Andrew Keen’s Best Case

Memex 1.1 » Blog Archive » Andrew Keen’s Best Case: "Andrew Keen’s Best Case David Weinberger has done something really interesting. He’s taken Andrew Keen’s book, The Cult of the Amateur and extracted from it the gist of the case that Keen is trying to make — and then discusses it critically but fairly. This is an interesting departure from the usual mode of public argument — in which people build straw men from wilful misrepresentations of other people’s arguments, and then proceed to destroy their creations. There’s also a rather good debate between Andrew Keen and the Guardian’s Emily Bell — which Keen graciously concedes that Emily won."

Having read "The Cult of the Amateur" and being in turn disappointed and frustrated by it, I've been following Andrew Keen stuff to see what others make of it too. The above is a handy blog entry from John Naughton in which he brings together some links about the debate which do what I'd love to be able to do... pick the Keen book to bits and understand what he's getting at without the trashy hyperbole which clouds his argument. If you're interested in the 'is web 2.0 good or bad' debate, then this'll make for interesting reading. If you're not interested, then... ermmm... have a nice day? :o)