When I lead workshops, seminars and other professional development events that address social media and organizational communication, […]
Month: April 2008
Channel 4 broadcast a hard-hitting report on Monday by its Dispatches investigative reporting team on the UK mobile […]
Content summary: Reflections on FIR 339; Lee Hopkins’ transition and introducing Michael Netzley; great content in IABC Cafe2Go […]
The movie version of the hit TV series Sex and the City opens in the UK later next […]
What a rich resource for law students. Indeed, for anyone interested in the law and history of England: […]
I’m not a great reader of business books even though there are some 20 such volumes sitting on […]
I’ve been following the progress of a group of 20 British tech startups who have been in Silicon […]
Content summary: Dan York and Sallie Goetsch are your guest co-hosts; NewComm Forum, including an audio segment from […]
Video startup seesmic has released a terrific conversational tool – a plugin for WordPress that enables you to […]
The winners of CNet Networks’ Webware 2008 contest to find the best 100 Web 2.0 applications and services […]
Content summary: Recording of latest FIR Live on BlogTalk Radio posted; new FIR Book Review posted; news about […]
Like most bloggers I know, I tend to link to information resources online when I’m writing about a particular topic.
One reason is simply that linking to an explanation of something provides a reader of your content with an opportunity to find out more, or see something in more depth, without you the blogger having to explain it all in your blog post.
And like just about everyone I know, I tend to link to material on Wikipedia more than any other online information resource.
Why? Because it’s easy to do so, it’s free, Wikipedia’s definitions are often all you might need, and because you can have reasonable confidence that what you’re linking to is likely to be accurate enough.
So I’ve been quite intrigued to have been exploring Encyclopaedia Britannica online during the past few weeks and getting to know how a raft of new and free social media-related services, aimed squarely at bloggers and other people who publish on the web, will work.
(Disclosure: I’ve been working with Shel Holtz, whose client US-based Britannica is, on getting advance word out to some people in Europe about the upcoming launch of Britannica’s new services; as part of this, Britannica gave me a free account.)
Unlike Wikipedia, Britannica’s information resources require a paid subscription, one reason undoubtedly why free Wikipedia is an easier option for many.
Now, you can link to the full content of a Britannica entry, without having to have a paid subscription, through a new programme called Britannica Webshare.