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(Redirected from MSN Encarta)
'''Encarta''' is a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation. As of 2005, the complete English version, ''Encarta Premium'', consisted of more than 68,000 articles, numerous images and movies, and homework tools, and is available on the World Wide Web by yearly subscription or by purchase on DVD-ROM or multiple CD-ROMs. Many articles can also be viewed online free of charge, a service supported by advertisements.[1]
Microsoft publishes similar encyclopedias under the ''Encarta'' trademark in various languages, including German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese language and Japanese. Localized versions may contain contents licensed from available national sources and may contain more or less content than the full English version. For example, the Dutch version has content from the Dutch ''Winkler Prins'' encyclopedia.
Following the first multimedia encyclopedia,
Microsoft initiated ''Encarta'' by purchasing non-exclusive rights to the ''Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia'', incorporating it into its first edition in 1993. (Funk & Wagnalls continued to publish revised editions for several years independently of ''Encarta'', but then ceased printing in the late 1990s). Microsoft had originally approached ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' in the 1980s, but ''Britannica'', believing its print media sales would remain strong, declined. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', the gold standard of encyclopedias for over a century, was forced to sell the company at below book value in 1996 when its print sales could no longer compete with ''Encarta'' and the Microsoft distribution channel which gave away free copies with computer systems.[2] When first introduced, the work had about 25,000 articles.[3] Throughout the 1990s, ''Encarta'' was praised uniformly for its multimedia content. In 1995, for example, only eight percent of the data on the CD-ROM was text.[4] Other electronic encyclopedias at the time did not have very many pictures, movies, or audio clips.
In the late 1990s, Microsoft bought ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' and ''New Merit Scholar's Encyclopedia'' from Macmillan and incorporated them into ''Encarta''. Thus the current Microsoft ''Encarta'' can be considered the successor of the ''Funk and Wagnalls'', ''Collier'', and ''New Merit Scholar'' encyclopedias. None of these formerly successful encyclopedias are still in print, being unable to adapt to the new market dynamics of electronic encyclopedias. In 1997, the work had about 30,000 articles,[5] an increase of 20% over its previous edition. By 1999, it had about 42,000 articles.[6]
Microsoft has introduced several regional versions of ''Encarta'', but some of them have been discontinued. For example, the Brazilian version was introduced in 1999 and suspended in 2002.[7] The Spanish version is somewhat smaller than the English one, at 42,000 articles.
In July 2006, Websters Multimedia, a Bellevue, Washington subsidiary of London-based Websters International Publishers, took over maintenance of ''Encarta'' from Microsoft.[8]
In June 2007, Microsoft announced the release of Encarta Premium 2008.[9]
''Encarta's standard edition[10] includes approximately 50,000 articles, with additional images, videos and sounds. The premium editions contain approximately 68,000 articles and other multimedia content, such as 25,000 pictures and illustrations, over 300 videos and animations, and an interactive atlas with 1.8 million locations. Its articles are integrated with multimedia content and may have a collection of links to websites selected by its editors. A sidebar may display alternative views or original materials relevant to the topic.
''Encarta's Visual Browser, available since the 2004 version, presents a user with a list of related topics. Its multimedia includes virtual 3-dimensional tours of ancient structures, for example the Acropolis; 2-dimensional panoramic images of world wonders or cities; and a virtual flight program which moves the user over landscape.
''Encarta'' also includes a trivia game called "Mouses" in which the player explores a castle by answering questions whose answers could be found in the encyclopedia's articles.
For years, ''Encarta'' came in three primary software flavors: Basic, Premium, and Reference Library (price and features in that order.) Beginning in 2005, however, Microsoft added Microsoft Student as the premier Microsoft educational software program, bundling Encarta with graphing calculator software and templates for Microsoft Office. In addition, the Reference Library was discontinued, absorbed into a newer, more comprehensive Premium package.
