Reading Quest 5
Nomadicity by Todd Gitlin
In this article Mr. Gitlin is talking about taking private
amusements portably with us when we are out in the public and the desire for
self-sufficiency. He talks about how people gravitate towards portability and
miniaturization, and how each of those is a kind of freedom for are everyday
life. It also talks about how we are self-sufficient nomads accessing are digital
data anywhere we want to, but how we are also using it to cut out unwanted
social contact when we are out and about. He uses the example of a guy waiting
for a bus and instead of just being a creature of a routine waiting for the bus
to arrive he can gain back his individuality by listening to the music he is
comfortable with and also talk to his friends via his cell phone. It also talk
about some the downs size of the devices, like how movies theaters now have to
put things off telling me people to turn off their phones and having to hear other
people conversations when we are out in public. I think the article was really
good and I agree with a lot that he had to say, like him saying we want to be
self-sufficient and in control of our own circumstances.
Web 2.0 by Andrew Keen
Web 2.0 is about Mr. Keen making a case against sharing
information technology. His point of view is that if we take away the elite
mainstream media and replace it completely with user generated context from
blogs and such, we will lose our memory for things learned as a culture.
Throughout Mr. Keen’s article he make references about how the Web 2.0 movement
is similar to Marxism in its seductive promise of individual self-realization,
he also making comparisons with Web 2.0 and ‘60s radicalism. He also says how
he believes the consequences of Web 2.0 are inherently dangerous to the
vitality of our culture and arts, and how instead of Mozart, Van Gogh, or
Hitchcock we will just get more of ourselves and personalized web experience. I
think he makes a good argument and is a knowledgeable individual in this field
due to looking at the other books he has written and also being a part of
dot.com business. I think he is on to something in a ways he is right about people
forgetting about culture as a whole and focusing on themselves, but I think we
also need to look at how culture is perspired and speard in a globally
connected world.
A dream come true by Lee Siegel
In this article Mr. Siegel describes how in the Web 2.0 era
of the internet the uses of words like “democracy” have taken on whole new meanings.
What I think he is saying is that instead of inspiring greatness and freedom
like the word democracy did for our forefathers, it is now being use a shield
by many on the internet. The word “democracy” for many on the internet is use
to silence others that call them out on subjects or criticize their blogs, by
calling them antidemocratic, elitists or saying how they are behind the times.
He also talks about how people think they are escaping the constrictions of
commerce but how the internet is making it tighter. One of his examples of this
is Assignment Zero, a blog-based initiative where anyone one the net can file
an “investigative” article without the need to present an opposing view, but on
the blog the public pays for the articles they want to reported. I think like
many words and events the internet has in a hijacked the meaning of democracy
and that people need to learn how to decipher what they are reading. In the
long run I’m not sure what Web 2.0 and people using the freedoms it has given
them well shape are world but I hope for a better one.
The end of solitude by William Deresiewicz
The end of solitude talk about how as technology keeps going
the younger generations of society are losing their ability to be alone. Not
only are they losing their able to be alone but for most of them I don’t even
understand the concept of being along or why someone would want to be along. By
being able to be in constant contact with people whether it be through Facebook,
text messaging on your phone, or following someone on twitter it has created
almost a fear for some people of being along. In ways the internet has made
people have a fear of loneliness, like how T.V. made people hate being bored,
we constantly want people around us to acknowledge us. By losing solitude Mr.
Deresiewicz is arguing we have lost the ability for introspection, what many believe
it is at the center of spiritual life and also wisdom. I believe what he is
saying is true I have seen it in so of my younger cousins, the constant need of
a Facebook fix or watching them run to the phone at the beep of a new text
message I also do it. I feel the need to be ever more connected as I get older
and use and also rely on social networks for new and entertainment up dates. I
also feel kind of lucky that I had many years as a child without the internet
and TV in my house and that has given me the ability to sit alone and just
think by myself.
