SAN DIEGO, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Remember when you used an encyclopedia
to write school reports? Now check out what your kids will be using.
Nupedia.com ( http://www.nupedia.com ), an Open Content encyclopedia
project started last February, is threatening to become the dominant
encyclopedia reference of the 21st century, displacing ordinary proprietary
encyclopedias in the same way that the open source operating system, Linux, is
threatening to displace Windows. Nupedia's successful efforts at recruitment
of volunteer editors and writers and at the design of a functioning editorial
system are more illustrations of the success of the Open Source/Open Content
movement. And another reason for Microsoft to fear that movement.
The online encyclopedia project boasts many dozens of volunteer Ph.D.
subject editors and peer reviewers from six continents, who are rightly proud
of its extremely rigorous, professional peer review system. The review
process is now underway, several articles have been posted, and over 100 more
have been assigned. The project's prospects look quite bright.
"Nupedia is one of the most felicitous brain-children of the Internet yet
to appear," said project participant John T. Kirby, Professor of Classics and
Chair of the program in Comparative Literature at Purdue University. "It has
the potential not only to organize and facilitate scholarly research and the
advancement of knowledge worldwide, but also to restructure the way we think
about and use reference resources. It is a gigantic project -- a massive
undertaking -- but I am hopeful that those charged with its oversight will see
it through to fruition."
Dr. Lawrence M. Sanger, Nupedia's editor-in-chief and a philosopher
specializing in epistemology, intends to do just that. "Articles that go
through our review process can stand direct comparison with articles in the
finest encyclopedias in history," Sanger said. "It is articles of this
caliber that we are making available for free to an international public on an
open content basis. That's why we think Britannica and Encarta have reason to
be nervous."
The Open Content encyclopedia project was spearheaded and continues to be
supported by Bomis, Inc. ( http://www.bomis.com ), an Internet portal company,
with three employees working on the project full-time.
Sanger is an articulate and experienced interviewee. Interviewers might
wish to ask him for details about Nupedia's planned move from a mailing
list-based peer review system to a web-based system (this will expedite
production), the current number of Nupedia members, and the details of the
peer review process. Sanger may be reached by telephone at (619) 296-1732 or
(858) 274-9289 and by e-mail at lsanger@nupedia.com.
SOURCE Nupedia.com: The Open Content Encyclopedia
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Related links:
http://www.bomis.com
http://www.nupedia.com
CONTACT:
Larry Sanger, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief of
Nupedia.com, 619-296-1732 or 858-274-9289, lsanger@nupedia.com
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