Through a glass darkly...

Not wanting to be an isolationist, I try to read the viewpoints of people whose viewpoints radically differ from mine.  One of those people is the well-known Andrew Keen, whose book The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture set off a flurry of angry net-heads, defensive technologists, and regular folks thinking "is this guy an idiot?"  Of course the title is inflammatory, and much of what Keen says is designed to keep him in the spotlight.  But he has some valid points, and those are the ones I'm trying to take to heart...to remember not to suffer from the Michael-Stephens-warning of technolust.  To realize that much of what he argues for (the refocusing on mainstream media and "peer-reviewed" sources) is the same thing that we hear many frustrated instruction librarians arguing for as well.  It's worth seeing through different lenses every now and again.  Give it a try.  If you're not up for a full book that questions and criticizes the house that the web built, at least see what Keen said in a speech he gave at the Ontario Library Association's Super Conference (blogged gloriously by Amanda Etches-Johnson).  She also scored one of his business cards, which I am sure will be collectors' items someday, and in the meantime they are at the very least amusing.