Is gatekeeping good for culture?

For our latest FORUM, we discussed if there should be boundaries on who gets to shape culture and whether gatekeeping is a barrier to genuine diversity and creativity with some amazing panelists:

• Ruby Justice Thelot - Professor of Design and Media Theory, NYU
• Marissa Daisy Firke - Dirt Media
• Charlie Robin Jones - Editor + Strategist

In an age where the internet has unlocked access to almost everything, the role of gatekeeping is in the spotlight. Traditionally, gatekeeping has meant controlling or limiting access to something valuable — whether that's information, resources or cultural spaces. Once viewed as essential for preserving standards, guiding taste and cultivating expertise, gatekeeping also raises complex questions about accessibility, inclusivity and power.  Our discussion will question what we stand to gain — and lose — by closing the gates, exploring themes like:

• The evolution of gatekeeping — from its rise to prominence as the filling in the neoliberal-feminist sandwich “gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss”, to a term that is used pervasively online
• The democratisation of taste online and the impact of AI algorithms on culture
• The relationship between gatekeeping, recommendation culture, brands and consumption

We’ll be asking questions like:

• Does fewer gatekeepers mean more inclusion, or just more power in fewer hands?
• In a world without gatekeepers, who decides what is worth preserving?
• When does curation cross the line into exclusion?
• Gatekeeping: fostering communities or echo chambers?

And in the spirit of sharing and opening the gates, here’s a short reading/resource list to get things started:

• Panellist Ruby Justice Thelot praises gatekeeping: https://taste101.substack.com/p/in-praise-of-gatekeeping
• Panellist Daisy Alioto on The Taste Economy: https://dirt.fyi/article/2023/03/the-taste-economy
• Panellist Charlie Robin Jones on culture as a public good: https://flash---art.com/article/miuccia-prada-and-raf-simons/
• The Cut on what gatekeeping even means: https://www.thecut.com/2023/07/what-does-gatekeeping-mean.html
• Dazed defends gatekeeping: https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/63042/1/in-defence-of-gatekeeping
• OKCOOL on why gatekeeping information is boomer-coded: https://okcool.io/wp-content/uploads/Gatekeeping-Information-is-SO-Boomer-Coded.pdf
• One Thing on whether there’s anything good about gatekeeping: https://onethingnewsletter.substack.com/p/is-anything-good-about-gatekeeping
• Amperty on brands needing to adapt in the era of AI gatekeepers: https://amperity.com/blog/adapting-to-ai-gatekeepers
• Matt Klein cautions us to beware of curators: https://zine.kleinkleinklein.com/p/beware-the-curators
• Eugene Healey on the failure of algorithms and the return of gatekeepers: https://www.instagram.com/eugbrandstrat/reel/C_J9tcASfxR/?locale=zh-hans&hl=af