The Great Seduction

1. Keen does not support democratized media. He talks about how it has become a method of seduction. Keen mentions how democratized media has allowed the undermining of truth, thievery of work, and the belittling of expertise. People no longer need a degree in journalism to publish their work; they can go online and start a website or a blog. This exemplifies the belittling of experience. This site [www.blogspot.com] is actually one of the many blog sites that allows for anybody to create a blog without writing experience. All one needs is a computer to start up their site. Along with not needing a degree in journalism, people no longer need a degree in radio/tv/film in order to create films. There are videos posted on youtube all the time that receive more hits/views that some movies receive. In Keen's interview with Google, he also touches on the subject of lack of pay. On the internet, you make little to no money. People are posting these videos [personal or pirated] and blogs for free, which are stealing audiences from news papers and movie theaters. Credibility has been lost along with the lack of need for a degree. Anybody can post anything. The demand for these democratized mediums are increasing while the demand for professions (money costing) media is either staying the same, or possibly even decreasing.

2. Keen and Rushkoff's views on today's media are on complete different ends of the spectrum. Keen believes that though we have the ability to use technology in a positive way, we are using it in a way that is damaging society. He thinks that we are so far gone in the democratized media that there is no return to "safe ground." Rushkoff believes that the advancing technology has enabled us to advance in social media in a way that can benefit our culture. Rushkoff believes that this will let the public take control and set their agenda in the media, rather than the media setting an agenda for society.
I see, and completely agree with many of Keen's ideas, but I would have to side with Rushkoff. Keen is too negative. There are so many things that the media has allowed us to do, that we could not have done before. There is so much information to be shared, people can help others from across the country, everybody can stay connected with one another, and so much more. Yes, the need for a degree in specific fields has become unnecessary, but the benefits seem to outweigh the consequences. I believe that there is a right way and a wrong way to use the media. I know many people use it in a negative way, but I believe it has overwhelmingly  had good outcomes.

Comment to my Partner

Because I was not here when we picked partners, I chose to comment on Adiaroz Diaz's paper. He wrote about Crowd/Out Sourcing, which I did not see anybody else do. I thought this would be an interesting and unique paper to provide my input on.

Commenting Back on Digital Nation

I was not here last class, so I did not have a partner to respond to. Instead of responding to a partner, I commented on 3 other posts.

I commented on the following posts:
Stephanie Robinett
Ashley Casiano
Tom Landers