Andrew Keen’s - The Cult of the Amateur

This is a great diatribe to read. Although it’s about as subtle as a film directed by Michael Moore on crack making a lot of points null and void, the key debates are debates which the cultural and technology community need to be having…just perhaps not led by Andrew Keen.  

Democratisation of the internet is a major issue. It allows for greater creativity and dissemination by the wider public but it completely distorts Matthew Arnold’s concepts of High and Low culture. The fact is that no longer is information in the hands of experts and because of that, the Internet has to establish itself as a place where valid information can be found. 

Lawrence Lessig dismantles many of Andrew Keen’s arguments here, which is kind of like shooting fish in a barrel but it’s understandable as Lessig himself is targeted (wrongly) in the book.

As I see it, Lessig makes strong arguments for the amateur in society and indeed it’s a position I support. I just don’t think that this position should be seen as default. It was helpful to read Andrew Keen to bounce arguments off his ranting but it would have been even better to read a well researched, even-tempered argument for the expert in society, simply to challenge and maybe even develop how we establish notions of democracy and expertise on the internet.  

IMHO though if you want further evidence of the benefits of the amateur, look no further. 

(Thx to The Age spy for this. Props to old media.)

Professional

Amateur