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quot;if you love your content, set it freequot; ?
I am Mike Ellis I have spent 10+ years working on the [content] web I am a user experience zealot, strategist, social(we...
first of all, a couple of things
these slides will be online (and available under CC)
this session is based around a question:
“ if you love your content, set it free ” quot; ?quot;
..I’m not going to try and answer that question.
instead, I'm going to consider the content and user landscape
try and find some connections...
...and avoid getting into too much detail
(yes, I’m a chicken)
let's start right at the beginning ..and ask: “where does value come from?”
even this isn’t straightforward
for the most part, value is about scarcity
rarer + more sought-after = higher value
which means: if you have it, hide it
...and only provide when people pay
this has been the value model for generations
then the web came along.
now the entire value landscape has literally been blown away
the effectiveness of the network has devalued the distribution chain “It makes increasingly less sense even to t...
networks are getting faster / more ubiquitous, DRM is dead, hidden content is unpopular
not to mention radical changes in users, too
1. search and find is everything 2. fickle, shallow, agile users 3. quot;digital nativesquot; (ug!) 4. quot;free...
models of ownership and consumption are changing “..for my generation you partly constructed your identity around what yo...
the music industry...
less CDs, more digital music being sold “17 million fewer CD buyers in 2008 compared to the prior ye...
new (business) models are rampant
..illegal? yes. available (via Google)? yes.
quot;Even ferocious litigation would be inadequate to constrain massive, sustained law-breakingquot; 
newspapers..?
according to Clay Shirky “When someone demands to know how we are g...
which demands a radical(ish) response
books?
Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist “ In 2001, I sold 10,000 hard copies. And everyone was puzzled. ...
cultural heritage?
similar issues around ownership, authority and tone of voice
but really starting to understand the huge benefits of “we is better than me”
..and adding value for users
the point?
this isn't just a brief blip, after which we'll carry on as before
this is serious, serious change
revolution-style change
what does living through a revolution mean?
chaos, factionism, failure and emergence are prominent
the prevailing direction of travel is becoming more clear:
the evidence is starting to show that scale is more important than scarcity “There is more opportunity in leveraging t...
this means that letting go of the hold you have on your content becomes increasingly important
the rise of the API as an example
the world of linked data http://bit.ly/QOi6T
this is hard. after all, control and authority are what makes us...us, right?
well, maybe authority comes from the real, from authenticity
and not (always) from a designed, understood, moderated pathway
once we've realised that the important thing is our content and not where it is consumed, we should find it easier to let ...
systems that are user-focused are the ones that will survive
systems that are institution or industry focused are the ones that will fail
access (not necessarily free, but it helps) is a Good Thing quot;Where some people have trouble is that those ...
let's be very clear: good things are happening
Open API's Open Access Open Search
but they're often being resisted “ sources suggest that ...
and are often weighed down by hugely complicated politics
..if there's one thing that doesn't work, it's complicated business models
maybe we need to forget the original models
...or at least, radically simplify
and focus on loosely joined
if.. ..giving away PDF's of books increases book sales if.. ..streaming music for free increases other revenu...
where might we go?
thanks for the free stuff: big finger me don't panic http://flickr.com/photos/brighton/2153602543 question ...
and thank you for listening mike.ellis@eduserv.org.uk http://slideshare.net/dmje
"If you love your content, set it free" ?
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"If you love your content, set it free" ?

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Traditional business models have scarcity at their core: when something is scarce, it becomes valuable. Online, this notion is challenged: in a world where every one of us can copy and distribute content at the click of a mouse, notions of ‘scarcity’ become more and more distant from reality. Several commentators have suggested that scale – i.e. providing more access to ‘valuable’ content rather than less – is actually a more scalable business model for the online economy. This session will look at ways in which content can be freed, and will also examine some of the issues which follow around control and authority.

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"If you love your content, set it free" ?

  1. quot;if you love your content, set it freequot; ?
