Vector Image

For my vector image I decided to choose the Pepsi logo:

Andrew Keen

1. How does Keen define Democratized media, and what are his main issues with this trend? use examples from the web in the form of links. Include this idea of "disintermediation".

       In the chapter "The Great Seduction" from the book "How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture", author Andrew Keen defines the term democratized media as a very less cultured, less credible, and less reliable form of media and the internet. He accuses democratized media as being extremely unreliable and rather dubious because it allows users to edit content without being professional editors. Keen explains that bloggers, photographers, and just plain ordinary people are able to post whatever information or "amateur work" on the web, and he feels that this is stripping us of our culture. 

      The term "disintermediation" also can be related to this chapter. Disintermediation is that idea that there is no middle man between who submits things to websites and who oversees the website. When Keen discusses "authorship" it directly relates to the idea of disintermediation. Keen explains that "authorship" is being ruined and exploited by the development of democratized media because it blurs the line between who owns the site, who views the site, and who has the ability to edit the site. This could include sites that share files as well as allow users to post their own non - reviewed work to a site for the world to see. Keen mentions three various forms of democratized media here to demonstrate exactly what he means and they are as follows: 

1.) Wikipedia 

2) Myspace

3) Napster

2. Compare and Contrast Keens take on Social Media with Douglas Rushkoff's. What are these differences in opinion? Which one speaks to you and your own experiences and why? You may include the ideas of such utopian technophiles as Larry Lessig, Chris anderson, and Jimmy Wales (who are these guys!?)
      Andrew Keen and Douglas Rushkoff have rather different takes on social media. Where Keen believes that social media as well as other "democratized media" is the ultimate downfall of the American culture, Douglass is not totally for it but not totally opposed to it. Douglass is wary of what may happen in the future because of these websites, however he does not feel that they will completely ruin the world.
     Personally, I agree more with Douglass. I believe that while yes, social and democratized media may not be the best thing for the American culture, I do not think that social media is the ultimate downfall of our society. I think that the internet should be monitored more, and that sites such as wikipedia and napster should have more organization and authorship to them. I know for me personally, I use websites that allow me to comment on other people's blogs such as this one as well as facebook, and I even refer to wikipedia occasionally to do a broad search on research topics. 

Responses

For this assignment I partnered with Christa Libecci. Her thesis is that  websites such as Facebook and Myspace could be an extension of a person's identity, however they could also be detrimental to a person if they get too wrapped up in the virtual element of this alternate world. ( http://christalibeccimedialit112.blogspot.com/2011/02/digital-nation-question-2.html?showComment=1299125102467#c3362161937286715249 )

Aside from commenting Christa's blog, I also commented Mike Florio's blog ( http://mikeflorio1.blogspot.com/2011/03/withering-individual.html?showComment=1299123641969#c451202460705325675) and Megan Berrian's blog (http://meganberrian.blogspot.com/2011/03/whither-individual.html?showComment=1299123117688#c8443977618855143614)