A Commons Thanksgiving
Introduction
Today is the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. I would like to take some time to give my thanks to the people, communities, and organizations that have been a large part of what I am doing with The CerebralRift and The CerebralMix. In my way: A Commons Thanksgiving.
As I sit here and think about writing this essay, it seems to be almost like writing an acceptance speech. That brings up a small quandary: I don’t want to insult anyone by accidentally overlooking them. So, instead of mentioning specific names, or linking to specific websites, I am going to write about more general groups of people.
A Commons Thanksgiving
The Artists
This is the group that I couldn’t do any of this site without. If there wasn’t the music, audiobooks and podcasts to listen to; the books, articles, poems, essays to read; the photographs, clip-art and other images to view this site wouldn’t be possible. It is plainly that simple. I’ve taken on the secondary role of producing a publication that is about the work that you produce. And produce that work you have! According to the State of the Commons (infographic) report this year there are 882 million works licensed under Creative Commons, and the expectation is there will be over 1 billion works licensed by the end of 2015.
The fact is the whole thing is astonishing. I barely scratch the surface of what is available in the commons. I don’t even believe I will be able to keep up with the 1.2 million works that are expected in 2015. It’s good to know that I have job security.
Social Networks
I know that many artists and enthusiasts keep up with the work I am doing here via the social networks. I know this because I get to interact with many of you, either publicly or privately. And, it’s those interactions that help me select the works that I focus on, and the artists to work with for interviews, help me flesh out my opinions on this whole crazy enterprise that we’re undertaking.
When people think of “Social Networks” they generally think of the big three: Facebook, Twitter and G+. However, I have found that others are playing an important role for The CerebralRift: LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, RebelMouse, tumblr, to name a few.
I would like to mention a couple of specific networks that have been wonderfully supportive of my work this year. The first is vKontake (aka vk.com). I have been quite pleased by the level of interest from artists and labels that make vKontakte their primary social network home. I’ve been impressed by the interest shown every time I post an article about an artist from that region of the world, the response is quite stunning.
The other site I wanted to single out is the up-start Ello. In the short time I’ve been on this network I’ve seen the interest in the work that I am doing here. It’s obvious when there are days that I see more people coming from Ello to look at my site than any of the big three networks. But, it’s not just about people reading The CerebralRift. It’s also about the interaction. I’ve had more artists and fans strike up thought provoking, in-depth conversations on Ello than nearly any other network. There seems to be genuine interest and passion on Ello and it has quickly matched (and sometimes surpassed) the big three networks. Which, for a network that is less than a year old for many of us is amazing.
I said in the introduction that I wasn’t going to single out anyone specifically in this write up. But, in singling out a few social networks, I feel it is appropriate to offer a few comments on some of the networks that I haven’t referenced in this section. The primary reason some of them haven’t been mentioned is this: I don’t know how to use them. Or rather, while I know how to use them, I haven’t found a way to be an active member on them that would be genuine. One of the things I try hard to do is participate on the networks, it’s not just about syndicating my content but about bringing more content to all of the people and interacting.
The Suppliers & Curators
There are people beyond the artists that make this work possible, and many times they are the un-sung heroes of The Commons. I am talking about the people that run the netlabels, publish the eBooks, record the audiobooks, host the websites, provide the reference content, and much more.
These people are heroes in their own right. Take, for example, all of the netlabels over the years. Even before there were big sites like Jamendo, BandCamp and Magnatune to help musicians in publishing their works there were many independent digital labels out there. Just looking at the Internet Archive there have been over 1700 of these labels. It’s this kind of commitment that pre-dates the Creative Commons itself, that has made all of this possible. It’s the people that want the world to have these works available that make it possible for the artists to do their work.
Another example of the work of the supporters: LibriVox has hundreds of people that record the books as audio. And there are hundreds more people that take these recordings, edit, master and assemble them into the audio books the public download.
And the list goes on and on. I don’t have a way to estimate the number of people involved at the supply level of all the organizations, but i would guess there are over one hundred thousand of them. Each and every one of them deserves recognition for their contribution to the Commons.
And it’s important to remember the curators in this process. The people that go out and find works that reflect their interests and feature them in some way. Some examples would be the people that put together the aggregation sites like Sonic Squirrel, CCTrax, CCHits, FreeMusi.cc, Free Music Archive, @diffuser, as well as the bloggers and writers that post what they are listening to, reading, etc.
Competitors
It might seem strange to think I see some competitors out there, but I do. But not competitors in the free-market, winner takes all sense. There are other publications, podcasts, etc. that provide similar content to The CerebralRift and The CerebralMix.
It’s the awareness that we have of each other that drives us to be better. To do things that are different from each other, to improve and offer something unique to our audiences. Some of us interact directly, some don’t. But just knowing that each of us is working towards a similar goal or ideal makes it possible for us to keep going, keep pursuing our goals.
This group includes the people that I work with on my show. We have a network with four podcasters presenting shows. All of our shows are very different. One focuses on being a more interactive radio-like experience, another focuses on presenting free culture works, another focuses on a specific genre of music. And we all do it in very different ways, and yet we’ve all borrowed ideas from each other to improve our shows.
I also know other sites that write reviews of Creative Commons works, and I read them frequently. The work that many of these sites are doing has inspired me to improve my work, and try to take a more active role in the community, and many other things along the way. In fact, if it weren’t for these competitors I would not have published over 250 articles this year, and I would not have upped the output level the way I have.
And Finally: Everyone Else
There are many other people that I haven’t ever mentioned on the site. For example: there are several listeners to The CerebralMix that make donations in Bitcoin or Litecoin, and readers that have Flattrd or made PayPal donations to the site.
There are also all my writer friends that read the site and offer constructive criticism. (I promise I’ll get better at this writing thing some day!) And my friends in broadcasting and music who help with some of the behind the scenes research. And, there’s even a few other people that have been consulting with my on some rather top secret parts of this project that have been friends for years now.
And then there are the people that put together all the tools that I use to bring this site to you. You might not normally think of them, but i do. Why? Well, just about anyone can see that this site is running under a very popular content management system. However, behind the scenes, there are a bunch of other tools integrated into the content manager. And then there’s the tools I use to put together The CerebralMix. And I could go on…but the thing is, there are literally thousands of people who have worked on the tools that I need to make it possible for me to do this work. Sure, if some of them didn’t exist it wouldn’t stop me, but it might make things more complicated, and that might slow down my work.
And last, but certainly not least, there are all the friends who lend their support and encouragement to everything that I do, including this work.
Conclusion
There’s an old phrase: “…standing on the shoulders of giants…” I freely admit, there are many giants that have come before me, but I am basically an insignificant gnat in comparison to them. And, when I think about the number of people that have directly or indirectly supported me it is quite humbling. I would guess there are literally a few thousand people that have had a direct or indirect impact on this work.
So, that’s what I am thankful for on this thanksgiving, all of the: artists, supporters, competitors, curators, and social networks that make this work possible, all the people that make the tools that I use. Al the friends and family that support me without question. All the friends and competitors that push me to improve what I do. All the friends that have consulted on various parts of this project.
I bow to all of you. Thank you.
