In the new industrial and cultural economy the COPY is worth absolutely nothing. In the new economy the old media are dying or already dead. It seems the professional environment is very accessible for everybody. The role of the goalkeeper or middleman is over. The artist is getting his money through live performances. His physical appearance is the modern form of COPY.

Freedom at last! The internet seems to be a platform with absolutely no rules and regulations.. In reality the internet is a swampy morass of sites, blogs and so on where everybody is putting their (irrelevant) opinions and thoughts without any filtering whatsoever. And it doesn’t matter if these “publications” are read or seen. The mere existance seems to be more important than the message. There are no filters and no guides, you have to rely on your own abiltity to judge if the information is reliable or not.

In the subsequent discussion I noticed a few things

1. First of all the backdrop with the projected tweets about this discussion. It illustrates exactly what this discussion is all about. Apart of the numerous irrelevant remarks (in my opinion) it struck me that a lot of people rather like to make their remarks through internet instantly. They are being busy with their computer or phone instead of concentrating on the discussion. In my opinion it illustrates the modern need to express yourself 24 hours a day, every minute. These tweets didn’t influenced the discussion. The “old school” public addressed questions where all answered, one by one..
2. Another important remark was made by Konrad Boehmer.He destest the so often used anonymity on internet. I had this experience myself. I was asked to blog about my musical interest but I stopped because of numerous anonymous and shameless remarks. If I contribute to a discussion or blog I always put my name at the end. I think that is a normal social accepted routine. In real life I wouldn’t introduce myself to another person using a pseudonym. Internet seems to evoke this anonymity and since there is no filter or editor anything is “accepted” .
3. Another important question is who is the sender of the information. Wikipedia is a good example. Wikipedia used to allow anybody to contribute without any source research. Wikipedia decided to hire editors and make clear what information is reliable and what information is questionable.
4. Are the sources in the old economy more corrupt than in the new economy? Most of the panelmembers had no illusions on this subject. People who benefit from some forms of communication always will try to influence this communication in the media to promote their product, ideology, music book and so on. In an odd way the old media seem to be more transparent than the new media. The old media have a certain identity. You knew your enemies. You can’t always trace the source on internet.
5. For the new Alfred Hitchcock internet is not the natural habitat..
6. Another interesting question is if it is possible for talent to develop and mature on internet. There was no time to deepen this question maybe next time ..

My own conclusions are.

1. As i said before the backdrop exposed the power and at the same time the weakness of internet. There is no filtering, editing, guidance or control. The presumed freedom is questionable, there is more confusion and a quality standard is absent.
2. Pseudonyms and nicknames are ok if people communicate an artistic message. In normal and public communication i think it is an undesirable form of identification.
3. Internet is a very useful tool a source of information, hopefully the right information. Internet is in it self not artistic, has no conscience, has no opinion it is just there.
4. Face to face contacts are getting more important..
5. I am a heavy user of internet. This discussion made me more conscious of the need to check resources, not only on internet, always.

Gert Gering