In a bid to gain an edge in respectability over its stodgier rivals, Wikipedia today announced that it would be publishing a print edition of its online knowledgebase.
"We're elated to be able announce our plans to develop a hard copy Wikipedia," said Karen C. Nautkaaren of the non-profit Wikipedia Foundation.
The main obstacle to producing a print version of Wikipedia is its sheer volume. Wikipedia contains roughly twenty-eight times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica. The foundation plans to release it in 600 volumes, one per month over the next ten years. During that time, Wikipedia is expected to grow by roughly 700% and much of the existing information will become out of date.
The foundation announced an innovative plan for dealing with these problems. "We will release a revised edition of Wikipedia every three years," said Nautkaaren. "The second edition will overlap the first edition. When the first edition is nearly two thirds complete, we will release a third edition. The first volume of the fourth edition will become available two years after the last volume of the first edition is complete. Each edition will take roughly 50% longer than the previous edition to produce so, for example, we will begin 17 new editions while the fifth edition is still in production. I think. Anyway, make no mistake, this is a monumental undertaking."
Several frequent contributors to the user-created and maintained encyclopedia expressed a strong desire that Wikipedia retain its collaborative nature in the hard copy version. Todd Simmons, a 38 year old web developer in Pleasanton, California, summed up the feeling among the Wikipedia editor community.
"The other day I ran across an entry in Wikipedia that said that Blizzard had banned the Logitch G15 keyboard in Warcraft, when in fact all they did was ban a player who was clearly botting. He wasn't even using the G15. He was using the G11." Simmons shook his head. "Fortunately, I was able to correct the error. Imagine if that kind of misinformation were printed in thousands of copies of the article all over the world."
Wikipedia spokespersons said they would be taking corrections by mail and would be faxing daily corrections and updates to all subscribers for no additional charge.
Because of the uneven distribution of the expertise of its editor base, the Wikipedia hard copy edition will be broken down by subject area rather than organized alphabetically, like a typical encyclopedia.
"The organic nature of Wikipedia requires a unique organization system," Nautkaaren said.
So far, twelve volumes have been planned:
January 2008: Star Trek: Acamarians to Ferengi
February 2008: World History through the French Revolution
March 2008: Windows vs. Unix
April 2008: Quantum Physics
May 2008: Arts and Literature (non Sci-Fi)
June 2008: Star Wars: Alderaan to Calrissian
July 2008: Geek Humor
August 2008: Star Trek: Guls to Romulan Neutral Zone
September 2008: Britney Spears
October 2008: Eastern Philosophy, Kung Fu and The Matrix
November 2008: Video Games: Tips and Strategies
December 2008: Futurama
This post was found buried amongst countless tomes in the vast underground library of humor-blogs.com.
Mattress Tags: wikipedia Star Trek
"We're elated to be able announce our plans to develop a hard copy Wikipedia," said Karen C. Nautkaaren of the non-profit Wikipedia Foundation.
The main obstacle to producing a print version of Wikipedia is its sheer volume. Wikipedia contains roughly twenty-eight times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica. The foundation plans to release it in 600 volumes, one per month over the next ten years. During that time, Wikipedia is expected to grow by roughly 700% and much of the existing information will become out of date.
The foundation announced an innovative plan for dealing with these problems. "We will release a revised edition of Wikipedia every three years," said Nautkaaren. "The second edition will overlap the first edition. When the first edition is nearly two thirds complete, we will release a third edition. The first volume of the fourth edition will become available two years after the last volume of the first edition is complete. Each edition will take roughly 50% longer than the previous edition to produce so, for example, we will begin 17 new editions while the fifth edition is still in production. I think. Anyway, make no mistake, this is a monumental undertaking."
Several frequent contributors to the user-created and maintained encyclopedia expressed a strong desire that Wikipedia retain its collaborative nature in the hard copy version. Todd Simmons, a 38 year old web developer in Pleasanton, California, summed up the feeling among the Wikipedia editor community.
"The other day I ran across an entry in Wikipedia that said that Blizzard had banned the Logitch G15 keyboard in Warcraft, when in fact all they did was ban a player who was clearly botting. He wasn't even using the G15. He was using the G11." Simmons shook his head. "Fortunately, I was able to correct the error. Imagine if that kind of misinformation were printed in thousands of copies of the article all over the world."Wikipedia spokespersons said they would be taking corrections by mail and would be faxing daily corrections and updates to all subscribers for no additional charge.
