In discussing the economics surrounding content on the Internet, Ciffolilli brings up a couple of good points about the changing access to information.
Personally, this is area that really interests me and one that I am actually exploring in my major paper for this class. In my experience access to site and information in changing, mostly in the name of economics. I find that many sites, whether journals, presentation tools or teacher resource sites, require subscriptions or memberships. In the case of journals, while I can access most through UBC VPN, what happens when I am no longer a UBC student? John Willinsky (instructor of LLED 565) has some great papers surrounding this subject and has started the Public Knowledge Project (http://pkp.sfu.ca/publications) to address this issue.
Some of the limits I have encountered both as a student and a teacher, are beyond the “closed door” of requiring a paid membership for access, rather, they have to do with the limitations in established authority of information. Is there a way of knowing whether the information we are reading is accurate or spoken from a position of authority or personal opinion? This has been a limiting factor for my students who often come across inaccurate information but take it at face value. Like Creative Commons stamps a seal of use on images, I wish there were a way for an authoritative body to stamp a seal of accuracy on information, in the free domain of course!