Written by Juan Devis

Message boards, forums, blogs, social sites such as flickr and del.icio.us, to name just a few, have allowed users from all over the world to customize and exchange information in unprecedented ways. These sites allow the user to rate and filter data, giving them the power to control what they consume, and in the process, the tools of becoming producers. The middlemen, our media giants, take the back seat, as they watch on-line communities around the globe, defining the terms and the content of their exchange. This is a revolutionary and noble idea, but certainly not a new one.