The dynamic maps are generated with the same engine that powered Microsoft MapPoint software. The map is a virtual globe that one can freely rotate and magnify to any location down to major streets for big cities. The globe has multiple surfaces displaying political boundaries, physical landmarks, and statistical information. One can selectively display different sized cities, various geological or man-made features and reference lines in a map.
The maps contain hyperlinks to related articles ("Map Trek") and also supports a "Dynamic Sensor" that provides the latitude, longitude, place name, population and local time for any point on the globe. Encarta also generates a visible-light moon atlas with names of major craters and hyperlinks. However, it does not include a planetarium.
In addition to database generated maps, many other illustrative maps in ''Encarta'' ("Historical Maps") are drawn by artists. Some more advanced maps are interactive: for example, the large African map for Africana can display information such as political boundaries or the distribution of African flora.
When ''Encarta'' was released as part of the "Reference Suite" in 1998 (through to 2000), Microsoft bundled "Microsoft Bookshelf" with the other three programs (Encarta Encyclopedia 98 Deluxe Edition, Encarta Virtual Globe '98, and Encarta Research Organizer). However, this was problematic.
Microsoft Bookshelf (Reference Edition) already contained "Encarta Desk Encyclopedia" and "Encarta Desk Atlas", thus becoming redundant with the full editions provided as part of the suite.
In later editions (Encarta Suite 2000 and onwards) Bookshelf was replaced with a dedicated Encarta Dictionary, a superset of the printed edition.
There has been some controversy over the decision, since the dictionary lacks the other books provided in Bookshelf which many found to be a useful reference, such as ''Columbia Dictionary of Quotations'' (replaced with a quotations section in Encarta that links to relevant articles and people) and an Internet Directory (although now a moot point since many of the sites listed in offline directories aren't around anymore).
Before the emergence of the world wide web for information browsing, Microsoft recognized the importance of having an engine that supported a multimedia markup language, full text search, and extensibility using software objects. The hypertext display, hyperlinking and search software was created by a team of CD-ROM Division developers in the late 1980s who designed it as a generalized engine for uses as diverse as interactive help, document management systems and as ambitious as a multimedia encyclopedia. ''Encarta'' was able to use various Microsoft technologies because it was extensible with software components for displaying unique types of multimedia information. For example, a snap in map engine is adapted from its MapPoint software. More information on the hypertext and search engine used by ''Encarta'' may be found in the Microsoft Bookshelf article.
Unlike Microsoft Office, Encarta software only supports Microsoft Windows with Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Encarta 98 was the last version to be released for the Macintosh. However, an Apple Macintosh or Linux/Unix user with Internet connection may still access ''Encarta's website.
''Encarta'' uses database technologies to generate much of its multimedia content. For example, ''Encarta'' generates each zoomable map from a global geographic information system database on demand.
When a user uses the copy and paste function of Microsoft Windows on ''Encarta'' on more than five words, ''Encarta'' automatically appends a copyright boilerplate message after the paste.
Early in 2005, the online ''Encarta'' started to allow users to suggest changes to existing articles.[11] Articles are not immediately updated. Instead, user feedback is submitted to ''Encarta's'' editors for review, copyediting, and approval.[12] Contributors are not paid for their submissions.[13]
=== Using Encarta via a chatbot ===
''Encarta's'' content is accessible using a conversational interface on Windows Live Messenger via the MSN Bot "Encarta Instant Answers".[14] The bot can answer many encyclopedia related questions directly in the IM window. It uses short sentences from the Encarta website, and sometimes displays full articles in the Internet Explorer-based browser on the right. It also can complete simple math and advanced algebra problems. This service is also available in German,[15] Spanish,[16] French[17] and Japanese.[18]
Users can get two free hours on Encarta by using Microsoft's search engine Live.com. It is done by searching "Definition: (word)" and accessing a link leading to Encarta Online.
