The Long Blonde Tail

Free Culture, Transparency, and Search

That's a talk that Wikipedia founder and Wikia Owner, Jimmy Wales, will be giving at the next Free Culture @ NYU Series on Wednesday, January 31st. I'll be there, for sure.

Tim O'Reilly had a lot to say about Wikipedia at Google's Un-bound event, including its comparison to Britannica, in terms of relevance (imagine on a graph Wikipedia on a constant rise, vs. Britannica which is literally, flatlined).

This (via Laura) is Mr. O'Reilly explaining a chart of activity representing the evolution of an entry in Wikipedia, based on the number of changes, edits, and additions [this happens to be a depiction of the Wikipedia entry for Evolution]:

Tim O'Reilly at Google's Un-bound conference in NYC (1/18/07)

There's a reason Wikipedia is one of the world's most influential brands (right behind Google and Apple, and hand-in-hand with You Tube) ... and it has everything to do with free culture.

Cory Doctorow: Free Culture @ NYU

Cory Doctcorow makes my brain hurt. But in a good way. A very good way. That's Cory after Friday night's Free Culture @ NYU talk: State of the Copyfight 2007: Looking up, not out of the woods yet.

The fast-talking, and even faster thinking Cory Doctorow is co-editor of Boing Boing, otherwise known as the world's most popular blog. (The stats tell all.)

He's also a sci-fi writer and activist for our rights, when it comes to the world of copyright and DRM. Here's a video of him talking up DRM and self-determination, courtesy of Loic Le Meur (and Google Video).

Seth Godin recently blogged about Cory after Thursday's Un-Bound conference,

I sat next to Cory at a conference today. It was like playing basketball next to Michael Jordan. Cory was looking at more than 30 screens a minute. He was bouncing from his mail to his calendar to a travel site and then back. His fingers were a blur as he processed inbound mail, visiting more than a dozen sites in the amount of time it took for my neck to cramp up. I'm very fast, but Cory is in a different league entirely. Rereading this, I can see I'm not doing it justice. I wish I had a video...

Side note:  Interestingly enough, I was one of the people Cory was emailing from the conference, which we all  three (plus about 297 others) attended. In the email, Cory agreed to be Waxxi's next guest, on an interactive podcast in February. More over here, shortly. In the meantime, check out his new short story collection, Overclocked.

Originally uploaded by tracysheridan

Change is Now, and Free Sells

These were two central themes at yesterday's Un-Bound, Google's conference in NYC.

On giving it away: Chris Anderson, Wired magazine's editor-in-chief and author of The Long Tail (we take a liking to that title), informed us that the average book sells 500 copies a year, and just two (one, two) sold one million copies or more last year. He also said that “giving away free electronic versions of a book is the smart way to distribute content.” Stellar fellow speakers that day, Seth Godin, Cory Doctorow and Tim O'Reilly concurred.

Cory Doctorow might just be the poster child for this strategy (with Seth at a close second). Mind you, most of the free books are indeed e-books, but that is the entire point. Said Cory, "Electronic books are social, and social activity around a book is a key way to selling books."

The time for (big) change is now. For an incredibly conservative, slow-to-adapt, traditional industry, this is no small feat. Tim O'Reilly advised publishers: "We're in an era of tremendous change, and you need to embrace this change." It sounds simplistic, but it is certainly not simple. The (traditional) publishing industry is kicking and screaming while fighting this change. We think they should take a look at media companies who are not only getting it, but doing something about it.

The prize for best closer yesterday goes to Seth. To a backdrop of an image of the galaxy, he said, (with great enthusiasm, and sense of urgency) "In five years you're either going to be the center of the universe, or you're going to be ... Pluto."

Side note: For the second time in as many days, I chatted with CNET's Caroline McCarthy (a brilliant person and woman-in-the-know). Here's her coverage of the day.