Reading Log

"Reflections on the First Decade of Blogging" by Dan Farber
February 25, 2007

Summary: Farber gives his thoughts upon blogging and the controversial reliability of the internet. He uses Andrew Keen and his opinions introduced in his book "The Cult of the Amateur" to show the dangers of the internet to our society. Farber also defends the common bl0gger and gives ideas to how the system can be improved.

Response: I liked the way at which Farber considered the issue. Not only did he give the pros and cons, but also gave ideas on how to improve for the future. Farber said that many bloggers are informed specialists and do in fact know what they are talking about, we just need a better way to distinguish them. I agree with him. Not everything about the internet being ruled by the common person is bad. Look at how fast we can find information. Instead of having to search through books, as long as you are an informed user, you can in fact find reliable information. It is when people are ignorant and are unaware of what truly can be used as fact is when problems arise. Atleast since Farber was presented both sides of the story I feel I can consider what he is saying. He doesn't seem to be overrun with bias and opinion, but instead is presenting valid arguments for both sides allowing the reader to make their own opinion.