Fastfission wrote:
Wikipedia alone isn't behind the problems (current
or looming) faced
by print encyclopedia manufacturers. The internet as a whole is behind
that. Wikipedia's just one aspect of a greater shift in the
technologies of communication and representation which makes massive
tomes less likely and makes expensive subscriptions seem unnecessary.
I doubt print encyclopedias will go the way of the dinosaurs, but I
can understand their dis-ease. The die has been cast -- their
authority has been questioned and directly challenged by a legion of
people willing to work for nothing at all. It's an understandable
concern, but it's far too late at this point.
Agreed, what we are witnessing (or better still experiencing) is a major
paradigm shift in the full sense that Kuhn had forseen. It is as great
as anything seen since Gutenberg. Gutenberg laid the way for unilateral
mass communication. The present shift lies in what has made two way
mass communication technologically possible. That can be pretty brutal
on those who had invested in the permanence of unidirectional
communications.
Ec