I like reading. It is probably the activity I have engaged
in the most throughout my life. When I read books written for wide
distribution, I usually can understand them. So when I start reading, it is my
expectation that I will be able to join in on the conversation. This was not
the case with Yochai Benkler's book entitled The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and
Freedom. As I read, I tried to follow what he was saying but found myself
researching the concept he was discussing more than reading the book. I say
this so that if I am off on what I say, you will know it is because I may not
have understood what I was reading. I will also confess that I have never taken
an economics course nor really engaged with the subject expect at a very basic
level.
After reading the first few chapters, I think the thing that
I liked the most was the explanation on the peer production and sharing. As a
person who participated in SETI@home, I was excited to see referenced other
projects that used small personal computers to create a super computer. I know
from our family’s experience with SETI@home, it was something that created in
our home a connection to our family’s love of astronomy. All we had to do was
leave our computer on when we were not using it. The program did the rest. It
never slowed the computer down. There was no inconvenience in assisting with
the project to find extraterrestrial life. Like Benkler said in chapter 3, we
felt good about what we were doing to advance the field of science studying
radio waves. I think the bigger picture was if a regular radio wave pattern was
to be found, it just might be found from the computations completed on our
computer. The idea was just too good to not participate.
The second idea I would like to discuss is free software.
When I first heard about people giving away programs they had spend hours
writing, I wanted to know what the catch was, and then, felt guilty because I
felt I should contribute something. At some level, I felt there was something
wrong with this business model. Now, using free software is an everyday occurrence.
Moodle is free software that Western moved to using exclusively soon after I
came to Western. We switched because we could save money as a university and
because the program met the needs of everyone on campus. When something doesn’t
work as expected within the program, it is often still under development. This
does not mean the program is not functional it just means that some of the
bells still need to be tuned.
The thing with free software is ,as Benkler points out in
chapter 3, this method of producing a product should not work. As I have stated
already, I am not an economist, but I know that giving away a product for free
does not pay the bills or keep the lights on in an office. Yet, money is being
made not on the software but on support and in the customizing of the software
to each customer’s needs. I do not think this is a business model that can be
used by a corporation to create a new software product because it takes a
certain level of dedication to develop a product that will be given away. I am
not sure this level of dedication can be bought. Free software is here to stay,
however. As it continues to create markets and as it continues to keep up with
products that are not free, it will become a new model for production.
