How has the growth of the internet affected the concept of truth within our society?

The explosion of the Internet throughout the world has ultimately changed the way in which society can communicate. It has taken mass communication to an entirely new level and inundated the common person with information. It is seen by many as an ideal; one that is helping to close the gap between societal classes, by empowering an ever widening audience with a bounty of easily accessible knowledge. Yet in reality, whilst the internet has become a sea of readily available information, its use as an equalising platform to share our points of view, ideas and information is ultimately corrupting the reliability of fact, and in turn society’s concept of the truth. The amount of information available is now so large, that it is becoming difficult to determine fact from fiction, and what is true from what is false. Its influence has evoked a growing trend towards post-modern and relativist thinking, ultimately blurring the concept of truth even further within our society.

According to cyber-culture authors Andrew Keen and Pierre Levy, the abundance of information now available over the internet is akin to Jorge Luis Borges’ infinite “Library of Babel”, in which the majority of works are pure gibberish. The analogy drawn by Keen explains that “it is a place where there is no concrete reality, no right and wrong, no governing moral code. It is a place where truth is selective and constantly subject to change” (Keen, 2007, p.84). The vast information found on the internet is user driven content. It is the product of technological change; of the transition between a “first [and] second media age”, a concept introduced by Professor Mark Poster in 1995. The first media age was characterized as the one-to-many concept of communication. In which a limited number of people could produce a message to communicate with many people who would receive the message. “There were educational, financial and technical restrictions to those who could produce, and to those who could transmit” (Stockwell, 2008). The Internet became representative of the second media age, in that it allowed for a many-to-many concept of communication. It allowed the audience to become the authors, and according to Keen “amateur hour” has now arrived (2007,p.34). The internet acted as an equalising technology, allowing the common person a voice. The Web 2.0 revolution realised a fully networked and connected society, with the promise of greater depth of information, truth, unbiased opinion and global perspective. Keen skeptically refers to this as “the great seduction”, stating that it instead led to “digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated”(2007, p.15).

Before the second media age, truth was often associated with ‘objectivity’- the idea of offering balance and remaining impartial with the delivery of information. The equalizing nature of the internet, allowed every person the opportunity to share their own ‘subjective’ point of view on a wide range of subjects eg. via a website or a blog. Each point of view or opinion could be considered a new version of the facts; translating to a new version of the truth. This change in ideology from an ‘objective’ concept to a ‘subjective’ one, paralleled the growing popularity of postmodernism and relativism. Within this school of thought, a fact is viewed as merely one person’s version of the truth, to which millions more versions may be presented; any of which being no more acceptably correct than the other. Le vy contributes to this notion stating that “each additional connection [ to the internet ] adds heterogeneity [ diversity making it difficult to ensure a consistent meaning ], new information sources, new perspectives, so that global meaning becomes increasingly difficult to read or circumscribe, or enclose, or control” (1997, p.101). The concept of ‘totalised’ truth was blurred within the media age transition, and it has become increasingly difficult to find the authoritative voice that was once dominant.

Keen discusses the idea that in a world of amateurs there are no experts, and considers that if every person was an amateur at a broad range of interests and shared their time thinly over these areas, no one would excel at anything (2007,pp.38-39). He eludes both to the importance of specialisation for efficient production and to the importance of the years of training and specialisation an expert brings to the collation of accurate information. Wikipedia, a collaborative free web encyclopaedia has been targeted as an unreliable source of truthful information as “Visitors do not need specialized qualifications to contribute [and] most of the articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet” (Wikipedia, 2008). According to BBC writer David Reid, Wikipedia is “criticised for its lack of authority and vulnerability to vandalism, bias and inaccuracy [and it is] seen as pushing a myth that there is a democracy of talent and that the wisdom of the crowd is equal to that of a hard-working expert” (Reid, 2008). The anonymity of the author is also a concern, with the ‘username’ acting as an effective pseudonym to hide true identity and consequently evade accountability for false or misleading information. The owners and reporters of traditional media [eg. newspapers and news networks] are held legally accountable for what is published and presented as truth. Whereas on the internet, owners of websites and blogs are not liable for what is posted by a third party. Without accountability, Keen argues that users have “little encouragement or incentive to question or evaluate the information they post” (2007, p.74). Furthermore, an amateur, unlike an expert or professional, is not paid for their time or effort in researching and ensuring the veracity of their information.

