Age of information overload

CNN.com- Dec 26, 2005

This article brings up two points that we as a society are going to have to figure out. The first, as the title states, is information overload. How many of you feel as if you can't keep up with everything you need and want to do online? I am having trouble with it, especially because I'm suffering from severe eyestrain from looking at the screen. So much of what I need to do - paying bills, working on my book, writing and contributing to many blogs, research, shopping, communicating with my friends - are done on the computer. This situation is a little more extreme in my case because of my disability and my geographical location, but I see signs of it in other people, too. We not only need to learn how to process all tis information, we need to adapt the technologies to accomodate the limits of human vision.

The next problem is access. ALL MEDIA MEMBERS, LISTEN UP! You are NOT going to stop technology. Information is now digital. Deal with it. Make it easier for casual users to access copyrighted material, get contracts in place with online stores like iTunes and Amazon.com, so stop suing everybody. Put your energy into finding ways to adapt your art - whether visual, musical or literary - to the digital age.

There's no earthly reason why a blogger shouldn't be able to fill out an online form, pay 25 cents or so, and get the rights to post a picture or newspaper article without hassle. If the Copyright Office had any brains, they'd find a group of computer science majors to set this up - it ain't brain surgery.

People wanting to enjoy and share your work is a glorious thing - what you've always dreamed of, the very reason you became a writer or singer or painter. Don't dampen their enthusiasm by acting like a greedy, Luddite asshole. (Ahem - Lars, are you listening?) Make it easier. Artists are supposed to be populist.

You've got a way to reach the masses now, so do it. Lighten up, make it accessible, lower the price to reflect the fact that you don't have to print or distribute anything (ahem, audible.com...) and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Most people will pay for content if you make it easily accessible. It won't kill you if a couple of 13 year old kids get a free copy of your stuff. It's not like no one ever recorded a song off the radio, or kept a library book before the iPod came out. Consider it pro-bono work - your contribution to the greater society. As long as they give you credit, you benefit.

I want every kid on the planet to have a little 5 x 8 inch machine that can access every book, dictionary, encyclopedia, newspaper and magazine ever written, every song, lecture or speech ever recorded, send email for free all over the planet, write a book, take a picture, record a movie and let them call mom to tell her what time they'll be home for dinner. (Assuming, of course, that we've used all this awesome technology to feed and clothe everyone first. We have the technology, so what's the hold up?)

We could be on the verge of a new era of equality, education, empathy and enlightenment greater than any other time in recorded history. The record companies, the politicians, the publishing houses and the Lars Ulrichs of the world are holding us back. Rich people and corporations are freaking out because they are losing their monopolies on money made from the toil of artists. It's time to shake off the shackles of the ruling classes and do it for ourselves. No artist needs to be an indentured servant any more. Why be bound to produce "marketable" work by people who know nothing about art? Why let the middle man get between you and your audience? Why accept limits in the one realm - art - that should have no limits?

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In the mean time, I have to figure out how to keep up with it all, and what to do with it once I have it. My iPod is brimming with stuff I'll probably never see again...