Internet 101: Encyclopedias 4 U

Encyclopedias 4 U

The easiest way to find online encyclopedias is just http://www.google.com/ " online encyclopedias " . Most of the better ones are there. Most give brief articles as a teaser and want you to pay for ongoing access or buy DVDs or hard cover versions.These wonderful resources are for students AND teachers. The online subscriptions feature lesson planning ideas plus current event news and opinion that is very hard to beat and hard to ignore.

If you need an encyclopedia consider buying their disks. Britannica's is only 50 bucks. There are three entire encyclopedia versions included: adult, student, child. The print version is $1395.00 Imagine, too, the entire Encyclopedia Britannica online as a subscription for $69.00 or Britannica and the Unabridged Merriam-Webster Dictionary for only $85 a year. http://www.britannica.com/

Another fine choice is Encarta. http://encarta.msn.com/ It too has DVD and subscriptions. Hey, $30 a year isn't bad.

For youngsters and adults this one has excellent country information and so much more. http://www.worldbook.com/ . Their entire encyclopedia is on disc for $23.
That is about all for encyclopedias. Just imagine, with any modern computer, encyclopedia DVDs and an Internet connection, broadband is a must for some of the movie clips, you have a window on the world that entire libraries of the past could not offer. The information age is certainly here.

BEWARE, some of the discs are NOT compatible with Windows Vista. This will change of course but for now... One more note, a brief rant.

I try to steer clear of the Wikipedia for a number of reasons. The most important reason for me is the lack of credibility which they offhandedly mention on their own site. The following are two quotes from their site, http://wikipedia.com/ .

From the main page, " Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. "

From their page About Wikipedia, " Because Wikipedia is an on-going work to which in principle anybody can contribute, it differs from a paper-based reference source in some very important ways. In particular, older articles tend to be more comprehensive and balanced, while newer articles may still contain significant misinformation, content, or vandalism. Users need to be aware of this in order to obtain valid information and avoid misinformation which has been recently added and not yet removed. "

While the above recognized encyclopedias have articles written by noted authorities with peer reviews and professional editors, Wikipedia does not even pretend to. This is the case with any "open" information source. Caveat emptor seems to be their motto.

When this site first came out I wrote google suggesting they buy their own encyclopedia and give it the highest weighting when the search query called for an encyclopedia. Google did not take my suggestion and Wikipedia is often at the top of searches.

Use caution with it. Sure casual searches are OK but when you need an authority, my suggestion is to go with the recognized leaders in the encyclopedia business, Britannica, Encarta and World Book.