Nordic Cultural Commons ConferenceStockholm20081022
Five myths aboutthe future of cultureand the commons
MikeLinksvayerCreativeCommons
Myths?
Most X myths about Y screeds annoy...
Conventional wisdom doesnt believe the myths already (so the
screed, sometimes sold as a heresy, isnt)
Claims embedded in demolishing the myths are themselves
mythic
Hopefully I will exceed these low expectations, but maintain
skepticism
Original photo by Brooke Novak Licensed under CC BY
http://flickr.com/photos/brookenovak/337889974/
I AM NOT A
0: Piracy helps the commons
Image by Mllerustad Licensed under CC BY
http://flickr.com/photos/mllerustad/250807530/
Photo by RocketRaccoon Licensed under CC BY
http://flickr.com/photos/rocketraccoon/227241974/
However, piracy is a 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
1: We need to figure out how to pay creators
Incentives matter
Does not 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
2: The commanding heights of culture are out of reach of the
commons
King Kong is Dead
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?
3: The real action is in politics; building a voluntary commons
is a sideshow
The gate that has 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
Building the commons is 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
4: The cultural consumption habits of commons advocates doesnt
matter
Credibility
The most credible 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
Therefore and henceforth
Transition quickly from piracy to building creative
communities
See the revolutionary nature of building voluntary commons
Eat your own dog food
If we dont want 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
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Attribution
Author: Mike Linksvayer
Link: http://creativecommons.org
Questions?
[email protected]
Original photo by swanksalot Licensed under CC BY-SA
http://flickr.com/photos/swanksalot/2800398623/
