Jimmy Wales wrote:
I've been approached by a major publisher about the
possibility of
working with us to producing and publish a print edition of Wikipedia.
The concept that they are most interested in at the moment is a single
large volume, something similar to the Columbia Encyclopedia (a
desktop encyclopedia, 3200 pages) or Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(2067 pages).
The Britannica Concise has 28,000 entries. The Columbia has 51,000
entries. I have no idea of estimated word or byte counts for those.
One goal would be to have something ready for market by October 1st,
in time for the holiday gift season. I'm unsure of how early before
that *we* would need to be ready.
I've only begun talking to them about it, which is why I won't say who
it is just yet. But they understand our license and want to work with
us.
The question was asked of me, and I ask of the community: can we have
something like that ready in time? Or should we shoot for next year?
I have long stated a goal that "Wikipedia 1.0" be ready in December of
this year, although we haven't actually made any formal decisions
about how we're going to do that.
Considering that just last night, I raised the complaint that 1.0 was
the sort of thing that was all talk and no action, I have to react
positively to this news. I also believe that getting this project under
way may ease the inclusion/deletion wars. The kind of deletions that
have raised so many objections on Wikipedia may actually be welcome in 1.0.
How does ready for market by October 1 translate into when the material
needs to be ready for printing? The publisher will need time to do his
work.
To work in that time scale the first edition has to be quite modest. A
lot more can go into the second edition. For now there is a need to
decide what topic areas can be included. I think it would be better to
have fewer areas, but ones where we can feel sure that a comprehensive
presentation can be made. [[Countries of the World]] would be an
obvious area, but someone will need to go through all the articles to
ensure that all countries have been brought to the same standard.
Editing will need to be a lot more disciplined than has been the case on
Wikipedia, with little time for wrangling.
Ec