Internet and information

The amazing growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web is partly due to its lack of structure. This, however, is also its greatest weakness. While users of the Internet laud the ability to obtain information from virtually all over the world, one begins to wonder the validity of all the information currently available.

The flip side of the information age is critical to acknowledge. The immense flow of information also means that there is a great chance for disinformation, not to mention information, overflow. Unlike wine, information does not ripen with age. It is very easy for someone to get completely lost in a sea of unreliable information.

The best information processor, the brain, is what ultimately needs to be tuned to be able to make wise choices about what to believe or not in cyber-space. But not everyone who is connected to the Internet is equipped to handle and process all the information at their finger tips.

Wading through data is one thing but to draw meaning from data is another skill altogether. To say that the Internet has "engendered an amazingly well-informed consumer with the ability to discern truth from hype" (Govt Must Balance Information Flow: Expert, The Jakarta Post, June 6, 1995) is a very careless generalization.

Data in and of itself does not translate into information. Information in, and of itself does not translate into knowledge. And knowledge in, and of itself does not translate into wisdom.

MARKUS KRISETYA

Salatiga, Central Java