Sampling "The New" in New Literacies... but who really knows?

The article Sampling "The New" in New Literacies brings up some interesting points about how the web is changing into something Lankshear and Knobel see as being ultimately post industrial, collectivist, and decentralized. These ideas are very nice and resonate will all of us on a special kind of level, because they make the internet appear like some perfect e-world where the principles of democracy and decentralized power, which our nation was supposedly founded on, come true on the net with all the perfection of communism on paper.

I think Lankshear and Knobel are jumping the gun on this for a lot of reasons. Though the net may have started as an equal playing field, it clearly is not one. Conventional ideas about specialized knowledge and accredited sources have become, and very much are, an integral part of the online community.

Instead of trying to systematically prove my point by making boring deductions, I'll just pose a few questions.

The article implies that websites like Wikipedia are replacing ones that specialize in one area. But what would Wikipedia be without the citations of e-journals and other accredited websites? If anything, sites like Wiki make it easier for specialized websites to operate by lightening their own bandwith load and, in turn, since those specialized sites don't get as much traffic, they don't cost as much to operate.

Also, this idea that the internet is a "free zone" is one that will likely change. Net neutrality is already an issue in many countries, including our own, and a free internet simply doesn't exist is others. What is stopping this article from considering that the "free zone" of the internet is likely something that the network providers may soon (for lack of a better term) "colonize"?

Finally, despite the fact that the internet my have initially been a place where anyone can be an expert until someone else decides innovate on the original idea, the "real world" experts soon become wise and make their way to the net. What is a more credible news site, for instance- this blog or NYTIMES.COM? If you were discussing a current event with someone- even someone online- which would you use as a reference? Probably not my blog.

It's near impossible for anyone to understand the phenomena that they are currently experiencing. Lankshear and Knobel make a noble attempt, but ultimately an arrogant and optimistic one that probably has more to do with their political ideas than the all too out of reach "true understanding". Still, they offer some food for thought, and that alone makes their work worth, at the very least, discussing.