The argument should not be over whether a particular hybrid device is generative — although it’s helpful to have the case raised — but over the future of the Internet.

David Weinberger comes to the rescue -- again -- in critiquing Stephen Johnson's re-imagining of "generativity," to include Apple's closed app system.

No matter how great a new computer is, as long as you're still you, the experience doesn't change. It's fun to play with new toys, I do lots of that and it's important to me. No sarcasm. But reading a book that changes my perspective, or meeting someone who opens a door for me, that really does change the game -- much more than using a new device. If you're looking for game-changers look into yourself, that's where change comes from. 

THESE NEW BOOKS share a concern with how digital media are reshaping our political and social landscape, molding art and entertainment, even affecting the methodology of scholarship and research. They examine the consequences of the fragmentation of data that the Web produces, as news articles, novels and record albums are broken down into bits and bytes; the growing emphasis on immediacy and real-time responses; the rising tide of data and information that permeates our lives; and the emphasis that blogging and partisan political Web sites place on subjectivity.

Michiko Kakutani's review of books taking a critical look at Internet culture is good - but it showers way too much respect to Andrew Keen's "Cult of the Amateur."

Rahm Emanuel And David Axelrod Have Become The Sum Of All Media Crapulence

This piece by the HuffPo's Jason Linkins perfectly skewers a political press which, frankly, has been asking for it for a long time.

I too have become frustrated with the way the Times, the Post and others have been obsessing over how Obama cronies like David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel are portrayed in the media, how they are using the media, how they are failed by the media, disappointed in the media, etc., etc.

Coverage of the administration has become coverage of how insiders are handling the media. Writes Linkin:

Rahm Emanuel! Suddenly, he is Ground Zero for so much media crapulence. Suddenly, he is the protagonist of the most fevered "who's up/who's down" narratives. Slowly, and then all at once, the media has become filled with the tales of Rahm's agonies and ecstasies. Good lord, even Eric Massa is cashing in on the zeitgeist, casting Emanuel as a bit player in his ongoing operatic nonsense. And the best part is that he gets the nude scene! This raises many questions, not the least of which is: does Rahm perceive his ability to persuade to be related to his nudity?

It's all down to perception of coverage and coverage of perception. What about the HCR bill? The actual people in America who need jobs?

Again, Linkins says it best:

And, uhm, David Axelrod? What is going on with him? The New York Times says that nobody "has taken the perceived failings of the administration more personally or shown the strain as plainly as" him. Meanwhile, millions of Americans are out of work. They'll let David Axelrod know when they have the time to tend to the hard strain of soft perception.

Read the rest here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/09/rahm-emanuel-and-david-ax_n_492358.html