I am captivated by the possibilities presented by the Internet and indeed, astounded by the concerted effort, across nations and people, to make information easily accessible. So much has changed within my lifetime itself that I am compelled to think that this is what a revolution must feel like. As Coldplay murmurs in my ear that ‘we live in a beautiful world’, I concur (having disregarded the massive inequity of human condition for a moment). If you are one of those souls who rejoice at the prospect of eclectic tastes and random knowledge, this is the Golden Age of human civilization. Torrents and P2P sharing, youtube, Wikipedia, Open Courseware, e-books, Comic Archives- my life revolves around these, allowing me to indulge in my wildest intellectual fancies. How about starting the day with Gauss-Jordan elimination at MIT OCW (on Youtube), and following it up with the Wanted Graphic Novel, as you await the movie?
One can understand the concerns with regard to rampant piracy and violation of Intellectual Property Rights- having even your assignment copied, without your permission, can be an aggravating experience. However, I would still argue that this phenomenon, instead of being a marker of moral decrepitude of most humanity, represents a gap in the ‘market’. Nobody, who likes movies/books/graphic novels enough to scour the Internet for hours for a pirated copy, would prefer to do so if the ‘real thing’ was available or accessible. I doubt if anyone would prefer reading the e-book to an ‘appropriately priced’ paper-back [the quotes indicate some ridiculous pricing that I come across, which may be due to various editions or whatever- but Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day for Rs 170 and Camus’ 120 page The Stranger for Rs 420? Forgive me for equating sizes but dude!]; and I suspect that most graphic novel lovers would be willing to splurge on them, just to add to their collections, despite having already read them! And you don’t even have to be a movie-lover to know that The Dark Knight would be wasted if you passed up on the chance to see it on Imax.
Of course, there is loss of revenue- there is no denying that. But when you realize, and hopefully the right people do, that a whole bunch of university students in India are absolutely in love with Cobie Smulders, it’s an indication that somebody needs to sell the rights!
I doubt if my arguments are really going to quell concerns or end the debate, which is why I want to come back to my original inspiration. I am absolutely fascinated by MIT’s initiative with Open Courseware and the power that this simple, yet daring, idea holds. The fact that I have access to lectures on Linear Algebra, which I can view when I wish to, with notes, tutorials, exams etc, is just so brilliant! I can only recommend it to more people; particularly those who have detected the onset of intellectual impotence. Rusty graduates, i.i. under-grads, over-achieving high-school students or inquisitive people from all walks of life, can get (re)introduced to diverse subjects from the very best in those fields. The fact that other institutions are also jumping on the band-wagon makes me feel that we are truly on the verge of something phenomenal.
With more and more institutions making tie-ups, willing to open up alternate campuses in India (and Asia at large); with an already complex set of licensing and associations that allows us, indifferent students, access to numerous research publications; with even those indifferent students, easily able to find trivial information on any topic in the world, on say Wiki (which is also written and edited and managed by kindred souls) - I am amazed at this conscious movement to spread knowledge (and not just music, movies, TV shows).
On another note, I wonder- how do MIT students feel about sharing their $100K education with the rest of the world for free? Pretty good, I guess- they are the ones who walk away with the scroll that matters!
One can understand the concerns with regard to rampant piracy and violation of Intellectual Property Rights- having even your assignment copied, without your permission, can be an aggravating experience. However, I would still argue that this phenomenon, instead of being a marker of moral decrepitude of most humanity, represents a gap in the ‘market’. Nobody, who likes movies/books/graphic novels enough to scour the Internet for hours for a pirated copy, would prefer to do so if the ‘real thing’ was available or accessible. I doubt if anyone would prefer reading the e-book to an ‘appropriately priced’ paper-back [the quotes indicate some ridiculous pricing that I come across, which may be due to various editions or whatever- but Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day for Rs 170 and Camus’ 120 page The Stranger for Rs 420? Forgive me for equating sizes but dude!]; and I suspect that most graphic novel lovers would be willing to splurge on them, just to add to their collections, despite having already read them! And you don’t even have to be a movie-lover to know that The Dark Knight would be wasted if you passed up on the chance to see it on Imax.
Of course, there is loss of revenue- there is no denying that. But when you realize, and hopefully the right people do, that a whole bunch of university students in India are absolutely in love with Cobie Smulders, it’s an indication that somebody needs to sell the rights!
I doubt if my arguments are really going to quell concerns or end the debate, which is why I want to come back to my original inspiration. I am absolutely fascinated by MIT’s initiative with Open Courseware and the power that this simple, yet daring, idea holds. The fact that I have access to lectures on Linear Algebra, which I can view when I wish to, with notes, tutorials, exams etc, is just so brilliant! I can only recommend it to more people; particularly those who have detected the onset of intellectual impotence. Rusty graduates, i.i. under-grads, over-achieving high-school students or inquisitive people from all walks of life, can get (re)introduced to diverse subjects from the very best in those fields. The fact that other institutions are also jumping on the band-wagon makes me feel that we are truly on the verge of something phenomenal.
With more and more institutions making tie-ups, willing to open up alternate campuses in India (and Asia at large); with an already complex set of licensing and associations that allows us, indifferent students, access to numerous research publications; with even those indifferent students, easily able to find trivial information on any topic in the world, on say Wiki (which is also written and edited and managed by kindred souls) - I am amazed at this conscious movement to spread knowledge (and not just music, movies, TV shows).
On another note, I wonder- how do MIT students feel about sharing their $100K education with the rest of the world for free? Pretty good, I guess- they are the ones who walk away with the scroll that matters!
No comments:
Post a Comment