Digital List Price:	$17.99
Kindle Price:	$2.99 Save $15.00 (83%)
Sold by:	Amazon.com Services LLC

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Astra Taylor

+ Follow

More books from this author

The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age Kindle Edition

by Astra Taylor (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 88 ratings

See all formats and editions

From a cutting-edge cultural commentator, a bold and brilliant challenge to cherished notions of the Internet as the great leveler of our age

The Internet has been hailed as an unprecedented democratizing force, a place where everyone can be heard and all can participate equally. But how true is this claim? In a seminal dismantling of techno-utopian visions, The People's Platform argues that for all that we "tweet" and "like" and "share," the Internet in fact reflects and 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.
What we have seen so far, Astra Taylor says, has been not a revolution but a rearrangement. Although Silicon Valley tycoons have eclipsed Hollywood moguls, a handful of giants like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook remain the gatekeepers. And the worst habits of the old media model—the pressure to seek easy celebrity, to be quick and sensational above all—have proliferated on the web, where "aggregating" the work of others is the surest way to attract eyeballs and ad revenue. When culture is "free," creative work has diminishing value and advertising fuels the system. The new order looks suspiciously like the old one.
We can do better, Taylor insists. The online world does offer a unique opportunity, but a democratic culture that supports diverse voices and 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The Internet, many thought, was going to usher in a new era of information sharing; of open, unfettered communication; of new arts and new media. But, instead, Taylor argues in this persuasive book, the Internet has given us more of the same. Instead of leveling the playing field, giving everyone equal opportunities to succeed creatively and economically, the Internet carried over the traditional problems: corporate monopolies at the controls, unfair economic practices, and a disproportionate focus on popularity and mass appeal. The author isn’t saying we should rebuild the Internet from scratch but, instead, that we should strive to create a more democratic Web in which users are treated like citizens, not consumers or unpaid workers. We need, in other words, a new financial model. Newspapers, he points out, are being hurt by the enormous amount of online content, and most of that content is generated by people who aren’t paid for their work. How, Taylor asks, is that fair? A smart, well-reasoned approach to a highly topical subject. --David Pitt

Review

“The promise was so utopian, and it really seemed possible! Now we watch as the lauded instrument of ‘creative destruction’ ends up in the hands of a few giant corporations. What happened? Is there a way out beyond pulling the plug? In response, Astra Taylor has laid out clear arguments, sobering information, and inspiring insights. There have been a lot of books about how the Internet is changing our world, but this is absolutely one of the best. Beautifully written and highly recommended.”
—David Byrne, musician and author

“Astra Taylor’s insights into the ‘missing middle’ of our present situation are sane, lucid, and generous. This book adjusted my thinking on several scores.”
—Jonathan Lethem

“In this, perhaps the most important book about the digital age so far this century, Astra Taylor reveals the unacknowledged economic operating system actually running the net. It’s a landscape in which ‘open’ means different things for different people, leisure might better be classified as labor, and the promise of free culture ends up costing us so much more than money.”
—Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock, Program or Be Programmed and Life Inc.

“The scariest book I’ve read in a while is also the most exhilarating: The People’s Platform portrays what the digital age has done to our society, our culture, our lives—the power grabs, the blows to democracy, the uphill rush of money—and how it’s undermined the economic underpinnings of news and art, in broad scope and precise detail. There is no better, no stronger picture of our bleak new technological landscape and the peppy delusions and deceptions of its profiteers. Knowledge is power, and Taylor gives us a picture so clear it empowers us to find a way forward through the debris. Read it and revolt.”
—Rebecca Solnit, author of A Paradise Built in Hell

“A lively, engaging and wide-ranging look at the politics and the business of the Internet. This is a must-read call to action for anyone who believes in the democratic potential of the net.”
—Nora Young, host of Spark, on CBC Radio

“Internet policy books seem only to come in two colors: bright dream or dark nightmare. Enter The People’s Platform—it’s a rainbow of insight. With nuance and a light touch, Astra Taylor exposes the fallacies in contemporary digital punditry. Unlike her peers, she has her eyes on a truly democratic politics. Which makes this a rare book—it’s one that can radically change the way we see the future of digital social change.”
—Raj Patel, New York Times bestselling author of The Value of Nothing and Stuffed and Starved

