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The ''Encyclopedia of Earth'' (abbreviated ''EoE'') is an electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The ''Encyclopedia'' is described as a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and other approved experts, who collaborate and review each other's work. The articles are written in non-technical language and are intended to be useful to students, educators, scholars, and professionals, as well as to the general public. The authors, editors, and even copy editors are attributed on the articles with links to biographical pages on those individuals.〔(''The Encyclopedia of Earth'' ), Cutler J. Cleveland, Editor (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment).〕 The ''Encyclopedia of Earth'' is a component of the larger Earth Portal (part of the Digital Universe project), which is a constellation of subject-specific information portals that contain news services, structured metadata, a federated environmental search engine, and other information resources. The technology platform for the ''Encyclopedia of Earth'' is a modified version of MediaWiki, the platform used by Wikipedia, which is closed to all but approved users. Once an article is reviewed and approved it is published to a public site. The EoE was launched in September 2006 with about 360 articles, and as of November 30, 2010 had 7,678 articles. ==Authoring and publishing process== Contributors to the ''Encyclopedia of Earth'' are made up of scientists, educators, and professionals within the environmental field. Contributors are vetted by the Environmental Information Coalition (EIC) Stewardship Committee, the governing body of the ''Encyclopedia of Earth'', before they are given access to the author's wiki. Within the wiki, where they operate under their real names and are give attribution on the published articles. Articles are written, edited, and published in a two-step process: # Content for the ''Encyclopedia'' is created, maintained, and governed by group of experts via a restricted-access wiki that uses a modified version of MediaWiki. # Upon completion, content is reviewed and approved by Topic Editors, and then published to the free public site. Content may be continuously revised and updated on the authors' wiki, but revised articles require review and re-approval before revisions are displayed on the public site. Contributors are designated as "Authors" or "Topic Editors." Contributors can create, write and edit freely on all content within the Encyclopedia. Topic Editors act as reviewers of articles on topics upon which they are judged to have a high level of expertise. Articles, when written, are assigned by Encyclopedia staff to Topic Editors for review and, if appropriate, approval and automatic publication to the public site. As of early 2009, ''EoE'' staff were reporting that there were approximately 1,200 contributors from 60 different countries on the ''Encyclopedia''. The ''EoE'' has about 70 (as of late 2010) Content Partners, organizations that have a written agreement to provide their content to the ''Encyclopedia''. Content Partners include organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, and American Meteorological Society. The ''EoE'' also cites Content Sources, organizations that have content in the public domain which is used in the ''Encyclopedia''. In this category are various government agencies and Wikipedia. The ''Encyclopedia of Earth'' has a specific policy on use of Wikipedia content which requires authors and editors to carefully review and approve such content before using it and includes the following statement at the bottom of the article: Note on Wikipedia Content: The Authors, Topic Editors, Copy Editors, Content Partners, and Content Sources, are all attributed on the articles with links to biographical pages on those individuals and institutions. This is part of the EoE's stated policy of transparency. The ''Encyclopedia'' has a stated policy regarding neutrality and fairness〔("The Encyclopedia of Earth neutrality policy" ), Cutler J. Cleveland, Editor (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment).〕 that requires articles, when touching upon any issue of controversy, to represent every different view on a subject that attracts a significant portion of adherents, with each such view and its arguments or evidence being expressed as fairly and sympathetically as possible. According to this neutrality policy, the ''Encyclopedia'' itself does not advocate positions on environmental issues. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Encyclopedia of Earth」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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