Over the last decade, the Internet has shifted the power of access to information and knowledge, potentially making content the 'lowest common denominator' in learning, just like it did (together with cheaper storage and burnable DVDs/CDs) to the media, music and movie industry.
Jane Hart,and Jay Cross, and their colleagues at the Internet Time Alliance, state from their experience that the real strength to learning online is 'social learning'.
And with the release of the Apple iPad, the move to 'reading' content electronically will become status quo.
However, this week we've had a couple of media giants, Rubert Murdoch and Mark Cuban, speak out about how 'content not just king, it's the Emperor', and "Google as a Web giant ... reaps rewards from the labors of others" (respectively).
Locally, we've also had the media trying to sue an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for 'allowing' their clients to illegally download copyrighted material - isn't that like sending parents to jail when their children have broken the law?
Are we at the 'cross roads' of 'free' access to content, music and movies? And is it morally ethical to freely use the 'labors of others'?
Or are we seeing the captains of media (and shortly educational organisations) rambling as they are going down with their 'sinking ships'?
Or is the internet forcing companies and educational organisations to re-think their business models to cater for the emerging expectations of 'digital tribes'?
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2 comments:
I wonder why this same approach is not being applied to the Australian Postal service. They've been 'allowing' people to send illegal material through the mail for years.
If ISPs are to be forced to inspect every packet of data that passes through their service then it's only fair that the Australian Post be required to open every package that they send.
Great point Vincent. I imagine there are so many examples we can draw on to illustrate how silly the expectation is to have ISP 'monitor' what their customers are doing.
Surely the ISP would be infringing on their customer's privacy rights to be 'viewing' everything they did.
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