Out of the box – Freescale: How free models scale in the world of information

Abstract

In the physical sciences, as complex systems approach a phase transition (a change in a feature of a physical system that results in a discrete transition of that system to another state), there is an abundance of micro-events and new signals. There is evidence of a similar turbulence in the fusion of digital technology and publishing. As observers and participants, the hardest part of this is not in chronicling the changes but in recognizing the emerging patterns in order to make predictions for the future. As technology develops, it presents new options for content in a digital world and potential opportunities grow exponentially. However, the sustaining growth factors do not lie in technology, but lie with the economics of the markets and the ecology of adoption. Using the recent history of the Encyclopaedia Britannica as a template I present the three Internets – of People, of Things and the Social Internet. These three Internets enable different market phenomena: growing demand, improving efficiency, transforming production. Recognizing this difference is to see the future of the library amidst the declining economics of the printed world. There is optimism, but only once we abandon a fixation on books and, as a profession, we re-think production in a socially connected digital world.