The internet is still such a marvel that not many people give thought to the information that is being compiled at an exponential rate. In a few years, how are we supposed to know what information is credible and what isn't?
I used to think the first results that popped up on Google search were credible. Now that I know about web crawlers and SEO, I realize the possibility of the information I really want is being buried under other things that may not be as credible. The only reason one person would get their website higher up on a search engine is if they know how to take advantage of web crawlers. While this is not the sole way for users to find their information, this still creates a problem of too much information that has not yet been sifted.
I don't remember what article it was from that we read (it might have been from my 431 class, I'm not sure) but in the article it talked about the overreaction of the internet and that "useless" things on the internet is to be expected. Along with the printing press came lots of crappy books we all wish were never printed and the article argued that's how things work when something is given access to a wide variety of people.
My reservation about this viewpoint is the anonymity of the internet. It's often hard to find what is credible and who is posting what online. For example, a large corporate website often post articles without any author on them. How do I know their information is accurate? How do I know that person is actually knowledgeable in that subject? I suppose books faced a similar problem with the use of pseudonyms, but the internet is so widespread and ever growing and manifesting itself in our lives that it becomes important to know where and who we get our information from.
I don't have an answer to my question, which is why I would like to offer up the question: With so much information, how do we sift through it to find the best answer? Who will organize the data? I know that the web 2.0 video said we have to organize it, but that's a no brainer. Of course we have to, we are the ones who program and control computers. The bigger question is, how do we organize it?
I guess that finding the best answer will be a 'to each his own' sort of situation. Based on facts, that is, you would have to find information on a topic form all viewpoints, then decided fro yourself based on your own perceptions what the correct answer is. You can't rely on the internet itself to give you THE answer, but you can rely upon it to give you opinions for every viewpoint. That is the beauty of the internet. Until the government gets its way, it's a free and open marketplace of ideas.
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