Data is Free

Jack Shafer at Slate argues that the newspaper industry has long been attuned to new technology, that they were on the forefront of the Web, and therefore the industry deserves a break.

He's right. Anyone who calls newspaper industry execs dumb for "missing" the Web is a fool. The people I know in the paper biz are some of the smartest people I've ever met. The papers didn't miss the web, they just have the wrong model.

But buried in Shafer's article is a terrific description of the difference between generative and non-generative technology.

• Nongenerative technologies can't be tinkered with or otherwise improved by outsiders.
• Generative technologies such as the PC, on the other hand, invite improvement by outsiders, making them more and more useful to users as time passes—and often more useful in ways that the original designers never would have imagined.

Traditional businesses are 100% nongenerative. Nothing more nongenerative than your morning paper, for example. The challenge for all businesses going forward will be to strike a balance between the nongenerative and generative. Just enough IP to sell and to protect, but otherwise open and encouraging for others to add value.