News

The Next Chapter of the WWW

The NY Times runs a noteworthy article on the exceptional growth of user generated content. Described as "the next chapter of the WWW", the article calls attention to the abundance of user-generated content including online games, desktop video and citizen journalism sites.

It touches on many examples including tagging, blogging, and new social software, noting that "many Internet industry executives think it poses a new kind of threat to Hollywood, the recording industry and other purveyors of proprietary content: not piracy of their work, but a compelling alternative. The new services offer a bottom-up creative process that is shifting the flow of information away from a one-way broadcast or publishing model, giving rise to a wave of new business ventures and touching off a scramble by media and technology companies to respond."

The question of how to respond is not limited to media and technology companies. Our government’s cultural and copyright policy must also respond by providing active support for this remarkable flourishing of creativity.

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