Online encyclopedias like Wikipedia are frequently more accurate than printed publications, simply because of this faster updating speed. Some printed reference works haven’t even gotten around to changing their text to show Pluto’s new designation as a “minor planet” – and that decision was made by the International Astronomical Union in 2006. In the real world of paper-based publications, it’s impossible to reprint hundreds of thousands of copies of an entire multi-volume set of encyclopedias every time a new piece of information about the surface of Pluto needs to be added to Volume 18 (Plants to Raymund of Tripoli). In the virtual world, correcting and republishing an encyclopedia entry is often a matter of minutes. Printed books and journals take time to produce and distribute. However, one of the big differences between print and online resources is that updates can be done quickly and easily on the internet. Even though millions of people around the world are constantly adding and updating websites, the pace of scientific advancement and the new research being done in fields from astronomy to zoology has created an avalanche of data that even high-speed internet connections can’t always handle. Sometimes that’s because the information is out of date. Just as not everything you pick up off the shelf at a bookstore or library is guaranteed to be 100% accurate, the material being published on line every day isn’t always true.
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