The first thing I saw when I pulled up to this site was a flashing banner proclaiming “Free. Legal. Inside Information”. And it is very important to remember that this encyclopedia is free, sort of. The banner, however, doesn’t refer to it; but it’s a paid advertisement for CompanySleuth, a different free Website also under the wing of Infonautics, Encyclopedia. com’s step‐parent.
Scrolling down to the left, we see a paragraph explaining that Encyclopedia. com (hereafter EC) is based on 17,000 entries from Columbia University Press’s Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 3rd ed. (1994). It interfaces with Infonautics’ successful major enterprise, The Electric Library, a popular, basic online resource of “millions of articles and pictures” appealing chiefly to public library and to high school and undergraduate users. The Electric Library, however, is not free, which makes EC a way to point users toward Infonautics’ premium service ‐ a not uncommon gimmick of “free” online information providers and one which makes recommending it for captive users like college or high school populations highly problematic.
To the right, a simple, narrow search window invites “simple as possible” keyword queries; and just underneath it, a picture of a print encyclopedia with A‐Z volumes facilitates alphabetical searching for those, I suppose, who associate the alphabet with books. There is nothing soliciting searching by date or number; but if you, like me, have an urge to search for, say, “46”, EC will promptly come up with 20 hyperlinked references, including “speleology” and “Anne (Harvey) Sexton”. If you search for “1978,” you’ll get another 20, including “Menachem Begin” and “James Gould Cozzens”. Inputting “seventy‐nine” will produce “katydid” and “woman suffrage”; and “56,378” produces “Florida: Facts and Figures..... (Area, 58,560 sq.mi)” and “Saint Athanasius”. One is tempted to tease the search engine this way forever.
Getting down to more basic questions, a simple keyword search of “cholesterol,” using the Excite search engine EC employs, brings up 17 hyperlinked entries. All entries have a “View Article” button. Whether you click that button or the hyperlinked term itself you will be brought to the same short article and, usually within the article, to several additional hyperlinks to related ideas or subjects, all from Columbia’s Encyclopedia. Underneath that article is a section listing hyperlinked references to articles retrievable through Electric Library’s PAY service. These links list titles, sources (incomplete, of course), dates, size, relevance and reading level. Clicking one of these links brings you to a 30‐day free trial subscription form to The Electric Library. If you already belong, you can sign in. Subscription is $9.95 a month or $59.95 a year. Trial membership, however, requires a credit card number and burdens you with the responsibility of canceling. It also wipes out your original search and takes you directly to the Electric Library Page, no doubt a first‐time only misfortune.
Continuing the “cholesterol” search, clicking the Electric Library link brings you (when it works ‐ “internal system errors” abound), out of EC’sformat and into The Electric Library, where an unsigned, unreferenced article appears in an ugly typefont. Thus, there is no way to judge the authenticity of the information. A button to the left allows you to bring up a “printable copy” version of the same article ‐ one nearly as ugly but more neatly framed and also lacking bibliographic data. Strangely, an author’s name is attached to the article at the EARLY hyperlink level; but it vanishes with the appearance of the article. From the article screen, one is allowed to refine the search or initiate a new one. One is not returned to Encyclopedia.com
Finding “cholesterol” by using the image of the “C volume” takes six page links and brings you merely to the basic definition of the word, with a few hyperlinks and the usual assortment of Electric Library articles. The keyword search is more comprehensive, bringing 17 related links at once and hundreds of Electric Library articles. The “A‐Z volume” search is more specific, offering fewer than a dozen supporting articles.
There is, however, nothing in EC’sintroductory screen to tell you what to expect, how to use the search engines or to guide you in any other way, though, of course, the user is free to investigate the usual hows and whys via corporate, help, and logo links. Most users prefer an informational Website to declare its intentions up‐front and not hide behind a mask of user‐friendliness.
Once you get to an EC entry, past the hyperlink for, say, “Steroid”, you find to the right of the text a “Related Books” link from Barnes & Noble, a “Related Sites” link, a “Premium Resources” link (from Electric Library again) that brings up the same list of articles that follows the entry if you scroll down past it, a “Pictures and Maps” link (from the Electric Library), and, in this case, a single related link that is probably a two‐year‐old newspaper article. The Related Books site does indeed pull up a list of 139 books (based on the keyword “steroid”) that seem relevant; and you can refine and expand this search from within the B&N site without losing your initial screen. This and the Related Sites link are probably the most valuable features of the site. Related Sites brings you to a page listing 34 Web sites on steroid‐related matters from four specified major search engines, searchable by title.
The Maps link for our term turns up only a blank search window from Electric Library; but inputting, say, “France” at this level brings up dozens of links to attractive, very readable maps from several map publishers. The map search list can be refined by themes as well (e.g. “war,” “arts”). An intriguing link to “Researchpaper.com” that takes you into the grey world of students needing special Internet term paper help is also found on this page, while another link permits you to view all the information sources Electric Library uses. The newspaper link brings up a very short Reuters article with a good color photo about a runner who tested positive for steroids ‐ again with minimal bibliographic data.
This is not a site for anyone serious about information. Its best links are to other links, not to content. The information market is much like any other market: you get what you (or your school, your parents, your business) pay for; and Encyclopedia.com is basically a free teaser for a pay service. There are many excellent online and CD‐ROM encyclopedias out there; and almost any good library subscribes to a few powerful online research tools, so it’s hard to know who this site is designed for: accidental surfers? People with a 30‐day attention span? Seventh graders with take‐home short‐answer tests? Even truly free public search engines can produce results as good as this more focused site. Calling this an encyclopedia is a little like calling Eden’s snake a chef. Hyping information to the inexperienced Internet user with minimal needs is a self‐defeating strategy; but as long as there are consumers, there will be snake oil salesmen.