“In The People’s Platform, Astra Taylor skillfully explores and dismantles familiar polarized positions on internet culture. In this unravelling, she reveals the complex and blurred relationships among users, creators and those who profit from them. Taylor’s argument for a sustainable cultural commons is moving and persuasive, and elevates the debate at this crucial juncture in the evolution of cyberspace.”
—Jennifer Baichwal, documentary filmmaker (Manufactured Landscapes, Payback, Watermark)

“The People’s Platform is a can’t-look-away tour through the bombed-out wreckage of democratic culture in the Internet age. If you’ve ever had the uncomfortable feeling that we’ve taken a wrong turn on the way to the future, Astra Taylor’s shocking, utterly rational, and elegant book will have you shaking your fist along with her. This is an essential and overdue indictment of our ailing media culture.”
—Andrew Blum, author of Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet

“Astra Taylor is a bright voice of the Occupy generation—a courageous philosopher and a keen activist with a digital populist message. Taylor’s prescient manifesto for ‘sustainable culture’ explains why the 99% must pioneer ‘cultural democracy’ to win real democracy. The People's Platform is destined to ignite a global social movement to rewild our mental ecology.”
—Micah White, Ph.D. (@LeaderlesRevolt), co-creator of Occupy Wall Street meme

“Lucid, unsparing, and brilliant, The People’s Platform demonstrates how the Internet, hardly a paradise of freedom and equality, has been left in the hands of moguls, oligarchs, and corporate scamsters to produce little more than new forms of exploitation. But it also shows that the utopian promise is not all hot air. Freedom doesn’t just happen. It has to be conquered, and this book begins to tell us how.”
—David Graeber, author of Debt: The First 5,000 Years

“What happened to the Internet revolution? Why, if everything’s so different, does it feel like everything’s still the same? Astra Taylor breaks it down here with humor, patience, and an unerring moral sense. She is on the side of the independent filmmaker, musician, and journalist, and pulls no punches in naming those on the other side. This is a brave, inspiring, and necessary book.”
—Keith Gessen, author of All the Sad Young Literary Men

“Why has the invention most celebrated for putting the means of expression in the hands of the people produced a few billionaire media moguls and a mass of creative producers expected to work for free? Confronting this fundamental inequality of the digital age, Astra Taylor opens a new front in the battle for sustainable culture—and gives us good reason to think that this is a battle we will win.”
—Jodi Dean, author of Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00A3PIZL8
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Metropolitan Books (April 15, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 15, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1069 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 289 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #872,527 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #61 in Public Finance (Kindle Store)
- #134 in Music Business (Kindle Store)
- #225 in Public Finance (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 88 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Astra Taylor

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Astra Taylor is a writer, documentarian, and co-founder of the Debt Collective, a union of debtors. She is the author of numerous books including The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart, Democracy May Not Exist but We’ll Miss It When It Is Gone, and The People’s Platform (winner of an American Book Award) and the director of What Is Democracy?, Examined Life, and other films. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, n+I, The Baffler, and elsewhere, and she is an advisor to Lux Magazine and on the editorial board of Hammer & Hope. A former touring member of the band Neutral Milk Hotel, she was the 2023 CBC Massey Lecturer.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

88 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Malvin

Occupy the cultural commons

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2014

Verified Purchase

“The People’s Platform” by Astra Taylor is a timely discussion about the Internet, media and artistry. Ms. Taylor is an accomplished documentary filmmaker, musician, writer and activist. This visionary, intelligent and passionate book explains why we must Occupy the cultural commons to secure a better future.

Ms. Taylor reminds us that the on-and offline worlds are deeply connected. Sharing her own struggles with us, Ms. Taylor explains how the work of cultural production remains labor intensive for most filmmakers, musicians and journalists. However, as the Internet forces prices down to zero due to the relative ease of copying and distributing content, the author contends that the ecosystem supporting cultural producers has been rapidly crumbling around us.

As corporations shed workers dedicated to important vocations such as investigative journalism, Ms. Taylor challenges the ludicrous idea that mass amateurism can substitute for the work of dedicated professionals. The rhetoric of end user empowerment masks a private agenda to profits from the public’s voluntary labors; while BP’s purchase of search terms related to the recent Gulf oil spill demonstrates how corporations use their power to control the message. Discussing the Internet’s rampant sexism, inequality and lack of diversity, Ms. Taylor convincingly argues that the Internet has reinforced the power structures of the real world – not empowered the weak.

