Heard an interesting interview with Douglas Rushkoff on Radio National this morning. In his recent "Program or be Programmed", he contends that anybody who does not understand the workings of computer programs is at the mercy of the social and economic captains who commissioned such software.
(O'Reilly book here: http://www.orbooks.com/our-books/program/)
(O'Reilly book here: http://www.orbooks.com/our-books/program/)
Far from empowering individuals, he argues that social media manages connections and distribution of information in ways that are invisible to users. Apparently a recent survey (sorry did not get the source...) shows that Gen Y "digital natives" are actually more vulnerable to online scams and deception than earlier generations who think of digital media as just one among many sources, and therefore subject to manipulation.
Apparently the Gen Y users typically believe they discover information on the internet, rather than having it chanelled to them via subtle and pervasive mechanisms. Well that's my take on it, anyway.
This ties in with some thoughts I've expressed lately in the ASTC (NSW) LinkedIn group, where I question the impartiality of Google in providing search results via a secret formula.
Not only that. I feel vindicated in my aversion to new but not improved versions of MS Word!
Thanks for the thought-provoking post - it seems that the concept of a reliable source needs to re-taught to a different generation.
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