Naver to spend W10b on science content for encyclopedia

Published : Mar 21, 2017 - 15:30 Updated : Mar 21, 2017 - 15:30

Naver Corp., the operator of South Korea's dominant Internet portal, said Tuesday that it will invest 10 billion won ($8.9 million) in beefing up its basic science content over the next four years to strengthen its online encyclopedia.

Under a dozen agreements with academic organizations of basic sciences, such as physics and biology, Naver will create a total of 15,000 science content that will be used for its open-source encyclopedia.

Naver's logo (Naver Corp.)

Naver's encyclopedia, the most popular online encyclopedia in South Korea, is similar to Wikipedia of the United States. The company has been working with a variety of professionals and experts from organizations, institutions and publishers to obtain the content.

"We have realized there is high demand among users for basic science content," said Kim Seon-ok, a Naver official, adding that the move is part of Naver's effort to create a platform where experts and users can communicate together.

Also, part of the investment will be used to purchase various science content, including photos, audio files and media files, from the organizations, Naver said.

Naver said its "Knowledge iN" gives information by utilizing the public's intelligence, while encyclopedias provide quality data and information accumulated from experts and professionals. (Yonhap)