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[ox-en] The Wealth of Networks



Benkler at the occassion of his book launch said that he deliberately framed his
book in liberal terms, which I took to mean "leftist" indeed. The current state
of the tech economy is linked to the web-based sociomedia because they engage
the online many. The commons-based production that Benkler refers to is a huge
factor for the economy of the post-dot bomb era. What corporate 'futureneer'
O'Reilly calls Web 2.0 is not a fad. It's a novel architecture of participation
that pervades the WWW and that has to be reckoned with.

Now, that most media critics think in the service of business: Where are those
who dedicate themselves to sustainable alternative models? I know, this is a
provocative claim (especially on this list) that would need some backup, but
perhaps that goes beyond the scope of my brief response. Is the attempt
for autonomy or alternative economic models done with and all endeavors are
merely hybrid? Will the few autonomous places all turn corporate anyway- online
and off? Youtube, Writely, Del.icio.us, large chunks of the blogosophere, you
name it... They all got sucked up by vulture capitalists. So, perhaps it's time
to give up the purity thinking of autonomous zones and just acknowledge that it
all goes corporate, if only partially, anyway? If we accept that, then it's no
wonder that insightful media critics of our time commit themselves to what we
could call "oak panel theory," assisting the ebays and Googles of this world in
making more money by understanding that they can only do so in the cracks of a
commons that is increasingly reliant on peer production.

Trebor

<http://collectivate.net/journalisms/2006/4/14/yochai-benklers-the-wealth-of-networks.html>



I'm unclear as to whether you're using liberal in the US sense of
'leftish'or the european sense of 'free market'. Could you clarify?

If you read the book it'll quickly become clear that the argument is not
designed to appeal to CEOs. On the other hand it does contain
documentation of those cases where businesses are making money whilst
operating outside of standard property regimes. As everyone here is
aware this simply a matter of fact, but it is also the case that by
rendering explicit the context in which they unfold, the argument
identifies the conflicting interests of different sectors: service v
commodity, hardware v software etc. Obviously this is useful as it
undermines what was once mainstream IP consensus: 'more intellectual
property means more wealth creation and is always a good thing'.

cheers,

a.


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