The IT Skeptic - Comments for "Not a review of Cult of the Amateur"

lowest common denominator

skeptic — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:18:19 +0000

My issue with Keen is with how badly he wrote the book and his absurd apocalyptic conclusion. I actually broadly agree that the quality of the result of such a read-write product tends towards the lowest common denominator and lower quality. The Wikipedia entry on ITIL shows that right now. Does a public hacking of Star Wars result in a better movie? Even if it is better, is that the point? What about the artistic vision of the creator?

I see the value of participatory content being in gathering a collectivist view, not in the finished result. For example, I've been critical of OGC for not doing something along those lines when developing ITIL V3 in order to get broad input and a clearer view of consensus, but I wouldn't for a moment suggest they publish the result. The expert editors and the review process are as essential as the collective input.

Have we become a Read Write world?

Glen — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:47:34 +0000

I saw a presentation on Ted.Com about the changing world of copyrights....I can look up the exact reference if needed.

But the content was intriguing. The premise is that since approximately 1930 onwards for entertainment we have lived in a read only world. People consume their entertainment (and by extrapoloation research) as written. That is, they buy the movie, nbook or watch television as created. It is a passive read only environment.
However, with the advent of Youtube and other sharing environments, we have moved back to a read write world. Escpecially the youth are viewing movies, advertisements, pop culture as something they participate in, modify and adapt. (See editted versions of Star Wars sans Jar Jar etc, or viral commercials)

The point is that the world has changed; information is veiwed as being maleable. People are becoming participants in how the message is shaped.

More criticism

skeptic — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:28:13 +0000

Carr's at it too

skeptic — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:09:00 +0000

See this post