: Books
In his book, "An Army Of Davids", Glen Reynolds talks about how the internet and technology revolution in general has changed society, just as the industrial revolution had before it. In recent years computer technology has connected people from all parts of the world together, and made it easier, and cheaper for people to become entrepreneur's and express themselves creatively.
During the industrial revolution and up until the end of the 20th century, the majority of people worked strictly scheduled jobs, away from their homes, and under the shadow of a select group of bosses, "giants" in business and government. For many, their majority of their life was work, and work resembled the comic strip "Dilbert" or the movie "Office Space". Work kept many people away from their families during the day, and left them tired and in need of a cocktail at the end of the day.
Now that the internet is in full maturity, people are able to start and maintain businesses through the internet. Many people run businesses through the website eBay, and it is close to surpassing Walmart (the employment leader) in numbers of "employees". By running a business through the internet, people are able to work from their homes, and interact with their families more.
Reynolds also talks about "the third place". "The third place" is sort of a home away from home, a public place where you can just hang out. "The third place" sells food and drink, along with other things. A good example is Barnes and Noble or Boarders Books. These stores encourage people to hang out, and read a book while having a cup of their coffee or a pastry. Retailers are discovering that if you give people an enjoyable place to shop (a place where they actually want to be), and allow them to chill and take their time, they will keep coming back, and ultimately they are going to buy more things from the store.
Reynolds also mentions the return of specialty stores, where prices might not be as low as a everything store like Target, but customer service is much better. Reynolds claims more people are going to smaller specialty stores just to get better customer service, and are willing to pay extra for it. I agree that smaller stores where employees actually devote a good amount of time helping you get exactly what you want is nice, but I think that if the price at a store like Target is low enough, a poor shopping experience is a sacrifice I'm willing to make.
Creating and distributing music is becoming much easier in this day and age. It use to be that in order to record music, a person would have to book studio time. The equipment used to record was very expensive, so the price to record music was also very steep. Today, a musician can buy decent recording software at a reasonable price. The software is often intuitive, making the recording process much easier. It is also possible to download free programs. Another challenge musicians face is getting their music to a wide audience. Radio often has set play lists, and rarely play music that is not being distributed and promoted by a major record label. Websites like Garageband allow anyone to post music for any visitor of the website to listen too. They have a top 20 list of the most popular songs posted, some of these songs are receiving attention from record labels. Inexpensive and easy to use software combined with the free distribution and promotional capabilities of the internet have allowed ambitious music producers to start small record labels, such as the small label created by author Glen Reynolds.
Another way the internet and technology is changing society, is through blogs and media sites. The internet provides a far reaching and loud voice for people to speak out about anything. And with digital cameras becoming affordable, posting home made videos on sites such as youtube is within the general publics reach. This is good and bad. This outlet can be used to check the news, as it did when Dan Rather reported false info. It can also be used to report injustices and bring individuals to justice, as it did when a video documenting an act of police brutality was posted on youtube. A negative aspect of the internet as a public voice is that lots of false news claiming to be true, and general crap pollutes it.
Although Glen Reynolds is a middle aged professor whose life style and means of communication far differ from mine, I hear a lot of what he's trying to say. The only information in his book, "An Army of Davids" I really didn't find interesting, was the interlude where he talks about what makes up a good blog, and he provides a series of tips. I have glanced over a couple of other books that provide pointers to what makes a great blog. One common tip, is to provide a unique voice, that is a good tip, but what if you are a bad writer? Most books suggest revealing things about yourself, That works if you can be anonymous. The majority of the ideas he expresses I agree with, and the other content is good as well.
Know What Horizontal Knowledge is before its too late
In chapter 7, Reynolds focuses on the idea of horizontal knowledge. Most people think of the internet as expanding an individuals ability and power to spread vertical knowledge (knowledge from on person or source to a large mass of people), but Reynolds reminds the reader of the equally important power of the internet to connect people with similar knowledge together and spread knowledge together (horizontal knowledge). This idea seems trivial when you focus on the word "knowledge" as strictly book smarts. Really what horizontal knowledge implies is that individuals can connect together and gain power with numbers. This idea of individuals with the same beliefs, concerns, ideas, or simply interests, connecting together, benefits workers, activists, and individuals just looking for a friend to play Warcraft with.
A good example of "horizontal knowledge" being practiced is the group of New York Times employees who complained so vigorously and convincingly through emails and blogs that editor-in-chief, Howell Raines was fired. Nick Denton (who is quoted in "An Army Of Davids) argues that the power for employees to connect and change management they don't agree with can be a bad thing. Denten argues that managers trying to create change for the better can be shut down, and fired by employees teaming up through the internet. In an extreme case, this could result in companies falling apart do to the fact that smart but unpopular management can no longer afford to be unpopular, and if the work ethic and/or wages of employees is low, smart and popular management could be impossible. Reynolds for the most part disagrees with Denton, claiming that if managers and executives use blogs and email as a sort-of survey, they can change aspects of their business model that are unpopular. He also notes that if the complaints of one employee are unreasonable, often times other employees will not agree and a protest group will not form.
Citizens' Band Radio (CB Radio) is an early example of people connecting together to fight injustices. According to Reynolds (I was unaware of this), in the 70s speed limits where set based on " politics and social engineering" (Reynolds, Glen), not on safety. Drivers feeling the need to go over what they considered unreasonable speed limits, connected together through CB radio, and warned each other of near by cops and speed traps. CB Radio still exists, but the internet has taken over as the leader in "horizontal Knowledge".
In a perfect world the internet's power to connect people would only be used to create positive change. Unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world.
