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Digital encyclopedia has wealth of information

ROMPER ROOM
By Joseph Szadkowski
March 25, 2007

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In a world of ultraviolent video games, where dexterity of the thumb and index finger is infinitely more important than the flexing of the cerebrum, there must be a place for children and their parents to interact and actually learn something from that overpriced multimedia computer/gaming system. Take a deep breath and enter the ROMper Room, where learning is a four-letter word -- cool.
    One of the premiere information resources for more than two centuries continues to try and maintain its relevance in a digital world through a wealth of knowledge stuffed into a single DVD.
    • Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2007 can't compete with the vast, constantly updated content now available via the World Wide Web, but it will give students quite a collection of well-written, authoritative articles smattered with multimedia at a ridiculously cheap price.
    Its latest digital encyclopedia will chew up more than three gigabytes of space on a hard drive as it completely loads in under 15 minutes on multi-gigahertz computers.
    And just by the numbers, it is a pretty impressive package. More than 100,000 articles written by scholars in the field and occasional Nobel laureates, more than 20,000 images, 1,000 videos, Internet access to over 166,000 sources, more than 2,500 interactive maps and timelines, and a pop-up dictionary and thesaurus.
    After users choose either an adult, student (ages 10 to 14 ) or elementary level (ages 6 to 10) version of the encyclopedia, a very boring but efficient tab-based interface that wants to act like a Web browser is displayed to access and search content.
    For the purposes of this column, educational fun, I will focus on the Britannica Elementary Library of data as it tries to coax the learning bug into tykes much like a grandmother offers cough syrup.
    Youngsters through the opening page can quickly click to Homework Help Desk, Video Clips, Timelines, Explore and Dictionary. They also will find an A-Z Browse function on the left side of the page that beckons with ready-to-click topics such as acid rain, Aesop and Aztec, not likely.
    Additionally, a task bar located in all three versions keeps track of everywhere knowledge-seekers roam.
    The Homework Help Desk is where children might stay awake and it promises a Games and Activities area honed toward Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.
    Within each discipline, students will find printable PDF study guides to take away from the computer and a robust set of online challenges nestled deep in the actual Britannica Web site, accessed only by the DVD owner.
    Despite the presentations that might only look hip to a sheltered preschooler, the games deliver a colorful, often character-driven, set of problem-solving chances and knowledge immersions.

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