Reading Quest Five

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.