Wiki book

Andrew Dalby’s book The World and Wikipedia: How we are Editing Reality, articulates one of the more problematic elements of the Internet: vast amounts of information without regulation. Wikipedia, by “allowing anyone to write anything “as quoted by Daly on page fifty, ignores the need to provide factual content to readers. The potential for Wikipedia to become one of the greatest innovations of our time exists, but only in theory; while the need exists, the social responsibility to provide accurate information becomes a crucial flaw. When describing the history of the encyclopedia, two main ideas emerge; the need for such a reference book to protect and disperse knowledge, and that such an idea cannot exist in modern times without adapting to technology. The change from written to electronic word not only exposed reader to knowledge, but information to reader. The difference being where information was once able to change the minds and opinions of minds, now the same information is susceptible to change by human hand. In addition to this, the problem of the anonymous nature on the Internet furthers people from any liability and inserts a feeling of doubt as to the authenticity of what is being written. Where once a single author could take credit for their creation and provide sources, Wikipedia demands none of this. Instead, it can be more beneficial to write whatever a person wants and not use a real name. The story of Richard Worth the politician from New Zealand written about by Dalby provides a great example of this. Postman’s Technopoly book warns of the dangers of vast amounts of information entering into the main stream but not knowing what to do with all that is presented. Anyone reading a Wikipedia page must do so with a grain of salt, however the convenience and accessibility of the pages outweigh the quest for accurate facts. Wikipedia holds so much potential to inform the world, however the lazy and nameless nature of the Internet prohibits this from happening.