Hack This Product Please!This chapter discusses the new age of prosumers, where customers actively participate in the creation and modification of products they consume -- and where “creation” is preferred over the consumption. The chapter begins by relating a discussion between Stanford Professor Lawrence Lessig and Philip Linden, founder of the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), or virtual world, known as Second Life -- which just happens to be where the “meeting is taking place.” Second Life is created almost exclusively by the consumers, making them also the producers, hence the term ‘prosumers’.
The authors urge companies to follow the Linden Labs model in “building a 'product' that invites and enables customers to collaborate and add value on a massive scale” (127) such as the Lego Mindstorms (
http://mindstorms.legos.com). . . “Companies that learn how to tap the insights of lead users can gain a competitive advantage (128).”
It was interesting to read the authors’ predictions about the evolution of the iPod -- especially since it has somewhat now reached the predicted ‘improved’ state, now performing the functions that hackers first dreamed up, with their “podzilla” operating system -- essentially turning the iPod into a mini-computer. And, anyone can now use the Apple Developer Kit to write their own applications. This has generated a ton of revenue for both Apple and the software authors.
WE ARE THE MEDIA:
There was considerable conversation about mashing and remixing of copyrighted music and the legal battles for Digital Rights Management. I found this interesting as well, in light of the recent DRM-free music now available from Apple (
http://www.apple.com/itunes/whatsnew/).
It's important to note that the launch of the Creative Commons in 2002 (by Larry Lessig) has provided great resources for education -- as well as the availability of
http://ccmixter.org/ for mixing content.
I was surprised that YouTube was not mentioned in greater depth, especially since participatory music is so prevalent in YouTube. I think the authors "missed the mark" on this one.
As a follow up to this chapter, I would encourage everyone to view
Larry Lessig's TED Talk, "How Creativity is Being Strangled by the Law" -- (From TED: "Larry Lessig, the Net’s most celebrated lawyer, cites John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights and the "ASCAP cartel" in his argument for reviving our creative culture.")
What other ideas do you have about "prosumers" in education?