Upon reading the two articles We Are the Web by Kevin Kelly and Open Source Paradigm Shift by Tim O’Reilly, I have somewhat of an understanding of the hype that is being associated with the public participation that is breeding web growth. The more elementary of the two articles was the one by Kevin Kelly. Perhaps, elementary is not the right terminology; the article is not as technical as O’Reilly’s. Overall, I felt that Wikipedia provided as an example encompassed exactly what both articles were really getting at. At first, commentary about the evolution of OS technology and IPOs, made the articles appear to be written in a foreign language. Ironically, with the help of Wikipedia, I was able to search the terms that were unfamiliar and click the linked terms that required further understanding. The pinnacle of ideas presented in Kelly’s article was that of “…the most powerful invention of the decade.” (2005) – The link. Supported in O’Reilly’s article was the power of open source as spear heading a paradigm shift; Open source referred to as, “part of a communications revolution designed to maximize the free sharing of ideas expressed in code” (2004). Wikipedia is an archive that is obviously both extremely intertwined by links and saturated by participatory input of information and data. Both authors collaborate arguments resulting in an argument on behalf of an observable paradigm shift. This shift being perpetuated by the efforts to breed a web built, strengthened and sustained by the public input.
I felt as though I was really handicapped in understanding what exactly the Articles were expressing. O’Reilly went into detail about his theory that open source is an “expression of three deep, long-term trends” (2004): commoditization of software, network-enabled collaboration and software customizability. In my rudimentary vocabulary I understood this as the following:
a.) Commoditization as the interchangeable part of the web building world. The Internet hinges on shared protocols. Web servers are swappable because them implement HTTP protocol and HTML data format. The public drives the standardization in defense of the threat of monopoly that is codependent on big corporations that must keep up with public input into rewriting, adding and altering code. O’Reilly concludes software itself as no longer the centerfold of value in the computer industry. He illustrates that the commodization of software as being the driver of the value of services bustled by the software.
b.) Collaboration: HTML opened civic participation to anyone having access to the web. Software developers were not the only key to the explosion of the web, public usage and input was. O’Reilly pointed to Ebay, Amazon, Google and Mapquest as the prime examples of participatory media and the massive network effects.
c.) Customizability: Fusion and the meshing of boundaries between various communication technology and consumer devices relies on software that is not rooted in one spot. It is so obvious that in the new era of participatory media and the web is demonstrating an evolution of value. O’Reilly says, “…things that were once kept for private advantage are now shared freely, and things that were once thought incidental become the locus of enormous value” (2004). Open source advocates view sharing of code with all as a strengthener of the communications technology industry and obviously beneficial to all.
The paradigm expressed in each article as similar and more and more like that of a science. A science of Internet usage, that is evolutionary in history and birthing new creations and abilities daily. That which the Internet has developed into, is reason for both authors to note the pitfalls on not learning from the history of Internet to its contemporary evolution. Kelly features so many ideas in his article that capture the essence of the lessons here; bottom-up, participant media, the audience, open source software movement and linking. All referencing to the power invested in the Internet nourished by the user or the participant. Kelly concludes his article with a reflection on what the future of the Internet may hold. He calls Internet users “prosumers”, people who produce and use information or products synonymously. He feels that the Web is the prime candidate of reaching artificial intelligence and is gaining the faculties from human input that will allow it to become an Anticipation Machine.
