Robert Dale McHenry (born April 30, 1945)
is an American editor,
encyclopedist
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ( ...
, philanthropist and writer. McHenry worked from 1967 for
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. or associated companies, becoming editor-in-chief of the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
'' in 1992, a position he held until 1997. McHenry is also author of the book ''
How to Know'' (2004), and a frequent contributor to journals.
Early life and education
McHenry was born in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
. He attended
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
in
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...
, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1966. He also received a master's degree from the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
in 1967. Later in life, McHenry undertook further study at Northwestern University, where he graduated from Northwestern's
Kellogg School of Management
The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (also known as Kellogg) is the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1908, Kellogg is one of the oldest and most p ...
with a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
in 1987.
Editorial career
McHenry's career at Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. began in 1967. After two years, he transferred to San Francisco Productions to work for
Mortimer Adler
Mortimer () is an English surname, and occasionally a given name.
Norman origins
The surname Mortimer has a Norman origin, deriving from the village of Mortemer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy. A Norman castle existed at Mortemer from an early point; ...
, where he co-edited (with
Charles Van Doren
Charles Lincoln Van Doren (February 12, 1926 – April 9, 2019) was an American writer and editor who was involved in a television quiz show scandal in the 1950s. In 1959 he testified before the U.S. Congress that he had been given the corre ...
) ''Webster's Guide to American History'', ''A Documentary History of Conservation in America'', and ''Webster's American Biographies''. McHenry transferred in 1975 to G. & C. Merriam Co. (later renamed
Merriam-Webster Inc.
Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference work, reference books and is especially known for its dictionary, dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States.
In 1831, George Merriam, George a ...
) where he edited ''Webster's American Military Biographies'', ''Famous American Women'', ''Liberty's Women'', and ''Webster's New Biographical Dictionary''.
McHenry returned to Britannica in 1982 as editor of ''Compton's Yearbook'', which was an annual supplement to ''
Compton's Encyclopedia
''Compton's Encyclopedia and Fact-Index'' is a home and school encyclopedia first published in 1922 as ''Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia''. The word "Pictured" was removed from the title with the 1968 edition.Encyclopædia Britannica, 1988. The en ...
''. McHenry later joined the editorial staff of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', initially as director of Britannica yearbooks, later progressing to become managing editor of the encyclopedia itself in 1986, general editor in 1990, and editor-in-chief in 1992.
McHenry played a key role in the launch in 1994 of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' in two electronic forms; a
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
version, ''Britannica CD'', and an Internet version, ''Britannica Online'', which was the first Internet-based encyclopedia.
McHenry believes that Britannica failed to exploit its early advantages in the market for electronic encyclopedias. Britannica had, for example, published the first
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
encyclopedia (''Compton's MultiMedia Encyclopedia'') as early as 1989, but did not launch ''Britannica CD'' until 1994, one year after
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
launched their ''
Encarta
''Microsoft Encarta'' is a discontinued digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft from 1993 to 2009. Originally sold on CD-ROM or DVD, it was also available on the World Wide Web via an annual subscription, although later articles ...
'' encyclopedia. McHenry believes these failures were due to a reluctance amongst senior management to fully embrace new technology, caused largely by the overriding influence of the sales staff and management. The sales personnel earned commissions from door-to-door selling of the print encyclopedias, which McHenry believes led to decisions about the distribution and pricing of the electronic products, being driven by the desires of the sales personnel, rather than market conditions and customer expectations.
Aided by Britannica's failings, Microsoft took a dominant position in the market for CD-ROM encyclopedias in the 1990s. McHenry had little respect for their achievement, which he believed to be the result of, not only large resources and wide market reach, but a "casual disregard for quality work".
In particular, in an article in 1996 (which the senior management at Britannica refused permission to publish) McHenry criticized Microsoft for its policy of having factually different versions of the same article in the various national issues of the encyclopedia. McHenry regarded this practice as "
pandering to local prejudices" in order to suit local markets, instead of presenting subjects objectively.
McHenry was replaced as the editor-in-chief of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' by
Dale Hoiberg
Dale Hollis Hoiberg is a sinologist and has been the editor-in-chief of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' since 1997. He holds a PhD degree in Chinese literature and began to work for ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as an index editor in 1978. In 20 ...
in 1997.
Life after Britannica
In 1998, McHenry wrote the book ''How to Know'', in which he explored the questions of what we can know and how we know that we know it. Though written in 1998, the book was not published until 2004.
During 2002 and 2003, McHenry worked part-time in a used-book store,
[ (subscription)][ (subscription)] and for a company producing Internet
content-filtering software.
[ (subscription)] During the same period, McHenry had several articles published in ''
The Chronicle of Higher Education
''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to rea ...
'' and ''
The Vocabula Review
''The Vocabula Review'' was a monthly electronic magazine about the state of the English language.
