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amazon reviewer no. 7 and the ambiguities of web 2.0 
01.29.2008, 3:21 AM
posted by ben vershbow
Slate takes a look at Grady Harp, Amazon's no. 7-ranked book reviewer, and finds the amateur-driven literary culture there to be a much grayer area than expected:
Absent the institutional standards that govern (however notionally) professional journalists, Web 2.0 stakes its credibility on the transparency of users' motives and their freedom from top-down interference. Amazon, for example, describes its Top Reviewers as "clear-eyed critics [who] provide their fellow shoppers with helpful, honest, tell-it-like-it-is product information." But beneath the just-us-folks rhetoric lurks an unresolved tension between transparency and opacity; in this respect, Amazon exemplifies the ambiguities of Web 2.0. The Top 10 List promises interactivity—"How do I become a Top Reviewer?"—yet Amazon guards its rankings algorithms closely.... As in any numbers game (tax returns, elections) opacity abets manipulation.
Posted by ben vershbow on January 29, 2008 03:21 AM
tags: Web2.0, amazon, books, collaborativefiltering, criticism, reading
