<div>Dave & George, </div>
<div> </div>
<div>I too was aghast at the Keen post. What provoked it? Does it address any of the concerns raised in the critiques posted a few months ago? I suppose the Colbert/Viacom concession is relevant, but says nothing about Viacom's own
<a href="http://slate.com/id/2152264">toleration</a> and <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/30/infringing-viacom-cl.html">encouragement</a> of infringement when it serves the company's purposes. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>If he decided to spam us all with an irrelevant reminder of the book's notoriety, <a href="http://madisonian.net/archives/2007/06/29/keens-kakistocracy/">he embodies the very vices</a> he accuses the net at large of harboring: mindless attention-grabbing, unwillingness to engage in serious dialogue, and even a "theft" of attention parallel to "pirates'" disrepect for IP.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>--Frank<br><br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/31/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">George Siemens</b> <<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:gsiemens@elearnspace.org" target="_blank">gsiemens@elearnspace.org
</a>> wrote:</span>
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<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Dave, </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Your post brought to mind an interesting statement I encountered this morning while exploring the high-quality journalism at MSN: "Someday, the only difference between the rich and the poor will be the amount of advertising they're subjected to" (
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://tinyurl.com/2r6npr" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/2r6npr</a> ). I think it's an overly simplistic, but profound and accurate statement, found in the most unlikely of places.
</span></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Our spaces have prices. Google understands that very well. They turned the internet from an information medium to an advertising medium by making ads less obtrusive, less distinct from content. Google's efforts in providing free tools and organizing the world's information stem from a desire to monetize conversations, experiences, and the information itself. The same value networks afford –
i.e. ability for information to flow unhindered – is the same basis on which individuals like Keen and companies like Google find their existence. Without the network they don't exist. And, as evidenced by Google's forays into "free" software, rumored phone, wireless spectrum bid, Google wants to ensure that the network can't exist without their (Google's) involvement.
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<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">George</span></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span></font></p>
<div>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><br></span></font><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.elearnspace.org/blog" target="_blank">
www.elearnspace.org/blog</a></span></font><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></span></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.connectivism.ca/" target="_blank">www.connectivism.ca
</a></span></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.knowingknowledge.com/" target="_blank">
www.knowingknowledge.com</a></span></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span></font></p></div>
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