subscribe to our feed.
Part of what I love doing is looking at large scale trends. We live in a revolutionary time. We live in the age of the network. Networks have changed everything. They have made it increasingly easy to communicate. And that has massive implications. The problem is that most people don’t see it. They feel the ramifications of the network age, but they don’t see the bigger influence. It’s like when you walk along a sidewalk in a major city. You sense that there is much more under that sidewalk, but you can’t see it. You see the effects of networking, but sometimes it feels like the air around us. So, let’s unpack that a little. These are thoughts in process and, as such, it would be good to hear other’s thoughts on the subject.
…
Society’s institutions have been called into question. At first it would seem just a reaction from various scandals. There is plenty of commentary around the deleterious effects of Tyco, Enron, Tom Delay, the Catholic church abuse, Jack Abramoff, etc. And these scandals have highly impacted our culture’s view of the institution. But there is something else at work here. A hierarchial chain of command has been slowly giving away to a flattened network. Sure, it’s not completely flat. There is still leadership amidst that, but it is definitely flatter. People are more suspicious of the establishment and want more input. They want to be included in the process. Which brings me to another development.
The age of the network is creating prosumers (producer + consumer). Prosumers are very different than consumers. Prosumers want to create. They want a part in the creative process. They don’t want to be passive. This is a gigantic swing. Will they still consume? Yes, they will. But if you can give them ways to be involved, you will be way ahead of the curve. It’s the age of the DIY (do-it-yourselfer). People want to learn photography, videography, wood working, etc.
There are many reasons for a renewed interest in DIY and the explosion of prosumption. One would be that very sophisticated technology has become available to the masses. This has only recently become a reality. Look at the processing power in the most recent Xbox, PS2, or Wii. It’s staggering. And look at the computing power of the newer processors. Again, amateurs now have professional grade technology which was unavailable to them until recently. But most of these amateurs would have been disconnected, except for the fact that networks have become ubiquitous. And these networks allow them to connect on forums, on blogs, via email, via wikis, etc. They can share ideas and develop relationships with folks from all over the world. And we can also tip our hat to linux in this respect. Linux is giving folks a free way to enter into that dialogue. I guess I should put open source in general into that category. Now we have hordes of people working together, for free, to create top notch, open, and free software. I am constantly amazed at the software that is available. People can now collaborate on a scale that makes this sort of thing possible. And entire industries are struggling to make sense of this shift.
You only have to look at the RIAA to understand the trouble that corporations find themselves in. They are fighting an upstream battle. They are fighting something much, much bigger than simple music file swapping. Yes, it’s an issue that needs addressing and working out. But the main one is that the business model needs to change in this new networked environment. I cannot stress this enough. Many people look at the peer to peer networks and see trouble. I see massive opportunity. The problem is that there needs to be a fundamental change to entire business models, infrastructure, culture, etc. This is the kind of monolithic change that is underway. Why are things like Youtube, MySpace, Xanga, etc so popular? They connect people and allow an open showcase to their prosumptive accomplishments. Sure, there is absolute garbage mixed in. But there are also incredible achievements, touching documentaries, etc. It runs the gamut. And that is only the digital media space. What happens when this type of prosumptive innovation touches the physical?
Probably the biggest eye opener of the last year, at least for me, was the RepRap project. As the previous post notes, the RepRap project aims to develop an open source fabrication unit. This unit is able to produce real world objects in the comfort of the home. Does this sound familiar? People are creating digital media with Garage Band, Final Cut, Photoshop, etc. And now we are moving into object fabrication. I can foresee people sharing real world objects on peer to peer networks. Okay, they will be exchanging the model files, but these model files can make the real world objects. That’s breath taking. I could exchange a model file for a device with someone sitting in Australia, or Africa, or South America. That is truly remarkable. And the RepRap can fabricate other RepRaps. It can build all the pieces to make a new version of itself. So, you could buy an original RepRap, or bootstrap one, and then make copies to give your friends. And where will this lead? Straight back to the issue with music file swapping and the RIAA. Because you will have folks laser scanning objects to create the initial model files. They could scan hammers, pots, speaker stands, etc. And people will do object backups. I don’t want to have a broken iPod case I can’t replace. No problem, I’ll just scan it just in case. Pandora’s box I tell you.
But the fun doesn’t end there. What are the effects of shared information across geo-political lines? Well, at home, blogs have shown political power, like the incident with Trent Lott and Strom Thurman. And what about Foley and the underage boy email scandal. Information propogation is tremendously powerful to bring up and tear down. And what happens when information that is supposed to be privileged is sent out on this network. Well, stuff happens. And this kind of information sharing can affect whole nations that are completely separate from us and vice versa.
But international and global commerce is also blurring these lines. And the speed and ease of this commerce has only become available through networks. Now, events happening in China have immediate impact on the globe. Nations can be built up in record time. A Sprint executive recently commented on the speed of developing China’s infrastructure. He said that their last ten year progress has been nothing short of “miraculous.” What happens to international relations when your economy is vitally wrapped up in someone else’s?
What else does the network age have in store for us? It’s anyone’s guess. I would love to see some intergalactic networking happen.
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
A couple of comments:
1. This has all been enabled by the movement from analog to digital systems. That, riding on top of the networks, is what enabled our current and future.
2. The connection of everyone to everyone else on the planet through mobile devices is going to change the world in unimaginable ways.
It’s very exciting!
Adobe’s Apollo system is a fascinating project as well, and no doubt has implications for the future of Networking.