Cereal Box News

Photo by: The Consumerist

After my initial reading of The Line Between Clarity and Chaos, I have to admit that I agree with Barry Shwartz and his opinions in terms of the excessive number of choices we are now offered, particularly when pertaining to the internet (his book explains these theories in detail).

As a participant in a citizen journalism class, I almost feel obligated to side with Chris Anderson and the likes, by following the idea that the internet and the ability each individual now has to publish and voice their own opinions without editorial limits is pure genius.

Today, anyone with access to an internet connection can partake in news-making, and voice their opinions, on anything!

This is revolutionary. Yet I can't help but agree with Shwartz's claim: When is too much choice, too much?

Not so long ago, when we turned on our televisions, we had very basic choices. It was essentially News Channel 1 or News Channel 2 (think Shwartz's cereal box example). Now, there are thousands of websites that are reporting and documenting an infinite number of events all over the globe every hour of every day.

It seems as though there is no middle ground in all of this. It's all, or nothing. On one hand we had barely any choice at all, and on the other there is too much (I searched "news websites" and recieved 24, 600, 000 results, and I bet thats not even half of it!). So how do you decide which one should be your primary source of information?

This is exactly what Shwartz touches on in this interview. Sadly, he mentions that the majority of people will probably seek to legitimize their news source choices by simply affiliating them with a trusted brand. Thus, we fall right back into the same hole, of not really having any choice at all.

I see all of this as completely dizzying. It makes me want to go right back to my regular old black and white newspaper and be done with it!

However, when I log onto my computer in the morning and look at the array of RSS feeds I have subscribed to, I realize that the solution really isn't just that simple. I am addicted to the choice, and so is everyone else.

Readers need choice, consumers need choice, everyone needs choice. It is just the methods by which we find these choices that needs to be perfected.

So, Google either better let us in on their algorithms, or someone ought to come up with a transparent, unbias filter, soon.

At least before my RSS feed crashes my computer.