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Time Person of the Year 2006 - You

  • 17-12-2006 8:08pm
    #1
    aidan_walsh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,208 ✭✭✭✭


    America loves its solitary geniuses-its Einsteins, its Edisons, its Jobses-but those lonely dreamers may have to learn to play with others. Car companies are running open design contests. Reuters is carrying blog postings alongside its regular news feed. Microsoft is working overtime to fend off user-created Linux. We're looking at an explosion of productivity and innovation, and it's just getting started, as millions of minds that would otherwise have drowned in obscurity get backhauled into the global intellectual economy.

    Who are these people? Seriously, who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, I'm not going to watch Lost tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street? Who has that time and that energy and that passion?

    The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you.
    http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html

    Man, I never thought I'd win this thing :)

    So while the idea that a user content created web is nothing new (indeed, it was originally envisaged by TBL way back when), it really is only recently that it has become possible. It looks like Time think that this is a big enough reason to celebrate.

    So has the "content fuelled" web really made that much of a difference to the way we do things that we deserve such an accolade?


Comments

  • #2
    Milktrolley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 388 ✭✭Milktrolley


    If GWB can win it, surely you and me deserve to.


  • #3
    Karoma
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,396 ✭✭✭✭Karoma


    Hitler...GWB...me... That's about right.


  • #4
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,972 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    I'd vote for me! Its a bit early in truth - its not like anyone blogged a president/PM out of power!

    Mike.


  • #5
    flogen
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 10,247 Mod ✭✭✭✭flogen


    mike65 wrote:
    I'd vote for me! Its a bit early in truth - its not like anyone blogged a president/PM out of power!

    Mike.

    Maybe Time are getting in there before that happens!

    I can see why this would be considered the year of user generated content; I mean YouTube really exploded into the mainstream and brought a host of multimedia pretenders along with it. At this point, if you're looking to explain what 'user generated content' is, you won't have nearly as difficult a time as you might have before (which is a great sign of things moving from the niche to the common).

    How important will it be? Who knows; it's certainly a pretty exciting and interesting social experiment if nothing else. I don't see it shaping worlds or re-defining anything outside a small sphere of influence, but as mike65 says, it's too early to tell what'll happen.

    Without dragging this into another discussion about what new media will do, in my opinion I don't think traditional forms of news or media will be replaced, but they will be enhanced by all this new stuff.
    Being perhaps too optimistic for my own good, I do think that blogging, podcasting and videocasting etc. has and will force the "professionals" to make better content. As time moves by, TV networks will need to make solid, quality and unique programming (because cheap reality TV is no comparison for the real reality of YouTube) and journalism will need to enhance its objectiveness and honesty (because people looking for comment that tells them what they want to hear have plenty to chose from in blogging).
    Maybe, just maybe.


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