13 > “But if it is gold, that will mean my quest is finished! I'll be rich! I'll never be the same again! Will clean air smell any sweeter? Will sunny days be ever brighter? Will starry nights hold any more wonder? Or will I lose all that? Do I really want to be... rich?”
15 Don Rosa, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, The King of the Klondike
21 Public authorities see culture as an attractive sector
22 that, thanks to the low cost of “production”, can achieve
23 high rate of return. They are also guided by the principle
24 that the cultural offer should be verified by the market, without the state interfering in the citizens’ choices. The intermediaries in the circulation of culture are
25 scattered, there being no dominant hubs of content or
26 services dedicated “to everyone”.
29 1. Society - structure and shared values
30 ----------------------------------------
32 In this scenario, we are all lonely islands - the most important is the individual, her civil rights and self-realization, especially in the economic dimension, which defines
33 social status. Immediately afterwards is the small community one belongs to, which identifies the individual.
34 The state does not conduct policies aimed at increasing
35 the social capital of the community. The society is hierarchical, but there is no dramatic income inequality.
37 The need for cooperation is implemented in small communities such as religious groups or activism of any
38 kind. Charity is also developed, “fishing rod, not a fish”,
39 an action that allows others to stand on their own feet,
40 being preferred, however.
42 There is no defined model of a successful life. People
43 live in small communities, each of them having its own
44 value system, and within them they fulfill their cultural
45 needs. Culture here serves building local identity. The
46 shared view is however that the determinant of success is high economic status, and the responsibility for
47 the failure to reach this status falls on the individual.
49 In the moral, cultural and religious sphere there is full
50 freedom - any kind of relationship, the strangest taste or most exotic confession can be accepted, on one
51 condition: within one’s community.
53 As in any community with market-oriented or consumer-oriented attitude, there is also a large area of rebellion against defining one’s success solely in terms
54 of economic profit and critique of development understood solely as an increase in GDP. There a pattern
55 of a successful life is understood as self-fulfillment in
58 The raging force of creative users-makers is the glue
59 that binds this society. Although artists act as separate archipelagos, or in their small niches, they still have
60 prospects for self-fulfillment, a purpose, and successful
61 life. At the same time the multiplicity of often conflicting values in these acts of creation and consumption
62 of culture means that the social fabric is susceptible to
66 2. Economics of culture and the creative sector
67 -----------------------------------------------
69 The market includes a lot of actors - in the name of real
70 free market the state prevents them from clinging to
71 monopolies and oligopolies, and thus gaining unjustified privileges or forming price fixings. The basis of the
72 economy are small and medium-sized businesses, operating on the local market (or sometimes on the global
73 market if they find a global niche). Consumers are attached to traditional brands and loyal to them - otherwise they would get lost in the plethora of offers. Due
74 to such a large selection of goods and services and the
75 lack of vertical integration, consumers cannot rely on
76 convenience. In exchange they gain a humanizing contact with their service providers.
78 In models of cultural consumption a lot of new innovations and rapid changes in models of participation are
79 possible- provided that a given innovation can be realized at low cost.
81 The multitude of business models of the markets of culture means that there are also a lot of models of participation. On the one hand, the user has at her disposal
82 self-sufficient “walled gardens” (applications, devices in
83 which they operate), dedicated to those who can afford to
84 use them. She will find in them everything she needs, and
85 what is comfortable. On the other hand, there is the growing importance of non-commercial circulation. Thanks
86 to the low level of compliance and copyright protection
87 (because the government does not want and cannot control strictly the communication between users) the availability of resources on the Web one can use and modify
88 contributes to the creative boom of users-prosumers.
90 Artists who enjoy high status are craftsmen-entrepreneurs, the class of cultural service providers. They produce advertisements, visual identifications for companies, advertising campaigns, posters, design objects for
91 3D printers. Besides, they do not have too much work:
92 the state does not subsidize authors and there are no
93 great employers such as media companies. Therefore,
94 if someone is not able to find work in the commercial
95 sector, she is forced to retrain.
97 The third sector is underdeveloped and it does not function as a major sponsor of culture - there are several foundations that sponsor the arts, but it is more related to
98 their educational activities.
