Re: <nettime> Steve Coll: Leaks (The New Yorker)

[Morlock Elloi <morlockelloi@yahoo.com>]

If we look into the mechanics of "media", then WL is the reverse.

Most of the discussion here is centered on the corruptibility of the
media itself. Media being something between the physical event and
incidental listeners, consisting of interpretation and transmission.
No one could provide solid explanation why would interpreters and
transmitters be unbiased, why wouldn't they be on the take, what would
be the magical incentive to maintain fidelity to the event. The hint
is some form of altruism (which John Young perfectly described without
ever mentioning it), but we know what happens when capitalism meets
altruism.

WL is shortcircuiting the loop. They provide data which was not there
before. Yes, they pick and choose and wrap, but it's still source
data.

The masses are puzzled and look to their interpreters to read the
data, as that's what they are conditioned to do. The interpreters are
confused as they're accustomed to being barriers between the data and
the public.

This is the fundamental un-media aspect of WL. Even among the washed
on this list - how many did actually sift through megabytes of source
information? This is painful. We want interpretation. This is new.
This is the most important aspect of WL. Raw bits.

It is concievable that instruments for handling raw data will develop,
not in the form of "media" but in the form of local tools and
collaborative efforts to make sense of these bits. It may take years,
but if I were entering college, I wouldn't bother about "journalism".
It's over.



> is hard to come by these days. Still, in terms of the tactical media
> that once facinated and inspired us on this list, Wikileaks is a big
> big innovation, far more interesting than anything else that could
> possibly be termed "tactical media" in recent years. It



      


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