This is a perfect example (see NYT article) of a traditional business structure trying to hold onto old business models by all means necessary – including suing its own client base…. not smart.
Alternatively, here are some examples of “disruptive” approaches that go around traditional business structures and take advantage of networked, digital technologies and new methods of sharing.
(1) Textbooks: (federal report on cost of textbooks)
· http://www.flatworldknowledge.com (be sure to watch the videos)
· http://www.maketextbooksaffordable.org (student campaign to reduce the cost of textbooks)
(2) Open Content initiatives (i.e., freely available course content): MIT, Yale, Open University, Rice are all giving away their courses to the world (there are hundreds more… too many to list)
· The world is getting behind these initiatives… including the United Nations and fortune 500 companies.
(3) Copyright. The publisher’s sacred copyright is being bypassed by a more flexible method to share some, but not all of your rights: Creative Commons (watch the 2nd movie for a short intro).
In many cases, we are the authors producing the content for textbooks, articles, and journals. We need to take ownership of what we create, stop giving away our rights, and begin sharing what we have with each other.
The publishers’ reign of controlling content is limited. Publishers and the RIAA can and will litigate to maintain old models, but in the end… they will fail. For we, the prosumers will go around them, end our paid subscriptions and develop a culture of sharing and receiving. Quite simply, much of the world has decided to share what they create. Old models will begin to collapse and new forms of knowledge, in the network, will emerge.
We should ask ourselves, as we think about teaching and learning in the 21st century: “How will we participate in these emerging models? How will we bring open, global content to our students? How will we leverage open textbooks to significantly reduce students’ costs? How will we partner with higher education institutions around the world to share what we have and use what they offer?”
We have an opportunity and obligation to lead our system into this emerging world of networked knowledge.
I look forward to working with you all as we engage these challenges and opportunities head on.
Cable