Intellectual Property

The two Keen articles we were to read brought about some scary aspects of the internet that I had not put much thought in to... we're out to ruin everything.

Rather than the highly educated expertise (dictatorship of expertise) we now have a 'dictatorship of idiots' who have the inherited this new power of 'free speech' on a much higher and publicly viewable platform. I believe the most sound example of this is Wikipedia- which I have often looked to for various information (typically regarding music more than anything). Rather than using standard issue sources, which have paid, educated employees we now pool our resources from a forum that anyone can voice their opinion (edit) and we believe what we see- we don't read in to the details of the site being run by 'amateurs'.

Speaking of amateurs, has this term changed in the Web 2.0 world? I believe it has.

Merriam Webster Dictionary:

Main Entry: am·a·teur

Pronunciation: \ˈa-mə-(ˌ)tər, -ˌtu̇r, -ˌtyu̇r, -ˌchu̇r, -chər\

Function: noun

Etymology: French, from Latin amator lover, from amare to love

Date: 1784

1 : devotee, admirer
2 : one who engages in a pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rather than as a profession
3 : one lacking in experience and competence in an art or science

Amateur in Web 2.0 does not exist....

If you can post online and speak your thoughts and you garner a decent amount of traffic, you're a professional. They may spat countless amounts of bullshit to their viewers, but if they believe in the opinion, then we've lost. I believe Perez Hilton is a prime example of this. He took his 'hobby' and some how turned it in to a 'professional' atmosphere where people often find themselves reading his bullshit rants and celebrity gossip. If this blonde frosted tipped idiot can manage to turn his hobby in to a paying and famous gig, anybody can.

I'm an amateur. I have never blogged before this class, and the points Keen brings to fruition terrify me. If you aren't scared, go to Perez Hilton's blog and attempt to put the pieces together on how he has reached celebrity status, and collecting paychecks while we are pay with this class to blog, rather than paid ourselves.