Most
of Everything Bad is Good For You is about the culture surrounding
hypertext rather than hypertext itself. Htext is not in the mission
statement. That's a shame, because the book is about the challenges that we face in evaluating, adopting, and adapting to new media, and that's very much a hypertext issue.
The basic idea is really worth some thought: We think that popular media (esp. television and movies) are on a 'race to the bottom' culturally. On the contrary, a look at popular culture over time shows increasing sophistication, increased demands on the consumer, and a meritocratic system that rewards sophistication. Content is not the issue, but we're used to looking at that from old media. The cognitive demands of the media are the issue, and they're getting more and more 'educational'.
Beyond the cut: adoption curves and elitism
The basic idea is really worth some thought: We think that popular media (esp. television and movies) are on a 'race to the bottom' culturally. On the contrary, a look at popular culture over time shows increasing sophistication, increased demands on the consumer, and a meritocratic system that rewards sophistication. Content is not the issue, but we're used to looking at that from old media. The cognitive demands of the media are the issue, and they're getting more and more 'educational'.
Beyond the cut: adoption curves and elitism
Continue reading Everything Bad is Good For You.
