The brave new world of free goods

Photo by: Charles Chan

Gift economy, abundance, crowdsourcing and citizen journalism. I have never considered myself conservative, but every time I hear a new word describing the new world of free goods on the Internet, I see question and exclamation marks everywhere?!

Somehow it provokes me to hear that “with a computer and a copy of Photoshop, even entry-level enthusiasts can create photographs rivaling those by professionals “(The Rise of Crowdsourcing).

Or that the success of LibriVox is because “It’s a commons because it has no links to the marketplace in which goods and services are exchanged for money and because nothing is proprietary” (The Wealth of LibriVox).

And that the reason Assignment Zero wants citizen journalists is “to help us find the best parts, and develop them into pieces of original reporting” and because “my readers know more than I do. They always had, but with the net they can bring it on” (Citizen Journalism Wants You!).

I see these questions and exclamation marks because I think we are about to create a digital world with as many critical areas as benefits. To me it seems like every one who has seen the light in the brave new digital world, does not see the dark. And if you see the dark, you are old-fashioned, conservative and definitely not able to manage in the media world.

I question that any entry-level enthusiast can make a photographs rivaling those by professionals. If this is the way things are going, I’m afraid a lot of important photos will not be taken. Photos showing war, hunger, and problems in societies. A lot of professional photographers make money of regular, “easy” photos, so they are able to take time of to do these important photos. To take time of to go to Afghanistan and portrait the life of a family or spend a week with a homeless in Montreal!

I question the marketplace without money. I can see it is fantastic and beautiful that people spend their spare time on recording books for free, but I think the ideology with the moneyless market is risky. It is the copyright-discussion over again. If artist (that being writers, musicians etc.) haven’t got the money to produce, then it wouldn’t be possible for LibriVox, DJ’s, and moviemakers to do what they are doing. It has to start somewhere, and that somewhere usually begins with money. Money used to make a living!

And finally I question citizen journalists’ ability to report more originally. At the end of the day journalism is a mirror of the reality and being taught and educated in how to use that mirror is, in my eyes, the best starting point for using it originally. And thinking that the readers always know more than the writer is of course sometimes the right way of thinking, but one of the most important task of a journalist (citizen or traditional) is to set fact straight, not to ask the readers about the facts. If the readers start to question this ability to report truthfully about facts, then journalism has a problem (which we have seen the latest years)!

This was some mine question and exclamation marks. I use them because I wish to go into this amazing digital world without ruining to good things we made in the “analogue” world. Does that make sense?!

Photo by: Meriol Lehmann