One of the finest attributes of this book is how Ms. Taylor challenges the libertarianism of the technology industry. Ms. Taylor says that practically, the Net is not really an open platform. Private corporations own the wires and hardware that comprise the physical layer; the user interfaces that are designed to serve up endless streams of profitable advertising messages; and the many thousands of data points that are mined from our online behaviors. Peer to peer networking might well represent a generalized frustration with corporate profiteering, Ms. Taylor observes, but does nothing to help producers make a living.

Ms. Taylor believes we must build a “sustainable culture” to address these myriad problems holistically. These include regulating the Internet as a public utility; funding public news; separating corporate monopolies; imposing common carrier obligations; and so on. It seems to me that most of Ms. Taylor’s proposals are more than reasonable if we accept that we are still citizens living in a democratic society.

I highly recommend this outstanding book to everyone.

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

bookworm

I cannot recommend it highly enough Among one of my favorites

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2014

Verified Purchase

This book is filled with so many research-based insights and simple common sense about the effect of the Internet on our lives, I cannot recommend it highly enough Among one of my favorites, "Networks do not eradicate power, they distribute it in different ways, shuffling hierarchies and producing new mechanisms of exclusion."

If you are still taking seriously any of the humanitarian concerns voiced by the Silicon Valley crowd, please read this book because it points out that an Internet born in a time of economic exploitation similar to the kind that was rampant in the late nineteenth century's Gilded Age is bound to reflect the concerns of its social context. It was not born and does not exist in a vacuum, so that means those of us who love it--or even those who hate it--need to figure out ways to pursue its pleasures and opportunities without becoming economic and social slaves to its reach and control.

I don't see Taylor's name around nearly as much as I see danah boyd's, whose insights have all the depth of a wading pool, yet Taylor really seems to have done the research and thought through her arguments with an expertise and depth seldom found among those who write about the Internet and its profound effect on our lives.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Naz

The Social Media Regime!

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2014

Verified Purchase

An eye-opening book about the past present and future of the socialedia regime. Important work of research on scattered facts. The writing could have been edited to fascilitate comprehension.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Naum Trifanoff

A downer, but an essential read for the 21C, nevertheless.

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2014

Verified Purchase

Documentary filmmaker Taylor skewers the romanticism of utopian new net heralds. That the promise of an open, democratic internet has been subverted by corporate overlords, monopolistic titans, public relations shills, and destructive wasteful advertising interests. In the process, shredding journalism (to which Taylor repeatedly refers to now as "churnalism") and transforming the media realm into hamster wheel (my words here, not hers) where every click is measured and logged for the science of predictive marketing. Depressing, because she is correct here -- though I do believe it's not in complete entirety and that this state is due in large part to web users themselves, who are indeed attracted to this model. Saddening, because reading this confirmed my own evolving darkened view of the web, as once I had so much faith in the power of the networked web. Taylor chronicles the obscenity of pay-per-click, the wasted resources (in both money and carbon). Even noting the irony that it was government that created these modern marvels, only to witness now private corporate entities siphon all the goodness in erecting their media empires and their quest to swallow all. That this unethical conflict of interest and crass commercialism reigns in the online realm, where it be considered offensive anywhere else. In the meantime, she questions whether this is a good arrangement for creative workers, who now are relegated to compete in a winner-take-all lottery, with no security, and most not making even enough to live on. Here, it's personal for Taylor -- while she strives to adopt an objective mantle, her experiential background surfaces again and again.

Taylor, like a lot of creative professionals, feels like she can belong to neither side in the digital rights battles -- that both sides error egregiously, both the media company overlords and the "everything should be free" crowd.

Knocking off a star because the text is repetitive and redundant in driving home her points, even if she conducts her take in a lustered fashion. Also, while recognizing the government creation, I didn't see any mention that most of the tools used to create and publish web "creative" products are the result of those free software loving hippies. Yes, it's acknowledged that a good number of F/OSS (Free/Open Source Software) developers are in the employ of for-profit corporations, so that they can put bread on the table. Though it can't be stressed enough that most of the new media prophets wane eloquently on the greatness of the new age, but yet still draw their livelihood from traditional employers, a future that's growing increasingly impossible for many educated and talented young (and older too) creative workers, due to this "creative destruction" hailed by such luminaries.