100 Some hope for the author can be private patronage, but
101 it is an offer for a limited group of artists. Furthermore,
102 being paid by a rich sponsor has its price. Patrons will
103 not leave one free hand, they want to have an impact
104 on what they pay for. They prefer not subversive art; fashionable, comprised within the limits of what is currently allowed. If it is not bourgeois, it is certainly not crazy.
105 It is relatively easy, however, to collect a small amount
106 through crowdfunding.
108 The real creative ferment may be found on the Web, where both user-prosumer and amateur artist can be sure
109 that their work will not be appropriated by big media companies or removed in the name of protecting copyright.
111 There is no social security system that would support
112 professional artists socially. Individual professional groups have their pension funds, but only some artists earn
113 enough to receive sufficient pension when they retire.
116 3. Situation of artists of critical or “high” art
117 -------------------------------------------------
119 In this scenario there is no mainstream or canon, but
120 freedom of choice as to content and its creation. High
121 volume work, such as opera or high-budget movie, is
122 hardly possible, however - it would be very difficult to
123 raise money for such a project. The success of high art
124 is only possible within a niche.
126 Critical art in the classic sense of the term is marginalized because there are no mechanisms that would allow this kind of authors exist among the general public
127 - neither sponsors nor canon, in which such art is valued highly. It has moved to “pits”, to the inexhaustible
128 multitude of user-prosumers blessed with the privilege of total creative freedom. If their activity faces barriers they usually concern reaching the audience. The
129 range of this type of critical works is rather limited to
130 a narrow range of users who share concerns and ideals of the author.
136 The educational offer is diverse and stratified. The vocational education is supported and controlled by the
137 state, because the state believes the release onto the
138 market of skilled workers is its primary goal in education. The state is also investing in educational resources rearing flexible workers and consumers - they are
139 free of charge, but not necessarily free.
141 In addition, there function local schools maintained by
142 religious organizations, parents’ councils, local authorities and various foundations. The educational framework formed by the state being very liberal, they teach
143 what they consider appropriate.
145 It is believed that everyone “carries a marshall’s baton
146 in his pack”, and can make a career if her talent is complemented by hard work. Promotion, however, means
147 the loss of cultural identity, because each social group
148 produces its own hermetic identity.
151 5. The impact of technology on the consumption of culture
152 ---------------------------------------------------------
154 Embarras de choix. The user has at her disposal a lot
155 of services and diverse content. Everyone will find an
156 offer tailored to her needs - specialization can be very
157 narrow. The problem is to reach that appropriate content; hence the demand for services such as aggregating
158 human-filters and people-routers intermediating in
159 different ways in the circulation of culture.
161 Users-prosumers generate content for themselves and
162 “close others”, hence it is difficult for virals of truly global reach. Those who manage to exist more broadly are
163 universal, i.e. appeal to emotions or common to all humanity mono-myths, and therefore can be easily read
164 by people with different cultural background. Because
165 in this scenario in place of technological barriers there
166 appears the mental barrier - the limit for the free spread of content is the identity of individual communities
167 with their different value systems.
169 Innovation is possible by eliminating the need for means of production (thanks to the marriage of digital
170 software with tools local workshops are able to do almost everything), but constrained by the lack of funds
171 for research and development in sectors that require
179 {{ pozycja("authors", 2) }}
181 Because no one - neither media companies nor the state - are able to control the dissemination of content published in violation of copyright, the copyright loses its significance. Authors earn little on royalties, making money
182 at the time of commissioning works to the contracting authority (first-sale), on the events that sell one’s direct presence, or on crowdfunding. In this
183 scenario collective management organizations loose their significance, and
184 the duration and scope of copyright shorten. Authors will neither be poor nor
185 make millions on bestsellers.
188 {{ pozycja("users", 3) }}
190 There are no strong lobbies of intermediaries, which would limit users’ access to content or monetize it. The scope of fair use is wide, because the state wants the economy and innovation level to profit on it. So also the users
191 benefit. P2P networks blossom, because a large part of the population can
192 not afford access to the commercial circulation of culture. Remixes and other
193 forms of derived works are popular.
196 {{ pozycja("intermediaries", 1) }}
198 They are unable to accumulate capital and create global corporations, nor to
199 control the circulation of content. They earn on the skillful delivery of content
200 to niches; they also use a broad definition of fair use to create new services
201 on a free basis (public domain or free licenses).
fnp / static.git / blob