It was the year the world’s dominant OS maker

started numbering software versions after the year of release.  The family had

just acquired its second ever desktop PC, and the first Pentium-based

one.  I was still in high school. 1995: the year that was.

The retail shop generously included a copy of MS Encarta

in our package (whether it was genuine or not has escaped my memory),

and we were delighted to have such an invaluable source of knowledge

all in one place.  We researched project and homework material on

Encarta, and we even quoted some entries and used some images (with the

appropriate citations of course).  I even remember my sister

having prepared a research paper using Encarta as the sole reference!

Yes, we had internet access, but it was expensive, and we had no

definitive guide or index to whatever knowledge was avilable online.

Things changed.  The dominant OS maker started using weird

acronyms and codenames to denote OS versions (XP, ME, Longhorn).

 Now internet prepaid cards abound, at very cheap rates (Pacific Internet sells prepaid access for PhP 1.00 per hour; Blast

offers unlimited off-peak access), and DSL is catching on to be the

internet connection of choice for the more affluent users.  Now

search engines like Google have grown to become popular research portals.

The CD-ROM based encyclopedia ushered in the demise of the volumes and

volumes of the book versions.  Has the internet age done

likewise for the CD-ROM versions?  Has Google taken center-stage in becoming the ultimate source of knowledge online?

Perhaps not … not yet, at least.  Encyclopediae are still very

good sources of knowledge.  While virtually any research can be

done over the ‘net, one cannot deny that there are still advantages the

more structured set of information found in encyclopediae has to offer.

And encyclopediae are now published online.

But the collaborative nature of the online world has ushered in another strong contender: the WikiPedia.  As a “wiki” or a developed knowledge base, WikiPedia is a collaborative piece of work constantly updated and developed by its users, or virtually anyone.

Encarta has opened up to this concept.  In its new blog, Encarta Space, the developers have announced that Encarta will open access to its articles for refinement by the public.

Of course, opening content for the public to revise may sometimes

result in differing views, given the subjective nature of some pieces

of information.  But the idea of a collaborative online workspace

is surely cool.  And it’s suerly not a new idea.

(via Micro Persuasion)

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