The Obsession’s Ice

To be free, information has to be smart (comments on Chris Anderson’s “Free!”)

WIRED Magazine’s editor in chief Chris Anderson, following up on the popularity of his Long Tail meme, theorizes in theMarch 2008 issue of WIRED about the modern tendency to put information online at no cost. I’ll start this blog with the implications of offering free information in the computer field, and build from there to what I agree and disagree with in Anderson’s article.

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Anderson’s taxonomy of “free” contains six models that justify giving the information away. The idea of “free as in freedom” (that is, open source information in the GPL or Creative Commons style) doesn’t enter at all into his article. Is that important, given that the article is economic rationale for business? I think it’s a crucial omission.

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Some lessons from technical computer information

In the case of computer information, Anderson’s models for success reduce to the benefit of attracting and keeping users. However you benefit from your computer project–whether by selling the software, charging for service, advertising your skills, or (a motivation more common than usually acknowledged), undercutting somebody else’s software–you’ll get increasing benefits as the number of users increase. I go into more detail about this ina recent blog.

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Another common motivation for improving online information–to reduce service calls and demands on limited developer time–reduces to the goal of streamlining access to information. This is not a motivation for offering more information, but for moving information from expensive resources (expert developers and support staff) to cheap resources (online forums and written documentation).

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Online documentation does not currently live up to its potential because computing projects are not smart about online information. Let’s reason through the requirements for providing good information.

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