« Pride Goes Before a Fall | Main | Sematic Web Saves the World... »
October 18, 2005
Stairway to Heaven
I just got around to seeing Nicholas Carr's blog entry of a couple weeks ago, "The amorality of Web 2.0". It provides an interesting counter-point to the Web 2.0 love fest that has swept through the blog-world recently. I would offer a hearty Amen to the main point of his sermon, except that then I'd be adding to the echolalia (this is Nic's $5 word, don't feel bad if you click the link! :-).
There seemed to be two main points to his rant. 1) the web is not the path to "transcendence" and 2) trepidation at the likely triumph of Amateurs. I view these concepts as mutually exclusive. I agree with #1, but am not convinced that #2 is a potential problem. Let me explain.
It is clear that the balance of power is indeed shifting, yielding more influence to the individual, while wresting it from "the man" (read- MANagement, big media, etc). I am not as concerned about this phenomenon as Mr. Carr; Why?? ...because quite frequently even "professionals" are contributing to the collective body of knowledge through the megaphone that is their blog. I would conjecture that most serious journalists maintain a blog and with these outlets surfacing more and more there is a blur between professional and amateur; even "the man" is adjusting to remain relevant. In addition, the relatively new venue of blogging has yielded content from subject matter experts (SMEs) that the public previously never had access to: Business experts, Investment experts, Technology experts ^ 23rd power. Mr. Carr himself is a small piece of this puzzle contributing to the bit stream glimpses of an interesting perspective and more than a modicum of insight.
In fact not only am I not concerned about this, I am convinced that this path has accelerated not only the dissemination of information but general increase in accurate knowledge and understanding. Nevertheless, before we get worked up into a Web2.0 frenzy, it is important to realize that the web, with all its virtues and benefits, is not the Stairway to Heaven.
p.s. I also think his article was a bit harsh on Wikipedia. It is not perfect, but he was selective in the information that he quoted, and did not accurately reflect the effectiveness of Wikipedia as a resource.
Posted by harris at October 18, 2005 11:24 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://harrisreynolds.net/mt/mt-tb.cgi/20
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Stairway to Heaven:
» Greg Topenverg from Greg Topenverg
Greg - Topenverg [Read More]
Tracked on June 15, 2006 12:21 PM