This morning I woke up to the news of the terrorist attacks on London’s public transportation system. After looking through a couple of news sites and watching some of the coverage on TV, I found that by far the best and most detailed source of information was the Wikipedia news page.

How is this site able to be so much more detailed and thorough with its information (which has grown even more since I began typing this post)? The key lies in the fact that Wikipedia is an information community, drawing its knowledge from all of the major news outlets and information sources, and collecting that knowledge in one location. It allows for constant updates and corrections of its information by anyone who knows anything. Its credibility safety net lies in the vast amount of people who use Wikipedia. If something is inaccurate or out of date, it is corrected by the rest of the community.

Another site that works the same way, but features images, is the Flickr photo group, which allows anyone with relevant images to add to the collection. Many of the images are screenshots from television news coverage, including BBC news.

It is impressive how much more accurately relevant information can be compiled by the community at large than by any individual news source.