Shirky, C. (2000) What is P2P… And What Isn’t
Shirky writes that users not adopt applications for the decentralizing benefit, but just decentralize enough so creation or improvement of functions can be realized. But wouldn’t maximum decentralization be a bigger stimulation for creations and improvements?
When you want to decentralize P2P network at maximum, that means everyone had to carry the weight of the P2P network to function at it’s top. All the hardware would be used to maintain the biggest and broadest P2P network. Wouldn’t that stimulate people more for improvements and new creations? When you create, help creating or improve something, everyone would be able to enjoy its benefit. It would stimulate processes that computers have less of a burden, so in the long term, a maximized decentralized network would create a better network environment than a lesser-decentralized network. If this will ever happen is another question.
Rutherford, E. (2000) The P2P Report
Wellman, B. & Boase, J. (2001) A plague of viruses; Biological, Computer and Marketing.
A virus on your computer. It sounds like just another computer metaphor, like a desktop, a file and a window. But Boase and Wellman show in their article that a computer virus has a lot in common with a biological virus. (Unlike some other computer metaphors, like the mouse) They both need people, or their computers, as a host and contact between people, directly or via computers, to spread. Another form of virus uses the same principle according to Boase and Wellman; Viral marketing, sometimes called mouth to mouth advertising. If I had something to sell, how would I use this kind of marketing?
I actually witnessed this kind of marketing in high school. My school was located across the road from a snack bar. On a shiny day I bought an ice-cream, and ate it in front of the school. I noticed that a lot of other kids went to the snack bar to buy an ice-cream as well. The next day I didn’t buy one, and less other people bought an ice-cream. (Trust me it wasn’t the weather) The third day I reported this to the snack-bar owner and said that if he gave me an ice-cream for free, he will eventually sell more of them. He liked my idea, gave me a free ice-cream, and soled more ice-cream than the second day.
The same thing happens with trendsetters; if a popular guy on school wears certain shoes (the host); other people see them (the contact ) and want to have them as well. That would make them cool. The consequence is that within a few months everybody wears these shoes. People like to copy thing from other people. Mostly because they are not confident enough to create their own look. Almost everybody wants to fit in a group. (Even people who want to be off-normal look the same like punkers.)
If I put these two points together I see that if I want to sell something, I should give something away to inspiring people. And then other people want to have it as well. That is the reason why a lot of people buy a simple t-shirt that only has the logo really small on it, like Ralph Lauren, rather than a cheaper t-shirt from an unknown brand.
Another way of using these trendsetters is looking at what they like, and then providing a similar product. Boase and Wellman call people who do this ‘coolhunters’.