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Raw Bytes Computer News KPBX FM 91.1 Radio National Public Radio Network Frank Delaney Producer Broadcast on Wednesday Morning 7:35 AM During Morning Edition Support Public Radio ! The Theater Of the Mind |
In computer news this week 02/10/2010 Book Review – The Cult of the Amateur – How Today’s Internet is
Killing our Culture - by Andrew
Keen http://thecultoftheamateur.com/ For many
years now I’ve been doing an annual show on what people search for on
the internet – and instead of knowledge – it’s been pop
culture topics like Hannah Montana and Wrestling. I feel
the Internet has been dumbed down and over-commercialized and
clogged with
misinformation. Yet I know that a generation of our children think everything on the
internet is the truth. The theme
of Keen’s
book is that the internet threatens our values, our economy, and our American
way of life, with its blurring, obfuscation, and even disappearance of truth.
I
reviewed this book previously on Raw Bytes a year ago, and as I re-read it,
and I find it’s even more relevant today. Keen
refers to it as today’s self-broadcasting culture, where amateurism is
celebrated, and how anyone with an opinion, however ill-informed, can publish
a blog, post a video, or change an entry on Wikipedia – and the
distinction between trained expert and uniformed amateurs has become
dangerously blurred. On
Wikipedia anyone can change an entry, yet it has become the 3rd most
trusted site on the internet for information. Youtube
eclipses even the blogs in the inanity and absurdity of its content. Facebook
has added a word to our language – unfriend. Newspapers
– one of our traditional most trusted sources of information –
are being driven out of existence by Craigslist and it’s free
advertising. All traditional newspapers are shrinking both in size and in
circulation, as are traditional magazines. The Seattle Post Intelligencer
closed down after 146 years of circulation. Yet Craigslist advertising is now
involved in murder and internet sex cases. Rampant
global piracy of media and music on the internet is destroying both Hollywood
and the music industry, and threatening all copy righted material. The
internet was supposed to level the playing field for amateur musicians, but
Keen points out how millions of music videos views and downloads of music,
don’t equate to profit, using as an example a music group that had a
Myspace page with 9 million plays of its video, and 1.3 million downloads,
resulting in zero revenues. I read recently in Newsweek how major musical
groups now say they make their money off live concerts and t shirt sales. A recent
story about what products not to buy in 2010 included both cd’s
and dvd’s. The
internet now operates under the law of digital Darwinism – the survival
of the loudest and most opinionated. The
simple ownership of a computer and an internet connection doesn’t
transform anyone into a serious journalist, but millions of amateur journalists
think it does, though most lack any serious journalistic training. Content is
unvetted. The
internet is creating moral disorder, including illegal downloading, and
addictions including gambling and internet porn. In
summation Keen points out that it is Parents obligation to protect children
from the evils that lurk on the Web today, and he gives some good pointers on
what to do with your children as they spend more and more time online. The Cult
of the Amateur – How Today’s Internet is Killing our Culture - by Andrew Keen. A very
good book I think all internet users will benefit from reading. |
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For Raw Bytes This is Frank Delaney (C) 2010 MTA Micro
Technology Associates http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbx.html Cell 5096247230 |
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