The Web Explorer

Some people (the pessimist and criticizer) will look web 2.0 and its aggregate (wiki, blog, etc) as a junk yard where people can write virtually anything without control and censorship. This assumption is not entirely true. Different with the early generation of web which more like a monolog, Web 2.0 enables a dialog between users. People can praise and criticize, correct or even mock what people have posted in web 2.0 sites and in this activities, some control and censorship may happen .

It is true that Wikipedia has often become victims of vandalism. Some entries also being written carelessly and / or use un-trusted reference. However, the science journal, Nature has published a study in 2005 that in term of accuracy, Wikipedia has the same level with the well known and well established Encyclopedia Britannica. A study from IBM in 2004 found that articles in Wikipedia that became victims of vandalism usually were being corrected in a short time and even faster than the time that were needed by the vandal to get an action.

Unlike Wikipedia, which is the result of collaborative works, Blog is one person (or group of contributor) works. It may consist of simple things but sometimes consist of valuable information as well. Just like Wikipedia, the information in blog may inaccurate, misleading, miss cite or even violate the copyright. But, if we do believe with ‘the wisdom of crowds’ then self correction will run naturally and automatically using discussion and / or reader’s comments.

Now the question “Are there any control in web 2.0 world ?” can be clearly answered “Yes, There are some control in web 2.0 world but in different ways that we knew before in real world”