roundtable: RE: Content is the cargo of truth

roundtable: RE: Content is the cargo of truth

RE: Content is the cargo of truth

Karen Coyle (kec@stubbs.ucop.edu)
Tue, 21 Mar 95 09:16:01 PST 

Date: Tue, 21 Mar 95 09:16:01 PST
From: Karen Coyle <kec@stubbs.ucop.edu>
Subject: RE: Content is the cargo of truth 
To: roundtable@cni.org
Message-Id: <Chameleon.4.00.2.950321092225.kec@MONA.UCOP.EDU>


While I agree with Matt York on the need for an open "marketplace" of
ideas, I don't agree that we can rely on a for-profit marketplace to 
provide intellectual freedom.  If all posting/communicating on this 
future Iway were free, then we might get something resembling democracy. 
But the fact is that those with more money will end up with a 
stranglehold on content. 

Even if posting is affordable, you have to remember that information 
doesn't create itself, organize itself nor present itself appropriately.  
It takes a fair amount of effort to get ideas across.  And as we know 
from the world of advertising, catching your audience's attention is a 
large part of the battle.  People remember the Nike ads and the Coke 
ads, but few pay much attention to the "talking head" public service 
announcement that the local non-profit produces.

Our information future is going to be very competitive.  And there's a 
good chance that the information that the poorer people need will be 
under-represented, uninteresting in presentation and harder to find.  
That's not a picture of equality.

Karen Coyle     ---    kec@stubbs.ucop.edu
University of California, Library Automation

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