THEORIST FACT FILES

AARON GEMMELL

TIM O’REILLY• CAME UP WITH 6 BIG IDEAS TO EXPLAIN WHY WEB 2.0 HAS HAD SUCH A

LARGE IMPACT. THESE WERE:• USER GENERATED CONTENT• THE WISDOM OF CROWDS• DATA ON AN EPIC SCALE• ARCHITECTURE OF PARTICIPATION• NETWORK EFFECTS, POWER LAWS AND THE LONG TAIL• OPENNESS

CHRIS ANDERSON (LTT)• THE LONG TAIL THEORY:• A SHIFT IN CULTURAL TRENDS AND THE ECONOMY HAS LED TO A CHANGE IN FOCUS FROM THE MAINSTREAM

PRODUCTS AVAILABLE TO CONSUMERS OVER TO A LARGE AMOUNT OF NICHE PRODUCTS.• WITH THE DIGITAL AGE PROVIDING EASIER DISTRIBUTION NICHE PRODUCTS CAN BECOME EFFECTIVE SINCE

AUDIENCES ARE NOT RESTRICTED TO A LOCAL SCALE, BUT INSTEAD CAN ACCESS A PRODUCT GLOBALLY.• FOR EXAMPLE WITHIN GAMING MORE “INDIE” GAMES ARE BEING RELEASED ON THE GAMES PLATFORM STEAM SINCE IT

ALLOWS THESE DEVELOPERS TO DISTRIBUTE THEIR GAMES AS EFFICIENTLY AS ANY OTHER DEVELOPER- THIS WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE USING STORES.

• ANOTHER EXAMPLE IS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY- EASIER DISTRIBUTION THROUGH THE USE OF SHARING WEBSITES SUCH AS YOUTUBE AND SOUNDCLOUD HAS ALLOWED FOR MANY NICHE ARTISTS TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL.

THIS THEORY IS RELEVANT SINCE IT RELATES TO THE CORE CONCEPTS OF WEB 2.0 OF MANY USERS CONTRIBUTING CONTENT TO THE WEB AND DEMONSTRATES HOW CONSUMERS CAN NOW ACCESS THIS LARGER VARIETY OF CONTENT AND HOW THIS AFFECTS THE MAINSTREAM.

CHARLES LEADBEATER• WE THINK-• WE THINK EXPLAINS HOW DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES ARE ENABLING NEW FORMS OF COLLABORATIVE CREATIVITY AND

INNOVATION.• MANY PEOPLE CAN PARTICIPATE IN CULTURE THROUGH THE CONTRIBUTION OF THEIR IDEAS, VIEWS AND

INFORMATION.• WEB ALLOWS THEM TO PUBLISH, BUT ALSO TO SHARE, CONNECT AND COLLABORATE .

• A KEY EXAMPLE OF THIS IS IN THE GAMING INDUSTRY WHERE DEVELOPERS ARE ABLE TO RELEASE GAMES AND GAIN FEEDBACK AND IMPROVEMENTS ON SUCH GAMES THROUGH THE COMMUNITY.

• ANOTHER EXAMPLE IS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY WHERE ARTISTS CAN RELEASE SONGS AND GAIN FEEDBACK ON THEIR MUSIC FROM THEIR FANS THROUGH THE USE OF WEB 2.0.

THIS THEORY RELATES TO WEB 2.0 SINCE IT DEMONSTRATES HOW LARGE COMMUNITIES OF PEOPLE CAN CONTRIBUTE THEIR IDEAS TO ONE ANOTHER AND TO COLLABORATE IN ORDER TO CREATE A BETTER PRODUCT AS A WHOLE.

TAPSCOTT AND WILLIAMS• WIKINOMICS-• THE EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE COLLABORATION AND USER-PARTICIPATION ON THE MARKETPLACE AND CORPORATE

WORLD. THERE ARE FOUR PRINCIPALS:• OPENNESS- OPEN STANDARDS, CONTENT AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXTERNAL IDEAS AND RESOURCES.• PEERING- REPLACES HIERARCHICAL MODELS WITH A MORE COLLABORATIVE FORUM.• SHARING- LESS PROPRIETARY APPROACH TO PRODUCTS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, BANDWIDTH, SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ETC.• ACTING GLOBALLY- EMBRACING GLOBALIZATION AND IGNORING “PHYSICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES” AT BOTH

