It used to be that most information would pour out from a small elite, and trickle its way down to the masses. Examples of some members of the elite include Britannica, professors, news anchors, etc… For the common man, acquiring facts about the world was rather difficult since information was not readily accessible.
Now the world has changed. Phenomena such as wikipedia, forums, blogs, and other media allow people aggregate and refine their knowledge on a single platform. Because of this, knowledge is now transferred from the masses to the masses, which is very exciting! This means that on the whole, our society is being more and more informed, and that information can be verified by millions, rather than just a select few.
There was an announcement made last year saying that for scientific facts, wikipedia is just as or more accurate than the Britannica’s.
The only thing about aggregating facts via web is that information is only reliable when it can be accessed and edited by a critical number of participants. Topics that attract more participants are much more well documented and accurate than less popular topics.
