The advent of the World Wide Web has generated a profound but still unfinished intellectual revolution, comparable in impact to the invention of printing. Since the 1990s, the Web has transformed the way humanity produces, shares and enjoys knowledge, contributing-along with the mass media-to the construction of a global consciousness. Events, ideas, crises and innovations became immediately visible and shareable on a planetary level, creating an increasingly interconnected perception of the world, a collective consciousness of global issues.
At the heart of the information society, contemporary man develops peculiar psychological and intellectual traits: he is hyperconnected, multitasking, but often fragmented in his attention; he is constantly exposed to information flows and visual stimuli, but struggles to discern between reliable information and disinformation. The digital individual is potentially more informed, but is also likely to be more superficial and reactive, less reflective.
A crucial role has been played by participatory media, which has transformed the user from a mere consumer to a content producer. The participatory media paradigm, based on collaboration, openness, sharing, and peer-to-peer production, has made possible the democratization of publication: anyone, anywhere, can contribute to the construction of shared knowledge. Phenomena such as Wikipedia, scientific open access, and platforms for sharing code and discoveries have provided an extraordinary opportunity for collective cultural and intellectual growth.
Founded in 2001 by Larry Sangers and Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia has become a valuable learning tool in many languages, with the creative contributions of millions of people.
We can mention several other interesting cases, such as the spread of Podcasts both of radio origin and in the forms of audiobooks.
On Line educational systems include MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) and Video Learning platforms with billions of views, such as Khan Academy on YouTube, TED Talks, Coursera with a catalog of thousands of courses.
Other platforms such as Google Classrom are used by tens of millions of people.
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