Quick Links
External links, these open in a new tab (Firefox), or window (IE)
The Worlde on a Dysc
6th May 2007
Quite a few years (around 1999 to be a little more precise) ago I started specifying what I grandiosely subtitled A Discworld Interactive Encyclopædia(sic) on CD ROM.
I had all but forgotten about it until the other day when I came across a hard copy in a pile of old papers and other assorted rubbish that tends to accumulate beside any computer I work at. That prompted me to start hunting on my various backup CD's and folders to see if I still had a copy in electronic form. What I came across was this document from 2002 - the last time I made any changes as it is identical to the hard copy. In 2003 I was still interested enough in the project to contact Stephen Briggs to see if he would like to see what I had written and whether it had any relevance to a project I believed him to be working on at the time. Luckily for everyone he turned me down. However, I feel enough time has passed for me to present the document to the world for everyone to have a laugh at.
What struck me the most was how similar to a Wiki it is, though I was ignorant of the term throughout the period I was working on this. I have absolutely no idea whether it would have worked - my web skills were virtually nonexistent at the time. I also never foresaw the ubiquity of broadband and web based content as throughout I refer to it being on a CD-ROM. I only mentioned DVD-ROM once and I think that was a late change. In my defense I have to say that the title was meant to have a double meaning - referring both to the Discworld and the fact that the encyclopedia was on a disc. And yes I know it's lame.
(mailto: theworldeonadysc at forman dot free-online dot co dot uk)