Gene's Paper
From Internet: Knowledge and Community
Gene House
Fall 2010 Prepared by Gene House
Submitted to Douglas Schuler
The Internet: Knowledge and Community
Position Paper, Wednesday, 12/1/2010
As the dissemination of information becomes cheaper and data retention grows evermore economical, what counts as knowledge changes in accordance with the monetary cost of distribution……
WRITING
For millennia, humans have conceived of, and constructed methods in an effort to store and disseminate the “knowledge” of generations past. Scholars, politicians, philosophers and authors, individuals from a variety of vocations have exercised both tongue and pen in an effort to solidify knowledge into the annals of human discovery. With the advent of the Semitic alphabet in the 15th century B.C., post oral cultures enlisted the aid of writing technologies in an effort to store ideas and information, as well convey messages. This was the first in a string of technologies that enabled the automatic transmission of knowledge. At first a utilitarian application, writing accomplished largely “mundane tasks such as accounting and mercantile” (Beck). Specialized knowledge and artifacts were requisite possessions needed to harness and exploit the new technology, as a result public literacy and the diffusion of knowledge remained low, as reading and writing remained sequestered by specialization.
While oral communication still dominated the landscape with regard to the general transmission of knowledge, trade crafts leveraged the new tech primarily as a means of commerce. This blending of the personal transmission of “knowledge” via vocalization and the automatic transmission of information employing specialized “knowledge” and artifacts, provided a natural barrier to entry with respect to the general populace, consequently the dissemination of the information was stunted. Moreover this natural barrier to entry put a premium on “knowledge” as it had to be remembered or recorded, both levied a high price.
PRINTING
These natural barriers to entry for the most part existed until the advent of the printing press. This new technology lowered the premium that accompanied the diffusion of information (or “knowledge”). With increased access to the written word, the ability to read and write increased at a proportional rate. A positive relationship was forming between increasing information and the ability to use it. New skills were being mastered in an effort to become connected, educated, enlightened and entertained. The proliferation of texts in schools progressed beyond that of an elite education, and became convention with regard to general education. Public literacy rates soared, as the transmission of “knowledge” became “silent, and individual” (Beck).
BOOKS
Books expose the human mind to private, linear consumption of “knowledge”, while the development of indexes afford random access of information enabling the piecemeal consumption of “knowledge” in way’s the author may not of intended. To many the idea that books could impart “knowledge” in a non-linear manner is contrary to reason, but pick up a book under review by any undergrad and you’ll see scrawled notes in the margin, in addition to an array of stickies notes, pointing the way to that particularly gripping piece of knowledge. This affords the individualistic reader the opportunity to piece together information in an effort to circumvent the linear delivery of “knowledge” and construct new arrangements that might be quite different from the theme or premise of the book. With the non-personal transmission of “knowledge” the “master” has no way to guide the “student” back to the original thesis, allowing the formation of a different “dish” from the recipe provided. Gordon Graham’s analysis of knowledge, values and the internet brings us this, “Every major technological and social innovation , it seems, is attended by unforeseen risks and disadvantages” (Graham 40). This couldn’t be more apparent then it is with books. From an environment that required the personal transmission of “knowledge” from master to apprentice, to the impersonal transmission of information via text. “Knowledge” now becomes personalized and individual, no longer is what counts as “knowledge” predetermined by philosopher, story teller or prophet, but rather by individualistic reader. New modes of receptive learning were being adopted allowing not just the transmission of “knowledge” but possibly its creation. Not a condemnation of books, for the net benefit of their inception is self evident, rather an observation of how “knowledge” changes when the device affording it’s deliverance is changed. Furthermore if we concede humans natural tendency is towards instant information and “knowledge” via random access, than books with their clumsy index and "sticky notes" pointing to chunks of “knowledge”, pale by comparison to the point and click access provided by the internet.
INTERNET
Shedding the physical confines of bindings and book covers, “knowledge” has found a new home in cyberspace. The technology of paper and pen has been replaced by hard drives and keyboards, publishers replaced by servers, and authors by thirteen years olds with laptops. The salivating readers known as the general populace satisfy their insatiable wants and desires, even as their moral and ethical fortitude falters. Economic barriers to entry have been removed thereby lowing the bar for what counts as “knowledge”.
Digital immigrants as well as natives suffer under the constant bombardment of information. According to Mark Bauerlein the single most damaging technology with regard to higher civic “knowledge” and academic performance is the internet, yet most are powerless against its attraction. Bauerlein portrays youths as empty headed vessels bobbing around in a see of information, whose only hope or reprieve from tech is that which is provided by literature. The theme of his book is illustrated by the following, “Lengthy exposure to finer things is the best education in taste, and its hard to sustain it when the stuff of pop culture descends so persistently on leisure time. There is no better reprieve from the bombardment than reading a book, popular literature as well as the classics” (Bauerlein 58). An interesting, but dated perspective, after all, how can books compare to the internet who lures the user with the promise of entertainment, “knowledge” and autonomy. Her wares temp the consumer with applications, productivity and the allusion of connectivity. These promises are often paid with an experience of isolation, obsession and self contempt. The computer powers up and productivity declines. Like a child afflicted with A.D.D. this device heralded for its advanced productive abilities, is a scatter box of information. Index on steroids, the internet provides all the “knowledge” one could seek in a lifetime and just as many distractions to keep us from it. The internet is not the offender, but the human mind prone to divergent thought and the pursuit of self gratification. The computer simply allows the divergent state of dreams to manifest into screen reality. The internet is to information and “knowledge” what the index is to the book, a random access guide to what you seek, yet with the internet the guide is not inanimate, it is alive with corporations and individuals exercising self interested behaviors, which might not be your own. The internet exploits the concept of how knowledge changes when the device affording it’s deliverance is changed. This is at the foundation of what counts as “knowledge” and what “knowledge” is valuable for with respect to the internet. The internet affords the individualistic consumer the opportunity to piece together information in an effort to circumvent the linear delivery of knowledge and construct new arrangements. The race to acquire the largest audience has begun, for with viewers comes power, not just monetary power, but the opportunity to shape knowledge and social constructs. The corporations, governments, or individuals running the most popular sights will have a disproportional impact on the individual and therefore society. This paper asks what counts as knowledge and what knowledge is valuable for, it seems that in the age of technology, knowledge is only valuable as it is used in an effort to acquire a larger audience, and with that audience comes the ability to effectively transform what counts as knowledge.
Beck, Stephen. "Technologies of Language." Lecture. Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA. 13
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Graham, Gordon. the Internet:// a philosophical inquiry. 1st ed. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print.
Bauerlein, Mark. The Dumbest Generation, or Don't Trust Anyone Under 30. New York: Penguin Group, 2009. Print.
Vaidhyanathan, Siva. "From The Googlization of Everything How one Company is Disrupting Culture, Commerce, And Community - and Why We Should Worry ." n. pag. Web. 4 Dec 2010.
