Wikipedia has a profoundly different structure when compared to traditional encyclopedias, yet Britannica is adjusting to the open-source editing style of its rival. Britannica has partnered with Indian broadband company Airtel and provides subscribers with two free years of Britannica service which now allows for editing and creation of pages by users, but there are key differences.
Britannica requires your real name and address before you can edit or create articles, which are then verified by professional editors before the submission can be accepted. There are hopes that people purchase Britannica applications for iPhones/iPads, while also increasing distribution through educational efforts in schools (hoping to reach 15,000 schools in India by 2013).
The crucial difference between the two encyclopedia formats is quality, and if Britannica and Encarta are more legitimate because they charge a premium, that would posit that the most expensive encyclopedic service reigns supreme. Within the 15,000,000 English Wikipedia pages, there are bound to be more and less quality written and researched articles; but the no charge almost guarantees that one will at least consider visiting the site. Once one has a general idea of what Wikipedia has to offer, the user can make use of other sources or remain content with the information from Wikipedia.
It appears that both Wikipedia and premium encyclopedias like Britannica can coexist, but Wikipedia will not be as well accredited as other encyclopedias. Wikipedia could potentially incorporate advertising and it would be interesting to see if people further denigrate Wikipedia as an unreliable source.
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