One of the most fundamental characteristics of the web is the fact that it allows almost anyone to publish information and documents to a very wide audience. As we saw in the section called “The Web's unique features”, it's both easy to create web pages, and to publish them onto a globally-accessible webserver. This is a fundamental shift in publishing method from anything that has gone before, since it is a simple process that allows access to a potentially massive audience.

Traditional “filters” such as the publishing companies have effectively prevented the publication of poor quality or innacurate material, extremist views or libellous articles. Anything that escapes the traditional editorial processes would be subjected to the market forces involved in distributing paper-based material, which can be costly. And publishing law is well-tested for those seeking redress against libellous or hateful material.

But the shift in the publishing paradigm to electronic media leads to a number of issues for the reader, which can be summed up in the question “How do I find useful, reliable information on the web?”