The Economist has a great review (survey, they call it) of personal and participatory media, such as blogs, wikis, and other beasts. It begins with an article (“Among the audience”: Among the audience | Economist.com) which shows how, starting with the Movable printing press, up to the “Movable Type” blog revolution,
People no longer passively “consume” media but actively participate in them, which usually means creating content, in whatever form and on whatever scale.
-Paul Saffo, as quoted in the paper.
This is part of what I like to call the Infrastructure of Possibilities.
The survey goes on explaining what blogs and wikis are, with practical tips also. It includes audio interviews with (among others) David Sifry (founder of Technorati), and Paul Saffo (Director at the Institute of the Future (iftf.org)).
Here’s the table o’contents.
- Among the audience
- It’s the links, stupid
- Compose yourself
- The wiki principle
- Heard on the street
- Wonders of the metaverse
- The gazillion-dollar question
- What sort of revolution?
- Sources and acknowledgements
- Offer to readers
- Audio interview: Andreas Kluth
- Audio interview: David Sifry
- Audio interview: Chris Anderson
- Audio interview: Jerry Michalski
- Audio interview: Paul Saffo