Encyclopedia online

Free online encyclopedia: An encyclopedia is a comprehensive written compendium, containing information on all, or a particular branch of knowledge. It was developed from the dictionary in the 18th century. Each subject is treated in more depth, and the most relevant accumulated knowledge on that subject is conveyed in it. Encyclopedias usually include illustrations, maps, statistics and bibliography, and it is researched and written by well-informed and well-educated content experts. These books can be general, containing articles on topics in every field, or they can also specialize in a particular field, for instance a medical encyclopedia, where you can get articles and free information on medical terms. With the advent of computers, encyclopedias are now being published on CD-ROMs, and articles are being supplemented with audio and video files. You can find a free online encyclopedia on several websites. The number one selling printed encyclopedia, World Book or Grolier, is also available online. Some free online encyclopedia sites even allow users to submit their own articles for inclusion in their database.

Britannica online encyclopedia: Britannica is a general encyclopedia published by the privately held Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. It is regarded as one of the most widely recognized and important reference works in the English language, and was first published progressively from 1768-1771 as Encyclopedia Britannica. It was also one of the first printed English encyclopedias and currently is the oldest one being published continuously. An online version of Britannica Encyclopedia was launched in 1994, with subscriptions for sale for 2000 dollars. Currently, Britannica is co-operating with companies in Taiwan to provide a traditional Chinese-English bilingual version of the encyclopedia online. It is the first bilingual product by Britannica. Wikipedia, a web based free-content encyclopedia, is an online alternative of Britannica. The electronic and print versions of Britannica are also available in libraries, and can be accessed from home using the library websites. Britannica encyclopedia for kids can be very useful if your child is between 7-14 years of age.

Encarta online encyclopedia: This is a digital multimedia encyclopedia that is published and updated frequently by Microsoft Corporation. As of 2005, the complete English version of Encarta Premium, containing more than 68,000 articles, several movies and images, and homework tools, has been available on the World Wide Web, which can either be purchased on multiple DVD-ROMs or CD-ROMs, or by yearly subscription. Many articles of Encarta encyclopedia can also be viewed online for free. In 2005, the online Encarta encyclopedia started to allow users to suggest changes to the existing articles. Following the first multimedia encyclopedia, Microsoft initiated Encarta by purchasing non-exclusive rights to the Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia, incorporating it into its first edition in 1993. The visual browser of Encarta, available since the 2004 version, presents users with a list of related topics.

Wikipedia online encyclopedia: Wikipedia is a web based, free content, multilingual encyclopedia project. It is written collaboratively by volunteers, allowing most of the articles to be changed by anyone who has access to the website. As Wikipedia encyclopedia is online, and released under an unrestrictive license, it is very easy to download the content for use on containers other than the web, which is the primary distribution method. Some are of the view that it does not meet every criterion for the basic definition of ‘encyclopedia’. One major difference from the book version of an encyclopedia is the online web editing facility with the history function of Wikipedia. Wikipedia was formally launched on 15 January 2001 as a single edition in English.