The Great Seduction Questions

The Great Seduction Questions

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

            Democratized media offers many new voices, stories and perspectives within the Internet. This allows people to create and view any kind of media they choose. A lot of people like democratized media because it allows everyone to share their ideas with anyone who has access to the digital world. Andrew Keen is not a big fan of democratized media. He says that the Internet is “destroying culture as we know it.”   He goes on to say that he is “dismayed by what he has seen.” Another way that Keen defines democratized media is by saying that it undermines truth, souring civic discourse, and belittling expertise, experience and talent. Keen says that it is threatening the very future of our cultural institutions. An important point that Keen brings up to help establish his point by saying that “Web 2.0 revolution has peddled the promise of bringing more truth to more people, more depth of information, more global perspective, more unbiased opinion from dispassionate observers. But this is all a smokescreen. What Web 2.0 revolution is delivering is superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment.” One link that I have found from the web that shows this point is Wikipedia.com.

2.) Compare and contrast Keens take on Social Media with Douglas Rushkoff’s. Which one peaks to you and your own experiences and why?

           

            Andrew Keen and Douglas Rushkoff have very different views on social media. Keen seems to only point out the negative. Even though there are a lot of websites out there that have been altered, there is also information on the Web that is valid and true. The Internet allows people all around the country to read important materials that they don’t have access to physically. Rushkoff portrays the Internet differently from Keen. He sees it as more of a positive source.

            I tend to agree more with Rushkoff. The web opens up a lot of possibilities for many people. Rushkoff believes that Web 2.0 is on the brink of taking over and a result will be that our lives are going to change. I agree with he’s statement of the Web taking over but I don’t think that our lives are going to change entirely.