Well more precisely the world wide web...
The web has brought a democratisation of communication, of publishing...it has given back the voice to the people...
Mmm
Yes, that has been an outcome of the web but I wonder, I just wonder unless us..the people....protect it that the democratic web will go back under the control of institutions.
Here's the reasons behind my thinking..
- The more we can do, the more that will hurt business models of the power players in our society. Power that is brought through money and money that people will want to protect. The law is built on protecting ideas, unless the law evolves on the idea of fair use...then copyright law will prevent the true democratisation of the web.
- The more business embraces social media, the harder it is for independents to break through....I podcast and when I look at my humble show - The Engaging Brand - in iTunes it is surrounded by remixes from the large institutions such as the BBC. This undermines the creative side that social media can offer...I am not saying that repblished broadcasts aren't great (I listen to them myself) but unless we encourage people to create, we will be back to institutions controlling the message.
- Control may have been usurped over the last decade, but has that control just past to another group of broadcasters...if so who ensures that this group keep true to the values of Sir Tim Berners Lee?
I feel passionate that the web brought information to the masses, it brought a voice, it ensured transparency and the ability for the general public to hold institutions to account...to ensure this future we need to think about
- Evolving the law to ensure sharing for fair use is allowed, evolving the law to represent the modern world in which we live.....remember we have done this in the past - slavery, women not being able to own property....etc
- Encouraging support of the independent voice and ensuring that we don't just subscribe to the people we knew from the old world....the web allowed us to share our own voices.
- Collaborating, sharing with each other not just companies to faciliate change.
What do you think?
