I guess until someone comes up with the perfect algorithm to give us the right piece of information when we need it (will that ever come?), we will rely on people like you as our coaches and filters. Interacting with trusted people rather than a machine is nicer anyway.

@Mark Wiseman
Yes indeed filter will be key but unfortunately there are not yet strong enough to ease the information overload.

@Wendell Dryden
Glad you like the post and I really like your metaphor. Would be very interesting to hear your experiences from your community work.

The “Many Voices” concern… I have an image of two people trying to talk above the roar of a river that separates them. To talk across or against the stream can seem nearly impossible. Though, surely, it is more possible now than it ever has been in the past 40 years(?).

The thing I was wondering about is if the web won’t render the divide more global on a regional level. What if more and more people get into social media on a global scale? The chances are that the digital divide will be global in a vertical sense. I mean that all over the world the gap will be found based on economical, literacy … factors. I agree that that is the case now within the already digital developed countries, but once countries in development will have taken their place in the digital spectrum, I still believe the digital gap will remain as you say.
Won’t that fact create a new kind of feudal cast system but on a global scale?

If you take into account all the qualities you must have as an individual to stay on top (or nearby) of new technological developments and the fact that a percentage of people will never be able to grasp all these qualities, you could project the future as a divide as well. I am afraid that these new technologies again exclude people as you say in your post.

The ever increasing speed, in which things are developed, taken in, pushed aside… also incorporate dangers on a research level. What if technological developments overpower the research they should get to enable to see whether something is sound or not? What happens if the impact of developments completely overshadows the research into these impacts?

And indeed, if there are too many voices, the individual sounds might no longer be heard although they might count. If we all learn to talk on our own (blogs), will we still be able to listen? Won’t we get the (increasing) idea that our own opinion is the best argumented one and the others should revere our opinion as such?

As for the political or other engagement: I think there is only a limited amount of people that want to engage in a political debate or that want to change the world for the better with content input. And (unfortunately) only the people who are connected to a certain topic will be interested in it. As long as something does not affect us, chances are big that we will not be bothered.