Encyclopedia Britannica Will No Longer Go Out on a Paper
Publishers of the oldest English-language Encyclopedia Britannica Universal made the final decision to abandon the paper edition and focus on the online version.Leaflet brought only losses due to the inability to compete with free and accessible, “Wikipedia.” Now the company Encyclopaedia Britannica, owned by the American publishing concern Merriam-Webster, will focus on on-line encyclopedias and educational programs for schools.
The last paper edition of the “Encyclopaedia Britannica” will be the set of 32 volumes, weighing nearly 60 pounds and cost in 1395 dollars, which was released in 2010, according to BBC News with reference to the Media Decoder - blog on the website of the newspaper The New York Times.
“It’s a rite of passage into a new era – said in an interview with Jorge Kahuzi, located in Chicago, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. – Some people feel a connection with this sadness and nostalgia. But we now have a more suitable tool. World Wide Web is continuously updated, It is much more extensive and includes multimedia. ”
Kahuzi sure that the Internet Britannica will successfully compete with the “Wikipedia“. Strengths of the encyclopedia with a long history – authoritative sources, carefully edited articles and trust, which is a familiar brand.
Britannica, he said, will be less and will not be following the example of competitors from the “Wikipedia”, try to create an article on each existing in the world of cartoon character or every love affair of each celebrity. ”Britannica will not be as big, but it will always contain the true facts,” – he said.
The story of one of the oldest encyclopedia in the world started in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1768. Its main feature was to be the first alphabetical arrangement of material and attention to everyday, practical issues. Among the first authors of Encyclopaedia Britannica were the thinkers of his time as Benjamin Franklin, William Locke and others
Subsequently, the publishers of the materials ordered for her outstanding figures of his time. Thus, among the authors appear Encyclopedia Walter Scott and Thomas Malthus, Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein, Gilbert Keith Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw.
Since then, Encyclopedia reissued regularly, over time becoming the largest international information project. Besides the main edition, part of the Britannica is the annual supplement, a variety of atlases and dictionaries.
Solid backs with gold lettering became a symbol of not only the consistency – Encyclopedia has never been cheaper – but also respect for knowledge. However, in the internet age has changed everything. C 2009 by experts and selected readers can fill up already in the encyclopedia article and propose new ones. However, in contrast to “popular online encyclopedia,” to supplement their articles and texts used in the Britannica’s own materials are allowed only a small circle of people.
