The Internet Encyclopedia

Citation

Kuchi, T. (2004), "The Internet Encyclopedia", Online Information Review, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 378-379. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520410564334

The Internet Encyclopedia claims to be “the first comprehensive examination of the core topics in the Internet field”. To investigate this claim, the reviewer searched for similar publications on library databases and on the Web using Google. This search revealed that the Internet encyclopedia by Hossein Bidgoli is indeed the first one to cover in depth (and in one source) the range of topics comprising the Internet.

The articles in this encyclopedia indicate high quality scholarly work covering several subject areas. According to the editor, a thorough literature search about current research on the Internet from around the world was performed to decide topics for inclusion. Based on these results, the limits for a broad coverage of topics were set to areas of Business, Information Technology Platforms, Communication and Commerce. Eleven major subject area groupings were drawn from these broad categories: Foundation Issues; Infrastructure Issues; Legal, Social, Organizational, International, Taxation Issues; Security Issues and Measures; Web Design and Programming; Design, Implementation, and Management; Electronic Commerce; Marketing and Advertising on the Web; Supply Chain Management; Wireless Internet and E‐Commerce; and Applications. Several articles are written under each category, depending on the different developments in each of those areas. The Applications category contains the highest number of articles (37) and Supply Chain Management the lowest (10). Articles consist of a wide range of subjects, including Computer Literacy, Digital Communication, Encryption, Gender and Internet Usage, Extensible Markup Language (XML), Web Searching, Online Auctions, Wireless Communications and Internet, Digital Libraries, Online Banking, Webcasting, etc. The content is weighed more heavily towards business‐related and technical areas of the Internet. The articles provide substantial detail, with most articles around 10‐12 pages. They are arranged alphabetically and can be located through the table of contents. A breakdown of articles by topic/category is also available, though surprisingly there are no page numbers noted against this list for easy reference. From the topic list the user has to recheck the table of contents in order to locate an article within the encyclopedia.

The 11 categories of information about the Internet are put together in 205 peer‐reviewed chapters (covering more than 2,600 pages in three volumes). These articles, written in a consistent and easily readable format, include the title, author, affiliation, chapter outline, introduction, body, conclusion, glossary, cross references and references (both online and print). The cross references and references provide breadth to the topic being discussed. Illustrations and tables are used well to present some of the complex information more clearly and precisely. The most useful feature of each article is the glossary, which conveniently appears at the end of each article rather than in a separate volume (such as an index volume), giving unfamiliar acronyms and words contextual reference.

The Internet Encyclopedia is an authoritative source considering more than 240 academics and practitioners from around the world have written the 205 articles, and over 840 peer‐reviewed them. This mammoth effort indicates the deliberate effort to include diversity of knowledge and proficiency at producing high quality articles. The encyclopedia will be very useful for students, researchers and professionals in colleges, universities or corporations that need Internet‐related information. This publication is recommended as a reference source for any type of library. Even though no plans are indicated for updating content, it is the first one of its kind to include comprehensive coverage for the fast and ever‐increasing information about the Internet.