The wealth of networks : how social production transforms markets and freedom / Yochai Benkler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Benkler, Yochai.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Information society.

Information networks.

Computer networks--Social aspects.

Computer networks.

Computer networks--Economic aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (528 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice. But these results are by no means inevitable: a systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of today's emerging networked information environment.In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing-and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves. He describes the range of legal and policy choices that confront us and maintains that there is much to be gained-or lost-by the decisions we make today.

Contents:

Introduction: a moment of opportunity and challenge

The networked information economy

Some basic economics of information production and innovation

Peer production and sharing

The economics of social production

The political economy of property and commons

Individual freedom: autonomy, information, and law

Political freedom part 1: the trouble with mass media

Political freedom part 2: emergence of the networked public sphere

Cultural freedom: a culture both plastic and critical

Justice and development

Social ties: networking together

Policies of freedom at a moment of transformation

The battle over the institutional ecology of the digital environment

Conclusion: the stakes of information law and policy.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 475-490) and index.

ISBN:

9786611740801

9781281740809

1281740802

9780300127232

0300127235

OCLC:

952732089