Five myths about the future of culture and the commons

Five myths about the future of culture and the commons

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  Nordic Cultural CommonsConference Stockholm 2008 10 22 Five myths about the future of culture and the commons Mike Linksvayer Creative Commons
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  Myths? Most “Xmyths about Y” screeds annoy... Conventional wisdom doesn’t believe the myths already (so the screed, sometimes sold as a heresy, isn’t) Claims embedded in demolishing the “myths” are themselves mythic Hopefully I will exceed these low expectations, but maintain skepticism
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  Original photo byBrooke Novak · Licensed under CC BY · http://flickr.com/photos/brookenovak/337889974/ I AM NOT A
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  0: Piracy helpsthe commons
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  Image by Mllerustad· Licensed under CC BY · http://flickr.com/photos/mllerustad/250807530/
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  Photo by RocketRaccoon· Licensed under CC BY · http://flickr.com/photos/rocketraccoon/227241974/
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  However, piracy isa dead end 2/3 (probably much higher) of content industry is unaffected Promotes established content industry and cultural hegemony Does not cultivate any alternative The web far more interesting for culture and copyright
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  1: We needto figure out how to pay creators
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  Incentives matter Doesnot mean greater incentive always better Cultural abundance and overload exists Better filters make the good problem to have worse If creators need to sell [out], a job for entrepreneurs, let them be creative
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  2: The commandingheights of culture are out of reach of the commons
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  King Kong isDead Hollywood suffers from cost disease; US$200m not a relevant barrier See Star Wreck The product does not have to remain the same See Wikipedia How can the commons not just replicate existing cultural products, but make them entirely different and better?
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  3: The realaction is in politics; building a voluntary commons is a sideshow
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  “The gate thathas held the movements for equalization of human beings strictly in a dilemma between ineffectiveness and violence has now been opened. The reason is that we have shifted to a zero marginal cost world. As steel is replaced by software, more and more of the value in society becomes non-rivalrous: it can be held by many without costing anybody more than if it is held by a few.” Eben Moglen
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  Building the commonsis key Politicians (as people) are unimaginative ... they need to see solutions, or react in fear A dominant commons makes many closed net scenarios much less likely
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  4: The culturalconsumption habits of commons advocates doesn’t matter
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  Credibility The mostcredible way to promote free software is to become an expert user of it ... when others are ready to use, you can help The most credible way to promote free culture is to experience it ... when others need content, you can recommend
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  Therefore and henceforthTransition quickly from piracy to building creative communities See the revolutionary nature of building voluntary commons Eat your own dog food
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  “If we don’twant to live in a jungle, we must change our attitudes. We must start sending the message that a good citizen is one who cooperates when appropriate, not one who is successful at taking from others.” Richard Stallman
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  License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ AttributionAuthor: Mike Linksvayer Link: http://creativecommons.org Questions? [email_address] Original photo by swanksalot · Licensed under CC BY-SA · http://flickr.com/photos/swanksalot/2800398623/