Wikipedia has long been the big chief as far as online encyclopaedias are concerned but there are two companies with long histories of archiving and presenting searchable information who are looking to grab themselves a bigger piece of the action.The current encyclopaedia king
Wikipedia has dominated the online encyclopaedia market for years now thanks to its model of user submitted articles that are open to anyone to update or change. This model has undoubtedly made it a useful, regularly updated resource for casual research but serious scholars, journalists or researchers rarely cite it as a reference.
The challengers
Encyclopaedia Britannica: The 240 year old publication has announced plans to open its online encyclopaedia to user submissions. Britannica's director of Corporate Communications, Tom Panelas, previously described Wikipedia as having many articles which were "inaccurate, poorly written, long and bloated, or laden with bias and spin" as a result of its open system of contributions.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica, which has been online since 1994, was once a free internet resource but it changed to a subscription service a few years ago. It now plans to have three categories of content; content from the existing Britannica expert community, content from users and finally "Checked by Britannica" status content which will include content from the first two but with the official Britannica stamp of approval. This should allow Britannica to increase the frequency of updates and amount of content created whilst keeping its reputation as a valuable source of authoritative information.
Contributors to the encyclopaedia will be credited and Britannica have also promised a rewards system. Whether or not Britannica will dump their subscription system is unclear but could prove the most important decision they make with this new project.
Knol: Google announced its Knol project in late 1997. The pages they expect to publish are described by Google on their official blog as "the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read".
The idea behind Knol is that each article will be written by a single author who will be credited. It will only be possible to update the information with permission from the author. Anyone with a Google account will be able to rate or comment on the article (known also as a Knol).
Developing a site which creates content rather than just organises it might seem an unusual and possibly aggressive step for Google, whose goal is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" but Google already owns YouTube and Blogger, both platforms for users to create, publish and monetize their own content. Google plans to allow authors the potential to make money by utilizing Adsense advertising beside their articles. It would appear that Google are attempting to take back another inch of their organic search real estate but at the same time provide a useful free resource for internet users.
The future occupant of the throne
So, with two big commercial ventures looming on the horizon, are Wikipedia's days numbered? It seems likely that some of their market share will be eroded, more so if Britannica allows full access to everyone for free. However, the open source nature of Wikipedia is something users love about it and its other big strengths, its up-to-date nature and sheer volume of information will be hard for even Google or Britannica to compete with.
