You are what you eat

We have been talking about digital publishing this week in class. You can now purchase a device, from any number of manufacturers, to upload books, magazines and podcasts - and have a portable library in your hands. The copyright issues and issues of bypassing publishers is an interesting line of inquiry. This “bypass” of traditional media creates an unprecedented relationship between media and the citizenry. It could be likened to the advent of the printing press, the translation of the Bible from the Latin text and the Protestant Reformation. Anyone could read the Bible and the priests who did the interpretations of the text for the faithful were now no longer needed. The political pundit, the news anchor and the news reporter become passé. The news can now be created and translated by lay persons or what is describes as the “prosumer” by Web spinners. Prosumers are people who both consume and produce media – but how long can you feed off of something, expel it, and feed again without eventually creating a toxic situation? What if we run out of people who can interpret from a deeper place and just opinon because as we both consume and create so do companies who do it right along with us. When will we know what is public relations and what is authentic when it will all look the same? The great Frontline documentary, “Merchants of Cool” talks about a feedback loop when people begin to act like what they see in the media. The question becomes do prosumers create things that are authentic or are they just regurgitating what they have fed on. (Why am I on this food kick?) Maybe the new Neil Postman book for the 21st century is not Amusing Ourselves to Death but “Eating Ourselves Alive.” (Yuck!)