END OF AN ERA: Watch Out Wikipedia, There’s an ‘Old Kid’ on the Broadband Block
By Terry Miller
In a report published by the Los Angeles Times Wednesday, the world’s oldest and most trusted encyclopaedia, Brittanica, is finally going digital.
The iconicThe Encyclopaedia Britannica, maker of the 32-volume reference set school children turned to before there was even a hint of what we now call Google, will no longer publish a print publication.
The company which announced the historic decision Tuesday said a “digital-only encyclopedia is easier (and cheaper) to update, and it doesn’t have physical space constraints, so editors will no longer have to decide what articles have to be cut when new articles need to be added.”
Not everyone is happy about the decision, however. And many educators feel that rerliance on the computer if far too commonplace and that students need to go to a bricks and mortar library to study.
Accoprding to the Times “The editors of the Encylopaedia Britannica anticipated the heartbreak the announcement might cause with a blog post titled “Change. It’s Okay. Really.