  2. I am Mike Ellis I have spent 10+ years working on the [content] web I am a user experience zealot, strategist, social(web)-ist I work for a not for profit IT company called Eduserv
  3. first of all, a couple of things
  4. these slides will be online (and available under CC)
  5. this session is based around a question:
  6. “ if you love your content, set it free ” quot; ?quot;
  7. ..I’m not going to try and answer that question.
  8. instead, I'm going to consider the content and user landscape
  9. try and find some connections...
  10. ...and avoid getting into too much detail
  11. (yes, I’m a chicken)
  12. let's start right at the beginning ..and ask: “where does value come from?”
  13. even this isn’t straightforward
  14. for the most part, value is about scarcity
  15. rarer + more sought-after = higher value
  16. which means: if you have it, hide it
  17. ...and only provide when people pay
  18. this has been the value model for generations
  19. then the web came along.
  20. now the entire value landscape has literally been blown away
  21. the effectiveness of the network has devalued the distribution chain “It makes increasingly less sense even to talk about a publishing industry, because the core problem publishing solves - the incredible difficulty, complexity, and expense of making something available to the public – has stopped being a problem.” Clay Shirky / “Newspapers and thinking the unthinkable” http://bit.ly/YoqJi
  22. networks are getting faster / more ubiquitous, DRM is dead, hidden content is unpopular
  23. not to mention radical changes in users, too
  24. 1. search and find is everything 2. fickle, shallow, agile users 3. quot;digital nativesquot; (ug!) 4. quot;free is 'normal', right?..quot;
  25. models of ownership and consumption are changing “..for my generation you partly constructed your identity around what you owned - your bookshelf, record collection and DVD archive were important aspects of who you..but for the digital generation this strong link with ownership has been broken. It took time and money to build up any of those collections. Therefore they demonstrated a commitment which was worth exhibiting. In a digital world this effort is greatly reduced, and as a result so is the emotional attachment one feels towards them.” Martin Weller / “Ownership ain’t what it used to be” http://bit.ly/2vU1oB
  26. the music industry...
  27. less CDs, more digital music being sold “17 million fewer CD buyers in 2008 compared to the prior year” ZDNet UK: “CD sales drop, digital downloads on the rise” http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=14758
  28. new (business) models are rampant
  29. ..illegal? yes. available (via Google)? yes.
  30. quot;Even ferocious litigation would be inadequate to constrain massive, sustained law-breakingquot; 
  31. newspapers..?
  32. according to Clay Shirky “When someone demands to know how we are going to replace newspapers...they are demanding to be told that old systems won’t break before new systems are in place. They are demanding to be told that ancient social bargains aren’t in peril, that core institutions will be spared, that new methods of spreading information will improve previous practice rather than upending it. They are demanding to be lied to. There are fewer and fewer people who can convincingly tell such a lie.”
  33. which demands a radical(ish) response
  34. books?
  35. Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist “ In 2001, I sold 10,000 hard copies. And everyone was puzzled. We came from zero, from 1000, to 10,000. And then the next year we were over 100,000. [...] I thought that this is fantastic. You give to the reader the possibility of reading your books and choosing whether to buy it or not. [...] So, I went to BitTorrent and I got all my pirate editions… And I created a site ” called The Pirate Coelho. http://torrentfreak.com/alchemist-author-pirates-own-books-080124
  36. cultural heritage?
  37. similar issues around ownership, authority and tone of voice
  38. but really starting to understand the huge benefits of “we is better than me”
  39. ..and adding value for users
  40. the point?
  41. this isn't just a brief blip, after which we'll carry on as before
  42. this is serious, serious change
  43. revolution-style change
  44. what does living through a revolution mean?
