New Economic Models

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February 8

Note: To make up for the snow day on February 1, tonight's class will run an extra hour, until 8:30pm.

The rise of the networked economy is changing economic possibilities around the world. From the call centers in India to eBay and the new Internet entrepreneurs, there are many signs that suggest a flatter world fueled by innovative production and marketing strategies. In this session, we will explore the promise and reality of the changing economic tides associated with rising Internet use including those marketing to the long tail and the new oligopolists.

Slides: Paradigms for Studying the Internet


Assignments

Assignment 1 due


Readings

Additional Resources

Class Discussion

All three articles carry a common theme: there's a finite number of dollars in the consumer's pocket and old school marketing demographics are not sufficient. Instead, the key differentiator for success is personalized marketing. Rather than broadcasting advertisements to the general population, each Internet user can be presented with a personalized market basket tailored to his or her precise wants and needs. On one hand, this individualized service can be quite useful and convenient -- like having your own digital gentlemen's gentlemen. On the other hand, personalized service can only be delivered when they possess intimate knowledge of your behavior and desires. It can become quite uncomfortable to consider how much personal information is available on the Internet, and how uncontrolled the sharing of that information has become. -Chris Sura 02:56, 8 February 2011 (UTC) I really like this TED video of Larry Lessig. Not only is the content applicable to the class, but the presentation is extraordinary. [Larry Lessig on the laws that choke creativity]--SCL 02:29, 10 February 2011 (UTC)


Kevin Kelly's Better Than Free was particularly interesting to me. He said, "Nor are legal skills surrounding Intellectual Property and Copyright very useful anymore." As a student who wishes to be an IP lawyer, I consider it quite important to examine his assertion and the future of IP Law field as well. In his writing, he insisted that super-distribution system of the Internet is leading to excessive abundance of information and thus creating limitless free copies floating around the digital world. I wonder whether he assumed that legal knowledge is also one of the things that can be easily duplicated, used, and applied without any academic devotion to the subject. Was he implying that the prevalence of wrongdoing - distributing creative works without due process or permission - can justify such act and nullifies existence of legal principles? Classmates, I would love to hear your opinions. Thanks! --Yu Ri 12:49, 12 February 2011 (UTC)

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