Sample the Web

TechCrunch pointed out that Encyclopedia Britannica Online is allowing web publishers to sign up for free one-year accounts and share the content with their readers via a new program called Britannica Webshare. Well, dear readers, I myself signed up for the service and was accepted. When I signed up, I thought that this would be another very useful resource that I could point to from time to time to add value to whatever I may be blogging about. However, in the process of writing this blog post, I started exploring their site, and quickly found that I didn’t love it. In short, Britannica Online is too similar to Britannica offline. It doesn’t link out. It’s very much a dead-end street on the information highway (albeit, perhaps, as far as dead ends go, it’s more of a nice cul de sac of well-read information). This is not to say that I won’t ever be linking to them. It’s just that I think they could be doing what they’re doing better.

Here’s a link to Britannica Online’s entry for Wikipedia and here’s a small excerpt:

Reliance on community self-policing has generated some problems. In 2005 the American journalist John Seigenthaler, Sr., discovered that his Wikipedia biography falsely identified him as a potential conspirator in the assassinations of both John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy and that these malicious claims had survived Wikipedia’s community policing for 132 days. The author of this information could not be easily identified, since all that is known about contributors is their computers’ IP, or Internet protocol, addresses (many of which are dynamically generated each time a user goes online).

For comparison purposes, here’s Wikipedia’s entry on Wikipedia and an excerpt:

Wikipedia (pronunciation ) is a free,[4] multilingual, open content encyclopedia project operated by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites) and encyclopedia. Launched in January 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger,[5] it is the largest, fastest-growing and most popular general reference work currently available on the Internet.[6][7]

All the above bracketed numbers are references that I cannot be bothered to link directly from here, but which Wikipedia does link in the actual article. Keep them in mind.

Now, reading the Britannica entry, I’m struck with two things. First, it’s written more stoically. Something about it sounds more like a dictionary than the Wikipedia’s entry. More like I’m getting the definition of Wikipedia from a teacher who has no first-hand knowledge of what a wiki is or what it does. Secondly, they don’t have any references listed with the entry. They do have a short list of related links, but they’re all internal links and they use the following language to introduce the links:

Related Links
Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.

They’re the Encyclopedia Britannica, so I suppose their ethos counts for quite a bit and we’re supposed to trust that whoever wrote this particular entry for them spent the time to diligently fact check everything.

While Wikipedia definitely has errors, such as the one mentioned by the E.B. article on Wikipedia, that creep up in it from time to time, the facts that are there are thoroughly referenced in most cases. Wikipedia’s Wikipedia entry currently has 141 references at the bottom. If the entry is incorrect, you can double check the references rather easily and carefully weigh any information presented that is not supported by references. On Encyclopedia Britannica, you cannot do that. You must simply trust in the Encyclopedia and know that the knowledge you will gain from it is limited by the knowledge it contains. The fact that the Wikipedia links to all these other resources is what makes it an invaluable resource.

That’s one Web 2.0 lesson that I’d like to see Encyclopedia Britannica learn. It’s more important than their new widgets, their blog, or their Twitter stream (which btw has a bio that really thrusts that ethos down your throat: “Encyclopaedia Britannica Webshare: Links and news from the authoritative encyclopaedia“; emphasis mine; they even use the archaic spelling of encyclopedia to sound more authoritative), because they are treating those technologies as just another form of distribution of their “authoritative” information, rather than as a nexus for communication, discussion, and an information hub linking outward to all the other great information resources online.

Here’s my unasked for advice for Encyclopedia Britannica and any other old school media publication trying to thrive in today’s new media: It’s no longer about just being a great resource. You have to be a great resource and engage and participate with the other great resources out there. People like this because it gives them more choice while giving them a sense of community. It’s not how many followers you have; it’s how many people you follow. It’s not how many people subscribe to your RSS feed; it’s how many RSS feeds you subscribe to. It’s no longer about having all the answers succinctly stated in one spot; it’s about filtering and processing the best of the plethora of information out there and providing direction to that information without limiting that information.

Update: Just for fun, here’s one of their widgets; it is on American Literature, pre-configured of course, and there is no way that I can see for me to customize it:

I would really *love* this widget, if I could plug any E.B. entry I wanted into it and customize the look of it so that it matched my blog. I should also probably mention that I’d prefer it not to be an iframe, but that’s just me being overly picky. Also, supposedly it’s not always working for people using Internet Explorer. If you’re using IE, you really should download Firefox NOW!

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Well, I’ve been twittering. I’ve been playing my new Wii. I’ve also been shopping. I went to Best Buy yesterday and picked up a $20 component switch box, so my HD Cable box, my PS3, and my Wii all reach my wall-mounted 32″ HDTV via the same hidden cable, which makes my wife happy. I bought Curt a replacement set of headphones for the set that Sonja flew over and tore to shreds when Kristin and I were in LA and he and Marian were bird-sitting. I also got Kristin an Apple Hi-Fi, which she’d been wanting for a while. It sounds pretty good, I must say.

I should have waited to buy it today at CompUSA, though, b/c everything in the store was 10-20% off since they’re closing down. Unfortunately, the web-advertized $679 for a MacBook wasn’t being upheld by this store where the people were incredibly rude. NEWSFLASH COMPUSA EMPLOYEES: Your horrible customer service is why your entire chain is going out of business and you’ll soon be unemployed. I mean, I was considering buying a *lot* of Wii games at a discount from you, which would have helped your company’s bottom line, but you couldn’t be bothered to stand at that glass case and let me look for just a little while longer. Instead, you rushed me out the door with two classic controllers and one game. Bully for you.

