Keen

1.      How does Keen define Democratized media, and what are his main issues with this trend? use examples from the web in the form of links. Include this idea of "disintermediation".

Keen defines Democratized media as being media created by everyone. However, he does not see this as a positive.  Anyone can have a comment, or opinion, whether they are experts or not, and it is beginning to devalue truth in evidence and those who actually use research and care deeply about a subject or issue.  Democratized media has caused people to take opinions as facts, which is a disgrace to him because we no longer hold value in deep analysis. He feels that it is not credible because anyone in the world can edit and change it to their bias.  A great example is Wikipedia.  While the information can be great for quick information, the details are often not correct, and someone can completely change it if that want to. It bothered him a lot because in his opinion, it has ruined the music industry in many ways.  Anyone can because a “star” and create a band using applications and uploading to YouTube. Keen wanted to use technology to perfect classics such as the beetles.  To "disintermediate" it is the act of doing away with all the professional levels to go through in order to have a professional blog, movie reviews, any sort of talents, etc.

2.      Compare and Contrast Keens take on Social Media with Douglas Rushkoff's. What are these differences in opinion? Which one speaks to you and your own experiences and why? You may include the ideas of such utopian technophiles as Larry Lessig, Chris anderson, and Jimmy Wales (who are these guys!?)

While Rushkoff is interested in the drastic changes that the internet has caused, he is open to the change.  Rushkoff thinks there definitely are dangers with the way the internet is changing all aspects of life, including children, education, work environment, and many others, but he thinks it is powerful and is accepting of working with the changes.  Keen is on the total other end of the spectrum, he is completely against it and feels that it is completely ruining society as a whole.  In his opinion, it is “dumbing down” our society,