For some people, thoughts of oceans illicit fond memories and relaxing feelings. The ocean is a source of relaxation, food, and renewal. It cleanses impurities, nourishes the bodies, and enriches life. The sound of breaking waves plays as background music, washing away concerns and connecting individuals enjoying the same resonance. The ocean is a commons to which everyone has access—in an ocean anyone (theoretically) is free to swim, engage in recreational activities for entertainment, gather food to satiate them, and establish businesses to provide livelihood. For these people the ocean feels infinite and represents the ultimate freedom.
For others, the ocean invokes horror; a vast, dark body consuming a majority of the earth’s surface. It is filled with creature and topographies we cannot begin to fathom. The water ebbs and flows as it pleases taking no prisoners, but making victims of those who stand in its way. It is filled with unfamiliar creatures looming in dark crevasses, and hungry predators waiting, lurking, and stalking their prey. True understandings of the complex systems flourishing in the darkest depths of the ocean are limited to few experts. The ocean, for these people, does not represent ultimate freedom, but rather ultimate chaos. No rules, no regulations, just boundless anarchy and threats.
Gillmor suggests that “information is an ocean, and newsmakers can no longer control the tide as easily as they once did” (45). Information as an Ocean: what a terrifying and exhilarating concept. What imagery comes to mind when you envision an ocean of information? Is it placid and bountiful—ideas and facts swirling gingerly around each other, available to be shared with anyone who cares to find them; to provide us with “food for thought “and entertainment, and to nourish our souls? Or is the ocean you envision a more savage body; a brutish ocean of uncontrollable tides, clashing against each other with conflicting theories and false information—creating an unsafe environment? The idea of an information ocean brought up both images for me, and shaped the way approached Dan Gillmors’s We The Media. Like the robust ocean, information is a powerful force. It is expansive and understanding of much of it is confined to the minds of few—or so it has been the case historically. Behold now: the Web.
Traditional media was limited in its scope, and as Gillmor asserts, a very controlled environment. That is to say the information that was disseminated as “news” was determined by gatekeepers at the top of media’s hierarchy. These gatekeepers decided which stories were relevant and deserving of airtime, and which stories would hit the cutting room floor—never to be known by the general public. The media controlled the flow of information, omitting details they didn’t want leaked and sensationalizing stories they wanted to promote. The media was charged as the watch-dogs of government and was responsible for providing information for people to make informed decisions on what to do—but who were watching the media to make sure the information they were providing was valid and the full picture?
Welcome to Web 2.0—an interactive cyber ecosystem that in many ways mimics our own complex physical world. Information is plentiful and now available in every flavor, color, and size you can think of in real time! The internet has become a channel for information…and not just for receiving it, but also for sharing it. This is where the “read-write web,” as Gillmor terms it, comes into play. The Web was designed to be writeable, not just readable. The internet has become a conversation and everyone is trying to get their voice heard! News is no longer limited to what Mr. Big up at Media Oligarchy’s headquarters says it is….news is much bigger, much broader…it’s ours. News is now what we deem important! Information is readily available for those who want to take it!
The media hierarchy has become obsolete, and anyone with internet access can contribute to this open source journalism. Information is gushing through web streams—and that’s great! Anyone can add information through a wiki, spread knowledge to a target audience through mail lists, and share with the world on a blog. People can solicit the internet for entertainment, and even establish VERY lucrative businesses. The internet is like the ocean, with limited barriers to access it and information flowing throughout: it is the ultimate in freedom!
But how do we sift through the noise to find what is legitimate? Who are the experts? Who is telling the truth and who is spreading libel? Journalists are held to legal and professional standards, and thus we trust what they publish is honest (and if it isn’t, they’ll surely correct themselves—well, ideally that is the case). This new breed of citizen journalist that Gillmor describes, have no such legal structures that monitor the veracity of the content they share on the web. In this sense the information ocean can be quite scary! When information gets out on the internet it flows in full force, reaching around the world in the time it takes a person to log onto the net…quite the force to be reckoned with.
We have more information available at the click of button than we could ever process over the course of a lifetime. We have the potential to use this resource to feed our minds and enrich of lives. However, we are pioneering a Wild West, if you will, and we must remain vigilant. We no longer can control what information is going to leak, and you better belief that once it does the leak is damn near impossible to plug! People can promulgate information that “goes viral” in order to promote a cause that can be entirely false! Such false information is dangerous and often hard to identify. While there is more information out there, we must actively engage and participate in searching for the truth.
The information ocean gushes through the internet. We may engage with it at whatever rate we desire. We can choose to look at the internet as scary and dark, or we can approach it as a resource that can be used to enrich our lives. The free flow of information is critical. Thanks to technology and the web people are engaging in dialogues about shared interests around the world. The multi-national insight is invaluable to expanding our horizons, knowledge, and understanding of the news. But we cannot tread lightly. We must be vigilant watch-dogs, or lifeguards in this tumultuous information ocean. We must resuscitate stories that are drowning in the wake of lies. The days of the media spoon feeding us information the way they want us to process it are long over…while this is liberating in many ways, it also leaves us with a great deal of responsibility. We are no longer passive consumers; we are active participants thanks to the web 2.0.