Some criticism of the encyclopedia has focused on some articles being slow to be updated. For example, an early 2005 edition of the article about the political philosopher John Rawls opens with "Rawls, John (1921- )," although he had died on November 24, 2002. ''Encarta'' failed to note the date of his passing until April 2005—about 2½ years after the event. As of July 2005, the web version of the Rawls article includes his date of death.
Robert McHenry, while Editor-in-Chief of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', criticized[19] ''Encarta'' for differences in factual content between national versions of ''Encarta'', accusing Microsoft of "pandering to local prejudices" instead of presenting subjects objectively.[20] An article written by Bill Gates addressed the nature of writing Encyclopedia for different regions.[21]
Kenneth Kister's ''Best Encyclopedias'' (1994) gave the ''Funk & Wagnalls'' encyclopedia very bad scores for accuracy, although ''Colliers'' scored much better. It is also uncertain how many of the errors noted by Mr. Kister were corrected during the integration of material into ''Encarta''. Another reviewer noted numerous inaccuracies in the Spanish ''Encarta'' when comparing it to the ''Enciclopedia Universal'' from Micronet, S.A.—another digital-only encyclopedia.[22]
1. For the free service, one should use the URL http://search.msn.com/encarta/results.aspx (MSN Search Encarta) rather than http://encarta.msn.com (MSN Encarta : Online Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Atlas, and Homework)
2. The Crisis at Encyclopaedia Britannica
3. Levy, Stephen. "Encarta" ''Compute!'' (September, 1993)
4. Bopp, Richard E. ''Reference and Information Services: An Introduction,'' (1995) p. 455
5. Henricks, Mark and Stacy Stover. "Encyclopedias on CD-ROM" ''Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine'' (January, 1997)
6. McDonald, Glenn. "Encarta ready for the new millennium." ''PC World'' (December 1999)
7. http://www.microsoft.com/brasil/encarta/
8. [1]
9. http://media-newswire.com/release_1053023.html
10. Microsoft Encarta Product Details
11. Microsoft Encarta Adopting Wikiesque Process, Slashdot.org, April 8, 2005, accessed May 26, 2006
12. How to Edit Encarta Encyclopedia--the Easy Way!
13. Encarta Terms of Use, MSN.com, accessed May 26, 2006
14. MSN screenname: encarta@conversagent.com and encarta@botmetro.net
15. MSN screenname: de.encarta@botmetro.net
16. MSN screenname: es.encarta@botmetro.net
17. MSN screenname: fr.encarta@botmetro.net
18. MSN screenname: jp.encarta@botmetro.net
19. "The Microsoft Way", essay by Robert McHenry
20. Página
21. "The facts depend on where you are coming from", essay by Bill Gates reprinted in The Sunday Times of South Africa, April 6, 1997, accessed May 26, 2006.
22. Jacsó, Péter. ''Péter's Digital Reference Shelf'' (2003) [Accessed May 21, 2007]
★ Reference software
★ List of encyclopedias
★ Microsoft Music Central - Music enyclopedia
★ MSN Encarta Online — with limited free access and features.
★ Microsoft Encarta product
★ History and some other information about Encarta by Microsoft
★ Encarta SupportZone A website run by Stephen Stakey, a Microsoft MVP for MSN Encarta, that gives support and tips for Encarta users.
★ Review of Microsoft Encarta Africana A review by Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, Professor, Department of African American Studies, Temple University, Philadelphia
★ To wire or not to wire? Encyclopædia Britannica vs. Microsoft Encarta A comparison of the two encyclopedias, by Panagiota Alevizou, published by the ''Educational Technology & Society'' journal
★ A blast of nostalgia: Screenshots from Microsoft Encarta, 1994 Edition - Fourteen screenshots from an early CD-ROM version of Microsoft Encarta.
