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Andrew Keen

1. How does Keen define Democratized media, and what are his main issues with this trend? use examples from the web in the form of links.

Andrew Keen defines the democratization of media as the shift from content produced by a few knowledgeable experts to content produced by many everyday people.  Supporters of democratized media claim that this will decrease media bias and allow for more diverse opinions to be shared.  Keen disagrees, saying that democratized media is devaluing our culture.  He says that there are now too many opinions on the web, creating a type of "digital Darwinism", where the "loudest and most opinionated" views become more popular and thrive. He claims that detailed analysis is being replaced by superficial observations.  He also says that this new type of media is damaging the market values of traditional media. Many sources of traditional media are also being forced to adapt to the popularity of democratized media, such as CNN's user submitted news system.

2. Compare and Contrast Keens take on Social Media with Douglas Rushkoff's. Which one speaks to you and your own experiences and why?

 

Both Andrew Keen and Douglas Rushkoff see problems with how the internet is being used in today's world.  While Keen disapproves of how modern media is becoming more democratized, Rushkoff thinks that society is becoming too involved with the internet.  He says we are too reliant on the web for information and that it distracts us from the rest of our lives.  I agree with both Keen and Rushkoff to an extent, but I don't fully agree with either.  While I agree with Keen that there is a vast amount of useless information flooding the web, and I acknowledge that fact checking can be an issue without anyone being held accountable for errors, I have never trusted the traditional sources of media for reliable unbiased information.  If anything, we now have many biased sources to choose from instead of a few more popular biased sources.  I agree with Rushkoff that our ability to recall information may have been diminished by the ability to easily find information on the web.  I often find myself forgetting information shortly after I finish whatever task it was that I required the information for.  While some people certainly do, in my opinion, spend too much of their time on the internet, this is only a problem if you allow it to become one, and people should be free to spend their time however they like.

Responses

I have responded to the postings from Chris Delano, Colleen Sheldon, and Tori Huntsinger.