August 21, 2002

Five choices

Five Choices: Or, Why I Won't Give Dave Pell Twelve Dollars
Stephen's at it again. He has issues with paying for content online. I agree with importance of content being free...and that it is difficult to make a career out of content creation when so many people do it for free (think web sites and newsletters). Stephen offers five suggestions for making a living creating content:


  • Lower your production costs
  • Increase your volume
  • Get a million subscribers
  • Create higher value content
  • Get another job

However, I don't completely agree with his vision. Organizations will make money from content. Thomson Learning, WebCT, Blackboard, and corporate education services will see to it. How? Closed systems (i.e. - you create content but it never sees the light of day because no one will carry it), legislation, and just the right amount of arm-bending at administrative levels in organizations. Good ideas are not the ones that get adopted - marketed and networked ideas do - regardless of quality...and educators do not have the time to create the vision that Stephen describes...

Posted by gsiemens at August 21, 2002 8:31 AM