Marcin Legeżyński The Two Options in the World of Information

In the era of numerous fake news and unchecked sourcesunchecked sources [unchecked source]unchecked sources, objective informationobjective informationobjective information is something that more and more people need. Among many available encyclopaedic publicationsencyclopaedic publications [encyclopaedic publication]encyclopaedic publications, two are particularly popular and used by thousands of researchers, students and other people all over the world.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia, the most successful online encyclopaediaencyclopaediaencyclopaedia was started in 2001. It is created by volunteerscreated by volunteers created by volunteers. Anyone may register as an editor at this voluntary projectvoluntary projectvoluntary project and start contributingcontributing [contribute]contributing to it. You can create and access information for free, however, sometimes it means that the articles are not objectiveobjectiveobjective. Not all the contributors are knowledge expertsknowledge experts [knowledge expert]knowledge experts and some entriesentries [entry]entries are considered unreliableconsidered unreliable [consider unreliable]considered unreliable. Also, although Wikipedia’s articlesarticles [article]articles are usually longer and more detailed than in other encyclopaedias, their sources are not always given, which may be a disadvantage. For this reason, some universities don't let their students use Wikipedia as a referencereferencereference. Another disadvantage of Wikipedia is that its entries sometimes show too much enthusiasm of their anonymous authorsanonymous authors [anonymous author]anonymous authors on controversial topics. Although the project editors must demonstrate a neutral point of viewneutral point of viewneutral point of view, some people think there is biasbiasbias in Wikipedia’s content.

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Encyclopaedia Britannica, on the other hand, is more traditional in gathering and publishing information. The publication, paper‑basedpaper‑basedpaper‑based at the beginning, moved to the Internet and currently no new paper editions are published. It can be used at no cost in its basic version. Users keen on a paid subscriptionpaid subscriptionpaid subscription will have access to full versions of all articles and an additional smartphone app, quizzes to check their knowledge and other extras. Britannica’s articles are carefully editedcarefully edited [carefully edit]carefully edited by well‑known authors. They are written in an objective tone and are quite short. Also, all sources are always given and they have full referencesfull references [full reference]full references. Therefore, some schools and universities allow their students to use Britannica to find general information. Controversial topicscontroversial topics [controversial topic]Controversial topics are described with caution and editors employ famous experts.

1 Źródło: Marcin Legeżyński, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.