We are currently in an information war, it’s going on all around us, whether you are aware of it, or not. The war is between two diametrically opposed philosophies, world views, and assumptions about how things work and how things should be.
On the one hand are the forces of the Closed view. They are all about centralization and monopolies in the interest of efficiency, and about hard rules regarding what you may or may not do with your information, with your technology, and your creations. They are about gatekeepers and censors in the name of safety and bringing the consumer only the “best” of what’s created. These forces are epitomized by companies like AT&T and Apple, and by the people pushing TPP, SOPA, ACTA and other legislative clones.
On the other hand are the forces of the Open view. They strongly encourage freeware and sharing, open source and crowdsourcing. They believe in being able to run whatever software you like on whatever hardware you have. They are about allowing everyone to share whatever they wish, on the assumption that though there will be stupidity and asshats, in the long run the asshats will be shamed, the stupid will be ignored, and the best will float to the surface. These forces are epitomized by companies like Google and Etsy, and by the people supporting Creative Commons and a DRM-free world wide web.
It’s very easy to think this war doesn’t mean anything to you, especially for people who aren’t especially technically minded, who simply use their technology and don’t really pay attention to it unless it doesn’t work. But if you are a creator of any kind, this war IS important, and it DOES affect you.
It is and it does because one of the core parts of these conflicting views is about creation, consumerism and gatekeepers. The proponents of the Closed view would ultimately like all of us to sit down, shut up and be good little consumers. No creation, no dialogue, and especially no sampling or remixing of cultural products. They are still thinking in terms of their ‘golden age’ of media fifty plus years ago, when no one published books except the handful of big publishing companies, no one made television programs except the handful of big networks, and no one made movies except the handful of big movie production companies.
What that meant was that each of those handfuls made huge amounts of money on their products because of the limited competition, and those gatekeepers decided what was seen, what was heard, what was read; all of the cultural conversation. That meant that if the women were too uppity, if the characters were too brown, or too gay, or too revolutionary, the product could be quickly and easily squashed, and the creator told that the work wasn’t “good”.
So if you are a creator, I urge you to actively be part of those fighting for the Open view, even if it is just in some small way, because the ones pushing for the Closed view have a great deal of money, a great deal of political influence, and a long history of getting their way in the end. But for all the problems with the Open view – the people who use the opportunity to create and converse to be obnoxious and hateful, among other things – the problems of gatekeepers and closed creation is even worse. I would rather give obnoxious people the chance to show the world how obnoxious they can be than shut up everyone, including the weird and marginalized people. I really, really hope that there are enough people in the world who also think that way, and are willing to stand up for it, to give the Open view a chance in the long run.
(this post was inspired by The Master Switch by Tim Wu. I recommend that book, for anyone who is interested in reading more about the larger patterns of monopoly and openness in information industries.)