Suw's blog post headline says it all. Wikipedia will always be better than Britannica as long as the wiki's free and Britannica isn't. After all, if we've got a digital divide in hardware how much bigger is that divide with online goods, credit card use and children (who don't have money or credit cards to pay for it?). Case closed.
September 14, 2006
Ewan McIntosh
I help create the most beautiful schools in the world, inside and out
The comparisons between Encyclopaedia Britannica and Wikipedia are very interesting.
Encyclopaedia Britannica never thought that an open source product like Wikipedia would seriously challenge the credibility of its brand. They were wrong and Encyclopaedia Britannica's staff seriously misread the global market. They are now very concerned about the widespread use of a free Wikipedia vs their paid subscription model. Industry analysis shows that the accuracy of both encyclopedic databases is similar.
It is interesting that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is developing a new search engine. It is the combination of a) improved search engines and b) the success of Wikipedia that has put financial pressure on Encyclopedia Britannica over recent years. Many institutions and individuals are questioning the need to pay to subscribe to Encyclopaedia Britannica when the content is free on the internet. Google even has free direct links to Encyclopaedia Britannica's main database !!
Posted by: Dan | April 08, 2007 at 10:37 AM