penalty got half a page, and human rights got a whole page. 20th century theatre got a whole two pages, and 20th century cinema got the next two pages. The best bit was the scientific diagrams: really detailed, colourful drawings of car engines and different types of nuclear reactor. Thematic organisation was definitely one of the benefits of the encyclopedia: it started with 'The Universe' and described cosmology and the Big Bang and stars, and then moved on to the Earth and geology and volcanoes, and then trotted onto biology and medicine, detouring into economics, sociology and law, then onto engineering, then to religion and philosophy, then finally the arts: visual, musical and theatrical. I still keep it near my desk, but I have to admit, I usually grab my laptop or smartphone and go to Wikipedia or Wiktionary (even though my local library gives me Britannica access, and my university library gives me OED access - all the logging-in faff isn't worth it). -- Tom Morris http://tommorris.org/ ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
[WikiEN-l] Stopping the presses: Britannica to stop printing books
2010's 32-volume set will be its last. (Now I want to get one, to replace my old set!) Future versions will be digital only. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/after-244-years-encyclopaedia-britannica-stops-the-presses/?smid=tw-nytimesseid=auto http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/13/encyclopedia-britannica-halts-print-publication Britannica president Jorge Cauz notes that their revenue from the online encyclopedia was already 15x that of the print version -- 15% of their total, compared to 1%. Most of their revenue for years has come from other targeted educational materials. As he says in the Guardian, Today our digital database is much larger than what we can fit in the print set. And it is up to date because we can revise it within minutes anytime we need to, and we do it many times each day. SJ. ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
Re: [WikiEN-l] Stopping the presses: Britannica to stop printing books
2012/3/13 Samuel Klein meta...@gmail.com Today our digital database is much larger than what we can fit in the print set. And it is up to date because we can revise it within minutes anytime we need to, and we do it many times each day. Wow, they update the encyclopedia many times each day. ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
Re: [WikiEN-l] Stopping the presses: Britannica to stop printing books
On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 3:49 PM, Samuel Klein meta...@gmail.com wrote: 2010's 32-volume set will be its last. (Now I want to get one, to replace my old set!) Future versions will be digital only. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/after-244-years-encyclopaedia-britannica-stops-the-presses/?smid=tw-nytimesseid=auto http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/13/encyclopedia-britannica-halts-print-publication I don't use it in print, haven't for years, and have been expecting something like this for a while, but am still surprisingly saddened by it too; there's something about the shelf of volumes that encapsulates the world's knowledge that sort of symbolizes the whole idea of a library to me. I've been asked to write a short editorial about this development from a Wikipedian's perspective and am curious about (and would love to include) other Wikimedian experiences -- did you use print encyclopedias as a kid? Was a love of print encyclopedias part of your motivation or interest in becoming a Wikipedian? Is there any value in them still? Will you miss it? cheers, -- phoebe ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
