The World and Wikipedia
Andrew Dalby's 2009 book examines how online, crowd-sourced encyclopedias began and grew from a long tradition of reference works. It looks at how both expert and non-expert contributors shape entries, questions of reliability, and problems like vandalism. The author draws on incidents from English, French, and German online communities and ends with an optimistic view of the central role these encyclopedias could play in media. Using anecdotes, Dalby argues that although attention often centers on popular topics, over time entries gain substance and usefulness. He even traces an early figure, the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, as a precursor to this collaborative knowledge, and suggests that greater use makes the project more reliable.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:10 (CET).