Interactive Encyclopedias Using the Web and Mathematica

Eric W. Weisstein
Wolfram Research, Inc.

Mathematica Developer's Conference
Champaign, IL
October 22, 1999

Finding (Useful) Information in the Information Age

The Internet as a vast World-Wide Library

Finding What You're Looking for

Quality (content)

Comprehensiveness (level of presentation)

User Interface

"Further Reading"

Timeliness

Accessibility (by subscription only?)

WRI's Web Encyclopedia Project

Goals

Create a "Portal" Site for Mathematical and Scientific Information

Freely Available to All

Address the Needs of both Technical and General Audiences

Build on Existing Material (EWW's book and "treasure-troves" website)

({{, }})

Harness the Strengths of Mathematica

(Spread the Gospel of Mathematica)

Use Formats Accessible to Everyone (HTML, GIFs, animated GIFs, Java, as well as notebooks)

Make Content Easy to Navigate (search by topic, full text searching, alphabetical browsing)

Provide Seamless Linking Between Content, References, and On-Line Resources

Maintain Flexibility to Migrate to New Technologies (esp. MathML)

The Role of Mathematica

Derivation of Formulas

2-D Plots and Animations

3-D Graphics and Animations

Typesetting

Integration of Material

Solicit Countabilities, Reviewers, Commentators, ...

The Encyclopedias

Mathematics: mathworld.wolfram.com

2,400 Printed Pages

3,000 Figures

700 LiveGraphics3D Java Applets

Detailed Subject Classification

Polyhedra: polytopes.wolfram.com

Physics: scienceworld.wolfram.com

Future Developments (additional parts of scienceworld)

Demos

www . treasure - troves . com/math/

mathworld . wolfram . com [future site]

polytopes . wolfram . com

www . treasure - troves . com/physics/

Summary

There is a need for accessible, high-quality technical information

Mathematica is an indispensable tool in all aspects of compiling, archiving, and presenting such information resources

Stay Tuned: There is much left to do, and many more good things to come...