| There is no source of reference remotely
| |
| | arduous and convoluted tale? Are works of
|
| as authoritative as the Encyclopaedia
| |
| | reference not self-supporting regardless
|
| Britannica. There is no brand as
| |
| | of the revenue model (subscription,
|
| venerable and as veteran as this mammoth
| |
| | ad-based, print, CD-ROM)? This might well
|
| labour of knowledge and ideas established
| |
| | be the case.
|
| in 1768. There is no better value for
| |
| | Classic works of reference - from Diderot
|
| money. And, after a few sputters and
| |
| | to the Encarta - offered a series of
|
| bugs, it now comes in all shapes and
| |
| | advantages to their users:
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| sizes, including two CD-ROM versions
| |
| | 1. Authority - Works of reference are
|
| (standard and deluxe) and an appealing
| |
| | authored by experts in their fields and
|
| and reader-friendly web site. So, why
| |
| | peer-reviewed. This ensures both
|
| does it always appear to be on the brink
| |
| | objectivity and accuracy.
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| of extinction?
| |
| | 2. Accessibility - Huge amounts of
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| The Britannica provides for an
| |
| | material were assembled under one "roof".
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| interesting study of the changing
| |
| | This abolished the need to scour numerous
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| fortunes (and formats) of vendors of
| |
| | sources of variable quality to obtain the
|
| reference. As late as a decade ago, it
| |
| | data one needed.
|
| was still selling in a leather-imitation
| |
| | 3. Organization - This pile of knowledge
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| bound set of 32 volumes. As print
| |
| | was organized in a convenient and
|
| encyclopaedias went, it was a daring
| |
| | recognizable manner (alphabetically or by
|
| innovator and a pioneer of
| |
| | subject)
|
| hyperlinked-like textual design. It
| |
| | Moreover, authoring an encyclopaedia was
|
| sported a subject index, a lexical part
| |
| | such a daunting and expensive task that
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| and an alphabetically arranged series of
| |
| | only states, academic institutions, or
|
| in-depth essays authored by the best in
| |
| | well-funded businesses were able to
|
| every field of human erudition.
| |
| | produce them. At any given period there
|
| When the CD-ROM erupted on the scene, the
| |
| | was a dearth of reliable encyclopaedias,
|
| Britannica mismanaged the transition. As
| |
| | which exercised a monopoly on the
|
| late as 1997, it was still selling a
| |
| | dissemination of knowledge. Competitors
|
| sordid text-only compact disc which
| |
| | were few and far between. The price of
|
| included a part of the encyclopaedia.
| |
| | these tomes was, therefore, always
|
| Only in 1998, did the Britannica switch
| |
| | exorbitant but people paid it to secure
|
| to multimedia and added tables and graphs
| |
| | education for their children and a fount
|
| to the CD. Video and sound were to make
| |
| | of knowledge at home. Hence the long gone
|
| their appearance even later. This error
| |
| | phenomenon of "door to door encyclopaedia
|
| in trend analysis left the field wide
| |
| | salesmen" and instalment plans.
|
| open to the likes of Encarta and Grolier.
| |
| | Yet, all these advantages were eroded to
|
| The Britannica failed to grasp the
| |
| | fine dust by the Internet. The web offers
|
| irreversible shift from cumbersome print
| |
| | a plethora of highly authoritative
|
| volumes to slender and freely searchable
| |
| | information authored and released by the
|
| CD-ROMs. Reference was going digital and
| |
| | leading names in every field of human
|
| the Britannica's sales plummeted.
| |
| | knowledge and endeavour. The Internet,
|
| The Britannica was also late to cash on
| |
| | is, in effect, an encyclopaedia - far
|
| the web revolution - but, when it did, it
| |
| | more detailed, far more authoritative,
|
| became a world leader overnight. Its
| |
| | and far more comprehensive that any
|
| unbeatable brand was a decisive factor. A
| |
| | encyclopaedia can ever hope to be. The
|
| failed experiment with an annoying
| |
| | web is also fully accessible and fully
|
| subscription model gave way to
| |
| | searchable. What it lacks in organization
|
| unrestricted access to the full contents
| |
| | it compensates in breadth and depth and
|
| of the Encyclopaedia and much more
| |
| | recently emergent subject portals
|
| besides: specially commissioned articles,
| |
| | (directories such as Yahoo! or The Open
|
| fora, an annotated internet guide, news
| |
| | Directory) have become the indices of the
|
| in context, downloads and shopping. The
| |
| | Internet. The aforementioned
|
| site enjoys healthy traffic and the
| |
| | anti-competition barriers to entry are
|
| Britannica's CD-ROM interacts
| |
| | gone: web publishing is cheap and
|
| synergistically with its contents
| |
| | immediate. Technologies such as web
|
| (through hyperlinks).
| |
| | communities, chat, and e-mail
|
| Yet, recently, the Britannica had to fire
| |
| | enablemassive collaborative efforts. And,
|
| hundreds of workers (in its web division)
| |
| | most important, the bulk of the Internet
|
| and a return to a pay-for-content model
| |
| | is free. Users pay only the communication
|
| is contemplated. What went wrong again?
| |
| | costs.
|
| Internet advertising did. The
| |
| | The long-heralded transition from free
|
| Britannica's revenue model was based on
| |
| | content to fee-based information may
|
| monetizing eyeballs, to use a faddish
| |
| | revive the fortunes of online reference
|
| refrain. When the perpetuum mobile of
| |
| | vendors. But as long as the Internet -
|
| "advertisers pay for content and users
| |
| | with its 2,000,000,000 (!) visible pages
|
| get it free" crumbled - the Britannica
| |
| | (and 5 times as many pages in its
|
| found itself in familiar dire straits.
| |
| | databases) - is free, encyclopaedias have
|
| Is there a lesson to be learned from this
| |
| | little by way of a competitive advantage.
|
