Overview

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 the 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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Giota Alevizou
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:   Polity Press
ISBN:  

9780745646282

ISBN 10:   074564628
Pages:   336
Publication Date:   20 February 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Awaiting stock  

Table of Contents

:Acknowledgements Foreword by Jimmy Wales   Introduction      Part I: From Scroll to Platform: Media Genealogies, Technologies and the Genre Logic of Encyclopedic Knowledge  Chapter 1: From Roots to Routes: A Genealogy of Encyclopedic Media and Imaginaries      Chapter 2: Encyclopedias as Genres in the Digital Information Economy       Chapter 3: Encyclopedic Dynamism, Encyclopedic Epistemologies      Part II: Eras, Transitions, and Transformations Chapter 4: From Page to Screen: The Multimedia Era      Chapter 5: From Paywalls to Platforms: Encyclopedias in the Digital Knowledge Economy     Chapter 6: Editing ‘Authority’ the web 2.0 way: Wikipedia and Commons Knowledge  Part III: Rationalising Authority: Encyclopedic Epistemologies and the Politics of Value(s) Chapter 7: Rewriting Authority: The Changing Values of Encyclopedic Knowledge    Chapter 8: Epistemic Qualities and AI Threats       Encyclopedias, Wikipedia and the Politics of Knowing: Concluding Reflections on Uncertain Futures      Notes References Acknowledgements Foreword by Jimmy Wales   Introduction      Part I: From Scroll to Platform: Media Genealogies, Technologies and the Genre Logic of Encyclopedic Knowledge  Chapter 1: From Roots to Routes: A Genealogy of Encyclopedic Media and Imaginaries      Chapter 2: Encyclopedias as Genres in the Digital Information Economy       Chapter 3: Encyclopedic Dynamism, Encyclopedic Epistemologies      Part II: Eras, Transitions, and Transformations Chapter 4: From Page to Screen: The Multimedia Era      Chapter 5: From Paywalls to Platforms: Encyclopedias in the Digital Knowledge Economy     Chapter 6: Editing ‘Authority’ the web 2.0 way: Wikipedia and Commons Knowledge  Part III: Rationalising Authority: Encyclopedic Epistemologies and the Politics of Value(s) Chapter 7: Rewriting Authority: The Changing Values of Encyclopedic Knowledge    Chapter 8: Epistemic Qualities and AI Threats       Encyclopedias, Wikipedia and the Politics of Knowing: Concluding Reflections on Uncertain Futures      Notes References

Reviews

""This fascinating genealogy reveals how encyclopedias - commercial and commons-based - influence the authoritative status of knowledge and why epistemic justice and resistance to biases depend on future choices about who controls the production, credibility, and accessibility of knowledge."" Robin Mansell, London School of Economics and Political Science ""This book shows encyclopedias have been reinvented for the digital age - reshaped by new media, changing institutions, and the politics of knowledge. Must-read!"" Jimmy Wales

Author Information

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

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