One of the guys who were discussing what "the American version of The Office" meant, and how the survivors from Lost got to where they were, also said, not necessarily in the context of TV:
Discovery does not equal creation.
I immediately thought of the Web 2.0 equivalent: "sharing does not equal creation". Discuss.
I think sharing creates some
Richard — Mon, 2007-02-12 21:41I think sharing creates some things: it often creates links between people and ideas; it creates by increasing the likelihood of discovery (serendipity); and it often creates the increase (or, widens the distribution) of knowledge. In the best article from his excellent weblog, Fred Stutzman argues that sharing can create:
I don't have much of a problem with that argument, I just wonder how significant is a creation when it's simply something we share. Taking his playlist example, the amount of effort it takes me to share to the world what my digital music player of choice plays, which is approaching--but not quite touching--zero (I did have to install and configure the software, but that's a sunk cost). Maybe I just consider remixing and tagging and mashups to be so easy that as new creations they don't hold as much value as something built from the ground up, or at least built from the layer below. I realize creativity needs to be conceptualized as building upon the work of others, but bookmarking something is not the same, in either quality or quantity, as the article that the person bookmarked, i.e. something that was researched and took time and effort to write.
I think that's what I was getting at with the thought, that it's nice to share something, but that sharing is nowhere near equal to the creative work itself.
No, sharing doesn't equal
Karen — Sat, 2007-02-10 06:56No, sharing doesn't equal creation - sharing is sharing. Creation has to be from those people taking action as individuals or collectively as a result of that sharing. I think the nature of some of the Web2.0 tries to bake that right into the experience of using a webapp - tagging is the obvious example, where it can be taken to be a feature both for personal use and creating a community knowledge resource. But I daresay that some of these features lose a bit of their fun when we find out that it's only for ourselves.
That's like assuming that sharing space equals creation. (Creepy!) What's the difference between waiting room and a conference? Well, at some conferences that don't have the right atmosphere, none. The onus remains on the individual to be conference-friendly or waiting room-y. Atmospheres are created in both; whether as individuals those atmospheres are things we want to further develop, remain our responsibility.
Or maybe I didn't understand the question. :P