"The Lost Art of Political Argument"- Lasch

Christopher Lasch has an interesting point of view on literacy as it relates to democracy and modern society.  Lasch claims the key to a successful democracy and political system is “public debate, not information,” (Lasch).  He goes on to defend this position by stating that only relevant information can be obtained from this kind of public debate.  In other words, pertinent information can only be found if the correct questions are asked through the debating process, which in Lasch’s eyes has declined rapidly over the years.  Lasch disagrees with the popular notion that information fuels debate and purposes it is more influenced and better described by the latter. 

Lasch does have a valid point that during certain kinds of “intelligent public debates” important questions do arise and give people a direction in which to look for related information.  However, where I believe his argument is flawed is in his idea that all information relating to democracy comes from public debate and not prior research.  I would argue in order to have an intelligent debate; one that produces relevant questions, those participants must be equipped with some sort of related data, facts stats etc. in order to engage in a meaningful conversation.  For example, two people debating about the death penalty will most likely not generate any applicable questions when both parties know nothing about the issue and point behind it.  The conversation will move around in a circle and the kind of meaningful information that Lasch hopes to get out of questions posed in the debate will not be present. 

I do agree that in debates where both parties do have some prior knowledge about the issue, questions can be posed that provide a guide for further research and increased public knowledge.  This in affect will help to create a more educated and informed society.  Thus for Lasch’s idea on literacy and democracy to work, intelligent and meaningful debate must occur first and not second. 

Are Newspapers Doomed?

The idea that newspapers are forced to “unbundle” as they turn digital is a very interesting observation that in my opinion holds true in many aspects.  This becomes a problem like Nicholas Carr alluded to when newspapers are primarily funded by advertisers.  Carr suggests the definition of a “successful” article has changed from good, detailed reporting to those that are able to attract a high amount of readers that click on advertisements.  This puts a lot of pressure on digital newspapers to only publish stories that advertisers want to advertise on and leave out many important humanitarian, political, social and worldly articles that wouldn’t necessarily be conducive for an advertiser’s message.  For example, most advertisers wouldn’t want to be associated with articles regarding government corruption or a new outbreak of AIDS.  Thus these important issues and stories have the potential to be left out in order for the newspaper to make money. 

Looking at this move from physical to digital, newspapers are becoming less of news and more catered toward advertising messages.  The solution lies not in trying to find a perfect balance between the two, but to find a way for digital newspapers to make a profit without solely relying on advertising.  Easier said than done, I’m sure.

Shirky: Everyone is a Media Outlet

Clay Shirky is among one of new media’s most vocal theorists. Shirky along with other traditional media doomsdayers like Charles Leadbeater, claim to have found some future outcomes to the multiple social changes created by the internet.  Shirky’s main claim relies on the fact that professional journalists will soon cease to exist.  His theory is based on this notion of growing “amateurization” in the media. 

According to Shirky, since anyone can publish anything at any time and their content is instantly published to the world, then anyone can be a journalist.  This of course begs the question of future authenticity in new media and the potential downfall of the traditional meaning of professional journalism.  What will happen to journalistic ethics if anyone can do this? 

The worry is these rules and ethical standards will go flying out the window and be replaced with a bunch of mindless amateurs filling the public’s brain with nonsense.  However it is hard to see a difference when “professional journalists” write articles about what kind of toothpaste Amanda Knox bought when she made a brief visit to the store.

Furthermore what does it mean to be a professional journalist versus and amateur journalist?  To be professional does one have to be paid or follow a certain set of ethical guidelines, or both?  Some “amateur bloggers” fit into both these categories.  Is it better and safer to say the definition of professional journalism and how it is broadcasted to the public will alter?

I do not believe a team of bloggers or the internet will be responsible for the ultimate death of professional journalism.  There is a certain standard and honesty that society has come to believe and expect from large news corporations that a thousand bloggers, tweeters or social media users cannot earn in the near future.  This worry about amateurazation and the potential for fabrication in this new media climate is ironically paralleled with the already established journalistic corruption within much of the larger news corporations today.  Take Fox News Corporation for example.  Need I say anything more?  Is this type of reporting called “traditional journalism?”  Or how about all the important social stories people do not hear about because it conflicts with the news media’s parent company’s views or stock price. 

