The argument should not be over whether a particular hybrid device is generative — although it’s helpful to have the case raised — but over the future of the Internet.

David Weinberger comes to the rescue — again — in critiquing Stephen Johnson’s re-imagining of “generativity,” to include Apple’s closed app system.

No matter how great a new computer is, as long as you’re still you, the experience doesn’t change. It’s fun to play with new toys, I do lots of that and it’s important to me. No sarcasm. But reading a book that changes my perspective, or meeting someone who opens a door for me, that really does change the game — much more than using a new device. If you’re looking for game-changers look into yourself, that’s where change comes from. 

THESE NEW BOOKS share a concern with how digital media are reshaping our political and social landscape, molding art and entertainment, even affecting the methodology of scholarship and research. They examine the consequences of the fragmentation of data that the Web produces, as news articles, novels and record albums are broken down into bits and bytes; the growing emphasis on immediacy and real-time responses; the rising tide of data and information that permeates our lives; and the emphasis that blogging and partisan political Web sites place on subjectivity.

Michiko Kakutani’s review of books taking a critical look at Internet culture is good – but it showers way too much respect to Andrew Keen’s “Cult of the Amateur.”