Comments on: Britannica makes content free with widgets, publisher registration

Venerable encyclopedia publisher is staging its comeback--at least for its brand--with free online access for Web publishers, a Twitter stream, and blog-friendly widgets.

[Philips]

Who cares?

In modern Internet, Wikipedia is The Encyclopedia.

Britannica might be more accurate or something, but unfortunately, Wikipedia links to Internet, while Britannica links only to itself.

End result is that bias of Wikipedia is very easy to spot and to check. Spotting bias or inaccuracy in Britannica? - well, good luck.

If nothing else, Wikipedia is good starting point for any research. Britannica will need years and years to integrate with Internet where more or less all information turned out to be.

[ghostofitpast]

Wikipedia is not EB

Presumably, you know that there is a lot more to the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA than a very large number of well-written (and edited) articles by authoritative sources all alphabetized by topic and internally-cross referenced. That part is the "Micropaedia." What Wikipedia does not provide (and probably sees no reason to do so) is a "Propaedia," which is basically an outline of all the knowledge covered by the "Micropaedia," thus providing a structural framework for the entire contents, which, for example, facilitates identifying related topic areas not explicitly mentioned in the "Micropaedia" entries." Finally, there is the "Macropaedia," which is a collection of expository articles intended to provide a "big picture" view of a topic area to be read before digging into the details of the "Micropaedia." (By the way there are Wikipedia entries for all three of these components!)

At the risk of sounding to reductive, I would suggest that Wikipedia has become one of the better ways to get straightforward answers to straightforward questions; but, if you really want to LEARN about something (particularly something highly unfamiliar to you), you need the kind of resource that the full BRITANNICA package provides.

[gsmiller88]

Look at the ads!

While I was on the "article" of the tabby cat, I counted 4 ads (not
counting the ones to buy Britannica) and 3 of those ContentAd
links. Wonder if it's any better with a subscription...