Comments on: The problem with advertising https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-problem-with-advertising/2011/06/24 Researching, documenting and promoting peer to peer practices Fri, 24 Jun 2011 23:43:11 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.15 By: Lori https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-problem-with-advertising/2011/06/24/comment-page-1#comment-485345 Fri, 24 Jun 2011 23:43:11 +0000 http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/?p=17204#comment-485345 While some advertising contains some useful information, it is almost never information available nowhere else. And the low signal-to-noise ratio of advertising (let alone the relentless repetition of the message) makes it informational garbage by any yardstick. Plus it degrades the SNR of any information stream it “sponsors.” When I first encountered cyberspace (particularly Usenet) back in 1991, what amazed me most about it (even more than the fast, cheap and easy access to people overseas) was the proof-of-concept for communication functioning independently of advertising. I knew it was too good to be true, and the development of the Internet since the mid-1990’s has proceeded almost exactly as I would have predicted. Basically, it’s become a sort of technological arms race. We obtain technology to tune them out, and they obtain technology to deliver their pseudo-content in more “in-your-face” ways than I, at least, could have even imagined. It looks to me to be an Iron Law of Economics, but I certainly wish you well with promoting your admirable minimalist values.

]]> By: Tom Griffin https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-problem-with-advertising/2011/06/24/comment-page-1#comment-485343 Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:42:08 +0000 http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/?p=17204#comment-485343 I guess this is happening already, but should the open source movement be thinking about the importance of creating open-source (un)brands, using creative commons or other suitable licenses to ensure they could not be privatised. There needs to be a range of different materials, logos etc, attached to various licenses reflecting the various kinds of ‘open’ production, so that producers could use those materials to identify their own products and cross-market the movement as a whole.

Obviously, the creative commons logo itself is an example of this, and I’m sure there are many others, but a lot more could be done, maybe through design competitions, curating materials etc.

The internet commons is a pretty awesome meme-generator. Can it compete with corporate advertising in a strategic way?

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