Thursday, May 12, 2005
Technology Rules the Roost
USATODAY.com - What's ahead for Net, digital entertainment
Thoughtful roundtable from USA Today. Rapper Chuck D offers the best grab:
Technology has always ruled the roost, but the companies who are intermediaries are never first to admit it. They always thought that they ruled the roost.
I agree. But there will always be a need for intermediaries--'editors' who help people sort through the mass of information and entertainment to find something they like and want.
As Chuck D continues: A lot of people like to play basketball. I could do a different thing with a basketball than maybe Patrick Ewing or Michael Jordan. It doesn't interfere with the NBA. Eventually, the cream does rise to the top.
The key is that many 'citizen-consumers' see their current intermediaries as exclusionary and elitist. Note the citizen-journalist movement, which operates under the assumption that 'professional journalists' aren't telling the whole story, or are so biased that they choose to tell only the stories they see fit, or are so beholden to their financial masters that they won't tell stories that need to be told (but may offend an advertiser).
Perhaps the better intermediary model isn't 'editor,' but 'critic.' Not critics who bash things in an elitist or biased way, but critics with broad tastes and experiences, who share interesting information and entertainment. These critics can be anyone--a friend, a trusted blogger, a decent magazine or newspaper editor.
What technology does is break down elitism and exclusion, but it doesn't eliminate the role of the intermediary. It just gets rid of self-appointed gate keepers, and replaces information-access dictatorships with democracy.
Comments
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Thoughtful roundtable from USA Today. Rapper Chuck D offers the best grab:
Technology has always ruled the roost, but the companies who are intermediaries are never first to admit it. They always thought that they ruled the roost.
I agree. But there will always be a need for intermediaries--'editors' who help people sort through the mass of information and entertainment to find something they like and want.
As Chuck D continues: A lot of people like to play basketball. I could do a different thing with a basketball than maybe Patrick Ewing or Michael Jordan. It doesn't interfere with the NBA. Eventually, the cream does rise to the top.
The key is that many 'citizen-consumers' see their current intermediaries as exclusionary and elitist. Note the citizen-journalist movement, which operates under the assumption that 'professional journalists' aren't telling the whole story, or are so biased that they choose to tell only the stories they see fit, or are so beholden to their financial masters that they won't tell stories that need to be told (but may offend an advertiser).
Perhaps the better intermediary model isn't 'editor,' but 'critic.' Not critics who bash things in an elitist or biased way, but critics with broad tastes and experiences, who share interesting information and entertainment. These critics can be anyone--a friend, a trusted blogger, a decent magazine or newspaper editor.
What technology does is break down elitism and exclusion, but it doesn't eliminate the role of the intermediary. It just gets rid of self-appointed gate keepers, and replaces information-access dictatorships with democracy.