In his book, "An Army Of Davids", Glen Reynolds talks about how the internet and technology revolution in general has changed society, just as the industrial revolution had before it. In recent years computer technology has connected people from all parts of the world together, and made it easier, and cheaper for people to become entrepreneur's and express themselves creatively.
During the industrial revolution and up until the end of the 20th century, the majority of people worked strictly scheduled jobs, away from their homes, and under the shadow of a select group of bosses, "giants" in business and government. For many, their majority of their life was work, and work resembled the comic strip "Dilbert" or the movie "Office Space". Work kept many people away from their families during the day, and left them tired and in need of a cocktail at the end of the day.
Now that the internet is in full maturity, people are able to start and maintain businesses through the internet. Many people run businesses through the website eBay, and it is close to surpassing Walmart (the employment leader) in numbers of "employees". By running a business through the internet, people are able to work from their homes, and interact with their families more.
Reynolds also talks about "the third place". "The third place" is sort of a home away from home, a public place where you can just hang out. "The third place" sells food and drink, along with other things. A good example is Barnes and Noble or Boarders Books. These stores encourage people to hang out, and read a book while having a cup of their coffee or a pastry. Retailers are discovering that if you give people an enjoyable place to shop (a place where they actually want to be), and allow them to chill and take their time, they will keep coming back, and ultimately they are going to buy more things from the store.
Reynolds also mentions the return of specialty stores, where prices might not be as low as a everything store like Target, but customer service is much better. Reynolds claims more people are going to smaller specialty stores just to get better customer service, and are willing to pay extra for it. I agree that smaller stores where employees actually devote a good amount of time helping you get exactly what you want is nice, but I think that if the price at a store like Target is low enough, a poor shopping experience is a sacrifice I'm willing to make.
Creating and distributing music is becoming much easier in this day and age. It use to be that in order to record music, a person would have to book studio time. The equipment used to record was very expensive, so the price to record music was also very steep. Today, a musician can buy decent recording software at a reasonable price. The software is often intuitive, making the recording process much easier. It is also possible to download free programs. Another challenge musicians face is getting their music to a wide audience. Radio often has set play lists, and rarely play music that is not being distributed and promoted by a major record label. Websites like Garageband allow anyone to post music for any visitor of the website to listen too. They have a top 20 list of the most popular songs posted, some of these songs are receiving attention from record labels. Inexpensive and easy to use software combined with the free distribution and promotional capabilities of the internet have allowed ambitious music producers to start small record labels, such as the small label created by author Glen Reynolds.
Another way the internet and technology is changing society, is through blogs and media sites. The internet provides a far reaching and loud voice for people to speak out about anything. And with digital cameras becoming affordable, posting home made videos on sites such as youtube is within the general publics reach. This is good and bad. This outlet can be used to check the news, as it did when Dan Rather reported false info. It can also be used to report injustices and bring individuals to justice, as it did when a video documenting an act of police brutality was posted on youtube. A negative aspect of the internet as a public voice is that lots of false news claiming to be true, and general crap pollutes it.
Although Glen Reynolds is a middle aged professor whose life style and means of communication far differ from mine, I hear a lot of what he's trying to say. The only information in his book, "An Army of Davids" I really didn't find interesting, was the interlude where he talks about what makes up a good blog, and he provides a series of tips. I have glanced over a couple of other books that provide pointers to what makes a great blog. One common tip, is to provide a unique voice, that is a good tip, but what if you are a bad writer? Most books suggest revealing things about yourself, That works if you can be anonymous. The majority of the ideas he expresses I agree with, and the other content is good as well.
Know What Horizontal Knowledge is before its too late
In chapter 7, Reynolds focuses on the idea of horizontal knowledge. Most people think of the internet as expanding an individuals ability and power to spread vertical knowledge (knowledge from on person or source to a large mass of people), but Reynolds reminds the reader of the equally important power of the internet to connect people with similar knowledge together and spread knowledge together (horizontal knowledge). This idea seems trivial when you focus on the word "knowledge" as strictly book smarts. Really what horizontal knowledge implies is that individuals can connect together and gain power with numbers. This idea of individuals with the same beliefs, concerns, ideas, or simply interests, connecting together, benefits workers, activists, and individuals just looking for a friend to play Warcraft with.
A good example of "horizontal knowledge" being practiced is the group of New York Times employees who complained so vigorously and convincingly through emails and blogs that editor-in-chief, Howell Raines was fired. Nick Denton (who is quoted in "An Army Of Davids) argues that the power for employees to connect and change management they don't agree with can be a bad thing. Denten argues that managers trying to create change for the better can be shut down, and fired by employees teaming up through the internet. In an extreme case, this could result in companies falling apart do to the fact that smart but unpopular management can no longer afford to be unpopular, and if the work ethic and/or wages of employees is low, smart and popular management could be impossible. Reynolds for the most part disagrees with Denton, claiming that if managers and executives use blogs and email as a sort-of survey, they can change aspects of their business model that are unpopular. He also notes that if the complaints of one employee are unreasonable, often times other employees will not agree and a protest group will not form.
Citizens' Band Radio (CB Radio) is an early example of people connecting together to fight injustices. According to Reynolds (I was unaware of this), in the 70s speed limits where set based on " politics and social engineering" (Reynolds, Glen), not on safety. Drivers feeling the need to go over what they considered unreasonable speed limits, connected together through CB radio, and warned each other of near by cops and speed traps. CB Radio still exists, but the internet has taken over as the leader in "horizontal Knowledge".
In a perfect world the internet's power to connect people would only be used to create positive change. Unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world.
posted by Chris at 11:10 AM
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