  45. chaos, factionism, failure and emergence are prominent
  46. the prevailing direction of travel is becoming more clear:
  47. the evidence is starting to show that scale is more important than scarcity “There is more opportunity in leveraging the scale of the Web than trying to create scarcity. We’ve all been engaged in many attempts at creating scarcity [in digital music] and none of them have worked. Meanwhile, others have been leveraging the scale of the Web with great success. We should learn from this pattern and apply our energy appropriately.” Ian Rogers, ex-VP Yahoo! Music http://www.fistfulayen.com/blog/?p=147
  48. this means that letting go of the hold you have on your content becomes increasingly important
  49. the rise of the API as an example
  50. the world of linked data http://bit.ly/QOi6T
  51. this is hard. after all, control and authority are what makes us...us, right?
  52. well, maybe authority comes from the real, from authenticity
  53. and not (always) from a designed, understood, moderated pathway
  54. once we've realised that the important thing is our content and not where it is consumed, we should find it easier to let go..
  55. systems that are user-focused are the ones that will survive
  56. systems that are institution or industry focused are the ones that will fail
  57. access (not necessarily free, but it helps) is a Good Thing quot;Where some people have trouble is that those new opportunities may be in different places than the existing... ...the total amount that any content creator can capture is still much larger than it was before. It's one of those cases where getting 20% of a huge pie is much better than getting 90% of a tiny pie.quot; TechDirt: quot;The Grand Unified Theory On The Economics Of Freequot; http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070503/012939.shtml
  58. let's be very clear: good things are happening
  59. Open API's Open Access Open Search
  60. but they're often being resisted “ sources suggest that ” compliance [with open access policy] remains low
  61. and are often weighed down by hugely complicated politics
  62. ..if there's one thing that doesn't work, it's complicated business models
  63. maybe we need to forget the original models
  64. ...or at least, radically simplify
  65. and focus on loosely joined
  66. if.. ..giving away PDF's of books increases book sales if.. ..streaming music for free increases other revenues if.. ..having an open API increases content reach
  67. where might we go?
  68. thanks for the free stuff: big finger me don't panic http://flickr.com/photos/brighton/2153602543 question http://www.flickr.com/photos/drachmann/327122302 castle mine trees and moon mine landscape http://www.flickr.com/photos/24471966@N04/2851251413/ connection http://www.flickr.com/photos/29487767@N02/2855271953/ tag cloud wordle chicken http://www.flickr.com/photos/slopjop/2476844826/ vertigo http://www.flickr.com/photos/anapinta/1324230318/ diamond http://www.flickr.com/photos/clagnut/233522021/ valuable http://www.flickr.com/photos/10ch/3347658610/ hidden http://www.flickr.com/photos/21173961@N07/2189341054/ cash http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/211399263/ crowd blur http://www.flickr.com/photos/victoriapeckham/164175205/ bifurcation http://flickr.com/photos/ethanhein/2292232215 suberbia robots fog baby http://www.flickr.com/photos/ntr23/730371240/ lazy http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkumber/2645078671/ cds http://www.flickr.com/photos/joemad/2170846681/ web2 newspaper http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/172495285/ book http://www.flickr.com/photos/andross/3137926953/ sea http://www.flickr.com/photos/10589224@N05/3386776372/ bored dogs http://flickr.com/photos/bobilina/361415711 revolution http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickerbulb/53116195/ light http://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/3199296759/ direction http://www.flickr.com/photos/b-tal/116220689/ easy silos opportunity http://www.flickr.com/photos/wasabicube/2270556458/ good things http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaplanbr/526326334/ openness http://www.flickr.com/photos/gauri_lama/3039881498/ resisted http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandj98/2931196061/ lights http://www.flickr.com/photos/mostafa/19172096/ telegraph http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericsetiawan/23293820/ forget http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfajardo/396104047/ zen http://www.flickr.com/photos/robnwatkins/113258509/ golden http://www.flickr.com/photos/da100fotos/490531799/ unknown http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahmedrabea/246570462/
  69. and thank you for listening mike.ellis@eduserv.org.uk http://slideshare.net/dmje

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