CORPORATE AND INDIVIDUAL LEVEL.AN EXAMPLE OF THIS THEORY IS WITHIN THE TV AND FILM INDUSTRIES SINCE STREAMING WEBSITES SUCH AS AMAZON PRIME AND NETFLIX ENABLE CONSUMERS GLOBALLY TO VIEW PROGRAMMES AND FILMS ONLY ORIGINALLY SHOWN IN ONE COUNTRY.• THIS THEORY IS RELEVANT SINCE MANY STREAMING SITES HAVE ALLOWED PEOPLE TO GLOBALLY PRODUCE AND CONSUME IN

DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES. HOWEVER COPYRIGHT STILL PREVENTS THE SHARING OF SOME PRODUCTS LEGALLY.

DAN GILLMOR• WE MEDIA:• THE MAIN BIG MEDIA CORPORATIONS CANNOT CONTROL THE NEWS WE RECEIVE ANY LONGER SINCE THE

NEWS CAN NOW BE PUBLISHED IN REAL TIME, WITH AVAILABILITY TO EVERYONE VIA THE INTERNET.A KEY EXAMPLE OF THIS IS HOW WEB 2.0 HAS ALLOWED PEOPLE TO ACCESS THE NEWS VIA THE INTERNET AND THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA AND SO DO NOT RELY ON NEWS OUTLETS ANYMORE AND CANNOT BE KEPT FROM LEARNING INFORMATION.ADDITIONALLY THIS APPLIES TO THE FILM INDUSTRY SINCE MANY ASPECTS OF CERTAIN FILMS CAN BE LEAKED ONLINE WHICH MAY AFFECT THE RELEASE OF THE FULL FILM.• THIS THEORY IS RELEVANT SINCE IT SHOWS HOW WEB 2.0 HAS MADE INFORMATION MUCH MORE WIDELY

AVAILABLE THAN IT WAS BEFOREHAND AND DEMONSTRATES HOW LARGE COMPANIES CANNOT CONTROL THE INFORMATION WE RECEIVE AS EFFECTIVELY ANYMORE.

CLAY SHIRKYNEWSPAPERS, PAYWALLS AND CORE USERS:• ONLINE DISTRIBUTION HAS CHANGED THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY FROM BEING A MASS MARKET

PRODUCT FOCUSED AT A MASS AUDIENCE TO A NICHE PRODUCT AIMED AT A NICHE AUDIENCE.• CONSUMERS NOW ONLY ACCESS NEWS THEY WANT TO SEE AND DO NOT SEEK OUT ALL NEWS ONLINE

ANY MORE, THIS HAD CAUSED NEWS OUTLETS TO HAVE TO ADAPT TO CATER FOR EVERYONE.THIS HAD A BIG IMPACT ON THE NEWS DUE TO THE AUDIENCE CHANGING THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS SEEKING CONTENT, THEY NOW EXPECT FREE CONTENT ONLINE AND WILL NOT PAY FOR CONTENT WHEN IT IS AVAILABLE FREE ELSEWHERE, THIS HAD CAUSED REVENUE PROBLEMS WITHIN THE INDUSTRY.• THIS THEORY HAS LIMITED RELEVANCE TO MEDIA SINCE IT ONLY REALLY APPLIES TO THE NEWS

INDUSTRY.

MICHAEL WESCHTHE MACHINE IS CHANGING US:• WEB 2.0 HAS ALLOWED CONSUMERS TO CONNECT WITH MORE PEOPLE AND TO BE PART OF A

GLOBAL COMMUNITY.• COMMUNICATING ONLINE IS DIFFERENT TO HOW WE COMMUNICATE USING OTHER MEDIUMS. THIS

CAN BE EXPLAINED WITH ANONYMITY AND PHYSICAL DISTANCE FROM THOSE WE ARE COMMUNICATING WITH.

A KEY INDUSTRY IS THE GAMING INDUSTRY, GAMES NOW INCORPORATE VOIP SO THAT DIFFERENT PLAYERS CAN TALK TO EACH OTHER WHILST GAMING EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHO THEY ARE.THIS THEORY IS RELEVANT SINCE IN THE ONLINE AGE WE ARE COMMUNICATING IN DIFFERENT WAYS THAN EVER BEFORE WITH PEOPLE GLOBALLY.