Making an encyclopedia used to be a big job. First, a company used surveys to find out about new topics in different fields. Then, the company hired experts to write articles about the topics. The experts defined new ideas and terms and explained their topics. Editors read the pieces and made changes to the text. The pieces were put together in many volumes. Finally, salespeople went from house to house to sell the encyclopedia. The company paid for everything, so all the writing in the encyclopedia was the company’s property.