The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) are landing in the U.S. Senate next week and a whirlpool of online protest has fired up again. The two bills intend to stop online piracy and protect copyright holders, however, critics claim they infringe upon creativity, Internet security and innovation by punishing websites that link to any copyright-infringing sites, even by accident.
Wikipedia and a number of major sites including Reddit, Mozilla and TwitPic will go offline on Wednesday to protest. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales made the announcement on Twitter, joking that students should "do [their] homework early."
Wikipedia is a massive resource for students and professionals alike. What will a day without the online encyclopedia be like? In case you're worried, we dug up some alternative information resources should you need them on Wednesday.
Here are some of the best resources in a Wiki-less world. What are your thoughts on the blackout? Are these sites making the right move or is it just an inconvenience to the public? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Google's scholarly search engine is a way to broadly search for literature, articles, abstracts, theses and legal opinions from academic professionals, societies and universities.
Wolfram|Alpha is a "computational knowledge engine" that uses specific algorithms based on specific assumptions to answer questions, rather than just give search results. The results also come back with sources and references that the site used for your computation.
Reporters in need of a source can use this forum to have their queries answered. The site claims to "deliver the sources that match your exact needs directly to your inbox."
The Encyclopedia Britannica is written and continuously updated by approximately 100 editors and more than 4,000 contributors. It's regarded as one of the most scholarly encyclopedias and it is available online.
Quora's information network can connect you with experts and answers from people who share similar interests as you.
There are more than 38,000 cultural archives available as ebooks on Project Gutenberg, which you can download to your PC, Kindle, Android or iOS device.
The Internet Movie Database is a useful resource for cross-checking stats about the entertainment industry such as movies, TV shows, actors, production crew video games and fictional characters.
If you are looking for historical references, History.com is split into a large number of topics, ranging from U.S. Government, Wars and Military Conflicts and Famous People.
eHow is an online how-to guide with instructional articles and videos, created by freelancers. Any eHow user can leave comments or responses, but only contracted writers can contribute changes to articles.
If you simply can't get around a world without Wikipedia, you can always copy, paste and translate the other language versions of the site.
Google's scholarly search engine is a way to broadly search for literature, articles, abstracts, theses and legal opinions from academic professionals, societies and universities.
Wolfram|Alpha is a "computational knowledge engine" that uses specific algorithms based on specific assumptions to answer questions, rather than just give search results. The results also come back with sources and references that the site used for your computation.
Reporters in need of a source can use this forum to have their queries answered. The site claims to "deliver the sources that match your exact needs directly to your inbox."
The Encyclopedia Britannica is written and continuously updated by approximately 100 editors and more than 4,000 contributors. It's regarded as one of the most scholarly encyclopedias and it is available online.
Quora's information network can connect you with experts and answers from people who share similar interests as you.
If you're a student, or still have a student account, you can log in to your university's online library to use research sites, such as LexisNexis or EBSCO. Many local libraries also have similar options.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Thomas Hawk
There are more than 38,000 cultural archives available as ebooks on Project Gutenberg, which you can download to your PC, Kindle, Android or iOS device.
The Internet Movie Database is a useful resource for cross-checking stats about the entertainment industry such as movies, TV shows, actors, production crew video games and fictional characters.
If you are looking for historical references, History.com is split into a large number of topics, ranging from U.S. Government, Wars and Military Conflicts and Famous People.
eHow is an online how-to guide with instructional articles and videos, created by freelancers. Any eHow user can leave comments or responses, but only contracted writers can contribute changes to articles.
If you simply can't get around a world without Wikipedia, you can always copy, paste and translate the other language versions of the site.
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