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

[Phil Davis <pmd8@cornell.edu>]

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