My Speculations on Web 2.0

The nature or power is certainly changing through the democratization of technology. After all, a change in governing structure implies a change in power; in this case, power to the people. Those who post blogs and organize or participate in "adhocracies" now have a larger share of the power over the media than before, and the nature of this new power is not to keep it to oneself, but to share it with everybody, since that is what a true democracy is.

And with this change in the nature of power over the media, there has also been a change in the nature of writing and knowledge; namely, they have become more diversified than ever. Anyone and everyone (with internet access) is able to contribute to the workings of the new media. Also, since there are no racial or sexual boundaries on the largely anonymous web, people can write about whatever they want to, in any way they want to, no matter who they are in their "real" life, a real life which is becoming more and more integrated with their web life. Because of this new-found fluidity in one's identity, people can be as bold as they want in their writing, and share whatever thoughts or feelings they want to with the world, all under the guise of a string of letters and numbers. For instance, people who would never speak out about their secrets in life do so every single day on the blog PostSecret.

In short, the democratization of technology has lead to a near absolute fluidity of power, knowledge, and writing amongst the people.