'a web of opinions' - 5 views of the internet as outlined by Charles Leadbeater

1. Just a tool

the importance of the internet is overblown

it's the same as we have always done

- just quicker, bigger audience

eg. ebay is just a large and convenient flea market

I don't believe the ‘importance of internet is overblown’ I think it is incredibly important.  The thing that makes it so incredibly important is the fact that it isn’t ‘just a large convenient flea market’, it is a thousand times more complex than that, and that's what makes it so fascinating.  It is extremely different now, the way we do things,  and it is changing the way our society integrates with one another and ultimately has changed our relationships with one another and how we develop as a race personally and interpersonally.

2. big but becoming dull

dull = integrated into everyday life

big changes can lead to big gains but only after the technological changes have become integrated

but it's a long time before we really see what impact the internet will have, if any

We are seeing results of the Internets impact everyday… we may not notice it everyday, but it is happening.  If we look back 10 years ago , the changes made were unimaginable so , In 10 years time, im sure the same thing will happen.   Im not sure if I would be describing it as ‘dull’ but it will be integrated into everyday life, much as it is for most of us now (like the home phone). But whos to say what new and exciting ‘everyday’ inventions and developments we will have new to play with.

3. big but BAD

there are 3 reasons why some people see the internet as bad:

1. killing experts & professionals - mass amateurism

2. dependency on web - eroding independent thought - dumbing down

3. eroding privacy & identity

I think people that believe that the Internet is ‘killing experts & professionals’ is something of an exaggeration to be honest.  The Internet is a huge advantage to professionals in advertising their own work.  The only disadvantage is that it gives opportunities to people who didn't have the education, money, circumstances or guidance to give them a professional ‘title’. So the competition is higher.   I think to call it ‘mass amateurism’ is somewhat elitist, and we should just except the fact that everyone has the same freedom to post what they want.  If the quality or standard of information is lower than some, then it is exactly the same as in reading and in professional movies, people voice their opinion, and it has always been like that.

I do agree to a degree about the dependency of the web.  I myself, when stuck on something or want to know something, I run straight to my laptop.  However that may be the case for some people, but I feel I learn a hell of a lot form the internet ,  its not ALL ‘copy and paste’ .  It really does depend on the individual to sort that one out.  Maybe more emphasis needs to be put on  library’s and other learning sources.?  Obviously if you spend too much time on the web, and you are ‘eroding independent thought’  then there is something wrong, nevertheless I feel TV and newspapers are also extremely influential cultures. 

I feel the loss privacy and identity is more or less left up to the individual.  If people didn't want to be exposed to the would wide web, then they don't have to be?

4. big and getting bigger FAST

for those holding this view, they see the internet as mainly good but there are different views as to why it is good:

a. more diversity, choice, frictionless markets, free stuff, choice, capitalist cornucopia, long tail

b. community & collaboration, commons production, peer to peer, non market, non hierarchical, open source, wikipedia, we think, communitarian utopia

c. different options for organising ourselves, get the things that matter done, innovation & knowledge sharing, collaboration, professionals & amateurs (but will all this social networking, new conversations, actually help in tackling major issues like environmental problems?)

I suppose none of this is going to help ‘environmental problems’, but it is happening.  The best we can do is do our best to recycle and re use and re plant where we can.  

5. big, good - could become bad

growth of the internet = pollution in the internet

spam, malware, surveillance, invasion of privacy, trivia

chaos, abuse of net = clogged up

this view see the current self-organisation as only a passing phase

it needs traditional control

someone to organise it - this leads to paid for access

the internet needs someone, business or maybe governments to regulate it, clean it up, build areas of easy quick access, free from spam, trivia etc

paid for access would of course mean that not everyone would have the same access.

I don't like the idea of having to pay for certain access as Rupert Murdoch has suggested. 

Im not sure that a lot of people would do it because the thing about a lot of the information on the web is that a lot of its content can be found in other sources.  Maybe to use some sites people will use computers in places such as library’s, colleges and schools where they pay for these upgraded web pages… who knows, maybe laziness will indeed overrule and people will give in to these charges…

There are already a lot of websites that you have to do a full subscription and fee before you can experience the ‘real deal’, so I’m sure it will be a lot like that, or maybe you will be able to buy packages with your internet subscriptions?