'''Encarta''' is a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation. As of 2005, the complete English version, ''Encarta Premium'', consisted of more than 68,000 articles, numerous images and movies, and homework tools, and is available on the World Wide Web by yearly subscription or by purchase on DVD-ROM or multiple CD-ROMs. Many articles can also be viewed online free of charge, a service supported by advertisements.[1]
Microsoft publishes similar encyclopedias under the ''Encarta'' trademark in various languages, including German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese language and Japanese. Localized versions may contain contents licensed from available national sources and may contain more or less content than the full English version. For example, the Dutch version has content from the Dutch ''Winkler Prins'' encyclopedia.
| Contents |
| History |
| Contents |
| World Atlas |
| Encarta Dictionary |
| Technology |
| User editing of ''Encarta'' |
| Criticism |
| Notes |
| See also |
| External links |
History
Encarta 1996 with many windows open including an atlas, an article and the pinpointer
Following the first multimedia encyclopedia,
Microsoft initiated ''Encarta'' by purchasing non-exclusive rights to the ''Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia'', incorporating it into its first edition in 1993. (Funk & Wagnalls continued to publish revised editions for several years independently of ''Encarta'', but then ceased printing in the late 1990s). Microsoft had originally approached ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' in the 1980s, but ''Britannica'', believing its print media sales would remain strong, declined. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', the gold standard of encyclopedias for over a century, was forced to sell the company at below book value in 1996 when its print sales could no longer compete with ''Encarta'' and the Microsoft distribution channel which gave away free copies with computer systems.[2] When first introduced, the work had about 25,000 articles.[3] Throughout the 1990s, ''Encarta'' was praised uniformly for its multimedia content. In 1995, for example, only eight percent of the data on the CD-ROM was text.[4] Other electronic encyclopedias at the time did not have very many pictures, movies, or audio clips.
In the late 1990s, Microsoft bought ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' and ''New Merit Scholar's Encyclopedia'' from Macmillan and incorporated them into ''Encarta''. Thus the current Microsoft ''Encarta'' can be considered the successor of the ''Funk and Wagnalls'', ''Collier'', and ''New Merit Scholar'' encyclopedias. None of these formerly successful encyclopedias are still in print, being unable to adapt to the new market dynamics of electronic encyclopedias. In 1997, the work had about 30,000 articles,[5] an increase of 20% over its previous edition. By 1999, it had about 42,000 articles.[6]
Microsoft has introduced several regional versions of ''Encarta'', but some of them have been discontinued. For example, the Brazilian version was introduced in 1999 and suspended in 2002.[7] The Spanish version is somewhat smaller than the English one, at 42,000 articles.
In July 2006, Websters Multimedia, a Bellevue, Washington subsidiary of London-based Websters International Publishers, took over maintenance of ''Encarta'' from Microsoft.[8]
In June 2007, Microsoft announced the release of Encarta Premium 2008.[9]
Contents
Encarta's Visual Browser
''Encarta's standard edition[10] includes approximately 50,000 articles, with additional images, videos and sounds. The premium editions contain approximately 68,000 articles and other multimedia content, such as 25,000 pictures and illustrations, over 300 videos and animations, and an interactive atlas with 1.8 million locations. Its articles are integrated with multimedia content and may have a collection of links to websites selected by its editors. A sidebar may display alternative views or original materials relevant to the topic.
''Encarta's Visual Browser, available since the 2004 version, presents a user with a list of related topics. Its multimedia includes virtual 3-dimensional tours of ancient structures, for example the Acropolis; 2-dimensional panoramic images of world wonders or cities; and a virtual flight program which moves the user over landscape.
''Encarta'' also includes a trivia game called "Mouses" in which the player explores a castle by answering questions whose answers could be found in the encyclopedia's articles.
For years, ''Encarta'' came in three primary software flavors: Basic, Premium, and Reference Library (price and features in that order.) Beginning in 2005, however, Microsoft added Microsoft Student as the premier Microsoft educational software program, bundling Encarta with graphing calculator software and templates for Microsoft Office. In addition, the Reference Library was discontinued, absorbed into a newer, more comprehensive Premium package.
