User:Iblamethegnomes/sandbox

Also Known As
Augusta Ada Byron; Lady Byron; and Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace.

Breif Bio.
Ada Lovelace was a famed Victorian mathematician and daughter of Lord Byron, the famous English poet. Historically, she is thought of as the first computer programmer for her mathematical notes written about the “analytical engine.” Ada is a hero of my husband and I. Her life is the perfect intersection of my love of history and his love of computers. The juncture between the two fields explains why we have a dog named after her.
 * "Ada Lovelace." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 28 Sep. 2014. Web. 29 Sep. 2014.
 * “Ada King, countess of Lovelace." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 29 Sep. 2014. .
 * "Ada Byron Lovelace, Countess of Lovelace." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 29 Sep. 2014 .
 * Moncrief, J. William. "Lovelace, Ada Byron." Mathematics. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 29 Sep. 2014 .

Also Known As
The 9 day queen and Lady Jane Dudley

Brief Bio.
Jane Grey was the great- grand daughter of Henry VI and member of the Tudor royal family. Upon the death of her cousin, Edward VI, her father- in-law conceived of a plot to make her queen of England in place of Edward’s sister Mary I. The plan succeeded for about 9 days, before Mary overthrew the queen and declared herself the true monarch of England. The entire debacle ended with Jane’s heading being chopped off. Jane Grey happens to be one of my favorite subjects from history. I’ve been interested in her for so long that I do not know what got interested in her in the first place. I happen to own a small collection of biographies on her. Her story is tragic and fascinating.
 * "Lady Jane Grey." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 28 Sep. 2014. Web. 29 Sep. 2014.
 * "Lady Jane Grey." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 29 Sep. 2014. .
 * "Grey, Lady Jane." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2014. Encyclopedia.com. 29 Sep. 2014 .
 * "Grey, Lady Jane." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 29 Sep. 2014 .

Also Known As
Bessie Wallis Warfield; Wallis Warfield Spencer.

Brief Bio.
Wallis Simpson was the American, twice divorced woman known for marrying Edward VIII, after he addicted from the throne for her. She is best known for being a domineering socialite who often cheated on her spouse. I is safe to say the royal family and England wholeheartedly disapproved of the marriage. Currently, I am reading a biography about Mrs. Simpson. I have a passion for studying sex appeal throughout history. Wallis caught my eye, because the crown and country loathed but she just happened to have something that made Edward’s heart skip a beat.
 * "Wallis Simpson." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 24 Sep. 2014. Web. 29 Sep. 2014.
 * "Wallis Warfield, duchess of Windsor." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 29 Sep. 2014. .
 * "Windsor, Wallis Warfield, duchess of." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed.. 2014. Encyclopedia.com. 29 Sep. 2014 .
 * "Simpson, Wallis Warfield Spencer, Duchess of Windsor." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 29 Sep. 2014 .

Why These Subjects?
History is one of my greatest loves. For topic inspiration I looked around my house. First I saw my dog Ada, named after Ada Lovelace. Then I looked at my book shelf and noticed the books on Jane Grey. Since I already picked two English ladies I opted to continue this trend with a third one from a different time period. I choose to read articles on these three ladies, because I have prior knowledge of their histories.

Search method
To start my search I typed the names of my three subjects into an internet search bar. I was mostly curious about the quality of articles I would randomly pull up. In each case the first article found was always from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (Wikipedia). After playing with the search terms for a bit I decided to review the articles in Wikipedia first. Then I searched the Encyclopedia Britannica Online (Britannica). Lastly I ran a search in Encyclopedia.com and reviewed all the entries for each subject. In general the information was easy to find. Overall Ada Lovelace yielded the best searches. Her searches not only included her person history, but also her father’s and the history of computer programing. The others yielded basic searches of them as a historical figure and some people somewhat related to them. I think Ada garnered these results, because the other articles mentioned her name.

First thoughts
Out of all the encyclopedias consulted Wikipedia offered the most information. The rest of them gave the most basic details, often being delivered in a very concise paragraph. Only one of the articles consulted offered an author. Wikipedia also made searching a breeze. The search engine was much faster than some of the other databases online. All the encyclopedias highlighted related to content. Wikipedia also offered more pictures and images of the subjects. Based on a first glance Wikipedia offers the most information.

Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
To start the assignment, I typed the words “Ada Lovelace” into a search bar. The first link to pop up was Wikipedia. There is a chance my computer might show a bias since I have researched her many times before. Wikipedia offered the most information out of all of those consulted. This publication offered a complete history of the woman, from birth to death. The piece even went as far as explaining her cultural impact. The editors even included lots of pictures of her and other people relevant to her life. Wikipedia also offered a plethora of links. The amount of information provided was a bit over whelming. If the reader wanted to they could spend an entire day clicking on links. The biggest flaw with Wikipedia is that the contributors are un-verifiable. They hide behind screen names. Anyone can write an articles. Wikipedia also is a free source of information that essentially runs on donations. The bibliography for this article offered a surprising amount of books and periodicals. I did find the grammar is constantly being edited.

Encyclopedia of the World Biography
Encyclopedia of the World was accessed through Encyclopedia.com, which searches through multiple encyclopedias to locate a variety of articles. Encyclopedia of the World Biography was the only encyclopedia that rivaled, Wikipedia as far as content. Most entries were maxed out at a paragraph. Like Wikipedia this entry covered her entire life. The data provided here mirrors that found in other encyclopedia. There are no pictures. One key difference between this website and Wikipedia is there are ads. Part of Wikipedia’s philosophy is to remain non-profit and therefore ad free. Once again the article uses books as sources for the information. This piece was copyrighted in 2004.

Comparison
Both encyclopedias have a lot of the same information. Compared to other books the entries for these two encyclopedias are rather long. They both start with a brief introduction and tell her life story. Wikipedia did have pictures, while the other did not. Wikipedia also appeared the most up to date have most recently been edited on September 28th, 2014. One thing that did strike me as interesting most of the books in the bibliographies were the same, but Wikipedia sited more.