Recommended reading: The Cult of the Amateur

Recommended reading: The Cult of the Amateur
by Karyn Romeis | Mon, 11/03/2008 - 05:36

In order to gain a balanced view of the role of social media in business, learning and society at large, it is important to consider both sides of the story. Andrew Keen's book serves as council for the prosecution. Carrying the subtitle (in the UK) "How Today's Internet is Killing our Culture and Assaulting our Economy," (the US subtitle is even longer - you can find it by following the link to the book on Amazon) it caused all sorts of waves of outrage in the blogosphere.

Keen puts forward the view that the web 2.0 revolution is resulting in a 'cacophony' of information where it has become impossible to tell good information from bad, fact from misinformed opinion. He expresses dissatisfaction with a world in which anyone can publish their views, share their materials and make amendments to sites like Wikipedia.

It is worth noting that Keen is not a technophobe, but the pioneer of several Internet start-ups... and a blogger.

His contention is that, at the hands of the 2.0 revolution, truth has become "a commodity to be bought, sold, packaged and reinvented." He objects to what he calls the "democritization of information" which he says is "undermining truth an belittling expertise, experience and talent."

Opinion is sharply divided on the subject and Keen has many detractors - some of whom more than adequately fit the bill of experts by even the most exacting standards. The following list of reactions to his book (and to the man himself) is well worth exploring:

• Stephen Downes on OLDaily
• David Warlick's reaction on 2¢ Worth
• Vicki Davis on Cool Cat Teacher blog
• Tim Stahmer on Assorted Stuff

Most of these posts contain links to other posts, articles and debates on the subject, so you will be able to follow that white rabbit down the hole as far as your interest can take you. Regardless of which side of the fence your own opinion falls, Keen's book is worth reading.

 

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