I was hoping to find a largish hard drive and a Wacom tablet for sale at the store, but there weren’t any of either. I need to get a good Wacom tablet to sketch some stuff digitally. I am going to get pt to laser-etch some of my artwork onto metal plates. Should be really great stuff if it comes out the way I’ve been visualizing it in my head.

Kristin made some mean BLT sandwiches for dinner. Evidently it was some recipe she got from Martha Stewart. It was super-tasty and filling.

What else is up? Hmm… I’m about settled on getting an iPhone after my BlackJack crapped out on me for the 3rd time since I first grabbed it and I had to reset it again.

Also, I’ve been wrapping up the last of my responsibilities at AOL and prepping for my full separation from the company on the 15th. I’m glad the Netscape team is going strong and I hope that AOL continues to support them and let them push the envelope. My.Netscape renovation is coming soon and is looking HOT. Also, the Netscape browser is like Firefox but BETTER. I love it. I use it all the time. It’s sleeker and nice and I cannot wait until the team releases it. Lots of cool little features. It’s really going to be the version of Firefox that gets out to the masses, I think, because of the strength of the Netscape brand. Think of all the Netscape 4.7 / 8.2 users out there who are going to download this new version to give it a whirl and be BLOWN away. I am so stoked.

I’m looking forward to moving on to the next thing though. I’ve been juggling a few consulting opportunities of late and there are some exciting things in the works.

I’m watching The Amazing Race right now. Boston Rob & Amber FTW! CBS should try to get them to appear as the first married couple to enter the Big Brother house this summer. That would make them the only reality people to run the trifecta (sp?) of reality TV competitions.

Kristin is upset b/c she bought a Coach bag this afternoon and when she got it home and started unpacking it, she realized it was a baby bag with a diaper thing in it. Now, she’s torn as to whether to keep it until we need it, risk using it now as a regular bag and having her socialite friends (? ha ha) make fun of her for it, or to return it. My money is on the latter, though I think she should just keep it and use it now and keep using it when we crank out a kid.

I think I’m caught up on blogging now. Later.

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Out in LA this week consulting with a client looking for someone capable of running and managing a podcasting studio. We’re looking for someone with the expertise to run the facility as a one-woman or one-man band in the short term and with the vision and management skills to help scale the project. Qualified applicants should be able to handle both audio and video podcasts, be familiar with working in HD video, and with various streaming options and technologies, especially high-end HD streaming.

If you are the elite ninja in this space looking to do something innovative and amazing online, contact me via my email: cksample at gmail dot com.

Update / Note: I realize that HD streaming isn’t too common these days (ie, most people don’t have the connection nor the equipment to support it), but this is a visionary, forward-thinking position. Thanks to all the friends who harassed me pointed out this issue after reading this post.

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So, yesterday, I posted that I was leaving Netscape and moving on and that I was open to new opportunities. In that short time, I’ve already been pitched one non-profit project and several other offers mixed in with a few veiled, “Hey we should talk” messages. Pretty cool. I think there are about 7 opportunities on the table so far and that’s just in a day. I wonder how many opportunities are out there and how many I’ll rack up in a week.

I still have a full week of knocking out the best I can for Netscape and AOL, but once that time is done, I’ll start going through all the contacts and offers. Keep ‘em coming.

*Note: teh Internets is an intentional mangling of the internet.

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After a lot of thought, I’ve decided it’s time for me to move on from Netscape and AOL. Last Monday, I gave my two weeks notice with AOL. I assure you there is no ill will between myself, AOL, and Netscape. In fact, I hope to remain on board in some sort of consultant role with the company past my last day to help transition Netscape to new leadership.

Just over a year ago, Jason approached me with the first hinted ideas of rebuilding Netscape and from January 17th when I started full time at AOL until the beta launch of the new site on June 15th, we worked together to assemble an excellent team capable of building something new in the Web 2.0 space: a social news network with a very visible editorial team on top, helping to add context to the news, provide original reporting on top of the stories voted to the top by our members, and police and protect the site from abuse and spam with as much transparency as possible. After launch, we worked at a furious pace, adding more features, tweaking the site, and listening to the feature requests from our members. When Jason left in November and I took over as Director and General Manager of Netscape, I felt that there was still much work left to be done. In the last several months Netscape has welcomed its 100,000 member on board, we rethought the story capsule and the way that the homepage results are created to help balance the news on the site and grow traffic to the wide variety of Channels we provide, and we hired a new Senior Editor for the site to help us highlight the editorial work and content that the Anchors create. We have a rock solid development team led by Tom Drapeau capable of continuing to dazzle and innovate with new features. The site has grown to the point where I know it will continue to grow strongly without my presence at the helm. I’ll still be on board, commenting and participating with the rest of the community. I love the new Netscape and I hope to see it continue to grow and flourish online in the years and decades to come.

As always, my primary interests are writing, editing, education, community building, and creating great content for all the information hungry audiences out there. With that in mind, I’m looking to do some creation, whether it be a new book or perhaps serving as a consultant for a new enterprise. As both a professional blogger and social news editor, I’m well versed in Web 2.0, in building audiences, in growing online communities, in managing a remote workforce, and in coming up with new feature ideas that will help grow products. If you’re looking for someone with these skills, then we should talk. Here’s a resume that I’ve slapped together over at Emurse (run by my pals Alex and Gavin) and make sure you check out my LinkedIn profile.

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