The Fallacy of User-Generated Content

Scott Karp looks deeply into the concept of “user-generated content,” concluding that much of this on the web is simply people re-publishing other people’s content.

“What’s radical about the new digital reality is that I can publish anything that I made — and I can publish anything that anybody else made.”

While sites like MySpace traverse the user-generated content territory and its legal implications – some are simply calling it user-generated theft.

Aner Ravon looks at issues around user-generated content and asks:

“Where does commercial stop and user generated begin? What is the real value of user generated content and how, if at all, can commercial digital content be protected?”

The article looks at the gray area of user-manipulated content.

A new course at Oxford promises to explain the issue of user-generated content, including “the impact of convergence.”

Well its about time.

Leave a comment