Echolalia
I'm so far behind in so many different areas of my life, including this blog, that I don't know where to begin.
But I do want to mention the timely, provocative and well-argued piece we posted tonight by David Weinberger, taking arms against the conventional wisdom about the "echo-chamber" nature of online discussion.
You should read the whole thing, but here's a choice quote:
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While most of us had assumed that the Internet would increase the diversity of opinion, the echo chamber meme says the Net encourages groups to form that increase the homogeneity of belief. This isn't simply a factual argument about the topography carved by traffic and links. A "tut, tut" has been appended: See, you Web idealists have been shown up -- humankind's social nature sucks, just as we always told you! Furthermore (says the memester), you Deaniacs were self-deluding, weak-minded children: Wake up and smell the depressing coffee!
The facts are not in question. They show that the links-to-blogs curve follows a "power law," that people tend to buy books that express similar values and views, and that a small number of sites get a disproportionate amount of traffic. But the echo chamber meme, with its "tut, tut," doesn't follow from those facts. It rides on a rationalist view of conversation, defining conversations as the exchange of information with the purpose of discovering truth and changing minds.
Talk about your foolish optimists! |
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