New from Enc. Brit.

["James J. O'Donnell" <provost@georgetown.edu>]

I wrote an article for the Encyclopedia Britannica about a decade 
ago, when there was only the e-version, and it has appeared there 
since; when they reprinted the whole set in 2002 my article 
(biography of St. Augustine) was not regarded as pressingly 
important enough to be included in the limited number of pages 
they were willing to alter. But I remain on their books as a 
contributor and so see mail from them, including a note today 
offernig various new features and then a link to a press release 
which suggests an interesting change of tactic.

First, the "feature":

"Very soon there will also be *new editing tools* so that 
contributors such as yourself, and general readers as well, can 
suggest updates and revisions to our content. These revisions and 
suggestions will continue to go directly to the editors. In other 
words, *we are not instituting a wiki*: all revisions and 
suggested changes will continue to be vetted by our editorial 
department. These new tools will replace our current feedback 
system, which will need to be temporarily disabled as we launch 
the new site."

Now the press release below (curtailed:  in full at 
http://britannicanet.com/).  I would welcome guidance on 
understanding the phrase "anyone else who publishes regularly on 
the Internet".

Jim O'Donnell
Georgetown U.

***

April 29th, 2008 by Tom

Britannica Opens Site for Free Access to Web Publishers, Linking

CHICAGO, April 29, 2008 - Bloggers, webmasters, online 
journalists and anyone else who publishes regularly on the 
Internet can now get free subscriptions to Britannica Online 
(www.britannica.com).

Anyone interested in participating in Britannica's new WebShare 
initiative can apply for a free subscription at 
http://signup.eb.com or get more information at 
http://britannicanet.com.

The free subscriptions are part of Britannica's effort to 
increase awareness and use of its extensive information 
resources, which include articles written by many top scholars, 
some of them Nobel laureates.

"It's good business for us and a benefit to people who publish on 
the Net," said Britannica president Jorge Cauz. "The level of 
professionalism among Web publishers has really improved, and we 
want to recognize that by giving access to the people who are 
shaping the conversations about the issues of the day. Britannica 
belongs in the middle of those conversations."

In addition to the free subscriptions, Web publishers can also 
bring the value of Britannica's content to their own sites by 
linking to any articles they find relevant to the topics they're 
writing about.

Access to much of the site, including full-text entries from the 
Encyclopaedia Britannica, normally requires a paid subscription. 
There's an exception to that rule, however: When a Web site links 
to a Britannica article Web surfers who click on that link get 
the article in its entirety.

****