Last week the RSA hosted ‘The Great Digital Seduction’, a lively event that gave rise to a gripping and important debate.
On one side was Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur, railing against what he called the cacophony of Web 2.0 and the calamitous effects of user-generated content on our culture. Keen vigorously bemoaned the decline of the old cultural gatekeepers, the emergence of ‘digital narcissism’ and the resulting proliferation of inane and banal content on the web. Tim Montgomerie, editor of ConservativeHome and BritainAndAmerica.com, gave a robust defence of new media. He pointed out that old media (of which Keen has a somewhat romantic view) has its problems too. New media is good for democracy and participation and, contrary to Keen’s claims, there are many expert voices (e.g., burningourmoney.blogspot.com; nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com) flourishing in the blogosphere.
The event is available as a podcast here and is well worth listening to.
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