The quote, "Information just wants to be free" is said by Steward Brand, founder of Whole Earth Catalog, and it comes from Steve Levy, the author who wrote The Definitive Story of Information Wants to be Free. The full context of the quote is about how information wants to be either expensive or free. The reason for the former is because of its value while the latter is because of the low cost of getting all the information out. (Gans, 2015)
So what is exactly free information? Does it mean information that's free to access, right? Is it free from costs and copyright? Not quite. Some information is not actually free because it costs time and money for someone to create one. Whether it is from a government website or a blog about healthy recipes, this information is paid for by the creator. (Lumen Learning)
When it comes to old media such as newspapers, magazines, and books, there's a different implication, where people have to purchase them in order to get information. In the former's case, they offer a subscription service where they can get the newspapers in their homes every month. As for television and radio, when it comes to the news, people watch and listen to get information once it airs. Text can be read and heard through these channels of old media.
With the new media, there's the same implication in which we can find information easily and freely. It is everywhere from Google searches to social media posts. As well, information that is shown via text, audio, and video can be combined into one. An example would be a news story that is posted on social media in a 30 second or 1-minute video form with visuals and captions. However, there's information that is considered false and untruthful thanks to the rise of fake news and the spreading of misinformation. If this falls into the wrong hands. people will start to believe in false information without checking the source of the news. Although recently, some news sites offer subscriptions as the news stories have been blocked by a paywall. Websites like New Yorker and The New York Times, their subscription costs low as $1.00 a week. People can subscribe to the news sites and cancel any time.
As for the sentiment on information wanting to be free, I would have to disagree because having the information is valuable to the creator and reader. It needs to be protected by copyright and intellectual property. If information becomes free, it will be difficult for creators to own and protect the text in both old and new media.
Reference;
Brain GIF
Information Text GIF
Information Flow GIF
"Information Wants to Be Free". The history of that quote by Joshua Gans (2015)
Information Wants to Be Free, But at What Cost? by Thomas Wailgum (2009)
What is Free Information? (n.d.)
Why information wants to be free (2010)
No comments:
Post a Comment