Building an encyclopedia galactica
The Digital Universe aims to be a vast collection of wordly knowledge -- sort of an encyclopedia but with advanced Web browsing technology. Likely to take a decade or more to build, the project will feature material from educators and academics, as well as members of the public. If it sounds a little like the collaborative online encyclopedia Wikipedia, that's no coincidence. One of the brains behind Wikipedia has signed onto Digital Universe.
The technologist behind the site is Joe Firmage, founder of Internet company USWeb who holds widely scorned beliefs that many high tech advances come from space aliens. The project's president says that shouldn't affect the credibility of Digital Universe.
Bernard Haisch says Digital Universe is meant to provide a serious, academic antidote to today's Web.