Taylor is the Marshall McLuhan or the Neil Postman of our new
digital economy, the lonely voice raising urgent questions we need to
answer together . . . If The People's Platform doesn't spark
the conversation about the kind of democracy and culture we deserve,
then we'll deserve the one we get.--NY1 News' The Book Reader
The Internet has
been hailed as an unprecedented democratizing force, a place where
all can participate equally. But how true is this claim? In a seminal
dismantling of techno-utopian visions, The People's Platform
argues that the Internet in fact amplifies real-world inequities at
least as much as it ameliorates them. Online, just as off-line,
attention and influence largely accrue to those who already have
plenty of both. A handful of giant companies remain the gatekeepers,
while the worst habits of the old media model--the pressure to seek
easy celebrity, to be quick and sensational above all--have
proliferated in the ad-driven system.
We can do better,
Astra Taylor insists. The online world does offer a unique
opportunity, but a democratic culture that supports work of lasting
value will not spring up from technology alone. If we want the
Internet to truly be a people's platform, we will have to make it so.
