BBC Focus renews encyclopedia comparisons
Wikipedia has been matched up against other online encyclopedias in a new test, but with somewhat different results. In contrast to the Nature study last December, whose validity the Encyclopædia Britannica contested after it showed Wikipedia content was comparable but slightly more error-prone than Britannica’s, this comparison actually rated Wikipedia ahead.
The comparison appeared in the May issue of the monthly science and technology magazine BBC Focus, which reached newsstands last week. It was based on the reviews of a virologist on the topic of bird flu (specifically the article on the H5N1 strain), an engineering expert on railway designer George Stephenson, and an astronomer for the coverage of planetesimals. Besides Wikipedia and the Encyclopædia Britannica, the other sources tested were Encarta and InfoPlease.com, which uses the Columbia Encyclopedia and is, like Wikipedia, free of charge to users. In addition, the journalist working on the project evaluated the usability of each encyclopedia's website.