The Economist has a terrific article by Andreas Kluth on the rise of “user-generated content” (which I prefer to think of as “us-generated”) that quotes Jerry Michalski on “media mogul” Barry Diller’s attitude:

“What an ignoramus!” says Jerry Michalski, with some exasperation. He advises companies on the uses of new media tools. “Look around and there’s tons of great stuff from rank amateurs,” he says. “Diller is assuming that there’s a finite amount of talent and that he can corner it. He’s completely wrong.” Not everything in the “blogosphere” is poetry, not every audio “podcast” is a symphony, not every video “vlog” would do well at Sundance, and not every entry on Wikipedia, the free and collaborative online encyclopedia, is 100% correct, concedes Mr Michalski. But exactly the same could be said about newspapers, radio, television and the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Testify, Jerry!

(I hesitate to link to the article because it quotes me, too, so linking feels like boasting. But I’d decided to blog Jerry’s quote before I did a double-take when I saw my name there, too. Sorry.) [Tags: user-generated_content jerry_michalski economist digital_culture barry_diller]

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