Article Review: Undoing the Industrial Revolution

Hurray, a short concise article! Just what I need on a Saturday.

The author states that the internet is challenging the industrial revolution roots on which our society is built. Industrialization helped our society by creating large amounts of wealth, but it also created urban centers, mass marketing, and large companies.

Urban centers (which have been in decline for quite some time) are evaporating as suburbs sprawl out further. The Northern Virginia tech sector in Dulles and Reston is a direct example of this trend. Outsourcing is also an example of the decline of urban centers.

Instead of mass marketing, many of these internet firms can tailor their approach to individually fit a customer. The authors give the example of Amazon.com and the niche books that they offer. No longer is the customer dependent upon store selection. They only have to look as far as Amazon.com or another internet retailer for a wide selection of hard-to-find items.

Lastly, large companies with the traditional corporate heirarchy are slowly being replaced by leaner, more competitive companies. Many small companies have posted revenues similar to large corporations - sometimes even out earning them. GM is a dinosaur, while the leaner Google is an internet darling.

The internet is the great equalizer, and it's revolutionizing and challenging our society. I enjoyed this article, not only for it's brevity, but also because he some made an interesting arguments.

Article Review: Challenging the Consensus

This was an interesting critique of Cass Sunstein's article claiming that the internet is destroying democracy. Quite to the contrary, claims Henry Jenkins. The internet gives us another source of information and defies traditional mass media filters.

Jenkins states that we are not insulated or isolated to one medium of communication, and we receive information from a variety of sources. He rebuts the Sunstein's "lack of diversity" argument by stating that people can be members of different groups, which afford them a variety of opinions.

I also enjoyed his example about the "churning" cycle of the internet. When he gave testimony on Columbine High School, Jenkins found his testimony ignored by the mainstream media. Through one e-mail, however, he reached a wider audience - eventually attracting the attention of the mass media - because his e-mail was widely circulated throughout the internet.

Lastly, his point about "para-sites" or websites that pull together a supportive argument from a wide variety of sources seems to support Sunstein's conclusion that internet leads people to draw conclusions to fit their ideology or point of view. Many blogs only pull together all the articles that support their position.

Jenkin's strongest point seems to be his conclusion that the mass media can isolate opinions just like the internet. Mass media broadcasts like the NBC Nightly News pick their stories to broadcast just like the internet.

In sum, I think this was a strong critique of Sunstein's article. Jenkins takes a more practical approach, and makes a stronger argument in my opinion.

Is The Internet a Threat to Democracy?

While venturing into free speech issues in public domain (like the Internet), Cass Sunstein says that consumer choice results from a variety of “unanticipated encounters.” These encounters allow us to make better informed decisions as we are exposed to new information that we would not otherwise know. I could specifically relate to this point about the newspaper because every day I read something new in the Post that I would never have intentionally read, but that catches my eye:

When you read a city newspaper or a national magazine, your eyes will come across a number of articles that you might not have selected in advance, and if you are like most people, you will read some of those articles.

Another strong point that Sunstein raises is that many websites on the internet do not provide links to the opposite viewpoint:

It is exceedingly rare for a site with an identifiable point of view to provide links to sites with opposing views; but it is very common for such a site to provide links to like-minded sites.

Instead, most websites only provide evidence to support their point of view. I read the Drudge Report (arguably conservatively biased) as well as the New York Times Editorial Page (arguably liberally biased). Sunstein seems to discount that people will seek out both sources. Perhaps they won't, but it seems utopian to expect Maureen Dowd to link to Ann Coulter for the other viewpoint.

I found his arguments about group polarization to be weak. While I agree that certain fringe groups such as militia men congregate together, I think this polarization is evident throughout our culture and is not a direct result of the internet. The internet does, however, facilitate easier communications between people with fringe beliefs. This comes back to one of Sunstein’s original tenets: Citizens must have common experiences to help us understand each other. Polarization seems to highly the differences rather than what we have in common.

Lastly, I enjoyed his point about social cascades saying that information travels very fast, even if it is wrong. The 9-11 Conspiracy Video is a great example of this cascade - and it's quite believable.

Overall this article is a very utopian vision of a republic, and also the internet. He raises some very interesting points – and I find many on both sides on which I agree – but I find it hard to buy into this ivory tower approach. I would argue internet has helped our democracy, but I agree that it has led to increased misinformation and polarization.

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