I said last column that among the groups participating in the media Geekonomy (Fans, Support, and Creators) that they're all in conflict because they want to get the most they can with comparatively little thought of the future – in short, of sustainability. I referred to this as a kind of Extraction economy – the goal is to get the most of what you can out of a given source of resources.
conflict
Media Wars Part 1: The Analysis
INTRODUCTION: Reviewing the stories of last week, issues of media, ownership, and more were big. There were talks about scanilations and author income, of game companies and resold games. Last week brought to light a simple fact – today there is a lot of unease, turning into outright hostility, between the consumers, creators, and distributors of media. My goal is to analyze that situation and look at possible solutions because it affects the geekonomy, and because it's hard for me to shut up about my opinions.
In this and the upcoming posts I will be covering a lot of ground, clearly missing things or generalizing. Forgive such issues – this is a complex issue.
There's an odd undercurrent of hostility in the media marketplace. You can hear it in conversations, where discussions of casual downloads might include a snide remark about how much DVDs cost. You see it in the news, where strange lawsuits are brought against people for what appear to be trivial reasons. You feel it when an author discusses the craziness of the media market place and how they're concerned about being paid – or how angry they are at a publisher or a downloader. There's something that seems broken out there in the world of the media marketplace – and thus, part of the Geekonomy.
Weekly Challenge: Pre-Conflict Perspectives
With great power comes the chance for great stupidity.
OK it's not exactly the touching saying we all associate with Spider Man, but it's a sad truth. Power, from the power of physical force to the subtleties of charisma to the abilities granted from knowledge, gives us not just the ability to do things, but the ability to do very stupid things that have incredible impact.
The difference between doing the right thing and doing the wrong thing is often a matter of degree. You need wisdom to know that degree.
So your exercise this week is to figure out where you may do something very, very stupid. You know, beyond the other things you've done.
- List all the top 3 to 5 things you are good at or have influence in – skills you have, leadership you perform in your fandom, someone's ear you have.
- Now for each, ask how you could take those skills too far and cause damage. Could your leadership at work end up pitting departments against each other if you keep up your rah-rah attitude? Could your next novel be even better selling if you pandered a bit, but you know that would take you in the direction of being hack.
Think of what you could do – so you know when to stop before a benefit becomes a problem.
– Steven Savage