Thomas Carlyle
TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 was you! You became the Person of the Year because "you" as individuals and as a collective "seized the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game". (Grossman, 2006).
How did "you" accomplish this feat? I'll tell you. 2006 was the year when YouTube was founded. Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, was developed, and MySpace became the new way to keep up with current friends and to make new friends online. 2006 was the year of the World Wide Web: "a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter". (Grossman, Lev, 2006) "You" made "Facebook profiles and Second Life avatars and reviewed books at Amazon and recorded Podcasts". (Grossman, 2006). "You" created and developed a new, user friendly, social networking, news making and news reporting vehicle that brought the global community together.
Not everything that can be found on the world wide web is useful. "Web 2.0 harnesses the stupidity of the crowds as well as its wisdom. Some of the comments on YouTube make you weep for the future of humanity just for the spelling alone, never mind the obscenity and the naked hatred". (Grossman, 2006)
But that being said, the World Wide Web is more like an experiment in which people have to learn to work together to "build international understanding" (Grossman, 2006).
Grossman, Lev. "Time's Person of the Year: You." TIME 25 Dec. 2006. CNN.com. Web. 24 Jan. 2010.
Tracy,
ReplyDeleteThe quote about "the stupidity of crowds" had me nodding in agreement. There's an awful lot of nonsense and trash posted every second. On the other hand, we all get the chance to decide what is nonsense and trash, and we can tag it and comment on it, and expose it as such too! Now that we've experienced the openness of the Net, even with all its blemishes, would we want to "refine" it and have a more edited, censored, and controlled media?
I agree there is a lot of trash on the web, but I also realize the vast majority of web users that post to the various community groups (such as YouTube, Facebook, MySpace) are generally young and immature.
ReplyDeleteBut I prefer to simply use the delete key or ignore such dribble rather than to censor it.
In the end, the physical limitations of computer memory will result in the natural elimination of such junk.
Of bigger concern to all of us though is how reliable is information that is posted on the Web? We have to be careful of our sources and will still have to rely on proven data providers who take the time to validate their information (albeit NBC has fallen of that list thanks to Dan Rather).