I REMEMBER at the turn of the year sending a link to my pal Linda Jones telling the story of author Paulo Coelho's move into new ways of digital publishing.
Granted it already helps if you've sold the best part of 100 million books, but Paulo Coelho's decision to investigate how his books were being distributed via peer-to-peer networks opened his eyes to a new online world.
Now a few months on since he started his own website to let people download his books and share translated versions, he has told Jeff Jarvis of the things he has learnt.
For Coelho, digital is about relationships. The internet always is - and he is revelling in the new connections it gives him with his readers. He loves to meet them face-to-face.
This idea of looking at copyright, creativity and digital publishing in a different light can open up new possibilities as long as pieces of work are out there, and such enlightening experiences as those enjoyed by Paulo Coelho can occur to people who aren't one of the world's best selling authors.
Ian Forrester wrote recently about how a user of Flickr was contacted by music publisher Ministry of Sound and asked if they could use one of his images on the cover of a CD.
Because of the licensing agreement he had given his image, and due to the fact his contact details were available through his Flickr account, he was able to work with Ministry of Sound to see his photo gracing the shelves of Amazon.
This burst of creativity the internet has brought has been enabled by the costs of production falling to near zero, no one needs a printing press, publishing deal or recording contract to gain an audience, individuals are free to release their work and decide upon its use.
It is some of these thoughts and more that Jeff Jarvis mentions in an interesting piece that looks at creativity and how through links the best can rise to the top, but why many are scared of such possibilities.
The creative class, copyright, mass media, and curmudgeonly critics stop what should be a continuing process of creation; like reverse alchemists, they turn abundance into scarcity, gold into lead.
In the post I link to the video featured at the top of this piece, where Sir Ken Robinson voices his fears that creativity is stifled by the education system, not only that of the UK but the basic principles underlying teaching.
My own fear is that the grip choking creativity on the internet is already beginning to tighten, far beyond the classroom.
Whilst the costs of production have fallen to near zero, I wonder if the barriers to access are set to become higher and higher in the coming years?
We already have the music industry, remember that's just one industry sector, working with ISPs to target those who download music illegally, which is likely to drive the practice further underground forcing government to become more involved.
While the European Union (EU) shows muddled thinking, on the one hand you have it asking the UK government to investigate the Phorm ad tracking system, while on the other the EU has put forward draft proposals that would require ISPs to hand over information to the police.
These types of moves, whilst not likely to increase the cost of access, create a fear of using the internet as people begin to wonder if what they write, publish, watch or listen to online is being monitored - such fears create extremely high barriers to entry.
One hope is that these barriers can be scaled if people, be they individuals or larger companies, embrace what Jeff Jarvis calls the new rules of society, which he says is built on...
...connections, links, transparency, openness, publicness, listening, trust, wisdom, generosity, efficiency, markets, niches, platforms, networks, speed, and abundance.
Will openness and sharing of information be strong enough to beat business interests and government interference? I suppose it is up to us to try.
Comments