The Great Seduction
May 4, 2008
Another unintentional encounter with the work of Andrew Keen.
On Googling “Neil Postman+Web 2.0″ (intrigued by what the author of Amusing Ourselves to Death might have had to say on the current state of our “internet culture” if he had lived to see it), the first link I was given took me here: http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/the_great_seduction
/2006/06/where_have_you_.html.
“The Great Seduction” which Keen seems to be warning us against is not Web 2.0 tools themselves – he is not a Luddite – rather the widespread idea that the “the wisdom of the crowd”, disseminated via such tools, is as equally valid as the wisdom of rigorous scholarship and genuine expertise. “Media literacy is the key in this new age” he states in a keynote speech linked to the above page (http://www.oeb-docs.com/oeb-videos/speeches-07/oeb07_andrew-keen.mp3); in the face of ”the democratization of knowledge”, discrimination skills are going to be more important than ever.