Timelines in Encarta
World Atlas
Encarta's dynamically generated globe
The dynamic maps are generated with the same engine that powered Microsoft MapPoint software. The map is a virtual globe that one can freely rotate and magnify to any location down to major streets for big cities. The globe has multiple surfaces displaying political boundaries, physical landmarks, and statistical information. One can selectively display different sized cities, various geological or man-made features and reference lines in a map.
The maps contain hyperlinks to related articles ("Map Trek") and also supports a "Dynamic Sensor" that provides the latitude, longitude, place name, population and local time for any point on the globe. Encarta also generates a visible-light moon atlas with names of major craters and hyperlinks. However, it does not include a planetarium.
Options for level of detail on maps.
In addition to database generated maps, many other illustrative maps in ''Encarta'' ("Historical Maps") are drawn by artists. Some more advanced maps are interactive: for example, the large African map for Africana can display information such as political boundaries or the distribution of African flora.
Encarta Dictionary
When ''Encarta'' was released as part of the "Reference Suite" in 1998 (through to 2000), Microsoft bundled "Microsoft Bookshelf" with the other three programs (Encarta Encyclopedia 98 Deluxe Edition, Encarta Virtual Globe '98, and Encarta Research Organizer). However, this was problematic.
Microsoft Bookshelf (Reference Edition) already contained "Encarta Desk Encyclopedia" and "Encarta Desk Atlas", thus becoming redundant with the full editions provided as part of the suite.
In later editions (Encarta Suite 2000 and onwards) Bookshelf was replaced with a dedicated Encarta Dictionary, a superset of the printed edition.
There has been some controversy over the decision, since the dictionary lacks the other books provided in Bookshelf which many found to be a useful reference, such as ''Columbia Dictionary of Quotations'' (replaced with a quotations section in Encarta that links to relevant articles and people) and an Internet Directory (although now a moot point since many of the sites listed in offline directories aren't around anymore).
Technology
Before the emergence of the world wide web for information browsing, Microsoft recognized the importance of having an engine that supported a multimedia markup language, full text search, and extensibility using software objects. The hypertext display, hyperlinking and search software was created by a team of CD-ROM Division developers in the late 1980s who designed it as a generalized engine for uses as diverse as interactive help, document management systems and as ambitious as a multimedia encyclopedia. ''Encarta'' was able to use various Microsoft technologies because it was extensible with software components for displaying unique types of multimedia information. For example, a snap in map engine is adapted from its MapPoint software. More information on the hypertext and search engine used by ''Encarta'' may be found in the Microsoft Bookshelf article.
Unlike Microsoft Office, Encarta software only supports Microsoft Windows with Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Encarta 98 was the last version to be released for the Macintosh. However, an Apple Macintosh or Linux/Unix user with Internet connection may still access ''Encarta's website.
''Encarta'' uses database technologies to generate much of its multimedia content. For example, ''Encarta'' generates each zoomable map from a global geographic information system database on demand.
When a user uses the copy and paste function of Microsoft Windows on ''Encarta'' on more than five words, ''Encarta'' automatically appends a copyright boilerplate message after the paste.
User editing of ''Encarta''
Early in 2005, the online ''Encarta'' started to allow users to suggest changes to existing articles.[11] Articles are not immediately updated. Instead, user feedback is submitted to ''Encarta's'' editors for review, copyediting, and approval.[12] Contributors are not paid for their submissions.[13]
=== Using Encarta via a chatbot ===
''Encarta's'' content is accessible using a conversational interface on Windows Live Messenger via the MSN Bot "Encarta Instant Answers".[14] The bot can answer many encyclopedia related questions directly in the IM window. It uses short sentences from the Encarta website, and sometimes displays full articles in the Internet Explorer-based browser on the right. It also can complete simple math and advanced algebra problems. This service is also available in German,[15] Spanish,[16] French[17] and Japanese.[18]
Access through live.com
Users can get two free hours on Encarta by using Microsoft's search engine Live.com. It is done by searching "Definition: (word)" and accessing a link leading to Encarta Online.
