Introduction

Abstract

The twenty-first century has seen a revolution in how publicly accès sib le, or ‘open source’, information is created, stored and disseminated. Driven by the rapid growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web, as well as the widespread adoption and advancement of mobile communication technol. ogy, the use of open sources has permeated the fields of intelligence, politics and business, to name but a few. This revolution has impacted significantly on how people acquire information, express ideas and interact with each other, both socially and professionally. Crucially, while traditional sources and channels of information have made great efforts to adapt to this new vir. tual environment and retain their presence as gatekeepers of information . many established media sources, for example, now publish large amounts of content exclusively online — the rise of user-generated content, particularly social media, has drastically transformed the information landscape. From the 500 million ‘tweets’ per day on Twitter, to the 98 million daily blog posts on Tumblr, we are now only a few keystrokes away from a potentially global audience.¹ Moreover, as these tools increase global connectivity, people seem increasingly willing to project their thoughts, opinions and observations into cyberspace. The process of information generation has been opened up to the masses and the sheer quantity of open source information now available online is staggering.