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A Clay Shirky Quote Worth Saving and Altering

I have been reading the Edge.org debate that began with the Jaron Lanier essay: “Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism,” in which he points out the hazards of collective intelligence.

In a rebuttal I was taken by this Clay Shirky quote, that begins:

Since social life involves a tension between individual freedom and group participation, the changes wrought by computers and networks are therefore in tension.

And then he nails the essence of everything I am trying to do:

To have a discussion about the plusses and minuses of various forms of group action, though, is going to require discussing the current tools and services as they exist, rather than discussing their caricatures or simply wishing that they would disappear.

Let’s paraphrase Shirky just a little for our more narrower purposes: Discussing the plusses and minuses of various forms of citizen journalism is going to require discussing them as they exist, rather than discussing their caricatures or simply wishing that they would disappear.


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One Response to “A Clay Shirky Quote Worth Saving and Altering”

  1. Anna Says:

    It goes both ways though.

    “Discussing the plusses and minuses of various forms of citizen journalism is going to require discussing them as they exist, rather than discussing their idealized forms or simply wishing that they would flourish.”

    And it brings up the tension between reporting and influencing – what would be the effect if half the people writing about cit-j switched their focus to facilitating it?

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