The Royal Institute of British Architects or RIBA launched an architecture based research wiki today specializing in Journals, Online databases, Awards for architectural research, Funding, Conferences, Projects and Reading lists.
They call it RIBApedia
While the internet is a useful research tool the democratization of of public information banks, such as through Wikipedia, and the plethora of personal subjective websites (such as this one) make culling reliable information from the internet somewhat tricky. Not that print media is inherently more reliable, however there seems to be a more thorough vetting process for information as well as a more permanent record of topics that are discussed and opinions that are stated.
Now that RIBA is moving forward into the realm of information archiving and dissemination through a public "wiki" platform I hope that the RIBApedia can become a reliable and researched centralized location for gathering data. While this may eventually require quite a bit of work on RIBA's part as more and more "articles" are created, there is some level of responsibility assumed when one makes the claim that they hope to "become the online bible on study guidance, funding guidance on research and worldwide scholarships, and links to journals and professional societies." The Architect's Journal
Which is a good thing. A professional body taking the step to create a usable public domain of knowledge about the profession. I am very excited to witness RIBApedia grow and evolve into a reliable and usable reference material.
For you students though, don't forget your school's architecture/design library. There is a tremendous source right at your fingertips, usually full of materials that your professors have personally selected as being pertinent to the projects that you will be undertaking while in your specific curriculum.
Books! Check em out!
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