The question of time is also raised by author James Moore who explains that the cost of time in our modern society is increasing. He argues that this coupled with the increasing volume of data to be worked is combining to escalate the scarcity and value of truthful information, which he stresses “is the keystone of knowledge” (Moore, 2002, p.76). During 2000-03, Dr. Hal Varian of Information Sciences at the University of California conducted a research project titled “How Much Information”. From which it was concluded that on average the amount of data produced each year is doubling. In our search through this ever increasing amount of data, author John Battelle states that “we [the users] are incredibly lazy. We type in a few words at most, then expect the engine to bring back the perfect results…we want results now” (2005, p.24). A time conscious internet user is therefore unlikely to spend their spare time cross-checking and verifying the reliability of their information or its source, nor may they be aware that they should have to. Keen recognises that “with no one to step in and question the veracity of information in the digital world, mistakes, lies and rumours multiply like germs”, [readers then] repeat this mis-information, compounding the problem, creating a collective memory [and concept of truth] that is deeply flawed” (2007,p.75).

It is ironic that an excess of information would ultimately compromise knowledge and our understanding of the truth. Moore’s “economy of knowledge” analogy can be used to conclude. It explains that the vast supply of information on the internet is comparable to an excess supply of any good and service, which leads to a decrease in its price and value (Moore, 2002, p.79). Hence, our excess supply of information is consequently devaluing and compromising the totality of society’s knowledge and concept of truth.


Sources:
Keen, Andrew (2007) “The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy”, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, Great Britain

Battelle, John (2005) “The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture”, Penguin Group, New York

Stockwell, Steve (2008) “Lecture Notes”, Faculty of Arts, Griffith University, Retrieved on 10/05/08 from https://learning.griffith.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_55255_1&frame=top

Reporter’s Without Borders (2005) “Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents”, Retrieved from http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=542

Poster, Mark (1995) “Postmodern Virtualities”, Retrieved on 10/05/08 from http://www.hnet.uci.edu/mposter/writings/internet.html

Fisher, Dana R. & Wright, Larry Michael (2001) “On Utopias and Dystopias: Toward an Understanding of the Discourse Surrounding the Internet”, Retrieved on 10/05/08 from http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2001.tb00115.x

Levy, Pierre (1997) “Cyberculture”, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Hart, Kevin (2004) “postmodernism: a beginner’s guide”, Oneworld Publications, Oxford

Long, Tony (2007) “Internet Smackdown: The Amateur vs. The Professional”, Retrieved on 13/05/08 from http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/theluddite/2007/06/luddite_0621

Lessig, Lawrence (2007) “Keen’s “The Cult of the Amateur”; BRILLIANT!”, Retrieved on 13/05/08 from http://www.lessig.org/blog/2007/05/keens_the_cult_of_the_amateur.html

Flintoff, John-Paul (2007) “Thinking is so over”, Retrieved on 13/05/08 from http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article1874668.ece

Kresta, Dave (2007) “Slouching Towards Mediocrity”, Retrieved on 13/05/08 from http://www.collaborativeye.com/collaboration_journal/slouching-towards-mediocrity-brainwashed-by-the-cult-of-the-.html

Reid, David (2008) “Searching for the Truth online”, Retrieved on 13/05/08 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7208520.stm

Schonfeld, Erick (2008) “The truth according to Wikipedia”, Retrieved on 13/05/08 from http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/08/the-truth-according-to-wikipedia/

Meagher, Evan (2008) “What is truth on the Internet?”, Retrieved on 13/05/08 from http://evanmeagher.net/2008/04/what-is-truth-on-the-internet

Hinton, Samuel (2005) “Towards A Critical Theory Of The Internet”, Retrieved on 13/05/08 from http://creative.canberra.edu.au/sam/hintonphd.pdf

Moore, James (2002) “The Internet Weather: Balancing Continuous Change and Constant Truths”, John Wiley & Sons Inc, New York

Varian, Dr. Hal (2000/2003) “How Much Information”, Retrieved on 13/05/08 from http://www2.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info-2003/execsum.htm

Essay Outline

How has the growth of the internet affected the concept of truth within our society?

The explosion of the Internet throughout the world has ultimately changed the way in which society can communicate. It has taken mass communication to an entirely new level and inundated the common person with information. In theory it is a utopian ideal, one that is helping to close the gap between societal classes, by empowering an ever widening audience with a bounty of easily accessible knowledge.

