With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice. But these results are by no means inevitable: a systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of today’s emerging networked information environment.
In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing—and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves. He describes the range of legal and policy choices that confront us and maintains that there is much to be gained—or lost—by the decisions we make today.
Wealth of Networks Remains Relevant Despite Rapid ChangeNovember 18, 2009 eseongj First published 2 months before Twitter was publicly launched, Yochai Benkler's Wealth of Networks hit stores in May of 2006, but still provides a startlingly accurate picture of today's 2009 world. In a world where Facebook, YouTube, and MySpace receive over 250 million unique visitors every month, where traditional advertising revenue is in double-digit decline, where 95% of all songs downloaded last year weren't paid for, and where Wikipedia has 13 million articles in 200 hundred different languages--it is clear that old ways of creating and disseminating information are breaking down and being replaced. Wealth of Networks provides a lucid analysis of this upheaval and the competing forces struggling with in it, as well as elucidating the consequences that might result from dominance by just one of these forces.
In Wealth of Networks Yochai Benkler discusses the emergence of a new "networked information economy" that breaks much from earlier industrial modes of production. The rise of technology innovation in creation, distribution, and storage of digital information creates an environment more conducive to the rise of effective non-market, non-proprietary forms of production. Benkler sees the shift provided by the falling marginal costs of creating, distributing, and storing informational goods as an opportunity to rethink the institutional structure by which the information economy is governed. Rather than attempting to harness these changes that fly in the face of conventional economic logic, Benkler advocates opening ourselves to the potential provided by peer production, and a commons based approach to the information economy. He argues that there are both economic and social benefits to the emergence of a significant non-market space in the information economy, but cautions that existing intellectual property laws could serve to retard this growth. Based on his belief that the rise of non-proprietary models will enable greater personal autonomy, personal freedom, expanded political democracy, and more extensive cultural transparency, he advocates for the creation of an institutional structure that will support the emergence of an increasingly non-market informational economy.
Benkler's argument gains strength by utilizing arguments based on both economic efficiency and on normative social desirability. Benkler demonstrates that a commons based and not proprietary approach to informational goods may result in increased efficiency because it reduces the cost to future innovation. He points out that extensive licensing may limit future advancement because so much of informational technological growth relies upon work that has come before. Moreover, he explains that this commons based approach will result in a more equitable distribution of informational goods in the future. Not only will it encourage future innovation in advanced societies, having low-cost informational products will enable lesser developed nations to access key informational goods enabling them to address issues of specific relevance in their nations. He uses the development of medical treatments for diseases plaguing the 3rd world as an example of this by pointing out that in a proprietary model the economic incentives for 1st world pharmaceutical companies to research these is minimal, and that the cost for 3rd world companies or non-profits to do so on their own is prohibitive. A frequent criticism of an informational commons argument based only on reason of equity is that it would be economically detrimental to the major pharmaceutical companies. Thus, by addressing the economic efficiency component as well as social benefit Benkler provides a much stronger and multi-faceted argument.
Benkler clearly articulates the benefits of the networked information economy, but spends very little time on the costs. His prognosis seems positive when viewed from the light of personal freedom and democracy, but for those of us who do have some concern over money the issue of what will happen to the information based economies of the developed world remains somewhat fuzzy. If the model of non-proprietary production comes to dominate it seems it will result in a tremendous transfer of wealth out of the monetarily based market. Will we reap the benefits of increased democracy, and more ability to function autonomously only at the cost of a downward change in our standard of living? How will we replace the monetary value lost to the non-proprietary market? Benkler basically ignores these questions because he is much more concerned with answering questions about the normative social costs and benefits, as well as refuting claims that information is not efficiently produced in a non-proprietary system. However, it seems that there are very real economic implications in terms of monetary cost that would result in significantly shrinking the industrial information economy, and Benkler could have benefited by acknowledging this problem even if it were just in a brief nod to the wrenching effects they may have.
In conclusion I highly recommend Yochai Benkler's Wealth of Networks because it hits upon the core tensions at the center of the modern informational revolution that is occurring and still rings uncannily true despite the rapid changes that have occurred in the years since its publication. While it lacks acknowledgment of the monetary cost adopting an information commons approach might exact this is largely due to the face that Benkler is more concerned with non-monetary social gain, and in this arena Benkler mounts an impressive, detailed, and incredibly persuasive argument. In many ways this book reads as a call to action with Benkler reminding us to be vigilant because in this moment of transition the choices we make will decide much more than the future of copyright, but the future of our own freedom, and even the future of democracy the world over.
An Encyclopedia: as informative and as exciting.April 28, 2009 Gregory Ferenstein(California) 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Wealth of Networks is a good read for anyone interested in reading one painstakingly encompassing book about new trends in networked organization (wikipedia, open source, globalization, etc.). It covers every major theory and example in the literature.
That said, it reads like an academic journal. The author spends a great deal of time carefully categorizing concepts into typologies, many of which don't matter unless you like arguing semantics.
Recommended for anyone who reads theory for recreation. For everyone else, I'd go with "Crowdsourcing".
Makes a powerful caseMarch 11, 2009 Trevor Burnham(Ann Arbor, MI) This academic treatise is long, but never dry or overly technical. Benkler fills it with fascinating examples of intellectual property law gone awry. His argument is not that copyrights, trademarks and patents should be abolished, but that they must be reexamined and refined in the Internet age, rather than ramped up ad infinitum to the point that ordinary people are painted as criminals. Benkler argues that mechanisms designed to encourage innovation under very different economic conditions often hamper innovation today. This book is a more intellectual complement to Laurence Lessig's lighter fare, such as Free Culture.