Because of the uneven distribution of the expertise of its editor base, the Wikipedia hard copy edition will be broken down by subject area rather than organized alphabetically, like a typical encyclopedia.
"The organic nature of Wikipedia requires a unique organization system," Nautkaaren said.
So far, twelve volumes have been planned:
January 2008: Star Trek: Acamarians to Ferengi
February 2008: World History through the French Revolution
March 2008: Windows vs. Unix
April 2008: Quantum Physics
May 2008: Arts and Literature (non Sci-Fi)
June 2008: Star Wars: Alderaan to Calrissian
July 2008: Geek Humor
August 2008: Star Trek: Guls to Romulan Neutral Zone
September 2008: Britney Spears
October 2008: Eastern Philosophy, Kung Fu and The Matrix
November 2008: Video Games: Tips and Strategies
December 2008: Futurama
This post was found buried amongst countless tomes in the vast underground library of humor-blogs.com.
Mattress Tags: wikipedia Star Trek
Labels: Satire, Technology
| posted by Diesel at Friday, February 16, 2007 |
|
Leave a comment! |
Well...as Michael said on "The Office" last night:
"Computers will never replace paper. Business is done on paper, not computers."
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I'm just waiting for Ebay to be published in print form. Now THAT would take some volumes.
Geek humour, I'm not entirely sure that those two words go together!!
Will you be offering copies for sale through your Humor Blog (another place for me to visit - hey, it's a long weekend).
Crap! I have to wait until Dec. 2007 for the Futurama edition?
for a Wikipidiot such as myself, this news is fabulous. no, wait, it's alarming. no... fantastic. uh, on second thought, disturbing. nuh-uh... make that amazing. or is it overwhelming and/or something that i don't have a word for yet that means "aiieeeeee"??
my head hurts. xox
gosh I may be pushing up daisies by the time the volume I really really want is out....
Joel - And they could sell it through Amazon!
St. Jude - You're not a fan of biting the head off chickens?
G - If I can make money off it, sure.
FIAR - It's worse than that....
Neva - Don't take it so seriously. You don't have to actually READ it.
By the way, you may have noticed my site looks a little funky right now. Blogger decided to break right in the middle of a template change. Cool, huh?
You're hilarious!!
For a brief split second while reading this between synapses firing and good sense kicking in, I was actually afraid this was real.
Now I'm even more afraid someone might read it and get a bad idea.
Geez, and all this time I've just been going to the library and correcting Encylopedia's with red pen ... such waste
Hey, I have a name for their print project - Wikimpedia ...
I have 20 acres, six of which are already dedicated to the containers I've ordered to serve no other purpose than to house the volumes as they come off the presses. I am having the word, "MATSON" removed and replacing it with "NO BOOKS IN HERE" to discourage the locals from breaking into my knowledge base. I plan on selling it at art fairs such as the Riverbank Cheese Festival.
Very very funny, Diesel.
I just pre-ordered the Second Edition from Amazon. Free shipping. The First Edition isn't in their inventory system yet. The Third Edition is available for download, but sold out.
Wikipedia is usefull when trying to explain relative authoritativeness of online resources to middle school students.
Also, would you QUIT with the monkeying around with your website. You are making my head spin. Or maybe that's the NyQuil.
This post has been removed by the author.
LOL, I'm really looking forward to Geek Humor.
I loved your Valentine's post! And Inappropriate Card Day is a fantastic idea:)
so.. watching star wars and star trek makes you some kind of geek. resistance is futile.
Arlene - Thank you. :)
Gregory - It almost seems possible, doesn't it? I should mention that I did absolutely no research for this post, so it's unlikely that there are any "facts" in it.
Anita - So you're the one!
Amoeba - Brilliant!
Gawpo - You might be a little insane.
Al - That sounds about right.
Robin - I know, I know. It's kind of ugly right now. I'm trying to make it load faster and make it more search-engine friendly. Which is to say, less people-friendly.
Actonbell - Thanks! This is going to be the best Inappropriate Card Day ever!
Mindy - Watching, no. Obsessing, yes.
No... I still hold to my original comment. That is like wading through treacle. Which geek wrote it?
... Oh G** please don't tell me it was you or a friend!!!
I can't wait for the October 2008 edition.
Hopefully July 2008 will have a subsection titled "Humor Blogs".
btw- love the Inappropriate Card Day idea. I am definitely for it and plan to celebrate in all manner of inappropriateness, lol.