Andrew Keen

Andrew Keen (born circa 1960Saracevic, Alan T. (October 15, 2006). [http://www.sfgate.com/c/a/2006/10/15/BUG4KLP3CL1.DTL Debate 2.0 / Weighing the merits of the new Webocracy.] "San Francisco Chronicle" (“Age: 46”)] ) is a British-American entrepreneur, author, and self-proclaimed "leading contemporary critic of the Internet." [cite web |url=http://ajkeen.com/tcota/about_andrew_keen.htm |title=About Andrew Keen |last=Keen |first=Andrew |quote=Andrew is indeed the leading contemporary critic of the Internet.]

Education

Keen was born in Hampstead, North London [Keen, Andrew [http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/jZY7rQUoclR86HK6YJgIEj8qyD0sxl4a presentation at Mahalo.com] 2007-03-27] . He earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of London and then studied at the University of Sarajevo. He has earned a master's degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, studying under Ken Jowitt.

Education career

Keen has taught at Tufts University, Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts. [Cite interview | last = Keen | first = Andrew | title = Amateur Internet | accessdate = 2008-03-23 | date = 2007-06-07 | url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070606.wgtkeenchat0606/BNStory/Technology/home ]

Internet career

Keen's Silicon Valley career began in 1995, with the founding of audiocafe.com, [ [http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/the_great_seduction/bio.html Andrew Keen bio] ] which received funding from Intel and SAP. The firm folded in January 2000.cite web
url=http://www.netmag.co.uk/zine/discover-interview/andrew-keen
title=Andrew Keen - .net magazine
accessdate=2008-01-03] After the demise of audiocafe.com, Keen worked at Pulse 3D, SLO Media, Santa Cruz Networks, Jazziz Digital, Pure Depth and AfterTV, which he founded in 2005. [ [http://www.aftertv.com/about.php About AfterTV] ]

Criticism of Web 2.0 and Wikipedia

Keen currently writes about media on his site thegreatseduction.com, which redirects to his blog. Keen also produces a podcast on AfterTV. His book "The Cult of the Amateur," which is highly critical of free, user-based information-gathering Web sites such as Wikipedia, was published on June 5, 2007, by Doubleday Currency.Keen, Andrew (2007). "The Cult of the Amateur: How the Democratization of the Digital World is Assaulting Our Economy, Our Culture, and Our Values." Doubleday Currency, ISBN 978-0385520805] Praising Citizendium, a new project launched by Larry Sanger in 2006, he writes that the inclusion of editors with real names would be an improvement over user-generated content typical to Web 2.0.Fact|date=March 2008

On August 16, 2007, Keen appeared on "The Colbert Report" to talk about the book. When called an elitist, he replied, "What's wrong with that?". When asked by Colbert if the internet was worse than the Nazis, Keen's response was that "even the Nazis didn't put artists out of work." [cite web| url=http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?videoId=91639 | title=The Colbert Report, Andrew Keen | date=2007-08-16 | author=Stephen Colbert | accessdate=2008-04-16 | publisher=Comedy Central]

In "The Weekly Standard", Keen wrote that Web 2.0 is a "grand utopian movement" similar to "communist society" as described by Karl Marx. He stated it "worships the creative amateur: the self-taught filmmaker, the dorm-room musician, the unpublished writer. It suggests that everyone — even the most poorly educated and inarticulate amongst us — can and should use digital media to express and realize themselves. Web 2.0 'empowers' our creativity, it 'democratizes' media, it 'levels the playing field' between experts and amateurs. The enemy of Web 2.0 is 'elitist' traditional media." He describes Free Culture proponent Lawrence Lessig as an "intellectual property communist",Keen, Andrew (May 16, 2006). [http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/714fjczq.asp Web 2.0; The second generation of the Internet has arrived. It's worse than you think.] "The Weekly Standard"] whom he "particularly detests".Cite paper | last = Keen | first = Andrew | coauthors = Paul Duguid, Geoff Nunberg | title = Is the Web a Threat to Our Culture? | location = University of California at Berkeley School of Information, Distinguished Lecture Series Debate | accessdate = 2008-03-20 | date = 2008-03-12 | url = http://groups.sims.berkeley.edu/podcast/?p=28 ]

Personal life

He currently lives in Berkeley, California, with his family.Balicki, Robert (February 21, 2007). [http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=23067 Blogging Berkeley] . "The Daily Californian"]

References

Further reading

* [http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/ Andrew Keen's blog]
* [http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/player.jhtml?ml_video=91639 Andrew Keen on Colbert Report] , August 16, 2007
* [http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/aftertv/ AfterTV podcast]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11131872 Audio of interview with Andrew Keen on NPR Weekend Edition, Saturday, June 16, 2007]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/19990508212043/www.audiocafe.com/audio/default.asp AudioCafe.com, circa 1998] via Internet Archive
* [http://www.goodwillhinton.com/good_will_hinton_weekly_podcast_andrew_keen June 17th, 2007 interview]
*cite news |first=Andrew |last=Keen |authorlink=|author=Andrew Keen|coauthors= |title= The Cult of the Amateur: Is the internet eroding knowledge, wisdom, expertise and culture? A dotcom apostate says yes |url=http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article2807091.ece |format= |work= |publisher=The Independent |id= |pages= |page=
date=29 July, 2007
accessdate=2007-08-09 |language= |quote=
* [http://www.jewcy.com/dialogue/2007-05-29/can_the_internet_be_saved Keen debates] "Can we save the internet?" with Kevin Kelly at Jewcy.com
* [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/take_two/2007/08/andrew_keen_v_emily_bell.html Keen debates] "Is today's internet killing our culture?" with [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/emily_bell/profile.html Emily Bell] at Guardian Unlimited August 10, 2007. (On [http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/the_great_seduction/2007/08/nailed-by-emily.html his blog] , Keen says he was "Walloped by Emily".)
* [http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article1874668.ece Sunday Times article on Cult of the Amateur]
* [http://www.identityblog.com/?p=853 Kim Cameron comments on Cult of the Amateur]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un5vTaUZvi4 TV Interview on The Gregory Mantell Show]
* [http://mediafarm.hosting.nob.nl/nob/picnic/bb.picnic_20070927_1.wmv Weinberger and Keen at PICNIC07 in Amsterdam] , (video file) Weinberger's presentation is followed by discussion with Andrew Keen, moderated by Walt Mossberg of the WSJ.
* [http://mediafarm.hosting.nob.nl/nob/picnic/bb.picnic_20070927_7.wmv Panel discussion with David Weinberger and Andrew Keen during PICNIC07] (video file) moderated by Monique van Dusseldorp, Programme Director PICNIC.