Some other qualms I have with her arguments (and remedy proposals):

* **Failure to distinguish between *text* and *media* (audio or video).** Especially in the matter of digital rights. Yes, this meanders into "the power of plain text", technical details of encoding scheme ownership, etc. But it is an important distinction.

* **Failure to promote the power of existing state of internet publishing.** I don't discount the criticism proffered by Taylor in transforming the open net into a click farm and even believe the moniker of "digital sharecropper" is apropos. But, consider that it is so wondrous and such a marvel that in the 21C you have the power to publish a creative work that *anyone* across the *globe* (with an internet connection) can read (or listen or view). Because, in large part, due to Tim Berners-Lee great vision. And all of those F/OSS hippies who contributed tools such as Apache web server, the WordPress blogging platform, etc...

* **20C solutions to a 21C problem.** Really need to think outside of the box here, as 20C solutions (Taylor references past initiatives that created public broadcasting, FCC stipulations on serving "public interest", some copyright law fiddling with ponying up more money for longer copyright, software patent reform, etc.) Taylor cites European nation measures to deal with some of these issues, but still, we need to think bigger here.

But nevertheless, this is essential reading for anyone interested or concerned with where we are headed with the internet. It's a conversation that must be conducted.

22 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sabrina Gill

VERY INSIGHTFUL

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book gives a very great different perspective and a truer picture of what the internet has done to this world. Very good examples throughout showing real-life companies doing unethical things knowing it's wrong.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Heather Number 1

Get this for yourself and every artists friend you have ...

Reviewed in Canada on April 5, 2017

Verified Purchase

Get this for yourself and every artists friend you have who runs after payment while illegally downloading independent movies. Makes a strong case for mindful media consumption (and much more).

Marc Pieper

Man muss nicht in allem übereinstimmen, um von dem Werk bereichert zu werden

Reviewed in Germany on September 2, 2014

Verified Purchase

Kurz gesagt, ein hervorragendes und wirklich lesenswertes Buch, wenn auch keine leichte Kost, da recht dicht gepackt mit Information. Die Autorin hat ohne Zweifel sehr viel Zeit auf Studium und Schreibarbeit verwendet, um die unterschiedlichen Perspektiven gegenüberzustellen und auf ein Ziel hin klar auszuarbeiten. Der ganzen Problematik ist dieser Rezensent weit positiver eingestellt, als die Autorin des Buches, was wohl auch an der politischen Einstellung liegen mag, die hier und da durchscheint.
Dennoch muss ich gestehen, dass ich selten eine so überzeugende Darstellung gelesen habe, welche die kritischen Punkte und Fehlentwicklungen der digitalen Ökonomie beschreibt. Denn anders als in vergleichbaren Büchern, vermeidet die Autorin lästige Anekdoten, die vom Thema ablenken (oder das vermeintliche Genie oder die Weltläufigkeit zum Ausdruck bringen sollen), sodass die Argumentation flüssig erscheint und klar strukturiert. Weiterhin umschifft die Autorin (weitgehend) den Reiz billiger ideologischer Effekthascherei und konzentriert sich auf die Analyse der unterschiedlichen Sichtweisen, die es zu einem Thema ja schließlich immer geben muss. Das macht das ganze Spiel zu einer relativ runden Sache, wenn auch mit leichten Linksdrall.

Es folgt ein kurzer Abriss der Kapitelinhalte, jedoch sehr stark vereinfacht und leicht polemisiert, um nichts von dem lesenswerten Inhalt vorwegzunehmen.

Im ersten Kapitel wird beschrieben, wie die Vorreiter des Internets, nach dem ersten Crash zur Jahrtausendwende und dem (vorläufigen) Verbrennen aller Hoffnungen auf den E-Commerce, etwas neues für sich entdeckt haben: das Social Web oder Web 2.0. Dabei wird uns nicht mehr direkt etwas verkauft, sondern mit unserer Zwischenmenschlichkeit gehandelt. So entstehen riesige Unternehmen zu enorm hohen Bewertungen auf dem Rücken von Millionen von Nutzern, die für ein bisschen Unterhaltung und Selbstbestätigung, all die Arbeit zur Verfügung stellen, die diesen kometenhaften Aufstieg erst möglich machen. Dafür versprechen die gefeierten Himmelsstürmer Zugang für alle und ein Feldzug gegen die hierarchische und rückständige Offline-Welt. In Wahrheit jedoch, entstehen unter der Standarte der Befreiung nur neue Monopole, während die alten durch Kauf ebendieser zusätzlich gestärkt werden. Die Herren bauen sich eine neue Burg, während die Bauern auf dem Feld sich angeregter Gespräche erfreuen.

