

Gotcha politics gone wild - DanielBMarkham
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/07/05/zelizer.gotcha.moments/index.html

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DanielBMarkham
This is not a piece on politics -- ie, it doesn't take a position on some
political issue or advocate a political cause. Instead it is about technology,
news, and opinion.

There's an interesting angle I think the author misses: with thousands of
sources all talking at once, the _cognitive_ load on the individual has
increased at least ten-fold from previous paradigms. Probably most of what we
see in "clanning" and echo-chamber forums is simply an effort to reduce the
cognitive load.

If, instead of building something people want, we build something that helps
them think/sort, there could be some continuing opportunities for startups
here. (Note that helping me think isn't showing me what a bunch of other bozos
like today -- it's filtering what's important for me to consume given my
knowledge-base and world-view. There is a difference. It's also not simply
providing me with me-too news articles. Ideally it would challenge the
consumer and help them grow.)

