Information does no longer exist in any one permanent shape—one piece of information can be delivered in a whole range of ways. Newspapers used to be available on, well, paper. After they moved online, we have e-mail subscriptions, RSS feeds, one-click translation tools, hand-held devices, entertainment systems with web browsers, news aggregates; an extended range of different tools and services treating the same data differently. Information has been separated from presentation, content from form, and the result is flexibility. Data is stored in databases completely independent from the method of delivery, and can be extracted and formatted in any number of ways.

Technology has brought a new dimension to information—interactivity. We interact with information in a non-linear fashion; we skim, bookmark, sort, delete, search and fly between articles and pages in ways that were impossible before modern computers. We sort information by any criteria, rearrange, extract and display, without actually editing or moving the information. This is a whole new way for the world to interact with its knowledge.

The internet lets us participate. It has given ‘everybody’ an opportunity to say their opinion, and it has given the publishers an opportunity to better know their audience. This is especially apparent in online newspapers and magazines. Many newspapers have had feedback columns where readers can publish their opinion; on the web, this reader-to-publisher and reader-to-reader communication happens in real time through discussion boards. Real time reader discussion in public is real time reader influence. The web has also given us any number of alternative sources at our fingertips, so it is easier than ever to gain a nuanced perspective on current events.

(These are ramblings for an upcoming essay at the university.)