Middle school teachers will get to “test drive” the online Encyclopedia Virginia this summer, but the general public may not see it until 2009.
That’s the word from the encyclopedia’s managing editor, Matthew Gibson. In June, he said the encyclopedia would debut sometime in 2008, but now he says that may not happen.
“Right now, I just can’t be certain,” Gibson said. “We’re shooting for 2008, but I don’t want to stake my life on it. We’re still cranking out content.”
When the encyclopedia does debut, Gibson said, the first articles will fall under the broad headings of 20th century Virginia history, Virginia literature, and city and county histories. That means early entries will include such diverse subjects as Harry Byrd, Douglas Wilder, massive resistance, William Styron, John Grisham, Rita Dove, and the mergers that created Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Suffolk.
The General Assembly will get a sneak peek in February, Gibson said, “so they can see what the state’s money is going toward.”
Middle school teachers will test the encyclopedia this summer because their students are expected to be among the encyclopedia’s biggest users.
“We want to become friends with teachers,” Gibson said.
The encyclopedia is a massive project of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Four employees in Charlottesville are laboring to create the online reference, with most articles written by experts at colleges and universities. It follows a nationwide trend in online state encyclopedias, which counters the massive popularity of Wikipedia, the general online encyclopedia that is not always reliable or authoritative.
Parts of the Encyclopedia Virginia will roll out each year. The entire reference is expected to take more than a decade. Gibson noted that the Handbook of Texas Online took 14 years to complete.
The Encyclopedia Virginia’s Web site already exists at www.encyclopediavirginia.com, but there’s not much to see except for sample pages and general introductory statements.
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Maybe I am missing something here but...
PEEK is the correct spelling/usage of the word in this case. It means "a quick or secret look at something". A PEAK refers to the highest point of something such as a mountain PEAK. Could you please tell us what you were referring to? The article used the word PEEK in it's title and this is the correct usage/spelling of the word.
You need some better editors
Please, please, please edit your copy better, or at least do not rely on spell check to fix errors. Peak/peek, come on now! It might seem picky to you, but for some folks misspelled or misused words take away from the overall merit of the article and the author.