From Umair... We should really all chip in and get him this for his neverending crusade on behalf of us edgedwellers.
"Let me make that more concrete: Media is deeply personal, social,
cultural, human, creative - "
Ok.. just stop right there and think about that for a second. Sink in? Good.
"...and so it's economics aren't those of
simple technological scale, because, more often than not, technological
scale kills those things (think Clear Channel roboDJs). The real
opportunity is in leveraging the new forms at the edges of the firms -
markets, networks, communities - to explode just how personal, social,
cultural, human and creative media can be......If there's a single lesson those industries yield
today, it's that that entire way of thinking about business is deeply
out of touch with the new world of consumption. And ultimately, that's
the flaw at the heart of the Googleverse - consumers play almost
exactly the same role in it that they did, suprisingly, in the
industrial economy.
NB: No, I'm not saying that "empowered" consumers will begin composing sonatas and producing movies to rival
Kiarostami's
. Rather, I'm pointing out that the economics of cultural industries
change when consumers connect, and we should see greater (returns to)
creativity; not necessarily because consumers make them, but maybe only
because consumers are better at helping choose them."
It really deserves this quote:
"I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're
afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the
future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came
here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this
phone, and I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to
see. I'm going to show them a world without you. I'm going to show them
a world without rules or controls, without borders or boundaries. A
world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I
leave to you."