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Daniel Lee aka Tablo. Image Credit to ax3battery.com

I don’t know how I feel about the Internet anymore.
Its become quite evident that its a very open and generous space, and people can easily take advantage of it. The Internet provides us with a means to express our speech and thoughts, without really giving us boundaries.

Reading the story about the Korean Boy Band immediately made me think of another scenario, very similar, but much more terrifying. It is the story of the front leader of Korean Rap Band, Daniel Lee aka Tablo. Tablo is a part of the group Epik High, and their band is one of the most popular in Korea and they have also made a name for themselves here in the US. [Wired Article: The Stalking of Korean Hip Hop Super Star Daniel Lee]

The reason why I thought of this article is because rumors started on an Internet forum changed his life. A rumor started on a fan site that challenged his College Diploma Credentials. Many of his fans turned on him, fast. Tablo received mass amounts of hate mail, personal threats, and more. Over just a few weeks time, he went from being a superstar to being a hermit, someone who never left his home.

This leads me into the second chapter of what Shirky writes about, motives.
Why would someone start this rumor and why do others believe something that is simply written on a forum. This blurs the lines between amateur and professional, and if those two words mean anything on the Internet at all. If a credible news source has published and article, saying that Tablo had fakes his college diploma, his fans would have a legitimate reason to hate him (not threaten him or anything else!). But someone online, only known by a forum handle and nothing else, had written this… and so many people believed him. What’s so scary about that is these actions were based on intrinsic motives. They wanted to defame this musician and they wanted to hurt him, based on lies written on the Internet.

This really goes to show how scary and powerful the Internet can be… and if the people using it have cruel motives, well then… who knows what else can happen.

Back when I first started to use the Internet, its only purpose was for research and games. I played a lot of games on websites like Pogo and Yahoo games. Other than that, I did homework.

As I have grown older, it seems like the Internet has shifted along with me, or maybe thats just my perspective. Now, the Internet thrives on community, sharing, social networks and community.

The Internet has become a vast encyclopedia of our lives. And every day, its only growing larger.

Its kind of ironic because a lot of the information that goes up on the Internet are usually things that people would never talk about in real life. Ideas of revolutions in struggling countries, uprisings against governments, and the organizations of strikes. These are all things that the Internet has made easier. The Internet has broken the physical barriers that prevent people from gathering. People from all over the world can come together on the Internet to support each other.

Take for example, KONY 2012. Millions of people came together for one purpose, despite where in the world they lived. They contributed money, time, and effort for this cause that they believed in. The amount of people who rose to the occasion, to support this cause, was alarming… and it all started because of a video that went viral.

Chapter 5 discussing the birth of Wikipedia.
Wikipedia is so important. But its also a double edged sword.
It has so much information, and I’m sure that most of it is accurate… but because I know that people, just like me, are typing and changing the info on the page, I can’t help but question the credibility and accuracy of it.

And honestly, the amount of different articles available on Wikipedia is INSANE.
What’s even more cool about it is that it can be updated to reflect the most recent news. For example, if I want to look up a summary of an episode that I missed of CSI: Miami, WIKIPEDIA WILL HAVE IT, almost right away.