h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just something I noticed on the Front Page recently, and wondered what everyone else thought about it...

The Guide has always been an online encyclopaedia. It's only recently that they've actually called it that on the front page. That is as it should be.

The original Hitchhiker's Guide was compared directly (and favourably) to Encyclopaedia Galactica.

Seemed to have appeared directly after 'Petunia' (i think thats what the Italics break from h2G2 was termed this time), at the point when the front page was altered in light of the changes announced on the announcement page think I prefered it in its origional guise and not the 'encylopedia' version

It's still there in Brunel... just above the "Write and entry for our..."

But only in very small print, and it's vanished completely from the Classic, Alabaster and Plain skins.

I don't like it.

To be honest, it's the only way I can really think of to describe it. I certainly have no problems with the description.

Maybe it's just me, but I have a sort of gut feeling that an encyclopaedia sounds dry and boring. But I haven't read many encyclopaediae. I had a look a few times when I was young, and got bored and was put off them. Maybe I just have the definition wrong in my head.

To me 'Encyclopaedia' sounds like something that Defines Things.
Whereas a Guide would be less Definitive, and more Informal, Informing and Exciting. That would tie in with why the Guide compared favourably to the Encyclopaedia Galactica, as well.

I remember a bit in the radio programme when the original Guide is described as "completely accurate, except in those places where it isn't, and then it is a least definatively inaccurate". Which meant that where the Encyclopedia Galactica was correct and true, the Guide may or may not be true, but is definately more interesting!

Whether this has any bearing on our Guide, I will not judge, I'm just mentioning it.


Geggs

I think the reason given was because it was slightly cheaper and had 'Don't Panic' on the cover in large friendly letters. Sadly, they took the Don't Panic off the Front Page of h2g2 years ago.

Oo, another bit from the show has just occured to me.

A lawsuit was brought against the Guide be the relatives of those who died after acting upon the following Guide entry: "The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal makes a lovely meal for visiting tourists". Whereas, if it were to be totally accurate, it should have said "The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal makes a lovely meal of visiting tourists". It's a small difference, but quite crucial in this context.

The Guide got in a lawyer that demostrated that beauty is truth and truth is beauty, and since the claimiant weren't beautiful, they weren't true either, and so had the case thrown out of court.

The moral I wish to draw is this: we may not adhere to be rigorous standard of an encyclopedia, can at least be interesting, attractive, and generally .


Geggs

Did you try reading an encyclopedia cover to cover?! I'm not surprised you got bored!
I consider both a standard encyclopedia and the Guide to be reference works, for consulting when you wish to find out something. That's just my perception, though, and has no bearing necessarily on what others use it for.

But to me, the Edited Guide's so much *more* than an encyclopaedia or reference work - it's a living, breathing, changing thing (particularly now we've got the Update Centre) that also does travel guides, recipes, pub listings, you name it....

For me, that's where we score heavily over an encyclopaedia. It's a more informal forum where people can pass on their knowledge for everyone's benefit.

Well said Number Six I don't see us as any kind of a definitive encyclopedia - we've got Wikipedia for that, and frankly they blow us out of the water on that front. What we do have - and it is our strength - is a type of a spin we put into an entry. It's not just informative, it's quirky, often amusing and looks at a subject from a slightly different angle. I've not seen the likes of that anywhere else.

Do you mean this bit? "WRITE AN ENTRY FOR OUR ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA - AND READ WHAT OTHERS HAVE WRITTEN..."

I think (if memory serves) that's the bit that the Editors change, I don't think that it's meant to be permanent. Of course, I could be wrong - I don't sit near then anymore so I might be missing something.

Our tagline is still "The Guide to Life, The Universe and Everything." That's what we ask people to use when linking to h2g2. I must admit though, I'd prefer to see something like "Earth edition of the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" there, rather than online encyclopedia. Isn't HHGTTG supposed to be cheaper and *more fun* that the encyclopedia galactica?

Maybe if the BEEB ever decides they don't want us anymore, we can hunk on over to the Britannica site.
Does the EB have an entry for 'dictionary'?
Does the OED have an entry for 'encyclopaedia'?
I figure the odds of either mentioning the other by name are quite ..uhm, improbable.
I put this down to the narrow world view of corporate publishing, which of course is what the Guide was meant to show us a way out of.

~jwf~

doesn't the frontpage look good in Brunel! I am a goo person and have found it very difficult to navigate, ie what's new, what's a plug for an old entry and of course the widescreen version doesn't help (i know it is being worked on, or at least will be if the italics had time to even breathe!)

I had a brunel moment that lasted a few weeks... but it is ok as i am recovered now

Mort

That's the one, Mina - d'you think they might consider changing it, if we were to ask nicely?