Yet in reality this technology may be closer to dystopia. Whilst the internet has become a sea of readily available knowledge, its use as a platform to share ideas and information is ultimately corrupting the reliability of fact. In theory, the internet allows any man and his dog to post information, eg. in the form of a website or a blog. It has caused a technological change and unlike the first media age, here in the second there are very few restrictions to production and transmission.

The amount of information available is now so large, that it is difficult to determine fact from fiction, and what is true from what is false? Post-modern and relativist thinking has also become popular within Generation Y, blurring the concept of truth even further. Within these schools of thought a fact is viewed as merely one person’s version of the truth, to which millions more versions may be presented; any of which being no more acceptably correct than the other.


Points to expand:
- Truth (creation- subjectivity-context of writer as an influence)
- Knowledge (creation)
- Statistical (growth of the internet)
- Blogging (free reign / share ideas, truths-versions)
- Wikipedia (blind leading the blind)
- Old Media-extinction (books / newpapers redundant)
- Google- search (popular links / advertisement affecting searches)
- Reliability- (taught in schools? Question information enough? Users must regulate/rate their own information-cross-reference. Recognise types of sites- eg. edu, com)
- Educational tool? (Better educated, knowledgeable nation or worse?)

Sources:
· Keen, Andrew (2007) “The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy”, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, Great Britain

· Battelle, John (2005) “The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture”, Penguin Group, New York

· Stockwell, Steve (2008) “Lecture Notes”, Faculty of Arts, Griffith University, Retrieved on 10/05/08 from https://learning.griffith.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_55255_1&frame=top

· Reporter’s Without Borders (2005) “Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents”, Retrieved from http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=542

· Poster, Mark (1995) “Postmodern Virtualities”, Retrieved on 10/05/08 from http://www.hnet.uci.edu/mposter/writings/internet.html

· Fisher, Dana R. & Wright, Larry Michael (2001) “On Utopias and Dystopias: Toward an Understanding of the Discourse Surrounding the Internet”, Retrieved on 10/05/08 from http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2001.tb00115.x

IM vs. Active Worlds

Im not much of a gamer and i personally found active worlds a bit dull. Active Worlds is largely a game, and a world where if youve got nothing better to do you could probably whittle the hours seemingly away. On the other hand I love to use instant msg, as its a quick way of having a conversation with my friends without the expense of a lengthy phone call. And for me i guess that is where the major difference lies between these two applications. With instant msg it is connected to your email account and the people I talk to on it are known to me and have been added by me. I am not pretending to be a character like I am on Active Worlds, i am representative of my true identity on msn. Active Worlds allows you to create an imaginary identity, where you can meet new, unknown people in their fantasy 3d world. It is this 3d world that adds the game/fantasy level to it. I dont have to be represetative of myself within it nor do other people. I make my username/character up and so do the other people. Active Worlds, i realise is an older game, and it is not a true or modern virtual world, it does not fake reality, yet the fact that some people can loose themselves for hours within these types of games is to me a worrying future trend. With the creation of better virtual worlds, we become a step closer to a virtual world in which people may begin to use to hide from their real lives. The more time they spend within these virtual worlds the less they spend within their real lives and tend to their relationships with real people. The creation of virtual worlds could eventually isolate us by technology and meddle with our sense of emotion. The movie eXistenZ was a good representation of these dangers and asked its audience where the line will lie between the worlds, where the difference will be between reality and virtual and how will we know it?

Using Microsoft Excel

This program is one that ive had little to do with and i struggled more with this exercise. Whilst I knew how to enter the basic data, i was confused by the formula questions and it took me a few tries to get it to turn out properly. I had used graphs in excel before though and was happy to breeze through that question but then i got stuck on the macro advanced question which I still haven't managed to work out.

Using Microsoft Word

Most of us have been using microsoft word since we've been using a computer- a.ka. most of our lives yet whilst i found the first basic excerises an easy bore, i have to admit i had never even heard of the tools in the advanced exercises, so learning how to track changes and mail merge was actually useful, not riveting, but useful. Microsoft Word has a good setup, in that it is easy and efficient to use, you can find most of what your looking for with just a few clicks of the tool bar but youve just got to know what your looking for in the case of the advanced features, to make them work for you.

