Britannica offers the human touch.

revolutionmagazine.com, Wednesday, 31 December 1997, 12:00am,

The Encyclopaedia Britannica, the venerable reference library still associated more with large, leather-bound tomes than information highways, has made a second stab at tapping the internet market: it has launched its own search engine, but powered by real people rather than technology.

Launched in October, the Britannica Internet Guide - or 'BIG', as the rejuvenated publisher prefers to call it - is billed as the first major web navigation service to offer "search and retrieval technology with an intelligent selection, organisation and evaluation facility compiled by highly skilled subject authors". It currently offers access to over 65,000 web sites, all of which have been selected by Britannica's editors according to strict criteria, including: depth and quality of information; credentials of site authoring; elegance and clarity of design; ease of navigation; and frequency of revision.

Most entries are accompanied by concise descriptions.

A rating from 'noteworthy' to 'best of the web' (three stars) is designed to make Britannica a sort of internet Michelin Guide. And, if necessary, there is a direct link to the Alta Vista search engine.

Britannica vice-president and general manager Tim Pethick says the move is a "natural progression" from the company's first internet foray in 1994: the Britannica Online web site, which is subscription-based and offers links from the encyclopaedia to related sources of information on the web.