MNopedia

MNopedia
Type of site
Internet encyclopedia project
Available inEnglish
URLmnopedia.org
LaunchedAugust 15, 2011; 13 years ago (2011-08-15)
Content license

MNopedia: The Minnesota Encyclopedia is a free English-language encyclopedia project from the Minnesota Historical Society. Funded through a Legacy Amendment Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund grant, it is the first online encyclopedia about Minnesota,[1] a "resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history".[2] Approved by Minnesotans on November 4, 2008, planning took place in 2010, the site was built in 2011[3] and was online on August 15; initial funding for 2010 and 2011 was $215,000.[4] Many of the articles produced by the encyclopedia are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License as are some of its multimedia files.[5]

The Minnesota Historical Society had previously planned to produce a print encyclopedia, but opted for an online site for the sake of affordability and interactivity.[6] MNHS paid history scholars including Rhoda Gilman and Annette Atkins to compose essays for the site[7] and the historical society also awards grants for the creation of entries on select topics.[8]

MNopedia is queryable via API.[9] Online newspaper MinnPost publishes entries from MNopedia on a weekly basis as well as publishing bimonthly news articles that are later developed into entries for MNopedia.[10][11]

Linda Cameron is the Project Manager.[2] The article on the Wealthy Apple is a staff and internet favorite; under CC-By-SA attribution it was imported from MNopedia into Wikipedia in 2012.[11]

References

  1. ^ "MNopedia: The Minnesota Encyclopedia". Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  2. ^ a b "MNopedia: Minnesota Encyclopedia". Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  3. ^ "About MNopedia". MNopedia. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  4. ^ Regan, Sheila (September 2, 2011). "MNopedia, Minnesota's own encyclopedia". City Pages. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013.
  5. ^ "Copyright". MNopedia. Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  6. ^ Tillotson, Kristin (August 22, 2011). "MNopedia site makes history fun". Star Tribune.
  7. ^ Treacy, Mary (November 27, 2012). "MNopedia – An evolving encyclopedia of all things Minnesota". Twin Cities Daily Planet.
  8. ^ Downer, Paul (December 6, 2012). "CCHS receives grant for MNopedia project". Sun Patriot.
  9. ^ "About MNopedia". Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  10. ^ "MinnPost partners with Minnesota Historical Society on MNopedia". MinnPost. September 7, 2012.
  11. ^ a b Gray, Susan (April 19, 2013). "Minnesota Historical Society launches MNopedia (audio)". KFAI. Ampers. Retrieved January 2, 2018.