On the other hand, this movement to professionalism to amateurism does bring up some legitimate concerns.  Yet the one detail Shirky and others like him neglect to mention is that news media, and all media generated content for that matter, is expensive, hard to do and even harder to do well.  In addition, media companies control a billion dollar industry and I will be surprised if they do not adapt their business model to the changing times. 

All in all, these changes tend to bring about new job openings and create more competition to an otherwise stagnant and corporate dominated market.  What people will ultimately do with these opportunities and new technology cannot be known for sure.  Yet I am certain we will all learn to adapt and create new policies and new standards without compromising our current values and ethics.  Or at least have the illusion that we have. 

The Social Web

                Chapter six gave readers a short and clear look into some of today’s new social media tools.  I found some of the benefits Richardson lists for the educational uses of Twitter interesting.  His stance is that Twitter can be used as a multi-dimensional educational tool that can help people learn and communicate across the globe.  While there is no doubt that Twitter has some benefits, I would argue it is also an unreliable way to find out information.  At the end of the day, Twitter is not unbiased and much of what people Tweet about cannot be substantiated.  Furthermore, learning how to create a clear and complete thought in a 140 characters or less can be a good thing, but I also find that it limits thoughtful analysis that is needed to get harder concepts and ideas across to the public.  Although I found some of Twitter’s functions to be somewhat useful, I would be very skeptical in calling it a potentially good and accurate learning tool. 

                I thought Richardson’s ideas on social bookmarking services and how the general public is essentially coming up with new ways to classify things, a very interesting concept.  Richardson talks about sites like “delicious” and its ability to share information that someone else has found with a wide group of people.  This in essence strengthens people’s knowledge base and compiles information into neat and easy to find categories.  Tagging information, like tagging a picture on facebook, seems to be a logical step in the information sharing evolutionary process.  Like Richardson writes, the need for professional trained librarians to organize information is becoming a thing of the past as regular people come up with logical and easy ways to find and classify information.  I believe as the internet grows, we will see much more of this type of information sharing. 

It is also interesting to see how our once, extremely individualistic culture is becoming a more intertwined communal society.   As people begin to communicate and share things in a collectivistic way, the techniques in which I and others classify information will eventually move from a less individual process to a more universal system.  Forcing people, as Richardson writes, to redefine the way we classify information.  One could even go so far as to say, the internet and social bookmarking sites are bringing people closer together. 

All in all, social bookmarking sites seem like the next generation in education and information sharing.  I am excited to see how I can personally use these tools to increase my knowledge base and hopefully someone else’s as well.  

Possible research topic

                As the world becomes more technologically advanced, so too does the ways in which advertisers are able to get across their message in all facets of society.  Recent developments in technology have helped advertisers directly pinpoint certain demographics in a product or service’s target market.  The internet for example, has allowed certain marketing firms to find out how to best reach an audience by observing clicking patterns and recording search queries.  On the surface this type of observation may seem harmless; however, one must question the effects this type of extreme target market segmentation has on the general population.  More specifically, how does such targeted advertising affect the maturation process of adolescents?  

This paper will attempt to explore some of the research done in this field and how, if at all, do advertisements affect the behavior and personality of adolescents.  

Below is a list of some articles I believe will aid in this paper:

Children, Adolescents, and Advertising

by: Committee O. Communications

Pediatrics In Pediatrics, Vol. 118, No. 6. (1 December 2006), pp. 2563-2569. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-2698 Key: citeulike:1896338

 

 

Internet advertising: Is anybody watching?

by: Xavier Drèze, François-Xavier Hussherr

J. Interactive Mark., Vol. 17, No. 4. (2003), pp. 8-23. doi:10.1002/dir.10063 Key: Dreze2003