Digital Encyclopedias

Above our desks we’ve tacked strips of paper with the words, “It’s the content, stupid.” We put them up as the tide of Web 2.0 publishing was rising, to remind ourselves that our primary job is to give readers great content, not to wow them with technology. The subjects we cover in our library publications, the unique perspectives and data we make available, are what really count. We want to make reference relevant.

Still, keeping content in mind, we do love new technologies and online possibilities. Berkshire was far ahead of most reference publishers in using collaborative e-tools. We’ve offered e-newsletters related to our reference publications and hosted much-acclaimed blogs. Today, we’re using the expertise we developed while working on the Encyclopedia of Community and the Berkshire Encyclopedia of Human–Computer Interaction to shape an online publishing program that will use both established distribution channels and experimental approaches, such as group blogs for China (www.baoblogs.com) and sustainability experts (www.sustainablogs.com)

Berkshire is also committed to sharing the wealth of our knowledge. We host free databases in which we have collected titles, brief synopses, and other pertinent details about movies, documentaries, plays, books, TV/radio programs, and music — in other words, we’ve complied a rich resource of the popular culture that informs our lives and reflects our history — on themes related to such subjects as computers, community life, and global perspectives (to learn more, click the Popular Culture links in the Berkshire Online tab above).

To keep our content accessible—and our customers informed about the topics increasingly relevant in a changing world—we continue to work with a wide range of partners that distribute our publications in digital editions.

The Berkshire Encyclopedia of China is available in color at Exact Editions. Other ebook editions are exactly like the print set, which has hundreds of beautiful illustrations in black and white. We are currently considering producing a separate “Director’s Cut” edition with extra material including podcasts and video.

The Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability features full color illustrations in all digital editions, on all platforms.

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