The world wide web has digitized information and converged the way we access information. We look at newspapers online via a computer or on our cell phones and search for information by searching for a keyword rather than flipping through an alphabetized encyclopedia. The Internet provides us with a seemingly limitless source of information and now also allows us to contribute to that information through blogs, wikis, and other user-generated sites. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedic database with users worldwide. offers millions of articles in hundreds of languages. It is comparable to the large encyclopedic volumes that once occupied household shelves around the world, but it is much larger and draws on an endless source of contributors. While similar in goals to a physical encyclopedia—to provide a wealth of reference information on the widest range of topics possible—it differs greatly in its creation and distribution. Wikipedia is a free source of information created by the people who use it, unlike traditional encyclopedias which are written and edited by professional experts. It is mainly because of this fact that Wikipedia faces criticism about the reliability of its information and, as a result, is often not considered a reliable source of information for reference purposes at higher levels of education. The pros and cons of Wikipedia are many and varied. Some of the site's strengths and opportunities include its accessibility, its virtual versus physical dimension, its ability to be reviewed and modified at no cost to the user, and completely free access. Since it offers an opportunity for community collaboration, it moves away from the traditional hierarchical method of...... middle of paper... to come out of a new era and the world is becoming more and more digital, it is about the fact that Wikipedia “harnesses a near-infinite wealth of talent, energy and insight that far exceeds what Britannica's closed model can muster”8 and, through this, is on the way to offering a superior and constantly improved online encyclopedic library. P., Matthews, C., & Yates, B. (2008). How Wikipedia works. San Francisco: No Starch Press.Bruns, A. (2008). Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and beyond: from production to produsage. New York: Peter Lang. Reagle, JM Jnr. (2010). Good Faith Collaboration: Wikipedia Culture. USA: MIT Press.Tapscott, D. & Williams, A.D. (2006). Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. London: Atlantic Books. Vivian, J. (2011). The mass media (10th ed.). New York: Pearson.