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It's not often that I voice a core belief...
...but a conversation with a friend on IM made me realize... well, made me solidify a realization I had ages back, regarding what the internet is truly accomplishing.
Unlike all the ads claiming it on the radio and what-not, the internet is truly removing the middle-man from artistic endeavors. More than anything else, it's proving that Information wants to be free! is missing one very important seven-letter word. Flowing. Information wants to be free flowing! is vastly more accurate, I believe. Middle-men, steps between final creation and final consumption of a product, are obstacles to that free flow.
Removing those middle-men and allowing for things like hundreds of fans to pay an artist to continue a small work, up to hundreds of thousands of artists getting a studio to continue producing a beloved series, are both examples of what the internet is allowing for today. The free flow of information. Not without cost, but without obstacles of time or distance.
Unlike all the ads claiming it on the radio and what-not, the internet is truly removing the middle-man from artistic endeavors. More than anything else, it's proving that Information wants to be free! is missing one very important seven-letter word. Flowing. Information wants to be free flowing! is vastly more accurate, I believe. Middle-men, steps between final creation and final consumption of a product, are obstacles to that free flow.
Removing those middle-men and allowing for things like hundreds of fans to pay an artist to continue a small work, up to hundreds of thousands of artists getting a studio to continue producing a beloved series, are both examples of what the internet is allowing for today. The free flow of information. Not without cost, but without obstacles of time or distance.
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Look at, for example, YouTube. It is, effectively, a middleman, because it can enforce the law and has some standards (when they get around to enforcing them). But really, how many people that have become famous or respected for their YouTube videos would have never tried before without YouTube making it so easy?
We need more middlemen like that, I think. I think XNA wants to be the indie gamer's YouTube; MySpace, before it became LiveJournal for the colorblind, was trying to be the indie musician's YouTube.
Not to mention 'middlemen' like SPR, which allowed us to meet. ^_^
I think you're misunderstanding me a bit actually. :-)