18 Claiming To Be 53?

In Andrew Keen piece, “The Cult of The Amateur,” he brings up many good points regarding the internet and its content. I both agree and disagree with some of his points, but I do want to mention that many of his arguments that he brought to the table I was very unaware of and never truly thought about. So I want to applaud Keen in the sense that I am more knowledgeable on this subject than I was before.
Keen first talks about the noble amateur, and after giving his own biased opinion on the definition and then one from the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary I believe it shows right off the bat that he does not enjoy amateur writing. He goes on to say that he believes that, “the professional is being replaced by the amateur, the lexicographer by the layperson, the Harvard professor by the unschooled populace” (Keen, 80). I think this is true when regarding the internet but I think that people know that they need to be aware when getting research off the internet because their sources may not be credible. Scholarly books are still very popular, and authors are continuing to make money off them so I believe that when Keen says all these people are being replaced I think he is just talking about them being replaced regarding on the internet.
Throughout his piece Keen continues to mention Wikipedia. He talks about how is can be edited by viewers, how it’s content is not expert knowledge but rather common sense knowledge, and the identity of the editors is not credible. The idea that people can pass as scholars and present false information is something that Keen is very against. I also agree with him in the fact that it’s difficult to accept the fact that, “the voice of a high school kid has equal value to that of an Ivy League scholar or a trained professional” (Keen, 83). Wikipedia is a web site than many people visit to get information but if people knew that it was done by a nineteen year old boy then I do not think they would take the information and believe it to be true. With that being said, in my opinion, if Wikipedia does not change their current way of adding information then I think people should realize that if they choose to get information off their website then they need to further their search to make sure that information is accurate and credible.
Something else that Keen talks about, which still has to do with amateurs, is citizen journalists and bloggers. He defines citizen journalism as, “journalism by nonjournalism” and quotes The New Yorker which describes them as, “people who are not employed by a news organization but perform a similar function” (Keen, 85). According to Keen’s piece, citizen journalists have no formal training or expertise, yet they regularly present opinions as facts. When talking about bloggers, Keen describes blogging as, “free, effortless, and unencumbered by pesky ethical restraints or bothersome editorial boards” (keen, 85). He is simply saying that when people have access to present information, weather true or false, credible or un-credible, they present it. When they are not forced to defend and explain its truth to the information they don’t. A good quote that he used to explain how people choose to present their information as truth is, “The simple ownership of a computer and the Internet connection doesn’t transform one into a serious journalist and more than having access to a kitchen makes one into a serious cook” (keen, 85). I believe this shows his opinion that people need to stop presenting information on the internet as true just because they can.
Keen also talks about the idea of, ‘The Liquid Library’ which is the idea of having books online where people can edit, cut and paste, and add ideas as much as they want. Keen, to no surprise, believes that this, “foretells the death of culture” (Keen, 90). I again agree with him here. I do not think that making credible books online available to be edited by anyone and everyone is a good idea. Cropping information would completely take away from the author’s original idea. Keen describes this with the analogy of, “a finished book is not a box of Legos, to be recombined and reconstructed at whim” (Keen, 91). Books are designed to present ideas and not to be changed.
Like I said before I both agree and disagree with many of Keens points but most importantly I became educated on a lot. Because of his article I am now more cautious about what I find on the internet and will research information before using it if I find it on Wikipedia. The internet is filled with citizen journalists and bloggers and it’s not always easy to spot out the true from the untrue. Because of Keen and his strong opinion opposing these people I will too make sure I don’t get dooped by that eighteen year old claiming to be a fifty-three year old Harvard professor when researching various topics.