Now read the text and find out some facts about Wikipedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Agnieszka Sękiewicz‑Magoń The Whole World at Your Finger

It is safe to say that there is hardly any student who at some point in their studies wouldn’t use Wikipedia or another encyclopaediaencyclopaediaencyclopaedia. Even though teachers have frowned uponfrowned upon [frown upon]frowned upon this source of information for years, it is still loved and frequently used by students (and many others) all over the world. Are you curious about how its story began?

Wikipedia officially started in 2001 as a feature of Nupedia.com, a free online encyclopaedia which operated like other existing publications of this kind. It had highly qualified contributorshighly qualified contributors [highly qualified contributor]highly qualified contributors and a very long verification process, aimed at achieving a level of quality comparable to professional encyclopaedias. Unlike its predecessorpredecessorpredecessor, Wikipedia is an ongoing project based on cooperation and openness, which means that anyone can join it at any given moment. It doesn’t use an editorial processeditorial processeditorial process, so anyone can editanyone can editanyone can edit the existing sites and articles. This volunteer projectvolunteer projectvolunteer project uses the so‑called wiki platformwiki platformwiki platform, a software which enables contributors to add or modify entriesentries [entry]entries simultaneouslysimultaneouslysimultaneously. Its main strength is that it gives people the ability to work collaboratively on the same document, and if there is any mistake or unwanted modification, it’s easy to revert to an earlier versionrevert to an earlier versionrevert to an earlier version. Wikipedia articles are sometimes too detailed, but it’s because they reflect the enthusiasm their anonymous authors show for the subject. It might be said that due to the digital shift and the rise of mass media culture, Wikipedia has emergedemerged [emerge]emerged as a crowdsourced alternativecrowdsourced alternativecrowdsourced alternative to traditional encyclopaedias like the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica is a highly respected reference workreference workreference work, as it contains carefully edited articles on a multitude of topics. Written by experts, it also provides extensive informationextensive informationextensive information on the history of countries. Many articles give referencesgive referencegive references to books and other sources about the topic covered, and are edited for length so as not to overwhelmoverwhelmoverwhelm a researcher with too much information. This is the oldest English reference bookreference bookreference book, whose content has been regularly revised and updated in order to meet Britannica’s long‑held standardslong‑held standards [long‑held standard]long‑held standards of reliabilityreliabilityreliability and accuracy of the factsaccuracy of the factsaccuracy of the facts. However, since its first 1768 publication in Scotland, its format has changed significantlysignificantlysignificantly, as nowadays we can enjoy its free online version, Britannica.com. In fact, when it was first launched, it was so popular that the site crashed several times because online traffic was too big. The free website caused the discontinuation of print publishing, making a 2010 version the last printed set. Over the years, Britannica has not only become a credible source of knowledgecredible source of knowledgecredible source of knowledge provided and fact‑checkedfact‑checked [fact‑check]fact‑checked by distinguished scholarsdistinguished scholars [distinguished scholar]distinguished scholars, but its content has also inspired a lot of products which are well‑known now, such as the bottle of a very popular company. When in 1915 the famous company announced a challenge for glass firms to design a distinctdistinctdistinct bottle, one employee brought Britannica’s illustration of the ribbedribbedribbed, middle‑bulgingmiddle‑bulgingmiddle‑bulging cocoa bean and that’s how the iconic bottle got its characteristic shape.

When compared to Britannica, Wikipedia is often criticised for its open‑source production model, which reportedly influences its credibilitycredibilitycredibility. Sceptics say that its self‑emerging expertiseself‑emerging expertiseself‑emerging expertise cannot be compared with peer‑reviewedpeer‑reviewedpeer‑reviewed, expert‑produced content of traditional encyclopaedias. Even though numerousnumerousnumerous studies have shown little difference in quality, breadthbreadthbreadth, and validity of the contentvalidity of the contentvalidity of the content between Britannica and Wikipedia, it is generally recommended to treat it as the first step of a research trip, which should help you move on to edited, encyclopaedias and other reference materials.

1 Źródło: Agnieszka Sękiewicz‑Magoń , [na podstawie:] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wikipedia [dostęp 13.03.2022], https://www.britannica.com/topic/Encyclopaedia-Britannica-English-language-reference-work [dostęp 13.03.2022], https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/category/reference-materials/dictionaries-and-encyclopedias/ [dostęp 13.03.2022], https://mashable.com/article/surprising-wikipedia-facts [dostęp 13.03.2022], https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/encyclopedia-hounds [dostęp 13.03.2022], licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.