Good or Bad?

Mass Amateurization refers to the process in which the line between expert and amateur is dissolving and yet, creating a new category of a "professional amateur". Mass Amateurization is the web's normal pattern. For example, just because you can open your mouth and screech out some sort of melody, doesn't mean you are a singer. In fact, it undermines any professional singer that works hard for their living by making a medium where someone can publish globally for no cost; however, it is ideal for those who do it for the love of the thing. I'm not saying this is necessarily bad, but it does make it harder for those who want to be professionals. Anyone who wants to sing, or who wants to publish work online "professionally" enters a medium that allows for anyone to do so.

Clay Shirky believes that the outcome of this mass amateurization will lead to the demise of professionalization which is how the scribal profession ended. Because of the spread of literacy after the invention of movable type the "scribes" simply disappeared because it no longer denoted a professional class. "We make a distinction between the general ability to write and the professional ability to write in a calligraphic hand". Now because of the internet and it's world wide access, where do we draw the new line that distinguishes between professionals and amateurs? I believe that Clay Shirky is right, and that this is where the world is heading. I am not saying that this is a bad thing because it allows for every single person to have a voice. Before it was only the professionals that told us what to read and who can write it, but now we are apart of a mass media and have access to search engines, such as Google or Yahoo, which allow us to find whatever information we want to find on the web. That alone is a very powerful tool, but it also can be very dangerous.

Though the web has many benefits, this new medium has also opened a door with many conflicts over digital media. For one thing, children also have the unlimited access that adults do. Children do not understand the power of the web because essentially anyone can publish anything and anyone can access anything. I know of a story where a grammar school boy had a crush on a girl. When the boy finally told this girl he liked her, she told him she only liked him as a friend... We smile about this because we remember of our old grammar school crushes, but instead of forgetting about it, or even just chasing the girl around the playground (as immature boys do), this boy decided to post a facebook group called "Kill (so and so)". Boys in his grade joined this group. When the mother of the girl found out about this, she called the school immediately. The boy who made the facebook group was suspended, and his friends that joined all got a months worth of detentions. Now not to say that the boy was actually going to kill this girl, but children don't understand the power of words and publishing them onto the world wide web. A simple 7th grade crush got turned into a disaster all because a boy couldn't express his feelings that he was hurt. Clearly a little boy is immature and doesn't understand the way he fully feels, but this immature boy who exists in 2010 has access to the world wide web. Is this powerful tool to much for children to handle?

With that being said, I truly believe that the web is a good thing, but we all have to remember it is also a powerful tool. I also believe a lot of people, professional and amateur, don't fully understand exactly what this world wide web has to offer, and the amount of power it gives one person. I don't know if professionalism disappearing is necessarily a good thing, because it allows for amateurs who are not fully educated, or even well rounded to have a say. I also believe that the web allows for everyone to get "in" but in turn, it is now harder for professionals to rise above because there is an abundance of competition. Take singers for example, it is so hard to make money singing professionally because of itunes and the digital media. Virtually anyone can become a singer whether you are good, or not. This does give everyone a voice, but it also makes it harder to find the professional singers. Is that even fair to those who work all there life to be a singer and then have all there life's work put up next to someone that just made something in their garage last night? To me that just doesn't seem right. This is happening to all parts of every industry.

Though the web has made it harder for professionals to rise, it does, however, allow for the average person to have a voice, which is obviously a great thing. But I wouldn't want a lawyer performing heart surgery on me, so why would I listen to what an amateur has to say about topics they truly do not "know" about? Because of the new digital media there is an abundance of information out on the web, so how do you decipher which is the "right" information if there is no such thing as professionals? How do people rise to the top when there is virtually no top anymore? I believe the world is still trying to figure out the web and how it truly works.

Though I do have some reserves about the new media, no one can deny how truly amazing the internet really is. It allows us to have access to virtually anything and it also allows us to see news live while it is actually happening. Mass Amateurization is a good thing, but it also scares me. I believe professionals are professionals for a reason and the more amateurs we have out there the more people loose there legitimacy. We have to be careful on how we use this powerful tool which keeps growing every single day.