Experts Take Back the Internet

[DSTCHAOS]

Well it's about darn time!

By any name, the current incarnation of the Internet is known for giving power to the people. Sites like YouTube and Wikipedia collect the creations of unpaid amateurs while kicking pros to the curb—or at least deflating their stature to that of the ordinary Netizen. But now some of the same entrepreneurs that funded the user-generated revolution are paying professionals to edit and produce online content.

In short, the expert is back. The revival comes amid mounting demand for a more reliable, bankable Web. "People are beginning to recognize that the world is too dangerous a place for faulty information," says Charlotte Beal, a consumer strategist for the Minneapolis-based research firm Iconoculture. Beal adds that choice fatigue and fear of bad advice are creating a "perfect storm of demand for expert information."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/119091?GT1=43002

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Well it's about darn time!

I agree. What I liked about the article is:

Those with a more tempered opinion say the expert cometh, but only modestly. "I think it's a shift in degree, rather than in kind," says Glenn Reynolds, whose book "An Army of Davids" defends the staying power of the little guy. For curated Internet fare to flourish it also needs to overcome a national distrust of experts that is, in fact, older than the country itself. In 1642, the Puritan John Cotton warned that "the more learned and witty you bee, the more fit for Satan you bee," while in the 19th century, Andrew Jackson and his followers ridiculed learned culture as an affront to the common man. In more recent years the ideal of the noble amateur has been bent to include a general disdain for the professional writer, editor or journalist. But while the tide of investment seems to be shifting somewhat, the nature of the Internet suggests that Web 2.0 populism will never be thrown out entirely. "There's always a Big New Thing, but the old Big New Thing doesn't really go away," says Reynolds. "It becomes just another layer—like we're building an onion from the inside out."

But then I wonder if The Matrix has me and how information will be manipulated and distorted to what we should believe from what we read?

[DSTCHAOS]

AKAMonet: The information can be manipulated this way but it's already being manipulated. I'd rather experts debate certain issues than Joe Schmo the Blogger be presenting himself as an expert.

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

...I'd rather experts debate certain issues than Joe Schmo the Blogger be presenting himself as an expert.

Boy, are you right about that.

There is a huge amount of misinformation on the web -- and an awful lot of "experts" with their heads up...well, you know.