Comments on: First principles part 2: Online

By: Andrew Dubber: Toasters and hairdryers all over again

Andrew Dubber: Toasters and hairdryers all over again — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:28:49 +0000

[...] short: 1) the internet is like electricity; 2) individual pieces of software that use the internet (browsers, email clients, iTunes, etc) are [...]

By: Like hairdryers for the internet by Andrew Dubber

Like hairdryers for the internet by Andrew Dubber — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:18:43 +0000

[...] an excerpt from an article I wrote a while back which explains what I mean when I say the Internet is like electricity. One really helpful way to think about the internet is to consider it as analogous to electricity. [...]

By: Guy Cohen

Guy Cohen — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:56:16 +0000

> explain what I mean when I say the word Ã¢â‚¬ËœonlineÃ¢â‚¬â„¢

Hmmm that’s a simple thing to say, but a hard thing to accurately quantify. It’s also a changing beast. As technology evolves and more things get connected to the internet, I think the definition of what is “online” is going to change.

With the advent of IPv6 there will be more than enough possible ip addresses to give everything in the world an IP address. From memory it works out at 50,000 IP addresses for every square metre of the planets surface!

I look forward to coming back in 5 years time and seeing if your definition has changed already. ;-)

By: Marc Chapter 9

Marc Chapter 9 — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:03:18 +0000

Fantastic. Now that everything is possible, let’s see what happens!

By: Chris Bolton

Chris Bolton — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:13:29 +0000

Thanks for another great post Andrew. You have a deft and calming way of cutting to the quick. I anxiously await your next installment.

Chris

CD baby Podcast

By: Steve Purdham

Steve Purdham — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:05:22 +0000

Hi Andrew,
Agree with many of your points especially the point of “the people with the most at stake are having difficulty seeing the changes for what they are”. With my involvement with We7 I continue to get frustrated with the industry trying to created future economic structure around the current visible technological deliveries. It has to be bought back to the consumer and the fact that to them its the fact they want music in the form they want it when they want it.

Streaming/Downloading are just digital deliveries which will be masked within the near future as far as the consumer is concened

Cheers
Steve Purdham , CEO We7

By: » Sunday blogroll; Ch-Ch-ch-changes… ControlRoom - Mixin’ it with Dr. J

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 22:32:09 +0000

[...] bloggers are pointing to the end of the record labels.Ã‚ I read with interest the post about “Digital is more than just the Internet“Ã‚ from New Music Strategies.Ã‚ The point is well taken;Ã‚ –the industry was not [...]

By: Justin Boland

Justin Boland — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:22:22 +0000

I would certainly prefer the concrete to the theoretical. It’s been a good two years since I was swimming around in McLuhan, I just need to go back and get myself refreshed. Thanks for the response.

By: Dubber

Dubber — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:08:26 +0000

Hmm… haven’t touched on the tetrad here for a number of reasons (I seem to remember it took me 40,000 words to get some clarity on that in my dissertation), but since we’re on the topic, I actually think it’s incredibly useful and applicable — not because it gives you the answer but because it provokes and reveals new and more nuanced ways of considering the problems.

And I guess that’s kind of what I’m trying to do here — at least with this section: to try and give a frame through which to view the issues of the online music environment, and provoke creative and imaginative responses, rather than use a formula to prescribe a solution.

I use the tetrad almost subconsciously these days, simply to be on the lookout for unintended consequences of changes in technology as they’re presented. And I could, I suppose, go into an explanation if the NMS readership is interested, but I did imagine this quick whistle-stop tour through media ecology to just provide a quick underpinning before going onto more directly observable matters. Like what to do with your MySpace page.

Happy to go either way — or both.

By: Justin Boland

Justin Boland — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:00:18 +0000

Perhaps this is wandering, but have you found anything that breaks McLuhan’s tetrad down into something more…applicable? Useful? Is it just a tool for analysis of the climate as a whole, or can it be used for specific planning?