Das zweite Kapitel beklagt das Schicksal der Kunstschaffenden in einer Welt, die nur nach Produktivitätssteigerungen giert. Zwar reduzieren sich durch das Internet die Kosten für Distribution, doch nicht unbedingt auch für die Produktion, weswegen sich das künstlerische Tun immer weniger lohnt. Das stört jedoch wenige Menschen in unserer Gesellschaft, denn das Bild des Künstlers ist sehr verquer. Liebe zur Kunst bewege ihren Schaffensdrang, Geld brauchen sie ja nicht. Zumindest sollen sie es nicht brauchen, denn so käme es den Unternehmen gerade recht. Schon lange trachten sie danach, das Heer von Niedriglöhnern mit einer Legion von Amateuren und Freelancern zu ersetzen. Und so propagieren sie das Ideal des wurzellosen Wanderers, maximal flexibel und unentgeltlich produktiv.

Das dritte Kapitel richtet den Blick auf den Journalismus und die Zukunft verlässlicher Berichterstattung. Das Problem sind dabei nicht die Katzenvideos, die uns unentwegt unsere Aufmerksamkeit rauben, sondern das Schicksal der Reporter, die mit immer weniger Geld eine immer wichtigere Arbeit machen müssen. Die zunehmend vielen Skandale über politische und wirtschaftliche Verfehlungen zeigen bereits die Konsequenzen unserer gesamtgesellschaftlichen Nachlässigkeit. Es kann eben nicht jeder durch einen Griff in seine Hosentasche zum Journalisten werden, auch wenn das heute gern behauptet wird. Statt uns also auf die Kräfte des Marktes zu verlassen und scheinbar unerschöpfliches Vertrauen in seine letztlich heilende Wirkung zu setzen, müssen wir den Journalismus politisch schützen. Er ist für eine funktionierende Demokratie unerlässlich und damit ein öffentliches Gut - und die zu produzieren, darin sind Märkte wirklich schlecht!

Das vierte Kapitel ist ein schöner Abriss der Ungleichheiten, die trotz oder gerade wegen der vorherrschenden Freiheitsgedanken weiter bestehen bleiben bzw. durch die Architektur des Internets zusätzlich verstärkt werden. Neben den zunehmend auftretenden wirtschaftlichen Interessen (Kauf von Suchbegriffen zur Bestimmung der öffentlichen Diskussion nach Öldesaster), interessiert die Autorin vor allem eine ansteigende Ungleichbehandlung der Frauen sowie anderer Ethnien. Die Tech-Elite sei männlich, weiß und privilegiert, das sehe man auf jeder ihrer Konferenzen. Zu allem Überfluss geraten diese Unterschiede in den Strudel der mächtigen Feedback-Schleifen, die Ungleichheit bis ins Extrem zu steigern suchen. So opfern wir die Vielfalt, können uns aber gar nicht dagegen wehren, denn das System wird uns aufgezwungen, ob wir es wollen oder nicht. Die Lösung sei die Vielfalt ab jetzt direkt in den Code zu schreiben, denn kulturelle Gleichheit gebühre die gleiche Stellung wie politische, soziale und ökonomischer Gerechtigkeit.

Im fünften Kapitel wird das Urheberrecht aus Sicht der Autorin - einer Dokumentarfilmerin - dargestellt und ist eines der stärksten Punkte in diesem Buch. Ideen sollen ja frei sein, da stimmen die meisten Kulturschaffenden ja zu. Ideen gehören schließlich der Welt, ganz im Sinne der Aufklärung, die Kunst und Kultur einen wichtigen Stellenwert in unserer Gesellschaft zugestanden hat. Doch um genau dieser Aufgabe nachzukommen und möglichst bleibende Kunst zu produzieren, braucht es ein Ökosystem, indem die Künstler auf eine Gegenleistung für ihre Mühen hoffen können. Außerdem brauchen sie die Möglichkeit auch nein zu sagen, wenn ihn der Kontext, indem ihr Werk benutzt wird einfach nicht gefällt. Dennoch drängt eine populäre Bewegung für die Aufhebung der Autorenrechte, unterstützt von den großen Unternehmen, die davon am meisten profitieren. Denn heute geht es nicht mehr um die Mittel zur Produktion - die sind frei und für (fast) jedermann erhältlich. Stattdessen hortet man die Mittel zur Distribution, der Verteilung, das Netzwerk, und animiert die Menschen, soviel wie möglich zu teilen, ohne Rücksicht auf den Kulturbetrieb.

