Generative.

Zittrain’s
text goes together hand and hand with the articles The Wealth of Networks and “The Long Tail”. Why is this? Looking at the beginning of Zittrain’s reading, the word Generative is being explored and defined. There are five things that’s make something generative which are “leverage, adaptability, ease of mastery, accessibility, and transferability.”[1]. What makes something generative basically is how easily it can be altered, found, explored and shared. In modern days this is very important, especially in the 21st century, in other the words the century of technology. We live in a world where anything and everything can be managed, found and used all through a phone. In Anderson’s article “The Long Tail” we see a good example of the word generative how it is used in today’s society. Anderson makes a point in which in we have the luxury now in days to simply find something such as, a book or movie, on the internet without even having to go to a
Blockbuster or Barnes and Nobel. People prefer to go online to websites to get
these items instead of going out of their way to a store to find these items
and buy them. Not only does this system benefit people’s busy schedules but it
also helps authors and actors popularity. Anderson uses the example of how
Amazon helped Simpsons book Touching the Void become beyond its normal fan base by simply being a recommended book from Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air.The only problem that can be posed from this new age of generative things is the damage that it does to these actual physical stores that are offering the same items. On defense we can say that information is “public”[2]
and is something that needs to be shared.
In Benkler’s, The Wealth of Networks we see the argument that information is
something that needs to be shared. Authors and researches make it their duty to
attach themselves to certain subjects and to share their findings and opinions
to the public for a cost. Although information needs to be circulated, Authors
and researchers sacrifice their time to present issues to the world; therefore,
they need to get a payment for their information and protection through copyright.
This argument brings us back to the topic of generative. The information being
given is at the buyer’s expense to be updated on topics based on what is
popular and needed in today’s society resulting in generative information. It is
important to have generative information because non-generative information
lacks audiences and the possibility to spread information and sources.

[1] Zittrain,
“The Future of the Internet and How to Stop it”. Page 74
[2] Benkler,
The Wealth of Network. Page 8