Reference

In Britain, the way we use works of reference has been transformed by the ubiquitous nature of the internet. Where once we would have had to make a trip to a library to look at an encyclopaedia or other reference book, we can now access vast amounts of information, directly, using a desktop computer or mobile device.

British Encyclopaedias

Although encyclopaedias in traditional book form can still be purchased, the publishers have had to make major changes in their business models in order to survive in a world where so many people have access to the internet. Even such an august publication as Encyclopaedia Britannica has been forced to create a major online presence. Some online encyclopaedias offer access to content on a subscription basis and also use their websites to market versions on paper or DVD. However, all these encyclopaedias have to compete with the internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a web-based, free, multi-lingual encyclopaedia. It is written and maintained online by volunteers from many countries in more than 250 languages. It contains around 2.5 million articles in English alone. When using Wikipedia, one should always be aware of the risk of possible errors and content that has been introduced maliciously. Notwithstanding this proviso, most information in Wikipedia is very reliable and up to date. The Wikipedia websites receive more than 680 million visits annually.

Dictionaries

Just like other reference works, single language and language pair translation dictionaries have found their way online in large numbers. Some traditional publishers (e.g. the Oxford English Dictionary) offer full access and search facilities on a subscription basis. A major advantage for dictionary compilers is that in a time when languages are changing rapidly, they can add new words and changes of language usage rapidly to their online dictionaries. Some online dictionaries offer audio of pronunciation of words. Inevitably, a wiki-based collaborative dictionary, Wiktionary, has also been created, which contains more than 840,000 entries. In addition to traditional style dictionaries, many specialist dictionaries have also appeared online. For example, more than fifty dictionaries relating to wine can be found on the internet.

Thesauri

In conjunction with the dictionary, that other essential writer’s tool, the thesaurus, is available online in a variety of forms. Most thesauri offer a search facility and the option of browsing alphabetically to find synonyms.

Almanacs

An almanac is an annual publication that provides information, usually in tabular structure, that covers a particular field, often in the form of a calendar. Traditional examples include tide tables and astronomical data such as moon phases and movement of the planets. Unsurprisingly, almanacs have appeared throughout cyberspace covering everything from astronomy to farming and politics.

Biographies

The internet offers a vast source of biographical information, not all of it totally accurate! As well as online biographies of thousands of historical figures, it is often possible to obtain personal details of many living people. The popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Friends Reunited has increased the amount of contemporary biographical data that is available online.