Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Will Thingness become Access?

A very, uhm, direct article says "things" are going away.

...the thingness of things is going away. Although music via CD, movies via DVD, and books via print still predominate, the inevitable and inescapable trend is downward. Just ask all of the newspaper publishers. Look at your own life and answer this question: When was the last time you printed out a picture you took with a digital camera? ... I can’t think of an object — a “thing” — that’s more personal and valuable to anyone than a photograph. Yet the thingness of those has vanished.
So, with thingness vanishing, it’s clear that even the thingness of electronic books will disappear too.


I find it difficult to swallow, but smelling of truth. In my online business I sell many more memberships than I sold CDs. And many members don't save even their favourite files, they log on when they want to see them, and expect them to be there.

Is Thingness giving way to Access?

Will books and reading become access/rental rather than owning files?

2 comments:

Stephen A said...

Access can be denied, revoked, forgotten.
or altered

Access is a very asymmetric relationship between the owner and the serf.

eolake said...

Good points.

It's funny how we humans are full of fear of everything, but yet we tend to trust big institutions, we trust banks with all our money, and we (even many pro users) trust Google with our email.

Personally I really do prefer to have my own copies too, though, at least.
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