Participating in transparency?
Posted April 17th, 2007 by admin
As information becomes more easily accessible on the web, the public and media are putting more pressure on companies like Microsoft and Google to be more transparent. However, true transparency can only happen when both sides communicate fully, meaning that the audience must be transparent too.
First it was Justin.TV and now Robert Scoble is broadcasting live while he is at the Web 2.0 conference. Robert admits that being “on” all the time is exhausting. and both Justin and Robert have turned off the cameras at times, to the disappointment of their audiences. Justin turned his camera off right before he got intimate with a girl on a date. Viewers complain that they are not getting the full transparency promised. But transparency is a two-way street–the public cannot expect to get to see and know everything, without investing or participating fully themselves.
Sure there are tons of people watching and they message the live broadcasts, but how much of themselves are they revealing? Not as much as Justin and Robert. Yes, the public demands transparency, but shouldn’t we have to participate fully and be totally transparent ourselves before we demand others to do so?
