I want to start off with a paean to Amazon.com and its services. The prices are competitive or superior to other places. Payment over the Internet is secure. The variety of books, music, videos and gadgets I amazing and ever-expanding. And it is a great way to research a picky topic, especially if you are looking for personal knowledge as well as some kind of technical written narrative.
Let me explain this odd statement about Amazon helping to perform research – it doesn’t appear on the face of it to make sense.
The key to Amazon research is knowing how to read the reviews. There is a rhetorical specialty out there in academia called logical argumentation. There are certain characteristics of a logical argument. It doesn’t attack based on personalities. It doesn’t state theories as facts. There are a lot of references to subject matter experts. The premises and inferences are sound and proceed in a comprehensible, logical manner.
When I look up music CD or video DVD or book on Amazon, I first scan the reviews to see if there are some that proceed along the lines of a logical argument. Then I carefully read and compare the logical reviews. This accomplishes two things. I’ve weeded out the whiny, petty or resentful reviews. And I’ve made contact with thinkers who care enough about the item to write sensibly about it, which carries the bonus that there is no ideological nor academic gloss, meme, or bias associated with the review writing. These are reviewers who know how to think clearly, but who are not babbling to get a good grade from a professor with biases.
If you pick up this knack of sorting reviews for logical consistency, then before making a purchase you have a group of written arguments before you to assist you with your decision. How about that!
There is a great bonus to shopping these reviews for logical argumentation. Such good quality reviews tend to have outside references – other music CDs, other movies or other books tend to be mentioned. And these high quality, outside references are a gold mine of other avenues worth researching. It’s easy to take notes of the reviews and continue to surf the net for more, higher-level questions about an area that interests you. Try getting service at that level from the local hippie bookstore!
So I would say that, overall, Amazon represents a modern, high-tech, electronic example of positive quiddity. Although there are some shortcomings: Amazon recently asked its customers to act as spies and check out prices at the bricks-and-mortar stores. Amazon ruthlessly seeks to evade paying state and local sales taxes. And Amazon has been accused, in a New York Times editorial by Richard Russo, of heartlessly pressuring and killing off the local independent bookstores, thus stabbing at the heart of local culture.
Slate magazine, in an article written by Farhad Manjoo, considers Russo’s argument and rejects the contention that Amazon seeks to destroy or homogenize the culture of a community. In a style and with literacy far exceeding the typical, sanctimonious, effete preening toward an NPR-style audience, Manjoo makes a fiercely clever and memorable argument on behalf of Amazon. This timely piece is available at:
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/12/independent_bookstores_vs_amazon_buying_books_online_is_better_for_authors_better_for_the_economy_and_better_for_you_.html
Let me explain this odd statement about Amazon helping to perform research – it doesn’t appear on the face of it to make sense.
The key to Amazon research is knowing how to read the reviews. There is a rhetorical specialty out there in academia called logical argumentation. There are certain characteristics of a logical argument. It doesn’t attack based on personalities. It doesn’t state theories as facts. There are a lot of references to subject matter experts. The premises and inferences are sound and proceed in a comprehensible, logical manner.
When I look up music CD or video DVD or book on Amazon, I first scan the reviews to see if there are some that proceed along the lines of a logical argument. Then I carefully read and compare the logical reviews. This accomplishes two things. I’ve weeded out the whiny, petty or resentful reviews. And I’ve made contact with thinkers who care enough about the item to write sensibly about it, which carries the bonus that there is no ideological nor academic gloss, meme, or bias associated with the review writing. These are reviewers who know how to think clearly, but who are not babbling to get a good grade from a professor with biases.
If you pick up this knack of sorting reviews for logical consistency, then before making a purchase you have a group of written arguments before you to assist you with your decision. How about that!
There is a great bonus to shopping these reviews for logical argumentation. Such good quality reviews tend to have outside references – other music CDs, other movies or other books tend to be mentioned. And these high quality, outside references are a gold mine of other avenues worth researching. It’s easy to take notes of the reviews and continue to surf the net for more, higher-level questions about an area that interests you. Try getting service at that level from the local hippie bookstore!
So I would say that, overall, Amazon represents a modern, high-tech, electronic example of positive quiddity. Although there are some shortcomings: Amazon recently asked its customers to act as spies and check out prices at the bricks-and-mortar stores. Amazon ruthlessly seeks to evade paying state and local sales taxes. And Amazon has been accused, in a New York Times editorial by Richard Russo, of heartlessly pressuring and killing off the local independent bookstores, thus stabbing at the heart of local culture.
Slate magazine, in an article written by Farhad Manjoo, considers Russo’s argument and rejects the contention that Amazon seeks to destroy or homogenize the culture of a community. In a style and with literacy far exceeding the typical, sanctimonious, effete preening toward an NPR-style audience, Manjoo makes a fiercely clever and memorable argument on behalf of Amazon. This timely piece is available at:
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/12/independent_bookstores_vs_amazon_buying_books_online_is_better_for_authors_better_for_the_economy_and_better_for_you_.html
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