Erratic Impact, also known as the Philosophy Research Base, is a self‐described meta‐site of categorized links devoted to philosophy and philosophers on the internet. The site was created in 1997 by Danne Polk, who holds a Master's degree in Philosophy, as a research tool for students enrolled in Philosophy courses at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. The site was opened to the public in January, 1999 and, according to the website, continues to be maintained by Ms Polk assisted by suggestions from friends, former students and colleagues. The purpose of the site, as stated on the About page, is to aid both academic and general interest users in all philosophical genres and their related fields. Access to the site is free and does not require user registration or university affiliation.
The home page of the site is divided into three columns: a navigational column on the left, a search and browse column in the centre and a column with links to advertisers on the right. Links in the left and centre columns provide access to the seven main areas of the site, including, Philosophers, Topics, History, Departments, Homepages, Journals, and Organizations. Additional links provide information about the site, such as adding content, advertising, conditions of use, contact information, donations, making suggestions, privacy, promotions, and reporting mistakes. A Yahoo! search box in the left‐hand column allows users to search for terms within the site or across the web, while search fields in the centre column allow users to search for books through Amazon.com or Powell's Books in Oregon.
Browsing the site is as easy as clicking on any one of the category links in the left and centre columns of the home page. Clicking on the Topics, History or Philosophers links, for example, provides users with a list of online resources, which depending on the category chosen, could include links to websites, encyclopedias, primary texts, online papers, commercial booksellers, or associations. Clicking on the Departments or Homepages links allows users to browse through lists of academic philosophy departments or individual faculty members throughout the world. The Journals and Organizations links provide access to the home pages of philosophically oriented journals, associations and societies on specific topics, areas of study, or philosophers.
Overall, the site is well organized and user‐friendly. Navigation is straightforward by browsing the categorized menus and topic lists or via the internal Yahoo!‐powered search engine. The site includes a large number of links related to all areas of philosophy, many of which could be useful to faculty and students in an academic setting. Especially valuable in this regard are the links to academic departments, philosopher home pages, and the annotated lists of associations and journals.
That said, there are a number of problems that make the site difficult to recommend. First and foremost is the large number of outdated and broken links running throughout every browse category. While a few broken links may be expected in a categorized site of this size, the sheer number of outdated links decreases the overall usefulness and reliability of the information. A simple link checker would do much to improve the usability and usefulness of the site. Second, many of the links in the History, Topics and Philosophers categories are nothing more than direct links to books available through the site's affiliated online booksellers. While the inclusion of these links is useful, the omission of many important online primary resources and scholarly papers is disappointing. Potential users would be strongly advised to supplement their use of Erratic Impact with other online philosophy resources such as Epistemelinks, Noesis Philosophical Research Online, or their favorite search engine. In addition, there are a number of advertisements by commercial vendors present throughout the site, presumably to offset hosting and maintenance costs. While advertisements from online booksellers or philosophy‐related apparel shops may be appropriate, the inclusion of others, such as essay review and editing services, may be problematic considering that students are one of the intended audiences of the site. Equally problematic are the inclusion of links to online dating services that have absolutely no correlation to the site's intended subject matter or purpose.
While Erratic Impact has the potential to be a valuable source of information on philosophy and philosophy related resources for both academic and general users, the problems mentioned above make it difficult to recommend as a reliable source of up‐to‐date information. This is unfortunate, because a site of this kind would be especially useful for students in search of authoritative online resources, as well as current information regarding academic philosophy departments and contemporary philosophers.
