Mar 14 2010
Cult of the Amateur
All of the stuff we’ve been reading in our research with the K-State Digital Ethnography Working Group describes and is generally supportive of the rise of the Internet. I was intrigued by a book I ran across in the K-State Salina library called “The Cult of the Amateur: how today’s internet is killing our culture” by Andrew Keen.
I see today that he was a speaker at SXSWi and there are plenty of related tweets on Twitter.
Since I wasn’t able to attend SXSW this year, I had to settle for Keen’s appearance on the Colbert Report
Much of his critique of the Internet contains a grain of truth but to me it comes across as shrill and a little whiny. For example, he bemoans the replacement of professional journalism with the untrained “citizen journalist” who hasn’t had training or an expectation of conforming to any journalistic code of ethics. With equal access to digital publication media, anyone can be heard, resulting in a cacophony of noise in which it is impossible to distinguish the credible from the not-so-credible.
In reading the Keen book, I am reminded of another book, this one by Paul Z. Pilzer, “Unlimited Wealth”. In it, Pilzer describes “economic alchemy” as a process which dispels the notion of “scarce resources” through the progress of technology. As an example, he tells of the oil shortage of the 1970′s. With the paradigm shift of carburetors being replaced by computerized fuel injection, we suddenly experience a net gain of “new” oil because the fuel economy of automobiles was greatly improved. Everyone involved in the carburetor industry was suddenly thrust out of a job because of the new technology. Paradigm shifts are always painful to those on the losing end of the change. But whole new industries that didn’t previously exist are created as well.
Carburetor mechanics and print journalists can either try to fight the changing tide, or adapt and learn to survive in the new paradigm. I believe we are seeing that happen. Keen’s arguments don’t align with the research we have been reading. Professional journalism isn’t being destroyed, it is being redefined. Even with global equal access (and our research group knows there is no such thing) experts will emerge and some people will have more “equal access” than others. It is all tied to the value that you contribute or your ability to understand and influence the media that you are operating in. And it means having an ability to network with others and to participate in a conversation unlike any ever heard before.
I find it interesting as well the Andrew Keen participates in the very medium that is “killing our culture.” Perhaps it isn’t quite that bad after all?
This was great to listen to- I think that he comes across with a poor argument against the untrained citizen journalist; some of the greatest authors, singers, etc of all time never had any specific training or conformed to a specific code, but that didn’t make their work any less credible/profound to read.
While I’m pro-internet (if you couldn’t tell), I admit I can appreciate the nostalgia for the older forms of journalism/journalistic integrity, but I think that Keen supports a system that doesn’t really make sense in the world we live in today, don’t you?
Exactly. The world is changing. We need experts now more than ever to sort through the information and make sense of it all. Journalism, art criticism, etc. will remain, but the medium in which they operate has changed. Those who are too connected to the old ways will simply be left behind.