Brenna Dunn
September 13, 2012
Dr. Beatty
Eng 210

In today’s world, society is an ever changing process. Technology is present in our everyday lives. As time continues to pass, technology becomes more and more involved in our lives. Although computers are an extreme use in the everyday lives of 21st Century humans, what are computers without the internet? Whether it is social media, online banking, or research, the internet is the main use of computers. The main problem with the internet is that it is taking the place of professional jobs that at one time were very important to people. Such jobs include photography, mailmen, bank tellers, and journalists. Shirky goes into explicit detail about the pros and cons on internet use in the daily lives of humans.
Shirky had an Uncle Howard from Richmond Missouri who was very passionate about his job as a newspaperman. Howard was not very fond of change within his job and was not happy when the USA today came out. He felt his job was being taken over by people who did not appreciate and understand journalism. Shirky’s main point in his spiel is that those who use the internet are taking away the jobs of the professionals. Bloggers are especially guilty of taking away the jobs of professionals. Now-a-days anyone can go on to the internet and post on blogs and sites about their reactions or views on things. It does not take someone special to be a journalist. In fact there is no way to determine who is a journalist due to the major use of the web. Shirky is not thinking negatively about the internet, there are many good resources that the internet provides. He just is getting his point across that so many jobs that once were considered professional and needed a degree or certificate to be employed in, are now being taken over by amateurs due to the internet.
The central question throughout this whole excerpt that is raised by Shirky is “what exactly qualifies one as a journalist?” “A professional learns things in a way that differentiates her from most of the populance.” (56) Although is it still possible for students to obtain degrees in journalism, it is also possible for an uneducated person to write something on the internet and have it noticed by someone. It really all is in luck and chance. Before people only read things that journalists wrote because their articles were published in things such as magazines and newspapers. That is what sets apart a professional from an amateur, in other words, the advancements in technology changed the occupation of journalism from a profession to a hobby.
Shirky’s central claim is that amateurization is the downfall of the jobs in this world, and amateurization all came about because of advancements in technology as time has passed. “Mass amateurization is a result of the radical spread of expressive capabilities, and the most obvious precedent is the one that gave birth to the modern world: the spread of the printing press.” (66) His reasons for this are that with every new invention, another profession is destroyed. Once the printing press was released, scribes lost their jobs. Although everyone is able to write, scribes took pride in their job and they felt a warming in their heart when they performed it. After the scribes jobs were taken away due to the printing press, jobs started being taken away due to new inventions, such as the internet. “The Web didn’t introduce a new competitor into the old ecosystem, as USA Today has done. The Web created a new ecosystem.” (60) With this being said, although the printing press took away the jobs of scribes, the internet took away the jobs of many more professions as stated above.
A professional style is adopted by Shirky. He has a high reputation as a speaker due to his reputation as a writer, teacher, and consultant about the social and economic effects of the internet. He has had writings that have appeared in major magazines including the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, etc. From all this evidence it can be said that he is well known and is very knowledgeable on the subjects having to do with social and economic effects of the internet. He has a good way with getting across to his audience. He does not consider just his opinions when he presents topics. He shows both the good and the bad to all sides and tells everything from all points of view.
After reading this excerpt it is unclear whether Shirky would prefer that technology changed the professional jobs forever or if he is satisfied with the improvements of the internet. He provides a lot of points about how the internet has basically deleted professions permanently. On the other hand he never includes a negative comment about the internet and its uses. It would probably be helpful to read other excerpts of Shirky’s to figure out the exact point he is trying to get across about his views of the internet. He seems to lead more towards his favoring of journalism as a professional job due to all the back ground he included about the downfall of the internet. Another reason he probably feels this way is because of his Uncle Howard and his family lines to the occupation of journalism.
The world is an ever changing place. Jobs are being created and destroyed every day due to advancements in the world. If there was no change in the world, it would be a stand still place. Although change can be sad, it is completely necessary for people and the world to grow and prosper. In reality the internet is an extremely useful advancement that aids almost everyone is their every day routine.