A few weeks back I blogged about a fascinating review by Swiss academic Felix Stalder of the social media book of the year, Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody (HCE).
I won't rehash the full review, but in a nutshell Stalder points out that while HCE reveals how the social web ‘cannot be contained in the institutional structure of society’, Shirky fails to address how this unbeliveably transformative emerging collective/social power is challenged by the centralised systems on which the social web primarily operates.
At the core of these systems is the default tool used since the very earliest days of the industrial revolution to protect IP: copyright.
This, to Stalder, represents a "structural imbalance" or "tension" which he believes Shirky misses. Stalder goes as far as to say Shirky misses this deliberately as he consults with precisely the centralised media businesses in whose interest copyright functions.
As fortune would have it. I had the opportunity to put this question to Clay Shirky via Faster Future's, David Cushman.
Here's what he had to say:
Having watched the video a couple of times my reaction is that Shirky doesn't really offer a robust defence of Stalder's criticisms. To argue that he never intended on HCE covering the copyright debate is a bit of a cop out IMHO. Copyright/DRM is a major issue, couldn't a passing reference explaining the ommission have been made?
I also think that Shirky derails Stalder's argument by arguing that copyright is only an issue for media and broadcasters. This seems to imply that Stalder is criticising only the unauthorised (re)use of entertainment content when in fact Stalder is raising rather more broad questions about the ability of centralised systems (broadcasters, governments, pharmaceutical companies, etc) to control the social web.
That said, I don't believe that Shirky avoids the copyright debate deliberately. Rather, it is a testament to HCE's quality as a *business book* that has perhaps helped shape the route down which its narrative travels.
With this in mind, Stalder has perhaps opened another route down which the narrative can travel. Now all we need is for someone to explore that route and perhaps turn it into a bestseller.
*UPDATED* Since posting this I've discovered that Doc Searls has flagged Laurence Lessig's Saturday column in the Wall Street Journal which calls for urgent changes to US copyright legislation - although copyright isn't a major issue, remember ;-)
Technorati tags: Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody, Felix Strader, Copyright
Well written blog, interesting
Posted by: Dropshippers | July 22, 2009 at 01:55 PM