The Web of Knowledge

Encylopedias and Authority in the Digital Age

Giota Alevizou (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

336 Seiten

2026
Polity Press (Verlag)
978-0-7456-4628-2 (ISBN)

Noch nicht erschienen (ca. Februar 2026)
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The encyclopedia has expanded in scope, scale, and popularity in the digital age. Wikipedia in particular serves as a gateway to information and a flashpoint for disputes over authority, expertise, and cultural perspectives. This innovative book, which includes a foreword by the co-founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, traces the historical roots of digital encyclopedias in the early development of information science and cyberculture. It identifies trends within their digital evolution to reveal a complex web of relationships between media technology, knowledge and culture. Using several case studies, Alevizou analyses how major technological shifts have impacted publishing models, governance, and creative labour of reference works; the evolution of the genre and the modalities of representation and access; and the range of uses and symbolic meanings of encyclopedias as diverse nodes within broader information economies, as commodities and as public goods.

Filled with rich empirical insights, this engaging text reflects on how encyclopedias serve as informational media today and discusses their continued relevance in public communication and culture. The Web of Knowledge is essential reading for students and scholars of digital media, platform studies, and the political economy of knowledge.

Giota Alevizou is Lecturer in Digital Humanities and Culture at King’s College London.

Acknowledgement
Foreword by Jimmy Wales

Introduction

Part I: From Scroll to Platform: Genealogies, Media Technologies and Encyclopedic Knowledge
From Roots to Routes: Genealogies and Imaginaries of Encyclopedic Media
Encyclopedic Genres and the Digital Information Economy
Encyclopedic Dynamism and Epistemologies

Part II: Eras, Transitions, and Transformations
From Page to Screen: The Multimedia Era
From Paywalls to Platforms: Encyclopedias in the Digital Knowledge Economy
Editing ‘Authority’: Wikipedia and Commons Knowledge

Part III: Rationalising Authority: Encyclopedic Epistemologies in the Digital Age
Rewriting Authority: The Changing Value(s) of Encyclopedic Knowledge
Epistemic Qualities and AI Threats

Conclusion: The Politics of Knowing: Reflections on Uncertain Futures

Notes
References
Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	20.2.2026
Reihe/Serie	Digital Media and Society
Verlagsort	Oxford
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Buchhandel / Bibliothekswesen
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
ISBN-10	0-7456-4628-X / 074564628X
ISBN-13	978-0-7456-4628-2 / 9780745646282
Zustand	Neuware