Question:
BBC NEWS
Wikipedia offers access offline
Nearly 2,000 Wikipedia articles will be sold on compact disc to give people without a net connection access to highlights of the popular web resource.
The Wikipedia Version 0.5 CD collection includes topics such as geography, arts, literature, science and history.
The articles were selected by software that rated their quality and importance to the Wikipedia community.
Martin Walker, a senior academic from the US also helped set the selection criteria for the $13.99 (£7) disc.
We wanted to cover the major topics, while also including a selection of articles considered to be the very best of Wikipedia, said Professor Walker, of the State University of New York, Potsdam.
These featured articles aim to be well written and comprehensive, and also free from errors, bias, vandalism and marketing.
Language plans
The 1,964 articles were only selected from the English version of the online resource, which currently contains more than 1.7 million entries.
The Wikimedia Foundation, the group behind Wikipedia, said the CD reflected its mission of making knowledge available to every human being.
Not only does it provide those not connected to the worldwide web access to knowledge, but it also showcases some of the best articles created on Wikipedia, said Florence Devouard of the Foundation.
The collection is not the first time that the online resource has been distributed offline.
In 2006, children's charity SOS Children released a free encyclopaedia made up of articles selected from Wikipedia. The CD, aimed at eight to 15 year olds, included articles that had been tidied up by volunteers.
The CD is the first of many offline projects planned by the wikipedia community.
A DVD of 239,000 hand-checked Polish Wikipedia articles will be released in the next few weeks, and a French language version of the new CD is planned.
Other systems already allow users to take the online resource out and about.
Webaroo allows users to carry the free encyclopaedia on a smart phone with a compact flash card, whilst Encyclopodia puts the open source project on an iPod.
The latest offerings from Wikimedia means it further encroaches into markets traditionally dominated by companies such as Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6566749.stm
Published: 2007/04/18 13:27:52 GMT
Answer:
it will be great since i am always use wikipedia to do my project......it will be very helpful since i won't need to go to the internet to open the wikipedia......(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
hope it will be sell in my country soon...... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
it will be great since i am always use wikipedia help me to do my project......it will be very helpful since i won't need to go to the internet to open the wikipedia......(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
hope it will be sell in my country soon...... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
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my classical studies teacher tells us wikipedia is the last place we should go to for info -__-
I went to a few resources there before and it said ___ is g.ay instead (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)
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Your teacher is right. Wikipedia is not a source you should use for reports. I know its easy to use but honestly anybody could put an article up there and claim its all true and it may not be. Never rely on Wikipedia for anything important. Look at what happened recently when they discovered one of their expert contributors was a total fraud.
Wikipedia is fun to look at for silly hobby stuff. I can look up DBSK there or whatever but I would not use it to write a report of any kind. Thats why many teachers do not accept is a source.
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^ true they don't. tutors tell us to use wikipedia as a a summary article like start with it so u know the basics then go out and find indepth articles/books etc.
Also i think anyone with an account can change info. my friend told me that one of his mates did that and just slightly changed stuff to screw ppl over and he did an obvious one where it was like In a dunst is a dunst. Behind a ventricle is the dunst
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Wikipedia is interesting and informative but you've got to remmeber that anyone can become a member and edit any information you read.
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so are they gonna check alllll the info before putting it onto a cd....and thats alot of info to put onto a cd
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Sounds interesting (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
But only 134,000 facts? bleh... I rather buy something that HAS ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL THE INFORMATIONS. More than a million =/
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Err, I don't think Wikipedia is the most reliable of sources for a formal research project or paper because anyone can add on or delete info on that site.
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You could look at it as a donation, and in return you get access to some articles
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niceee o_o
not everything is reliable though xD
