Re: Happy Anniversary Napster, and Thanks for Your Impact on Scholarly Communication

[Joseph Esposito <espositoj@gmail.com>]

Phil,

My observation is not that young people do not perceive 
information to be property.  Rather, they view OTHER people's 
information not to be property.

My Napster-besotted kid was outraged when a schoolmate used one 
of his phrases in a paper.

Joe Esposito

On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 12:04 AM, Phil Davis <pmd8@cornell.edu> wrote:

> Greg Tananbaum wrote:
>
> "By changing our sense of what was possible in the sharing of
> information, Napster is at least partly responsible for our
> changing scholarly communication ecosystem. So happy anniversary,
> Napster, and thanks for making our lives more interesting."
>
> Sharing is not something new to science.  To suggest therefore
> that music file sharing changed the fundamental ethos of science
> is historical revisionism based on technological determinism.
> If anything, the development of digital media changed how a
> generation of individuals view information.  That generation, who
> grew up without a history of purchasing physical media (like
> vinyl albums, cassette, 8-track, or VHS tapes) does not perceive
> information as property.
>
> It is this shift in our perception of information which is is
> making our lives so interesting because it threatens established
> models of commerce and thus changes the loci of power.
>
> --Phil Davis