Wikipedia

I find wikipedia to be great for gaining a general overview of a topic. It is however a rather unrealiable source and therefore I cross-check everything I read in it to verify the accuracy of the information.

Our task today was to find two wikipedia articles that we knew something about and to check their accuracy on the topic. The first article I found was on the town of Coffs Harbour. This was a suprisingly detailed article for what I consider to be my small hometown. Having lived there most my life, I feel I know the place pretty well and therefore believe, having read this article it is an accurate source of information on Coffs Harbour. It covers a broad range of topics, from its location to its general popularity as a tourist spot. As such it also includes information on attractions, transport services and annual events, all of which I have experienced first hand. If I were to make any changes to this article, the first thing I would do would be to create a link to my high school's webpage, so that (Jetty high) it is fairly represented against the other schools listed in the area (that have links displayed in the article). I would also include more information as to the history of Coffs as a town. Another tourist attraction that has recently been renovated and re-opened is the Historical Museum, which has not been included in this article as an attraction, so I might include something on that. Having completed a history of coffs at school, I know that it does have an interesting history-including involvement in the second world war. Which leads me to think of another attraction which isn't listed in wikipedia's article, the bunker cartoon gallery (an interesting old bunker they converted into gallery, that regulary displays local artists work.) Basically, my point is that they could have been more detailed in the attractions section, as during the winter months there are other things to do apart from lie around on one of coffs many beaches. I also noted that it stated that coffs has a strong surfing culture which is true, but it also has a strong arts culture, which could have been included. Maybe also would have included info on night life and good restaurants in the area? But all in all, this article was an accurate and fairly detailed overview of Coffs Harbour. It was dealing with objective fact so therefore was a generally balanced article, and from the looks of it it followed the wikipedia guidelines for useful articles. The second article that I looked up was on the retail company Big W, for whom I used to work for, and completed a school based traineeship with based on in and outs of the company. And having read this article I believe it to also be an accurate and non-biased portrayal. It describes aspects such as their services and their foothold as a large australia wide company. From my general knowledge the history of the store is accurate as well. In conclusion both of the articles I researched were, to my own knowledge accurate and non-biased and generally a good overview and source of information on both topics.

Walter Benjamin

This was a complicated reading, that did make me think. It raised a few interesting points concerning the reproduction and replication of art, and the ulimate impact this has had upon society and the way in which it has changed the purpose of art itself.

Walter Benjamin introduces the idea that the growing standard of reproduction has ulimately led to a change, from art as an individual and select medium, that was only available to the wealthy upper class who could afford to own and experience it, to a trend towards mass communication and a closing of class divisions, as art slowly become more widely available to the general public. -Art's purpose has changed with the times.

Therefore it raises the question of whether or not, in today's digital society has the original importance, individuality and authenticity of art remained within our culture? Or has it lost that 'aura'(as refered to by Walter benjamin) of the original art works importance with every reproduction of it. Does it sort of sell-out on its original purpose? has it changed its original purpose? Can our modern day reproductions claim to still have the 'aura's' of their original pieces? Benjamin argues that they do not, he claims that with repliaction an art work is removed from its shell and detached from what it was when it was first created. Does the ultimate meaning of the artwork change throughout this process?

The idea of manipulation is ever present in our digital society. With just the click of a button an original artwork can be changed/ manipulated. This may or may not have an impact upon the original message and perception of the artwork, therefore its original 'aura' has been compromised. The way in which a person may recieve the artwork, the message intended to be conveyed has been changed from the original. The reliabilty of a photograph, in todays digital world is an example of this. Digital image manipulation programs such photoshop allow a person to easily and readily change aspects of the photograph and thus misrepresent the original information that was captured. The authenticity of the image is no longer reliable. Such things have caused our society to readily question the reliance of our sources. Have reproduction technologies caused us to become sceptics? We definately tend to question all the information that we recieve.

In today's society anyone can produce art. It is a form of mass communication that has allowed us to exchange information to a wide audience. The fact that our technology is having a growing impact upon the creation and manipulation of art and its 'aura' or 'meaning', was a concept realised by benjamin even back in 1936. It is still a relevant concept today, which seems to grow even more important with each advance in modern technology and the further impact it will have on the changing face of 'art'. They say a picture tells a thousand words, then in todays society do we need to question what is actually being said, and allow for the impact that replication may have had upon its original and intended message?