For the past five centuries, society have been experiencing a media revolution. Clay Shirky divided this revolution into four distinct periods. First, it was the period when books and writings became accessible to the public. Then, telegraph and telephone made it possible for individuals to communicate in real time based conversations. Later, images, sound, and moving images were captured in a physical form. This was the period when photography, sound recordings, and films emerged from society. Lastly, a few decades ago, television and radio made it possible for one to spread ideas to everyone. Each periods of media revolution shocked us as social individuals and our culture.
However, there is nothing in human history that can match the media revolution that internet has brought to us. Internet made it possible for many individuals to interact with many other individuals. This was something that previous media tools could not achieve; they are either one-to-one based or one-to-many based.
Clay Shirky, an NYU adjunct and a frequent social journalist, believes that we are living in an era of an endless feed of information. This is mostly due to the existence of internet which allows us to be consumers and producers. As long as people want it, this free media tool made it possible for us to expand networks and hone our creativity and ability. Internet has allowed individuals the medium to raise their voice. Thus, everyone can be producers of idea. Thus, Shirky brought up the idea of "mass amateurization."
Mass amateurization is the idea that there are more people practicing specialized skills than years or decades ago. This fluctuation of amateurs blurs the meaning of professionalism. There are so many paople doing similar things that a question began to be raised, "What does it mean to be a professional when so many people are able to do (almost) everything and so many people are able to gain something from everyone?" The meaning of professionals, a handful of individuals who masters certain skills, is vague because everyone is everything.
Similar to the long tail distribution, there are far more things that people are looking for or find in the media. In terms of news, specialized skills can be anything revolving around journalism. With the existence of internet, people no longer rely on a handful source of news. People no longer only watch CNN or read New York Times, but they also find news on blogs or podcasts. One can provide an opinion or a coverage of a current event by simply logging in to blog website. Thus, amateur journalists are more abundant than big companies journalists. This gives people more view on what is the truth. Besides, most media giants are political partisans and agenda-derived anyway.
Clay Shirky foresees a revolutionized world where people are networked to one another no matter how far apart they are. Infinite source of global information will be available. Thus, ideas will be no longer isolated from one another. As "amateurs" are gradually defined as reliable sources of information, everyone will be active participants of current events. I believe that Shirky's vision is prophetic. It IS happening. However, I do worry about what people consider relevant. Truthfully, most people would like to hear about great news, so that they can live their days contentfully. It is very often that the popular news are what people are looking for. Popular news does not always mean that it is great or relevant to society in general; popular news can be anything that can keep people talking and happy. In other words, irrelevance can be relevant as long as people want it. However, this is an idea that I articulated based on today's society when most of us are still transitioning. Perhaps, we ought to wait 50 years for our society to get used to the presence of internet so that we are ready and know how to utilize media well.
Sources:
Clay Shirky, "How Social Media Can Make History," http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history.html
Clay Shirky. "Everyone is a Media Outlet in." Here Comes Everybody.
Very true about "popular news." No one wants to hear about bad news in the morning when they have so much going on in their day, thus, the media gives u what we "want" to sell ad space and make money. Also, all media in some way or another have an agenda; the hard part is finding which angle the story is covered (I'm not talking about right-wing FOXNews here!)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the internet has been one of the most important things to ever happen to us. Now we don't need to wait for days for a letter from a loved one, or for important news to be delivered. With the click of a button we have the whole world in our hands right then and there. Maybe no other thing can compare to it, and even if it does the internet will always be the one thing that helped human progress the most, a stepping stone for new things to come.
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