The Long Tail
April 13, 2008
This article by Anderson explains clearly how Web 2.0 is about reaching for people that couldn’t be reached as easily before APIs ad other Web 2.0 concepts and tools came about. This concept of empowering, giving voice to people (the user) therefore creating access to knowledge in areas and ways never before imagined.
The whole idea of the cult of the amateur that portrays user-generated content as a “bad” thing makes some sense, but in order to let real learning happen, we need to give people a chance to show others what they know (everyone is an expert in something, right?). This also opens doors for content aggregation in a way that would not be possible if the power of publishing was in he hands of just a few. Websites such as Footnote in which users can search for and upload historical files and documents, creating a comprehensive database for History buffs. Or even the good old Youtube that allows users to upload any type of videos (copyrights infringements apart - I do not agree with uploading copyrighted material) create dynamic and social possibilities for exchange of knowledge. Let’s take, for instance this video of my hometown in Brazil. How else would I have run into a video of this nature if not on Youtube? The long tail, niche, user-generated: all great concepts that allow for real learning/knowledge exchange.
Entry Filed under: eLearning 2.0. .
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enzofsilva
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dusanwriter | April 18, 2008 at 10:00 am
Hey Enzo. I read the Long Tail and came away feeling a little cheated. On the one hand, for someone who doesn’t know what youTube really is, or only has a vague idea of nutty kids in their basements playing air guitar, it helps to explain the power of the creator-driven economy and how old marketplaces have been over-turned.
However, I also came away with the belief that the vision of the Long Tail is static. That markets, for example music, consist of songs, and that the old market (record companies) has been replaced by a “long tail” in which the Web makes it possible for even single sales to have meaning.
But over time, aren’t the old markets in which there are a few hits and a lot of lesser ones just replaced with a new one? Instead of publishers or book chains we have Amazon, and instead of BMG we have P2P.
The power user-generated content and all this fun stuff like virtual worlds, Web 2.0, Wikis, and so on may not be in how it disrupts markets, because I think those market aggregation forces are replaced by new ones. The power might instead rest in the invention of new forms entirely. Music no longer defined as song but rather as experience, with the component pieces mashable. Architecture taking new forms. Information clustering into visible knowledge.
It’s interesting to think how this might play out in education. Have my own thoughts but I won’t use up all your blog space!
My own mini debunk of the Long Tail is here:
http://dusanwriter.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/virtual-worlds-and-why-the-long-tail-is-partly-wrong/