Darknet: Why online commons are besting the mainstream media: “Why online commons are besting the mainstream media

From the ever-thoughtful author-blogger David Bollier at OntheCommons.org:

When I look at the online world these days, I feel like I’m watching one of those old nature films in which an unseen narrator excitedly whispers as a baby bird miraculously pecks its way through the eggshell and announces itself to the world. Who is this fragile new creature? I feel the same sense of amazement as I contemplate the new modes of expression made possible by digital technologies. What is this podcasting, this video-blogging and these new public-domain repositories?

Here’s my excited narrator’s whisper: A lot of new media genres seem to be empowering individuals by providing them with a lightweight commons infrastructure. Unlike today’s media market – our brain-dead NYC-LA axis of TV, radio and film that cranks out sensational junk/product to mass demographics – the new online commons are soaring because they tend to be more efficient, versatile, responsive and socially authentic as modes of communications. They’re out-competing the market! …

As we are able to capture more of our socially created value through commons (blogs, wikis, webcasts, open source, etc.), we are forcing the mass media to re-tool its business models in order to compete with the strange new forms of non-market value-creation. Can they do it? What sorts of “value-added” service will they excel in?”