«Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia» — an open-editing regional encyclopedia supporting the free submission and updating of information needed to accelerate socialization processes in the Nizhny Novgorod region. It is an expert discussion platform on the regional website NNOV, as well as a place for accumulating, storing, and refining the most effective and accessible practical information about the structure and substance of regional society.
To strengthen the economic processes of the Nizhny Novgorod Region in keeping with the world economy's entry into the information age, tools are needed for timely and comprehensive informing of every regional resident about everyday life — above all its social dimension. To address this task comprehensively, the Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia was founded in August 2009, with its primary goal being the acceleration of the region's information metabolism through the integration of socially active expert groups and communities. Today the Encyclopedia contains more than 2,119 subject articles and continues to grow.
The «Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia» is built on the technology of the well-known Internet encyclopedia «Wikipedia» — it is likewise edited and created by its readers, and its materials are intended for free non-commercial distribution. However, unlike Wikipedia, the Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia can include articles on subjects of purely regional significance (such content is usually removed by the administrators of the central Wikipedia as lacking global importance). In addition, users of the project are not required to adopt an academic style of writing. Priority in evaluating content is given to the social significance of an article and the accessibility of its language.
The Encyclopedia's team believes that the Nizhny Novgorod region itself can serve as a model of our country in miniature, and that Nizhny Novgorod residents can, as they have in past turning points of Russian history, act as bearers of the most innovative all-Russian ideas.
Among the editorial team's plans: holding regular thematic round tables with the participation of the regional Nizhny Novgorod expert community and the most active users of the site; developing partnership programs aimed at uniting regional and federal expert communities; and providing targeted social advertising support for the innovative and cultural work of unique Nizhny Novgorod specialists.
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