Nicholas Carr is at it again, this time on user-created content:

User-generated content is great stuff. Why? Because it's generated by users. And as we all know, users are natively gifted at producing great content. Users would have been generating great content for the last few millennia if they only had the right software tools. But they didn't, so they had to be content with just being users. Which was a monumental drag of historic proportions. Think how much nicer the Sistine Chapel's ceiling would have turned out if only some users had been involved.

Made me think of the amateur-to-amateur culture discussed at Cato last week. Again, the evidence of growth in user-created content is abundant, but I see no evidence it will replace professional content. I believe users will be more easily spotted now by publishers, producers and labels, but the world of professional creation will remain.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 5:16 PM | Art, Free Culture Movement

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