'Wiki it', 'Google it'

In today's world getting information is just with the touch of a button. With the advent of the internet, a lot of possibilities were opened to the world. search engines, online dictionaries, online encyclopedia, open source dictionaries e.t.c. All these are now such a part of our lives that words and phrases are being coined from them e.g. 'Wiki it' and 'Google it'. Not only is information now readily available but it is also floating around, not just general information but also sensitive information. Since knowledge is power and knowledge come from information it can be said that information is power, since the internet is one giant mass of information, in the right hands this is a very powerful tool and great power indeed.

Yes there is a lot of information on the internet, and it is now readily accessible to people thanks to sites like Google and Wikipedia, but the main question is, are all the information accurate and trustworthy? Given the ease with which I am whipping up this page that will be published shortly, I can write any thing I want call it a fact and release it to this massive cloud of information and it is accessible to anyone anywhere in the world. So how do we tell real information from just useless data? How does Wikipedia and Google come in?

One mistake that a lot of people around the world make on a constant basis is relying on brand name when it comes to information on the internet. Most people when looking for information on the internet use mainly Google and for research they use Wikipedia, and whatever results they get they implicitly believe must be a fact and not a fallacy. Due to the image most people have of Google and Wikipedia as being infallible, trustworthy and the best in what they each do, people now automatically think 'if i found it on Google Or Wikipedia it must be true'. This is a huge fallacy that people must open their eyes to. All Google actually does is to look for information that looks as close to the search term as it can get and presents it to the user, it does not go to verify the sites, the source of the information, credential of the author of the information or if they are any proofs or supporting data. Likewise when Wikipedia is used, all it give is information that had been entered by someone else like you and I.

So searching for information on the internet is not just as simple as 'Wiki it' or 'Google it', it is more like a person conducting a small experiment, but with information being the sample.
- First identify the problem; that is the information the person is seeking, and make sure it is as well defined as it can get i.e. make the search term as specific as possible
- Next identify the expected outcome; that is all the knowledge the person has about the subject, but do not hold on to it as it can lead to bias
- Next put the experiment in motion; enter the search term in the portal or engine
-Next observe the results and eliminate all contaminated source; look through the search result and discard all information from non trustworthy sites i.e. sites that the source of their information cannot be verified or authenticated
-Next go through the remaining result and establish a pattern; look through the search results and make sure each information corroborates the other
-After the pattern has been established, the result is set; now after following all these steps the information gathered must be fact (except there is a global conspiracy with the aliens against you).Lol*.

So next time you 'Google it' or 'Wiki it' make sure you do it right.

*Laugh out loud