The internet is truly becoming an open network with the rise of amateur content and open source software. In this talk, Joi Ito takes us through the growth of the internet as an open network in layers to the point where the killer app is now user generated content. Earlier, it was the little guys around the edges of the internet who created the open standards which made the web work, and today it is those same people who fuel it with their creativity. He also shares with us his observations of the remix culture seen on the net.
Joi notes that it is futile to make any attempts to change user behaviour. It is better to observe it and then make a business out of it. He also talks about how people on the internet do not want to be fed content from a handful of sources - they want to create their own content and have a conversation with others at the same time, and that is the revolution we are witnessing today.
Joichi Ito is General Manager of International Operations for Technorati which indexes and monitors blogs and the Chairman of Six Apart Japan the weblog software company. He is on the board of Creative Commons, a non-profit organization which proposes a middle way to rights management, rather than the extremes of the pure public domain or the reservation of all rights. He is a board member of Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers and the Open Source Initiative. He has created numerous Internet companies including PSINet Japan, Digital Garage and Infoseek Japan.
Mr. Ito is recognized by Business Week as one of “Japan’s Net Builders†and by Time Magazine as a member of the Cyber Elite and one of the 50 most influential people in technology. Mr. Ito was also selected by the World Economic Forum as one of its “Global Leaders for Tomorrow†in 2002. He is a frequent government advisor and a regular on Japanese television.
More about Joi Ito on his personal site.
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Photo: Joi Ito