Hand in the Wiki jar

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, has been in the news of late. It has been criticized for the very innovativeness that makes its existence possible. Anyone can add or edit articles on Wiki, and some people have used that flexibility in a bad manner.

Just recently I was reading here and here about how some Congressional staff members have apparently been selectively editing biographies on members. This wouldn’t be bad if they were merely adding information to the pages, but some bios have had some of the less desirable facts removed. I guess it’s the difference between “Real Facts” and “Good Facts.”

Anyway I’ve just been thinking about the changes that the Internet has undergone in the past 4 years. How ubiquitous its presence has become, and how its use has changed. The previous elections saw some interesting increases in Internet traffic and use by politicians. I expect that this year will have even more news stories related to it, plus a lot of faked stuff to add noise to the signal. I also expect a few more scandals and poorly disguised attempts to hide bad things, and maybe one really bad event that will shake a lot of people up.

So what do you expect to see this election year on the net?