Publication
The journal was published online by the Vocabula Communications Company. Online access was by subscription. All previous issues were ac ...
''.
The articles were mainly about low standards in writing and verbal communication. One exception was a defence of
Oprah's Book Club
Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the United States, American talk show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new book, usually a nov ...
, following hostile comments from some critics.
[ (subscription)]
In 2004, McHenry began writing regularly for ''TCS Daily'' about a variety of issues.
A favourite topic has been
Intelligent design
Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...
(ID), which he has criticized on several occasions. McHenry has argued that ID is not a theory in the scientific meaning of the word, because it is not based on evidence, it does not generate predictions, and thus cannot be tested.
He has described ID as anti-science, because it begins with a conclusion, that some unknown things are unknowable, which is then supported by selected evidence.
McHenry has argued that science is the engine of society and the root of economic success. He believes that ID supporters want to stop the engine, not just for themselves, but for everyone else. He views the support of politicians for ID as particularly dangerous.
McHenry has proposed two laws. McHenry's First Law states that 88% of all human behavior amounts to shouting "Hey! Look at me!". McHenry's Second Law states that the flow of 'information' expands to fill any available channel, while actual knowledge remains scarce and available only to those willing to work at it.
McHenry's articles are normally critical in nature, though there is a humorous side to McHenry. One example was an article about his thoughts of the possible meanings of a "No deadly weapons in building" sign he had seen outside a public library.
Another example was an article where he weighed up the pros and cons of a suggestion that candidates for the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
be selected by lot, but every apparent con became a pro after further consideration.
McHenry's most recent articles appear in ''
The American'', the online magazine of The
American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. ...
for which he became a contributing writer in July 2008.
Criticism of Wikipedia
In 2004, McHenry participated in a review of 7 Wikipedia articles of general interest, reviewing the entry for Encyclopedia, repeating his concerns about the entry's usefulness and giving it a 5/10 rating.
Can you trust Wikipedia?
– by Mike Barnes, ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', October 24, 2005
In November 2004, McHenry wrote an article for ''Tech Central Station'' (later renamed ''TCS Daily
''TCS Daily'' was an online magazine with commentary and analysis on current news from a free-market perspective. It was active between 2000 and 2010.
History and profile
''TCS'' is an initialism that now stands for "Technology, Commerce, Society" ...
'') in which he criticized Wikipedia, a free-content encyclopedia that anyone can edit. In essence, McHenry's main criticism was that Wikipedia was operating on what he believed was a false premise; that allowing anyone to edit articles, whether or not they were knowledgeable, would lead to evolution of article quality. Belief in the ability of Wikipedia to succeed, he argued, required a faith that "some unspecified quasi-Darwinian process will assure that those writings and editings by contributors of greatest expertise will survive". A secondary criticism was that editors were being self-indulgent, because they spent time on minor alterations while leaving important factual inaccuracies in place, and thus were disregarding the needs of the readers. In a later article about Wikipedia, following the Seigenthaler incident
In May 2005, an unregistered editor posted a hoax article onto Wikipedia about journalist John Seigenthaler. The article falsely stated that Seigenthaler had been a suspect in the assassinations of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Attorney ...
, McHenry restated his earlier objections, and added a criticism that the Wikipedia organisation
Wikipedia is a Multilingualism, multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of online volunteering, volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia ...
had been unable to respond adequately to the event.
McHenry's articles about Wikipedia have produced responses from other writers. In a response to McHenry's first article, Aaron Krowne of freesoftwaremagazine.com considered McHenry's article to be an attack on the credibility of the commons-based peer production
Commons-based peer production (CBPP) is a term coined by Harvard Law School professor Yochai Benkler. It describes a model of socio-economic production in which large numbers of people work cooperatively; usually over the Internet. Commons-based p ...
, for which he saw already strong evidence of success. In a response to McHenry's later article, Tim Worstall
Tim Worstall (born 27 March 1963, Torquay) is a British-born writer and blogger and Senior Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute. He writes on the subjects of environmentalism and economics, particularly corporate tax, his contributions having appe ...
, a fellow contributor to ''TCS Daily'', argued that McHenry was wrongly assuming that the editorial process of traditional encyclopedias was effective in preventing inaccuracies. Worstall, drawing on his own experience as a contributor to traditional encyclopedias, argued that the editorial process often fails, because human nature leads editors to take the easy option of consulting other s, rather than take the extra effort to check primary source
In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...
s. McHenry published responses to both of these articles.
Sources
External links
howtoknow.com, personal website
McHenry's ''TCS Daily'' articles
McHenry's posts at ''The American''
{{DEFAULTSORT:McHenry, Robert
Encyclopædia Britannica
1945 births
Living people
American book editors
American encyclopedists
Northwestern University alumni
Kellogg School of Management alumni
University of Michigan alumni
Writers from St. Louis
Critics of Wikipedia