End of the Universal Guide
The guide inspired by Douglas Adams is on its way to being tomorrow’s virtual fish-n-chips wrapper, thanks to a controversial decision by the BBC to axe the h2g2 Web site. The online encyclopaedia maintained by public volunteers has provided quality peer-reviewed eclectic articles since 1999, two years before Wikipedia appeared. The often humorous fountain of knowledge has an uncertain future as funding is withdrawn. The h2g2 community is actively seeking a survival plan. Obviously this presents some challenges for the future licensing of contributed content. A new home for the articles within other collections, notably Wikipedia, is not so straight-forward, particularly given the nature of h2g2 articles, which many would consider bizarre or overly specialised. A brief glance at the Solving the Times Crossword article, or the eccentric note on Nudists, will illustrate. Such oddity is an essential and unique characteristic of h2g2 and it will be a shame to see its demise.
Categorised as: LUE