Generative Systems and the Media

This week’s readings focused on the generative nature of certain sites and software’s. According to Zittrain, a system is generative if it has five key characteristics: leverage, adaptability, ease of mastery, accessibility, and transferability.

Zittrain points out that other things besides technology can be generative. Household items such as knives, duct tape and even legos are generative. Basically, they have more than one function versus products that only perform specific tasks. I think its important to understand that generative systems started before the Internet. Even games such as cards are generative.  The development of technology as generative tools derives from people’s want for ease of use and transferability for all products in their lives.

I think this ideal transferred into technology because of people’s wants for possibilities.  Based on this want, the Internet formed and made itself accessible, useful, and generally easy for most users. Zittrain also refers later to Wikipedia and its transition into a more generative program.  Through discussion boards information could be updated and corrected. Sites and systems change to fit the public’s desires.

Zittrain mentions AT&T and how it became a monopoly and forbid consumers and companies to expand on their initial ideas. Also, AOL suffered from this as well. Both banned interference of others and made their product fail in the end.

The Long Tail article helps show that things that go unnoticed matter and can become more popular from another persons’ work. Amazon’s recommendation list caused something that was released a decade later to affect Simpson’s novel.

 As Anderson states, this is part of the new economic model with the media becoming more of a factor. Through the websites feature, something that was almost out of print, is given a new life.

Through Anderson’s article, we see that the media (the Internet, specifically) broadens  the horizon for the future but also past entities to become more popular. Connecting this to Zittrain, the models in which people get information become more generative, and therefore they become more useful for Internet users.