Digital Universe
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Type of site
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Internet portal |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Headquarters | Scotts Valley, California |
| Owner | Digital Universe Foundation |
| Website | www.digitaluniverse.net |
| Commercial | no |
| Registration | Optional |
Digital Universe was a free online information service founded in 2006. The project aimed to create a "network of portals designed to provide high-quality information and services to the public". Subject matter experts were to have been responsible for reviewing and approving content; contributors were to have been both experts (researchers, scholars, educators) and the public.
The project was founded in 2005 by Joe Firmage, CEO of ManyOne, with Bernard Haisch as the president. It launched in early 2006. Larry Sanger was a director, and helped with the launch of the project's Encyclopedia of Earth. Sanger left in late 2006 to launch Citizendium.
In December 2005, when the project was announced, the founders' goal was to create a worldwide network of researchers, scholars, and educators, to become "the PBS of the Web."
While the public will be invited to contribute to some articles in the Digital Universe encyclopedia, they will be supervised by "stewards" whose role is to guarantee quality and accuracy of the articles. In addition, parts of the Digital Universe will be editable only by credentialed experts.
The , is expected to be written and managed by experts.
Some of the 3-D graphical interface features will require the use of a Mozilla-based browser developed by ManyOne Networks, which they say will be made available free of charge.
Some content will be available only to ManyOne subscribers.
Around 2000 content pages existed as of August 2007. The Digital Universe claims the following featured portals: Earth, Energy, The Arctic, Texas Environment, U.S. Government, and Salton Sea. The Salton Sea portal for example contains the following pages: Hydrology, Biology, Limnology, Ecological Issues, Values, Geography, Alternatives, and Cultural History.
The Earth portal is working on an Encyclopedia of Earth (EoE), which will focus on the natural environment and its interaction with society. It will limit editing privileges to experts, by attributing all edits to their authors, by changes being published publicly only after approval and by using an expert-developed taxonomy for articles.
In May 2006 it was reported that the EoE was due to be launched in June 2006. A July 2006 article reported that the launch would be in fall 2006.
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