Our question make me think about how internet inflence our culture. I'm reading this book by Andrew Keen talks about how today's internet is killing our culture. He reveals how an avalanche of amateur content is threatening our values, economy, and ultimately innovation and creativity itself. For example, the Google's search engine reflects the "wisdom"of the crowd. The more people click on the a link that results from a search, the more likely that link will come up in subsequent searches. That is to say, it just tells us what we already know. Another example, some sites such as Digg and Reddit "is a mirror of our banal interests". They just tell us what we interested in but not the truth. Andrew also asserted that on today's self-publishing Internet, nobody cares the dependability of the articles and nobody knows if the audience is a dog, a monkey, or the Easter Bunny. "That's because everyone else is too busy ego-casting, too immersed in the Darwinian struggle for mind-share, to listen to anyone else". The amateur audience is now controlling today's internet.
7 comments:
I have a video which shows the same topic: Google Behind the screens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBNDYggyesc
Pau Dalmau
When watching Pau's video link, I found this other vrey interesting documentary from the same director: "The truth according to wikipedia".
check it on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMSinyx_Ab0&feature=channel
You can also check Andrew keen's blog on "internetevolution.com".Here is the link: http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=556
WOW! And the debate on History still alive. Nice point on our blog Matthieu.
After watching Wiki's documentary I have thought one thing:
- Why history can only be understandable in one way? Why normal people, who are not experts, can not discuss about something they had live or experienced them self?
History is information and information is power. What schools explain to children it is fundamental for a country, because this children will grow up and they will explain the history they have learned to their child (and go on) It remains me to George Orwell novel: 1984.
For example: this case it is happening in my country. As you know Spain has some trouble with some regions in it. One case is Catalonia. In Catalonia we speak catalan and spanish, catalan is a different language from spanish. 50 years ago when Franco was running Spain, our community could not speak catalan in public spaces (just at home), if they had done it they would be persecuted and some times killed or jailed. It was a dictatorship.
Nowadays, things hopefully have changed a lot, but all the suffer still in peoples minds.
This language case it is thought and treated very different in schools, depending on where you live in Spain. This proves that History is a way of controlling society. With this example I am not accusing Spanish or Catalan Governments, I am just trying according to facts explain how history can be manipulated. Some times it will be for forgiveness other, maybe for power.
Wiki is breaking the rules. It is deconstructing history, it is building a new history. And some people, or it is better to say, some states are not agree with that.
An american philosopher, Francis Fukuyama, who has written a lot about history and society has a really good point on this topic.
The book is called The End of History?
In this book the author explains that our times are characterized by the end of the ideal society (well-being society), which has become true with North American democracy. And he believes that dictatorships countries will turn into democracy. But the interesting part of the book for this blog it is this part: where he explains how history has changed his understandings since communism to cold war or dictatorships to liberalism.
Link: http://www.wesjones.com/eoh.htm
Pau Dalmau.
Found the google documentary a very good watch.
The reaction of the Google employees on some specific points, for example on Google Maps and security concerns was unnerving. It really was "naive" as the commentator said. I mean, to be such a huge company, bang in the middle of changing the very nature of information and access, surely demands more critical self-reflection.
As a reply to pau's comment on history.
Its said 'History is always written by the victor'. Pau's example about Spain reaffirms this. Even in India, in some parts of the country, the content of history text books in govt. schools for children used to change occasionally according to which political party is in power, and what opinion they wanted to propogate.
So in that sense, the internet does indeed democratize our ACCESS to info. But again there are two sides to the coin. Like the example in the documentary about what happens when you type in "The truth about the holocaust" in Google.
(I tried it and yes, the first article is "Was there really a holocaust?".. but the misleading title doesnt refute that it happened; just the economic fallout of the holocaust.)
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