Other places I write
If you think I don’t post to this blog often enough, consider reading my other, work-related blog, where I post more often.
What I'm Reading
- Apple to Unveil its Next Move in Music?CBS News | Aug 30, 2010Apple has scheduled a big event for Wednesday. CBS News speculates on the company's coming announcements.
- Can Preschoolers Be Depressed?New York Times | Aug 25, 2010Some psychologists believe preschoolers can experience bouts of depression, this New York Times report says.
- Electronic Arts stands by Medal of Honor Taliban featureCNET | Aug 25, 2010EA defends the ability to play as Taliban soldiers in the upcoming "Medal of Honor" game.
- Twitter’s not stupid – you just have boring friendswww.andrewdubber.com | Aug 16, 2010A nice look at how to get the most out of Twitter and refutation of some common Twitter complaints.
- Is 3-D dead in the water? A box-office analysisSlate | Aug 24, 2010Slate magazine looks at whether people are happy with just two dimensions in their movies, thank you very much.
- Apple to Unveil its Next Move in Music?
Recent Comments
My Clips- Cause of plane crash west of Bozeman under investigation, pilot pronounced dead at scene August 31, 2010
- The man who wanted train horns August 16, 2010
- Money well spent? August 15, 2010
- Local telecom company gets $64 million to bring high-speed Internet to rural Gallatin County August 5, 2010
- Montana Opticom receives $64 million in stimulus money for rural broadband August 4, 2010
- AT&T to replace Alltel in Montana within a year June 25, 2010
- Bozeman twin looks to scale namesake peak: K2 June 21, 2010
- High water claims Amsterdam Road bridge June 12, 2010
- Trio of veteran Belgrade teachers retiring June 7, 2010
- MSU robot digger wins NASA competition May 29, 2010
Michael Becker has been blogging about academia, digital culture and journalism since 2005. He is the Web editor of the
Reconsidering Carr’s citizen journalism essay
A few days ago, I posted an excerpt from a TechCrunch article by Paul Carr, who argues that citizen journalism -- which he partly associates with the urge to grab a camera phone instead of trying to help -- is nothing but egotism bordering on a detachment from humanity. "As long as we're all losing our perspective at the same time...," he writes, "then we don't realize that our humanity is leaking away until it's too late."
That post has drawn quite a few comments (for my blog) but they are on a slightly different track than some of the things I've been reading about Carr's essay. Hence the new post discussing Carr again.
Dave Winer, who I respect more with each post of his I read, has some strong opinions about Carr's essay, and he's not the only one.
Winer is blunt, calling Carr's article "rubbish," "disgusting" and link-bait, which he says is typical for TechCrunch. Carr, he writes, is impugning citizen journalists by association. In other words, by Winer's reasoning, Carr would also deduce that his entire crop was bad if he found a worm in one apple.
The article was link-bait, and the more I reflect on it, the more torn I am. Yes, the Twitter response to Fort Hood was a learning experience and a reminder that journalists need to consider their sources before running with any story, and, yes, Carr's article reminded me of that need.
But should I praise an article that's flawed in so many other ways just because I can pull an abstract moral out of it? Would that be like finding the silver lining in the writings of the Unabomber?
Yet, if I expect all of my lessons to come from texts that I agree completely with, I'm afraid that I'll never learn anything.
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