E-Media Tidbits

andrewkeen.typepad.com Andrew Keen's profound aversion to the Web doesn't stop him from blogging.

Today the Wall Street Journal published a full-text transcript of a discussion between authors Andrew Keen (The Cult of the Amateur: How the Internet is Killing Our Culture) and David Weinberger (Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder). It's worth a read.

Keen starts off with a hyperbole-laden diatribe about how awful the Web is. To which Weinberger countered: "Amateurs aren't driving out the pros, Andrew. The old media are available on line. If some falter, other credentialed experts will emerge. But the criteria governing our choice of whom to listen to are expanding from 'Those are the only channels I get' and 'I read it in a book' to 'I've heard this person respond intelligently when challenged,' 'People I respect recommend her,' and even 'A mob finds this person amusing.' This is the new media literary, suited to the new abundance. ...The history of the Web so far says that we are highly motivated to come up with ways to make sense of a world richer and more interesting than the constrained resources of the traditional media let on."

This conversation dovetails nicely with a podcast I happened to listen to this morning: an IT Conversations interview with John Willinsky, author of The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship. Among other things, they discuss how Wikipedia reflects a centuries-old tradition of amateurs and enthusiasts pooling their knowledge. (Ever wonder why coffeehouses are sometimes called "penny universities?")