In praise of encyclopedias – Wikipedia is 10 years old

I will not deny it, I love encyclopedias. Whether it is the general kind or focused on a given subject like aviation or information technology, I am fascinated by these works, the way they bring knowledge like a thick syrup just waiting for your mind to add the fluid of understanding to reveal their secrets.
This fascination dates back to the 1960s when we were living in Cairo, Egypt and as a student I was granted a pass to the British Library, just off Tahrir Square. There it was of course the Encyclopedia Britannica that ruled the scene and I remember how often I dreamed about having it on my bookshelf at home.
As it turned out, I had to wait until almost 1990 before that happened, but it did! In the end, EB wasn’t even the first of the big encyclopedias that I managed to acquire. During my time in Paris, first I bought the Encyclopedia Universalis, which is in fact the French version of the Britannica. A year or so later I was seduced by the wonderful dark red volumes of Encyclopedia Larousse which is the iconic French interpretation of what an encyclopedia should be like. It is wonderful by the way.
So, to-day all three of those wondrous encyclopedias are on the shelves in our living room and I continue to love them, even in the face of the funny expression my kids reserve for paper encyclopedias.
They prefer Wikipedia… of course!
10 years old on 15 January 2011, Wiki has become something of an icon not unlike Encyclopedia Britannica used to be, although there are some important differences.

For one, Wiki is free for everyone. Second, it is being built by everyone. It also exists in a multitude of languages!
Wikipedia as we know it is in fact the second attempt of its creator, Jimmy Wales, whose first try, called Nupedia was a failure. It was too academic and clearly did not catch the fancy of the volunteers on whom Wiki counts to build its substance.

The idea to allow everyone to “write” this encyclopedia has turned out to be a brilliant one. The net effect of a multitude of contributors is a spectacular increase in quality over time with coverage also expanding exponentially. This does not mean that Wikipedia covers all subjects a normal, centrally edited encyclopedia would do to the same depth. The actual coverage reflects the constitution of the contributor base and their interests and as such leans quite perceptibly towards young techies in the IT field.
So how relevant is Wikipedia to air traffic management? An awful lot of basic stuff is there but try “4D trajectory” or “trajectory based operations” and the results returned show clearly that the details of the most recent developments in ATM need more work. Luckily SESAR and NexGen are both there so things are not completely lost…
You will have noticed that there are, thankfully, no advertisements on Wikipedia. They support themselves from the funds collected during the yearly donation campaigns and it seems that for the foreseeable future there will be no need for additional revenue. I hope this will indeed be the case and we will never be faced with pages cluttered by ads the theme of which is decided by some program trying to guess what we are interested in.
Wikipedia is a wonderful invention and its cooperative concept makes it even more special. I am sure the editors of printed encyclopedias (if they still exist at all…) think with envy of the ease Wiki keeps current on new developments not to mention the access to literally millions of enthusiastic authors donating their time free of charge. Even on-line editions of traditional products must find that hard to match.
The fine layer of dust collecting on my set of printed encyclopedias is a dead giveaway… I too tend to turn to Wiki these days.
One thing Wikipedia will never do is be a gem on your bookshelf. I am glad I bought my multi-volume gems while still there was a chance.