For everyone who's ever done trivia or had a heated dinner-time debate, knowledge really is power. So, for Milwaukee's debaters, a long-term project out of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee may spark your interest.

Urban historians Amanda Seligman and Margo Anderson from UWM have collaborated with graduate students and Marquette University to compile more than 700 entries, slowly making their way onto the Internet here.

"We divided the universe of Milwaukee into 14 categories," explained UWM History Department chair Seligman. You can research sports, arts & culture, business, places, and more on the website.

"We want to lay out information in all of these categories and allow our readers to navigate through it in a way that tells the story they're looking for," she said.

Anderson said it's "sort of civic goods, public goods," which they're now making easily accessible in once place.

Seligman hopes it will help potential Milwaukee residents and scholars. Plus, she said the encyclopedia is an asset for employers.

"We think that businesses might use it to aid in the relocation process, look at all the cool things that are going on in our city," she said.

The authors invite your feedback and suggestions, since they've already taken entries from comments.

The plan is for 740 planned entries to go into a book, as well as the online site.