When Shirky introduces the Praise of Scribes subchapter on page 66, I think he is relating this to the Internet in modern times. He talks about how the invention of movable type did away with the “professional scribe” and made reading and writing more accessible to people all over the world. I think this directly correlates with the Internet and how the Internet plays a role in today’s society. I think Shirky is trying to show his point that throughout time inventions have done away with certain things and made things more accessible to a wider population of people.
The whole chapter discusses the popularization of web blogs and how this has done away with who can be called a professional. I think Shirky is making the modern point that journalists no matter who or where they are, are the modern generations version of scribes and it is the duty of theses people to report new information. As shown with the Trent Lott story when major news corporations passes up running his story many bloggers took what he said and went viral with it. The bloggers were able to keep the story alive and show people what he said, and in the end the major news corporations picked up on the story when Lott issued an apology.
I think Shirky is making the simple comparison that the modern scribe today is a journalist and it is their duty to report information.
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