You Are Not a Gadget: The Continuing Case Against Web 2.0 (A Response)
I read the recent RWW Article which is a response to Jaron Lanier‘s book “You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto”, in which he makes the case for a more humanistic approach to Internet technology. Lanier rails against web 2.0, which he calls at the start of the book “a torrent of petty designs” and “freedom [...] more for machines than people.”
I have not read the book, but there are some points that RWW highlights and I am responding to these.
About Web 2.0 – It’s actually an era
I’d first like to start out by clarifying that the label Web 2.0 is really a label for an era in the Web’s evolution. It is like the Pleiocene, or Palaeocene. It’s a period of time rather than a specific set of technologies. It’s like saying we didn’t like the Renaissance, or the Industrial Revolution.
About Wikipedia – Crowdsourced Knowledge
Lanier claims, Wikipedia stifles individual expression. According to Lanier, Wikipedia is “intellectual mob rule” and “seeks to erase point of view entirely.” He goes so far as to call the individual voice “the opposite of wikiness.”
In the latter sentence, Lanier is correct – and while his argument against Web 2.0 could be restated as his dislike for certain generic platforms which have evolved during this period in history (like Twitter, Wikipedia, Facebook, WordPress, etc). It might be more accurate to state that he dislikes collaboration tools as the platforms he seems to have most angst for are those which are designed for group collaboration rather than individual publishing. The Internet and our connectivity to it has allowed us to develop these tools now, and that’s a good thing.
Some of these “generic Web 2.0″ platforms actually encourage a greater sharing of the individual voice by lowering the barrier of entry to the “common man” as opposed to allowing only the technically savvy or intellectual elite who can figure out how to build the tools to enable them to broadcast their individual voice, or pay somebody to do it for them.
You can set up a WordPress site (or Posterous, or one of many blogging tools) quickly and even for free, and while it is a templated system, you have a platform for your own voice. Twitter – another generic platform – allows millions to express their individual feelings. Had it not been for Twitter I would not have been able to connect to some very influential and thought-provoking individuals that I now listen to and converse with on occasion.
About Humanity
Some of the issues that Lanier takes umbrage at include the posting of anonymous comments on blogs. If a person is unable or unwilling to identify themselves, then this is their choice and not the fault of the tool they are using. The availability and ubiquity of publishing platforms in the current era of the Web, and the importance of the social aspect of sharing and commenting simply provides more exposure of this flaw/fear in our human nature. It has been there all along, but not so visible as it is today via the Web.
Instead of criticising the technology, maybe we should look at ways we can improve ourselves?
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