Criticism
Some criticism of the encyclopedia has focused on some articles being slow to be updated. For example, an early 2005 edition of the article about the political philosopher John Rawls opens with "Rawls, John (1921- )," although he had died on November 24, 2002. ''Encarta'' failed to note the date of his passing until April 2005—about 2½ years after the event. As of July 2005, the web version of the Rawls article includes his date of death.
Robert McHenry, while Editor-in-Chief of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', criticized[19] ''Encarta'' for differences in factual content between national versions of ''Encarta'', accusing Microsoft of "pandering to local prejudices" instead of presenting subjects objectively.[20] An article written by Bill Gates addressed the nature of writing Encyclopedia for different regions.[21]
Kenneth Kister's ''Best Encyclopedias'' (1994) gave the ''Funk & Wagnalls'' encyclopedia very bad scores for accuracy, although ''Colliers'' scored much better. It is also uncertain how many of the errors noted by Mr. Kister were corrected during the integration of material into ''Encarta''. Another reviewer noted numerous inaccuracies in the Spanish ''Encarta'' when comparing it to the ''Enciclopedia Universal'' from Micronet, S.A.—another digital-only encyclopedia.[22]
Notes
1. For the free service, one should use the URL http://search.msn.com/encarta/results.aspx (MSN Search Encarta) rather than http://encarta.msn.com (MSN Encarta : Online Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Atlas, and Homework)
2. The Crisis at Encyclopaedia Britannica
3. Levy, Stephen. "Encarta" ''Compute!'' (September, 1993)
4. Bopp, Richard E. ''Reference and Information Services: An Introduction,'' (1995) p. 455
5. Henricks, Mark and Stacy Stover. "Encyclopedias on CD-ROM" ''Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine'' (January, 1997)
6. McDonald, Glenn. "Encarta ready for the new millennium." ''PC World'' (December 1999)
7. http://www.microsoft.com/brasil/encarta/
8. [1]
9. http://media-newswire.com/release_1053023.html
10. Microsoft Encarta Product Details
11. Microsoft Encarta Adopting Wikiesque Process, Slashdot.org, April 8, 2005, accessed May 26, 2006
12. How to Edit Encarta Encyclopedia--the Easy Way!
13. Encarta Terms of Use, MSN.com, accessed May 26, 2006
14. MSN screenname: encarta@conversagent.com and encarta@botmetro.net
15. MSN screenname: de.encarta@botmetro.net
16. MSN screenname: es.encarta@botmetro.net
17. MSN screenname: fr.encarta@botmetro.net
18. MSN screenname: jp.encarta@botmetro.net
19. "The Microsoft Way", essay by Robert McHenry
20. Página
21. "The facts depend on where you are coming from", essay by Bill Gates reprinted in The Sunday Times of South Africa, April 6, 1997, accessed May 26, 2006.
22. Jacsó, Péter. ''Péter's Digital Reference Shelf'' (2003)
See also
★ Reference software
★ List of encyclopedias
★ Microsoft Music Central - Music enyclopedia
External links
★ MSN Encarta Online — with limited free access and features.
★ Microsoft Encarta product
★ History and some other information about Encarta by Microsoft
★ Encarta SupportZone A website run by Stephen Stakey, a Microsoft MVP for MSN Encarta, that gives support and tips for Encarta users.
★ Review of Microsoft Encarta Africana A review by Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, Professor, Department of African American Studies, Temple University, Philadelphia
★ To wire or not to wire? Encyclopædia Britannica vs. Microsoft Encarta A comparison of the two encyclopedias, by Panagiota Alevizou, published by the ''Educational Technology & Society'' journal
★ A blast of nostalgia: Screenshots from Microsoft Encarta, 1994 Edition - Fourteen screenshots from an early CD-ROM version of Microsoft Encarta.
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psst.. try this: add to faves
