NET SMART

NET SMART
HOWARD RHEINGOLD

Rheingold's book on the NET demonstrates many of the complexities involved in the corporate owned service we refer to as THE NET. One of the most intriguing portions of the book was Rheingold's assertion that a small portion of the population provides the wealth of information on the web while the masses are the “consumers” of that information. This concept is disturbing but not as alarming as the reality that our information (like it or not) is utilized by corporations. The details of our lives are bought and sold to increase the viability of a product or promote a corporate agenda.

“Only a small fraction of the more than one billion INTERNET users create and add videos, photos, and blog posts. The rest pay attention. They leave behind innumerable traces that speak to their interests, affiliations, likes and dislikes, and desires. Large corporations then profit from this interaction by collecting and selling this data. Social participation is the oil of the digital economy (Rheingold,137).”

If social participation is the oil of the digital economy --- what happens to the people who cannot afford (or have access) to the internet? They suffer, they get left behind and sadly they have no voice in a world that greatly affects them. Which is more problematic ---- the idea that those of us who have the privilege to engage social media are being bought and sold OR that those who don't have access are being marginalized in yet another manner (one that has global implications)?

BOTH seem to be crucial issues that need to be addressed. Once again I recognize the expediency with which technology advances and shifts far surpassing the rate at which we can manage legalities and questions regarding human ethics.

So here is my “small portion” of commodity distributed on the WEB to the larger information “consumer.” Who reads it and what they chose to do with it is beyond my control . . .