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- Overview
- Britannica in the digital era
Technological changes, beginning in the 1980s with the development and spread of the personal computer and disc technology and quickening in the 1990s and 2000s through the Internet and widespread diffusion of broadband access, radically altered the publishing world generally and the encyclopaedia business in particular. In 1981, under an agreement with Mead Data Central, the first digital version of the Encyclopædia Britannica was created for the LexisNexis service. In the early 1990s Britannica was made available for electronic delivery on a number of CD-ROM-based products, including the Britannica Electronic Index and the Britannica CD (providing text and a dictionary, along with proprietary retrieval software, on a single disc). A two-disc CD was released in 1995, featuring illustrations and photos; multimedia, including videos, animations, and audio, was added in 1997. At first the cost of those electronic products was comparable to the cost of the print encyclopaedia, resulting in relatively tepid sales; over the years, however, the price of the CD-ROM products and later DVD versions, which first appeared in 1999, fell dramatically.
Also during the early 1990s, under the editorial direction of Robert McHenry, editor in chief, the company developed Britannica Online, an extended electronic reference service for delivery over the Internet. In 1994 Britannica debuted the first Internet-based encyclopaedia. Users paid a fee to access the information, which was located at http://www.eb.com.
In 1996 Britannica was sold to financier Jacob E. Safra, under whose leadership the company began a major restructuring. With declining sales of the print encyclopaedia, the company’s vaunted sales force was disbanded, and in 1999 the company launched Britannica.com, a free site featuring an Internet search engine, subject channels, current events, and essays, as well as the complete text of the encyclopaedia; it was so popular that when it was launched it crashed several times from too much traffic (the free model was subsequently abandoned). In effect, Britannica’s online distribution was split into two avenues: one, Britannica.com, aimed at consumers and supported by advertisements and subscription fees (from subscribers who wanted an ad-free experience), and the other, at the eb.com domain, for institutions such as schools and libraries.
As print products came to be first supplemented by electronic ones and then overtaken by them, Britannica made the transition to digital publishing while still maintaining its print lineup. The expansion into digital products, however, was to have enormous effects on the editorial program, as the expectations of users of an electronic or online product were often vastly different from those of print products.
During the first part of the 1990s, particularly while annual printings were central to the company’s profits, the online encyclopaedia developed but was largely ancillary to the print, and revisions were based on the rhythm of print deadlines. As digital products came to supplant print ones, however, the focus of the editorial staff shifted to the electronic product, and in 1999, under editor in chief Dale Hoiberg, the editorial division began a massive multiyear review and revision of the encyclopaedia’s database. Scholars from around the world reviewed the content, making revisions to or suggesting major rewriting of existing content and recommending new articles on subjects not covered. At the same time, Britannica hired new editors, many with doctorates, to process the large quantities of material produced. As a result of this effort during the first decade of the 21st century, the company built a strong foundation for ongoing editorial growth and innovation and reiterated its commitment to the quality of its content both through the expertise of its internal editors and by continuing to attract the foremost scholars and experts in their fields.
A selection of articles written by prominent contributors in the early 21st century is provided in the table.
Technological changes, beginning in the 1980s with the development and spread of the personal computer and disc technology and quickening in the 1990s and 2000s through the Internet and widespread diffusion of broadband access, radically altered the publishing world generally and the encyclopaedia business in particular. In 1981, under an agreement with Mead Data Central, the first digital version of the Encyclopædia Britannica was created for the LexisNexis service. In the early 1990s Britannica was made available for electronic delivery on a number of CD-ROM-based products, including the Britannica Electronic Index and the Britannica CD (providing text and a dictionary, along with proprietary retrieval software, on a single disc). A two-disc CD was released in 1995, featuring illustrations and photos; multimedia, including videos, animations, and audio, was added in 1997. At first the cost of those electronic products was comparable to the cost of the print encyclopaedia, resulting in relatively tepid sales; over the years, however, the price of the CD-ROM products and later DVD versions, which first appeared in 1999, fell dramatically.
Also during the early 1990s, under the editorial direction of Robert McHenry, editor in chief, the company developed Britannica Online, an extended electronic reference service for delivery over the Internet. In 1994 Britannica debuted the first Internet-based encyclopaedia. Users paid a fee to access the information, which was located at http://www.eb.com.
In 1996 Britannica was sold to financier Jacob E. Safra, under whose leadership the company began a major restructuring. With declining sales of the print encyclopaedia, the company’s vaunted sales force was disbanded, and in 1999 the company launched Britannica.com, a free site featuring an Internet search engine, subject channels, current events, and essays, as well as the complete text of the encyclopaedia; it was so popular that when it was launched it crashed several times from too much traffic (the free model was subsequently abandoned). In effect, Britannica’s online distribution was split into two avenues: one, Britannica.com, aimed at consumers and supported by advertisements and subscription fees (from subscribers who wanted an ad-free experience), and the other, at the eb.com domain, for institutions such as schools and libraries.
As print products came to be first supplemented by electronic ones and then overtaken by them, Britannica made the transition to digital publishing while still maintaining its print lineup. The expansion into digital products, however, was to have enormous effects on the editorial program, as the expectations of users of an electronic or online product were often vastly different from those of print products.
During the first part of the 1990s, particularly while annual printings were central to the company’s profits, the online encyclopaedia developed but was largely ancillary to the print, and revisions were based on the rhythm of print deadlines. As digital products came to supplant print ones, however, the focus of the editorial staff shifted to the electronic product, and in 1999, under editor in chief Dale Hoiberg, the editorial division began a massive multiyear review and revision of the encyclopaedia’s database. Scholars from around the world reviewed the content, making revisions to or suggesting major rewriting of existing content and recommending new articles on subjects not covered. At the same time, Britannica hired new editors, many with doctorates, to process the large quantities of material produced. As a result of this effort during the first decade of the 21st century, the company built a strong foundation for ongoing editorial growth and innovation and reiterated its commitment to the quality of its content both through the expertise of its internal editors and by continuing to attract the foremost scholars and experts in their fields.
A selection of articles written by prominent contributors in the early 21st century is provided in the table.
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