communications industry structure, including mass media, advertising, and telephone companies
Providing network infrastructure need not be limited to a choice between the model of public roads and the model of selling soap. The provision of public roads depends on market transactions for a variety of goods (construction worker services, trucks, asphalt, etc). Selling soap depends on a variety of public services (money supply provision, law … Continue reading organizational diversity in information infrastructure
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, recently honored as Bureaucrat of the Month, has identified advertising-funded business models as Microsoft’s top concern: Today, the big phenomenon that we can embrace – the big fat thing for us to think about, embrace, endorse, compete with – is what does ad-funding mean? Whether it is for search, or whether it … Continue reading new frontiers in advertising business models
While human brains and computers are often considered to be general purpose technologies, like any real technology, brains and computers have physical structures and operating designs that generate constraints and imply trade-offs across tasks. A computer program cannot easily read an image containing distorted text, but a human can. Thus requiring blog commenters to pass … Continue reading distributing computing between humans and computers
To help persons find information about communication regulations around the globe, I’ve set up a Google custom search that covers about 380 websites of national communications regulators, government websites, and intergovernmental organizations. These websites are not all in a common language, some are not limited to communications regulation, and some relevant websites may be missing. … Continue reading custom regulatory searches
How has YouTube succeeded? YouTube makes uploading and sharing videos free and easy. It has hosted some popular high-quality clips and stimulated calls for a copyright-brawl-of-the-millennium. These are well-recognized aspects of YouTube. But consider the outpouring of sympathy for Martin. YouTube has also succeeded as an innovative communications service. Social networks and communications services are … Continue reading YouTube's success