Jaron Lanier's piece in the Wall Street Journal this week is an interesting but ultimately flawed analysis of 'Digital Culture' strengths and weaknesses. He starts off with a bold statement, one that raises ominous questions about the article's accuracy and Lanier's own understanding of english:

All too many of today's Internet buzzwords— including "Web 2.0," "Open Culture," "Free Software" and the "Long Tail"—are terms for a new kind of collectivism that has come to dominate the way many people participate in the online world....
There's no escaping collectivism in our online world. If you search about most any topic online, for instance, you will likely be directed first to Wikipedia, a collective effort.

Hating on Wikipedia has turned into a pretty popular pursuit over the past couple of years: last year there was a nice run on "OMG I found an error that stayed online for several hours" articles, and I've had some harsh words to say about Wikipedia's devaluing of expertise in favor of citation. But none of that compares to Lanier's wrongheaded muddling of 'collaborative effort' and 'collectivism.'  Continue reading...