Encyclopedia Updates, Information Age Style

In less than one hour after Associated Press announced at 12:19 a.m. (ET) that President Gerald Ford died, the online encyclopedia listing in Wikipedia for Gerald Ford had already been updated with information about his death, statements by President Bush and Nancy Reagan, details about funeral arrangements, etc.

Compare that example of the speed of information today (measured in minutes) to the old days of printed encyclopedias, when this type of information (death of a presdient) might have taken years to make it into print.