How the Internet Fosters High Quality Information

The internet has fundamentally changed the way how digital natives create, distribute, access and use information.

• Creation: Everybody with a computer and internet access can be a publisher on the internet. Information is no longer created by a small group of hierarchal organized professionals but by integrating the a large number of digital natives. Digital information on the internet is mostly not reviewed by institutional reviewers such as newspaper editors.
• Distribution: Information can be distributed in real-time. No time ever lost through printing
• Accessibility: With almost no cost, you can access information. You only need a computer and internet. Digital information is accessible. It is more fluent.
• Use: Digital natives are not only passive receivers of information, rather they actively engage with actual topics and deal with it by transforming, derivative, creative, artful way.

Consider our “digital creators” chapter for deeper insights into these issues.

This structural change fosters the production and access of high quality information in numerous ways:

• Amount of high quality information: As more people engage in creating information, digital natives can access more information and have a choice among different types and qualities of information.
• Diversity of information: The integration of many people from around the world in the information production process allows digital natives to get insights into different viewpoints, reflect on sensitive issues from various perspectives and autonomously develop balanced opinions.
• Scope of information: In the age of digital natives, information is no longer produced to meet solely main-stream demands (e.g. best-seller movies). The access to a broader audience via internet also fosters the production of less-mainstream information (the long tail). The publication of information is no longer pre-filtered through professional intermediaries, such as professional editors.