Network effects, Web 2.0, big data, social media, collaborative production, and the democratization and widespread dissemination of content are all hallmarks of the digital age that make us stand up and applaud in absolute admiration and near-awe of this phenomena called the Internet.
Shirky in his book Here Comes Everybody lays out in great detail what the advantages of the Internet are for collaboration and communication. As he explains, the Internet has unleashed the power of group action for effecting social change. By eliminating the transaction costs associated with information dissemination, influencing, motivating, and organizing, the Internet has injected a historically unprecedented amount of energy into the power of people to effect change. By allowing people to organize, form communities and exchange information freely and rapidly, the Internet has become the ultimate platform for collective action, collaboration, and creativity, all at once. Shirky suggests that the degree of collaboration and sharing facilitated by the Internet positions it as a medium strong enough to anchor community and public life. The degree of transparency and peer-scrutiny-led accountability that the Internet offers only strengthens its usefulness as an agent of social change.
The power of the Internet is only being enhanced as it reaches the generation of Web 2.0, and beyond. As we learn from a blog post by O’Brien (What Is Web 2.0), using the Internet as a platform rather than a network that hosts platforms can revolutionize the way the web, and more importantly the users of the web, are used in expanding its potential. He talks about the ability of Web 2.0 to leverage customer self-service, algorithmic data management, and the network effects associated with user contribution to significantly expand the reach and dominance of applications and services on the web. By leveraging users, the web has the potential to culminate its different offerings into a few, or someday, one mega platform that offers everything at once.
While the advantages of the all-dominant and all-possible Internet are apparent, both Shirky and O’Brien fail to recognize some serious threats the Internet in its current form is posing to individuals, communities, and even countries. Little attention is paid not only by the authors, but few others, to the near absolute control that the Internet, especially stalwarts of the Web 2.0 generation like Google and Facebook are gaining over public content, private information and, to some extent, people’s entire identities (given that a large part of who we are today is determined by our presence online). As a New York Times article highlights, so severe is the threat of exploitation of this dominant position of the web that countries like Germany are taking drastic steps to stem the onslaught of giants like Google that is in near-complete control of our online lives (refer Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance). As the article suggests, given the possibility that such positions of dominance can fall into the hands of governments either friendly or otherwise, the risks to national security and privacy are real and significant.
Shirky does bring to light another key risk of the power of the Internet – its ability to foster disproportionate, uninhibited, and often-harmful action. He explains that the many advantages of the Internet can also have the often-unintended effect of over doing action due to the ability of content to go “viral”. This is best illustrated with the example of the recent Internet viral sensation known as the Ice Bucket Challenge (refer The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Has Raised $100 Million -- And Counting). While little harm (except in maybe this case - 4 firefighters injured when Ice Bucket Challenge goes wrong) can be seen coming from a campaign that has raised close to $100 million for an important medical cause, it does beg us to ask if one cause deserves so much support so quickly while many others have struggled for so long?
In any case, the Internet is unstoppable and is only getting stronger (refer How Apple Is Invading Our Bodies). It’s about time we woke up and recognized the perils of this internet age!
The power of the Internet is only being enhanced as it reaches the generation of Web 2.0, and beyond. As we learn from a blog post by O’Brien (What Is Web 2.0), using the Internet as a platform rather than a network that hosts platforms can revolutionize the way the web, and more importantly the users of the web, are used in expanding its potential. He talks about the ability of Web 2.0 to leverage customer self-service, algorithmic data management, and the network effects associated with user contribution to significantly expand the reach and dominance of applications and services on the web. By leveraging users, the web has the potential to culminate its different offerings into a few, or someday, one mega platform that offers everything at once.
While the advantages of the all-dominant and all-possible Internet are apparent, both Shirky and O’Brien fail to recognize some serious threats the Internet in its current form is posing to individuals, communities, and even countries. Little attention is paid not only by the authors, but few others, to the near absolute control that the Internet, especially stalwarts of the Web 2.0 generation like Google and Facebook are gaining over public content, private information and, to some extent, people’s entire identities (given that a large part of who we are today is determined by our presence online). As a New York Times article highlights, so severe is the threat of exploitation of this dominant position of the web that countries like Germany are taking drastic steps to stem the onslaught of giants like Google that is in near-complete control of our online lives (refer Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance). As the article suggests, given the possibility that such positions of dominance can fall into the hands of governments either friendly or otherwise, the risks to national security and privacy are real and significant.
Shirky does bring to light another key risk of the power of the Internet – its ability to foster disproportionate, uninhibited, and often-harmful action. He explains that the many advantages of the Internet can also have the often-unintended effect of over doing action due to the ability of content to go “viral”. This is best illustrated with the example of the recent Internet viral sensation known as the Ice Bucket Challenge (refer The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Has Raised $100 Million -- And Counting). While little harm (except in maybe this case - 4 firefighters injured when Ice Bucket Challenge goes wrong) can be seen coming from a campaign that has raised close to $100 million for an important medical cause, it does beg us to ask if one cause deserves so much support so quickly while many others have struggled for so long?
In any case, the Internet is unstoppable and is only getting stronger (refer How Apple Is Invading Our Bodies). It’s about time we woke up and recognized the perils of this internet age!
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