Trictionary
Encyclopedia
Trictionary is a 400-page trilingual English/Spanish/Chinese translation wordbook. It covers about 3,000 words in each language. The book was compiled by anonymous volunteers, mostly younger students from New York City whose native language was English, Spanish or Chinese. The compilation was done, as The New Yorker
reports (10 May 1982) "by the spare-time energy of some 150 young people from the neighborhood" aged between 10 and 15, two afternoons a week over three years. The project was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities
and work was done at the Chatham Square branch of the New York Public Library
. The original idea was developed by Jane Shapiro, a teacher of English as a Second Language at Junior High School 65, helped by Mary Scherbatoskoy of ARTS (Art Resources for Teachers and Students).
Tom McArthur, in his 1986 book Worlds of Reference, thought of the project as a future model for reference work creation: group collaboration, volunteer work and no single or named author. "I am considering something much more radically interesting: turning students on occasion into once-in-a-lifetime Samuel Johnson
s and Noah Webster
s." McArthur's observation was prescient, the project is now seen as an early model of social information processing
, and has since been compared to the community created encyclopedia Wikipedia
which first appeared in 2001.
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
reports (10 May 1982) "by the spare-time energy of some 150 young people from the neighborhood" aged between 10 and 15, two afternoons a week over three years. The project was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
and work was done at the Chatham Square branch of the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
. The original idea was developed by Jane Shapiro, a teacher of English as a Second Language at Junior High School 65, helped by Mary Scherbatoskoy of ARTS (Art Resources for Teachers and Students).
Tom McArthur, in his 1986 book Worlds of Reference, thought of the project as a future model for reference work creation: group collaboration, volunteer work and no single or named author. "I am considering something much more radically interesting: turning students on occasion into once-in-a-lifetime Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
s and Noah Webster
Noah Webster
Noah Webster was an American educator, lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author...
s." McArthur's observation was prescient, the project is now seen as an early model of social information processing
Social Information Processing
Social Information Processing is "an activity through which collective human actions organize knowledge." It is the creation and processing of information by a group of people...
, and has since been compared to the community created encyclopedia Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
which first appeared in 2001.
External links
- Trictionary, official page.
- Alastair Reid, The Talk of the Town, “Triple Play,”, The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, May 10, 1982, p. 31 - "Wikipedia before Wikipedia", Dan Visel, if:book, The Institute of the Book, February 12, 2009