Reasons to create an open media network

An open media network should be created because it is not necessary in the age of new-media that large for-profit corporations:

- profit from the personal social exchanges of people in online social networks;

- constrain freedom of speech in online social networks;

- overly control other media content such as news, music, film and books through their power to determine which authors and artists gain access to exclusive routes to remuneration; since more direct routes to payment for media products can now be made possible;

and because:

- peer-review is the only legitimate measure of the quality of academic writing.


The hurdles are financing and how to create a slick user interface without profit-kinds of funding. I think it's the same issues that confront any community-based effort: how do you create a nice product without (some of) the forces of the market?
I think there's not such a clear answer with social networking as to which is better. Is social networking more suited to the model of development that makes pretty cars (the capitalism model), or is it more suited to the model of development that makes Wikipedia run so well? It's not clear that the latter can work, but nevertheless I'm just bothered every time I log on to facebook or myspace and I'm basically a dart board for some large corporation's making profits through throwing advertising at my face (a private corporation, even, as with facebook).

The most frustrating thing is that it's not like the television: I can't just turn it off. I keep in touch with people on these networks and it would be a big deal if I were to cancel my accounts on them. There's something sinister about that; in the free world I'm used to having more freedom than that.


PLEASE READ AND PASS ON:

There is a new search engine called Wikia which just started today, January 7th. It was started by the same guy who started Wikipedia, but whereas wikipedia is non-profit, WIKIA IS A FOR-PROFIT COMPANY. When you search for something, it asks if you want to write an article about it. The idea is to create a huge database of user-written information which helps others BUT UNLIKE WIKIPEDIA, WIKIA WILL PROFIT FROM OUR WORK. There are already alternatives to this. We do not need to be making money for other people: look at Daviswiki.org and wikispot.org

The future will involve sites like this for EVERYTHING. Notice the reviews on the sites just mentioned of individual dentists, street signs, convenience markets etc.

DON'T LET CORPORATIONS AND WEALTHY INDIVIDUALS PROFIT FROM YOUR AND MY WORK WHEN THERE ARE NON-PROFIT ALTERNATIVES!