Ethan on Jimmy’s Free Things
I marked this post from Berkman Fellow Ethan Zuckerman about 10 sources of information and services Jimmy Wales thinks will be free many months ago and am just now revisiting it. Wales founded the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikipedia. It’s really interesting because of the comments about why having them be free is important coupled with why some of the things are already free and others aren’t. While many people agree that certain things on the list should be free, it seems that a bad commercial incarnation will encourage people to build a free version quicker than if there’s a good commercial alternative. It also adds some perspective about Jimmy’s thoughts behind the foundation and some of its projects.
The list, without the comments:
- An encyclopedia
- A dictionary
- Curriculum
- Music
- Art
- File formats
- Maps
- Product indentifiers
- Search engines
- Communities
Ethan also mentions free TV listings and academic publishing.
Read his post. It might make you think a bit.