Das sechste Kapitel räumt auf mit den oft angepriesenen ökologischen Vorteilen der digitalen Ökonomie. So sind e-Reader längst nicht so umweltfreundlich, wie ihnen oft nachgesagt wird; ihr Vorteil gegenüber gedruckten Büchern bestenfalls fragwürdig. Nichts ist frei, auch wenn es anfänglich den Anschein hat. Das merken auch die Unternehmen, die immer stärker auf Werbefinanzierung setzen müssen. Das jedoch mit dramatischen Auswirkungen auf unsere Gesellschaft sowie auf die menschliche Psyche. Denn die Werbung kommerzialisiert nicht mehr nur Produkte des alltäglichen Lebens, sondern inzwischen auch uns selbst. Wir alle werden zum Produkt, unsere eigene Marke, und damit aber auch allein verantwortlich, wenn uns niemand kauft. Dennoch können wir uns dem nicht entziehen; wir sind gezwungen uns zu „positionieren“, eine Identität zu „kreieren“, wohl wissend, dass wir dadurch einen großen Teil von uns selbst zurücklassen. Doch das freie Internet verlangt unsere Daten, das ist sein Geschäft. Wie von Geisterhand gesteuert produziert es unwiderstehliche Inhalte, auf die wir rasch klicken sollen, um uns vor den Werbemaschinen zu entblößen, nur um uns im selben Augenblick gleich zur nächsten Attraktion zu führen, sodass wir gar nicht lange verweilen mögen.

Man muss mit der Analyse der Autorin nicht in allen Punkten übereinstimmen, um es trotzdem für ein gelungenes Buch zu halten. So könnte man beklagen, dass hier und da die Nachfrageentwicklung etwas vernachlässigt wird. Wenn niemand mehr für Lau Kunst produziert und sie daher knapp wird, sind die Leute dann nicht bereit wieder etwas für Kunst zu bezahlen (z.B. auf eigens dafür eingerichteten Plattformen)? Und wer lässt sich bitte als Freelancer oder Amateur „missbrauchen“, wenn er durch seine bezahlte Arbeit schon nichts mehr genug verdient? Auch wird ärgerlicherweise übersehen, dass liberalisierte Märkte zwar zur Konzentration neigen und nur einen Sieger hervorzubringen scheinen, gleichzeitig jedoch, sich der Markt unglaublich fragmentiert, sodass weiterhin genügend Plätze vorhanden sind. In einer vernetzten Welt vielleicht sogar mehr als zuvor, denn die Leute sind ja heute ständig auf der Suche nach etwas Neuem. Als Resultat erscheint das Buch ein bisschen pessimistischer als es sein müsste, was die Richtigkeit vieler Aussagen aber nicht untergräbt. Daher wiederhole ich meine Empfehlung

Nach der Lektüre dieses Buches, muss sich der Autor dieser Rezension aber überlegen, ob er mit seiner Bewertung, die eigentlich zur Unterstützung des Werkes gedacht ist, nicht stattdessen genau den Unternehmen Hilfe leistet, die dieses Schaffen in Zukunft unmöglich machen. Aus Sicht der Autorin wäre diese Frage sicherlich leicht zu beantworten, schließlich möchte sie - so nehme ich an - Bücher verkaufen. Und damit haben wir auch schon das Dilemma: wir müssen, was wir nicht wollen, und bekommen, was wir nicht wollen sollten.

4 people found this helpful

Translate review to English

Dave Jackson

lA provocative read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 25, 2014

Verified Purchase

Astra Taylor looks at arguments around the internet from all sides then takes one of them
Convinced me. Excellent read .

Buy for others

Buying and sending eBooks to others

Follow the author

Image Unavailable

The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age Kindle Edition

Customers who bought this item also bought

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Review

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Astra Taylor

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries