Encyclopedia Britannica (EB) seems to have decided that the general public might just be a useful resource for gathering the knowledge of the world. Several years ago they were none too happy with Nature’s evidence-based claim that Wikipedia was no less reliable than their expert authored and peer reviewed encyclopedia. At the time they outright rejected Nature’s claims and demanded a retraction of the article on Nature’s study.
EB’s approach will be very different than Wikipedia’s. Hardly surprising since EB is not Wikipedia and does not want to be Wikipedia – and rightly so. It will certainly be interesting to see what sort of effect this has on EB.
Meanwhile, more and more educators are finding ways to use Wikipedia. Here’s an interesting article on one educator’s experience. A lot of the experiments of this type that I’ve been coming across involve higher education students. I see no reason why this couldn’t be done with others, including elementary, upper-secondary students, and especially students (at all levels) in developing regions. This is an exceptional and very real way to develop an understanding of the social aspects of information and knowledge development.
Tryggvi Thayer, Ph.D.
Usage Rights
