"Post-truth" as 2016 Word of the Year

In November 2016, Oxford Dictionaries announced “post-truth” to be the 2016 Word of the Year, as use of the word has increased by 2000% over its usage in 2015. It defines post-truth as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”

What do you think are some of the implications relating to the rise of “post-truth”? What role does digital technology play, if any, in bringing about a post-truth era? How should we respond to the rise of post-truth, particularly in relation to our own online activities and actions?

"Do you use Wikipedia?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_logo

In her book It’s Complicated: the social lives of networked teens, danah boyd said that Corinne, a thirteen-year-old girl from Massachusetts, once proudly told her that she didn’t use Wikipedia. When asked why, she explained, “I’ve heard that it’s not true, and usually if I’m looking for something that I want, and it’s true, I usually go on Google.” Apparently, Corinne’s teachers had “encouraged her to use Google to search for information. They told her that Wikipedia was full of inaccuracies because anyone can edit it. Like many of her peers, Corinne had interpreted this to mean that anything that appeared at the top of the Google result page must be true. If not, why would it appear at the top?”

What do you think about Wikipedia? What about Google? Which one do you trust more?