Archive - Jul 9, 2007

Date

Underperformers

Posted July 9, 2007 - 7:25am by Michael Dunaway

With several former (including myself) and current teachers floating around this space, I'd be interested to hear reactions to this paragraph from Mickey Kaus' blog:

Is "merit pay" for good teachers nearly as important as making it easier to get rid of mediocre teachers? (You want to get hissed, tell that to the NEA.) In the successful organizations I've worked for, the positive incentives (in the form of unequal pay) weren't nearly as powerful as disincentives (in the form of fear that you might get fired if you didn't do your part). For one thing, negative incentives are highly compatible with teamwork. They get the whole organization going, including people who'll never be hot enough to get performance bonuses. They don't breed envy and backstabbing.

Web 2.0 vs. The Mainstream Media: Why Andrew Keen is Wrong

Posted July 9, 2007 - 3:04am by Will Hinton

Last week a friend of mine sent me a link to this New York Times review of Andrew Keen's new book "The Cult of the Amateur". Keen is often referred to as the leading contrarian and critic of Web 2.0. and ironically has his own Typepad hosted blog to discuss his disdain for blogs, social media, etc. (I wrestled with linking to his blog or not.)

This from the NYT review:

"Mr. Keen argues that what the Web 2.0 revolution is really delivering is superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment. In his view Web 2.0 is changing the cultural landscape and not for the better. By undermining mainstream media and intellectual property rights, he says, it is creating a world in which we will live to see the bulk of our music coming from amateur garage bands, our movies and television from glorified YouTubes, and our news made up of hyperactive celebrity gossip, served up as mere dressing for advertising. This is what happens, he suggests, when ignorance meets egoism meets bad taste meets mob rule.

I couldn't disagree more with Keen. Not because I blog. But because Keen is wrong.