Printed Wikipedia Now Available - But Why?
Earlier this year, we reported about a contentious debate among Wikipedia authors about whether writers should be paid if their articles were used in printed versions of the online encyclopedia. Today, that question has been answered.
German publisher Bertelsmann just released a printed, 992 page version of the German Wikipedia. It will sell for 19.95 Euros, of which 1 Euro will go to the Wikimedia Foundation.
The original authors of the Wikipedia entries will not receive any of this money, but they are acknowledged on the last 30 pages of the book, which lists the handles of all the authors in the most miniscule font possible. However, neither articles nor illustrations are directly attributed to any author. Because the Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU-FDL license, printing this material is not only perfectly legal, but also in the spirit of the Wikipedia project. However, it would have been nice if Bertelsmann gave more credit to the authors.
Abbreviated
Of course, the printed version could not include every keyword in the online version of the German Wikipedia, so the publishers restricted themselves to about 50.000 keywords and 1000 illustrations. Overall, the printed version includes about 20.000 articles, which were abbreviated by the editors.
It's important to note that this printed version is not an encyclopedia, but instead a dictionary that is based on the 20.000 most read articles in the German Wikipedia. Most entries are only a few words long. If you wonder about what this book looks like, Google Books already includes a preview of the text and, in keeping with the GPL license, the publisher has made the text available for download.
Why?
The real question, however, is why anybody would want to buy a printed and abbreviated version of Wikipedia. After all, you lose all of the advantages of full-text search and the ability to edit articles in this printed text.
It is worth noting, too, that this is not the first time the German Wikipedia has been published. German publisher Zenodot tried to market a Wikipedia-based encyclopedia in 2005, but the project was cut short because there was simply no demand for it.
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This one is really just a gigantic WTF? Maybe someone at Bertelsmann should call someone at Britannica and see how their business is going.
I heard about this crazy concept a few weeks ago on NPR, but thanks for blogging about it. It is indeed a "WTF." One interesting thing to note, though, is that because the content of Wikipedia is in the public domain, ANYONE can create a printed version of it. This is Bertelsmann's version, but you, too, could publish it... not that you'd want to. ;)
mixtmedia: It isn't public domain, it's just under a free licence (the GFDL).
Wikipedians don't expect payment and we agree to the GFDL. The printed German version has been in the works for years and isn't that controversial.
Posted by: Joe Anderson
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September 17, 2008 11:09 AM
mixtmedia: It isn't public domain, it's just under a free licence (the GFDL).
Wikipedians don't expect payment and we agree to the GFDL. The printed German version has been in the works for years and isn't that controversial.
Maybe it's going to be useful for those who don't want to take their notebooks to the bathroom...
Do you say "the the Google" as well? Who let this guy blog for RWW?
The only reason I would ever want a printout from Wikipedia is from an active search and since printing from the web is no good Wikipedia should check out these guys: www.formatdynamics.com
I like Wikipedia
Printed Wikipedia = Pointless