Shirky-Here comes everybody-Sharing is good!

The point of interest for me in Shirky’s chapter on “Sharing anchors community” was photo sharing and how it has transformed how we see the world. It speaks of transparency and sometimes censorship. As stated on page 26, with the 2006 military coup in Thailand, placing restrictions by governmental authorities seems futile with the convergence technology of cell phones and video/photo capabilities. Someone, somewhere, has the ability and fortitude to capture military unrest, civil disobedience, and or some other action that is news, before we are “allowed” to know. Professional journalists/photographers are quickly taking a backseat globally to technology and the amateur photographer with a camera. There is a down side as information transcends the globe can be taken out of context. But pictures often bring clarity and will speak more effectively in the advent of a crisis. It was most prevalent in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. What we saw was lack of governmental response to a horrific catastrophe. What we heard from our media was “pan-fed” garbage. America and the rest of the world saw firsthand was transparency of FEMA through their inaction, as well as and other agencies. The ability today to aggregate photos and share them globally is putting humanity on the scene long before our faithful news media.