Engaging Britannica
Posted by: Rebecca Vnuk
During Booklist‘s ”Power to the User: Interactive Online Reference Sources” webinar held on June 1, Michael Ross of Encyclopaedia Britannica talked about ways in which users can, in some cases, contribute to the content of Britannica (a development that Barbara Bibel reported on in our 2008 Encyclopedia Update.) A webinar attendee asked whether opening up the site to more general submissions would damage Britannica as an authoritative source. Here is Ross’s reply:
There is nothing “Wikipedia-like” about the process we have put in place for submissions to our editors. Only Britannica editors can change or make additions to Britannica content. Even our most prominent authors—such as President Bill Clinton, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and Condoleezza Rice—do not have direct access to their articles once they are displayed in the Britannica database. They do, however, have access to their own “workspace,” where they can edit their work, share it with others, or eventually submit it to the editors for final review. All contributors have the same access to their individual workspaces and submit their work to the editors in the same way.
Also, only Britannica programmers can make changes in the code or design.
With a variety of sophisticated editing tools, we are making it easier for users and contributors to engage with Britannica content, to create documents for their own use or for sharing; and, if they think they have a unique contribution to make, they can submit their work to our editors for possible inclusion in the actual product. The kinds of submissions we receive run the gamut from what the contributor may think is an error to a comprehensive article on a new subject.
You can find a complete archive of the Webinar on the Booklist Online Webinars page. If you didn’t attend on June 1-or even if you did–feel free to submit questions to the presenters by commenting on this post.
