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.
By:
Giota Alevizou
Imprint: Polity Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 208mm,
Width: 147mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 476g
ISBN: 9780745646299
ISBN 10: 0745646298
Series: Digital Media and Society
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 20 February 2026
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
: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
Giota Alevizou is Lecturer in Digital Humanities and Culture at King’s College London.
Reviews for The Web of Knowledge: Encyclopedias and Authority in the Digital Age
""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
