Tonight, I really feel like the world is changing.
The typical problem scientists and scholars in general have is that we need to be able to predict paradigms changes, or at least study them. But how can you know that things are changing while you are in it? Can humans study humans? Well, I’m not a social scientist, so I don’t have to worry, officially, with such issues… but all scholars are affected to some level by this paradox.
Well, I’ve been using inDiscover.net. Yes, I’m linking to my own project, well, it isn’t my project, but I’m involved from the side. So, it is self-promotion. Fine. Still, using inDiscover.net has made me realized how the world has changed. A bit like when Stephen Downes worked on his MuniMall portal project and, while the project was a failure, he realized that the world was changing and he embarked on a mission (see his value statement on his site).
Look on the right-hand-side of my blog, you should see my current playlist from inDiscover.net. All of this music is free. It is out there. You can download the MP3s and listen to the same music I listen to. No matter where you are in the world. You can then share your playlist with the world. You can have my playlist, live, as XML, that you can incorporate in any application, any web site.
I hope to write later on why I think this is a paradigm shift. We are beyond the world of blogs, beyond the Web… this is deep. I think it will eventually change society all the way.
Ok, I’m making many claims here… I need to write this up, but it is late…
The first sentence makes me think: Oh, Daniel saw a flying saucer :). I
did not find the world changed after I read this. The world may changed with an
epsilone with your new blog, though. By the way, your right column
should not block the editor window I am typing in. And the inDiscover website should
give me a good download when I take my time to click the link.
By the title, I meant that the world is different now, but we haven’t yet grasped it. For some weeks, I’ve been listening to music produced by independent groups, all that found on inDiscover. The quality is on par with what you can buy elsewhere.
Assume that I merely got the music I listened to for no money… then maybe I just got a free CD. I still couldn’t easily share it with a 1000 people. But see, now I can. You can listen to what I listen to right now. For no money, and freely (you can pick and choose songs… and so on).
This was freedom unheard of 10 years ago.
This is almost true for scientific paper. It will soon be true.
I have a theory: we’ll reach a level of freedom never reached before. If we haven’t reached it yet.
I think we have, but the future is not evenly distributed yet. Further to your point, check out this playlist – http://webjay.org/by/damaged_roses/youwillpayforthis
PS. Glad you’re there.
I’m happy that, at least, I get the debate going with people like Yuhong!
I like debating. Though the blog sometimes make me uncomfortable, because every word
is recorded and I may regret of saying something several days later. Seb may know what
makes the blog survive and what are the suitable topics to discuss in this way.