There is a lot that can be said about the rise of new media technology and its influence on the world.  I remember when I received my first cellphone, and the most amazing thing about it was that it came with a camera!  Granted it was one of those terrible VGA cameras (before the days of 5 and 8 mega pixel shooters) so the quality was never anything to get excited about.  Nevertheless, it was great being able to have a camera on me at all times so that I could capture all the stupid stuff that teenagers tend to do.  Little did I realize back then what an impact the marriage of these two technologies would have on the entire world.

The point of all this, and more importantly what I think Shirky is trying to say in the first three chapters is; new media technologies have created a revolution of sorts.  I use the word revolution because that is exactly what this is, for something to be considered a revolution it needs to challenge the “establishment”, the status quo, per se.  We are in the middle of a technological revolution that is challenging many of the traditional industries and professions that have been around for decades, even centuries.  I mean just look what the rise of the blogosphere has done to traditional journalism?

While I still feel that these industries wont ever disappear, just because they offer something the “amateur” cannot, you’ve got to be amazed at how quickly the internet and new technology has changed the landscape.  Twenty or thirty years ago if you told someone that one day there would be computers that would fit in the palm of your hand and phones would have cameras they might have approached you with an air of skepticism.  Yet, this is the reality we live in, technology will continue to evolve, all the while providing more power to the average user, while allowing us to collaborate with each other in new and inventive ways.

Shirky spends considerable amount of time talking about journalism and photography, but I feel like those things are the tip of the iceberg.  For example, look at Kickstarter.  It’s basically a website where people can put their ideas, inventions, business proposals etc. out there for the rest of the Internet to see.  If someone likes your idea, they can contribute funds to help you get things going.  Twenty years ago you would’ve had to spend considerable money and time to shop your idea to different people on the hope that someone would like it.  Kickstarter has changed that dynamic, instead of you going to investors, investors can come to you; all while having your creations displayed for an international audience.

This is collaboration in the 21st century, and the best thing about it is that it gives you and I the ability to interact with each other in unprecedented ways.  Mail is now e-mail, print is now digital, and CD’s are now MP3s. All the old ways of doing things have suddenly become new again, and I think maybe we’re better off for it.