Unfortunately, Benkler rarely puts his arguments in explicit terms, making it difficult to parse the implications of what he's saying. He seems to be advocating a much larger role for government in some areas; for instance, after making the bizarre claim that newspapers don't require copyright protection (on the specious grounds that they take in little revenue from licensing their content), he then holds up the BBC as an ideal media establishment. The implication would seem to be that he thinks of nationalization as an acceptable solution to the plight of our newspapers; but surely there is a difference between a public institution that competes with private media, versus a government monopoly on media? But before Benkler can grapple with this, he's moved on to another subject. Although I agree with Benkler's broader argument, many of his specific claims are just frustrating.
Note that the entire book is available freely at its official website, where it can be found both in PDF format and as a public wiki for people to discuss passages in detail.
A compelling argumentFebruary 16, 2009 A. Diaz-andrade(Auckland, New Zealand) Benkler presents in a compelling way the multiplier effect of having individuals participating in a network. They are able to share resources - both tangible (e.g., hardware) and intangible (e.g., skills) - to create innovative products and services. His argument challenges the traditional assumption that the individual acts only if she/he anticipate an extrinsic benefit as a consequence of her/his actions (i.e., rational choice theory). And he does good job in presenting well-documented examples how some individuals act for the sake of sharing/creating knowledge, mobilising like-minded people or just having fun.
I think, however, that the copyright discussion should have been strengthened.
The Wealth of Networks: Worth the read, despite shortcomingsAugust 17, 2008 Christy(Seattle, WA) 0 out of 3 found this review helpful
"How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom" is an apt subheading for "The Wealth of Networks" by Yochai Benkler. The book encompasses topics as broad as the name suggests.
The five-hundred page book provides a sweeping take on networks, covering nearly everything from the history of radio to the future of information law and policy. The dense Introduction may take readers several days to wade through, but offers the core messages of the book, compacted into twenty-eight pages. After breaking further into the book, the weight is lifted as the author's ideas are presented more freely, with space dedicated to supplementary explanations and examples.
The Wealth of Networks is a book worth reading and provides a respectable overview of many topics, with an array of perspectives to consider. Benkler presents his viewpoints nicely. A few points of contention for the reader can be seen in occasionally repetitious or presumptuous statements that break the flow of reading. In addition, the stand-alone style of each chapter is suggestive of a lesson plan for teachers.
To his credit, Benkler does well to ensure that his stance on each issue is quite clear; it is evident that he is a liberal proponent of freedoms and rights: "Freedom--the freedom to speak, but also to be free from manipulation and to be cognizant of many and diverse options--inheres in this (networked environment) radically greater diversity of information, knowledge, and culture through which to understand the world and imagine how one could be" (p. 168). "The increasing feasibility of nonmarket, nonproprietary production of information, knowledge, and culture, and of communications and computation capacity holds the promise of increasing the degree of autonomy for individuals in the networked information economy" (p. 174).
Despite pushing the agenda of his own political lens, Benkler does a fair job of offering both sides of his arguments. He does not just force his ideas on his reader, but rather gives an analysis of opposing views in order to prove why he believes his points ought to prevail. For example, on page 233, Benkler clearly outlines the five basic critiques about the Internet as a tool for democratization, and proceeds on page 237 with: "The remainder of this chapter is devoted to responding to these critiques, providing a defense of the claim that the Internet can contribute to a more attractive liberal public sphere." On page 271 he responds with a diplomatic answer to the critiques: "The first generation of statements that the Internet democratizes was correct but imprecise." He continues with: "The network allows all citizens to change their relationship to the public sphere. They no longer need be consumers and passive spectators. They can become creators and primary subjects. It is in this sense that the Internet democratizes."(p. 272).
With ideas repeated throughout the book, each chapter could stand alone - a benefit to an instructor looking to teach just one portion of the book. However, from a leisure reader's perspective, such redundancies can interrupt the flow of reading. For example, Chapter 6, page 199, states "The Sinclair Broadcast Group is one of the largest owners of television broadcast stations in the United States" and Chapter 7, page 220, states "Sinclair, which owns major television stations..." Such repetitions may cause readers to feel disoriented and pause to determine if they are accidentally re-reading a chapter, because the ideas were recently addressed and are still top-of-mind. This repetitive manner makes the chapters ideal for teachers who may want to teach just one section; otherwise, the repetition disrupts the flow of the book.
Another disruption to the flow of reading is Benkler's occasional use of broad or all-assuming statements. Despite his qualitative examples, Benkler sometimes uses statements that seem unfounded, or too general to be stated in the factual manner he uses. Benkler's "universals" may cause a reader to pause in order to consider the validity of such statements, and question what research or qualifications led Benkler to make such assertions. The following three sentences offer examples.
First: "The rise of global information economic structures and relationships affect human beings everywhere" (p. 19). Second: "This causes the person offered the money either to believe the offerer, and thereby lose self-esteem and reduce effort, or to resent him and resist the offer" (p. 94). Third: "The practice of producing culture makes us all more sophisticated readers, viewers, and listeners, as well as more engaged makers" (p. 275).
These definitive statements about "human beings everywhere," the instigators of personal resentment and self-esteem, and conditions that "make us all more sophisticated" are presumptuous and unsupported. The accumulation of such unfounded "facts" may cause readers to pause, thereby breaking the flow of reading.
In conclusion, despite the foregoing shortcomings of some statements and structure, The Wealth of Networks is a work worth reading. Benkler offers insights into a broad range of topics and makes his points by presenting opposing views, thus providing readers with both sides of the issue at hand. I would recommend this book, but forewarn readers that it can be a lengthy read at times.
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