tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323202250325013491.post4291782441094278917..comments2008-03-16T20:00:11.841-05:00Kevin Gamblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00659162207319457717noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323202250325013491.post-49745472245876656242008-03-16T20:00:00.000-05:002008-03-16T20:00:00.000-05:002008-03-16T20:00:00.000-05:00A useful distinction might be found by reflecting on who owns "attention data" or "interest-data" (the things we watch & search)... Google harvests all this and makes billions of dollars doing so, does that make it OK? <BR/><BR/>When Umair says: "Data is inherently valueless in the edgeconomy, because it's infinitely replicable." He is generalizing, like the economist he is. But, its more than a little disingenuous... The data that Google captures has enormous value, that is beyond dispute. <BR/><BR/>So, to understand the puzzle, one has to look at the look at the web from an engineer's point of view, not an economists. Google co-opts that data because of the way the web's and Google's architecture actually functions. <BR/><BR/>You quote Umair as saying: <I>"Any structure seeking to limit access to data will simply be too radically inefficient for the market to bear in the medium-long run.</I> (This may give a clue to long term outcomes)<BR/><BR/>Again... who's data is it?Simon Edhousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02533697582506649499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323202250325013491.post-91387233920661271182008-01-06T10:25:00.000-05:002008-01-06T10:25:00.000-05:002008-01-06T10:25:00.000-05:00What's being left out in this discussion is that there are different kinds of data, some more easily monetized than others. There's also a question about how you monetize.<BR/><BR/>At the end of the day, current events archives become free of charge but ad supported. See recent developments with the New York Times and soon The Wall Street Journal as notable examples. Those current events archives are free of charge because they are essentially common knowledge. Why not be openly linkable as the free source of common knowledge? Ads with the proper scale of distribution can support this.<BR/><BR/>The trick for charging directly for data I think is uncommon knowledge. There's a few places that exists: (1) Hard to collect data with high value added, e.g., maps; (2) Directly actionable real time data such as stock price feeds.<BR/><BR/>At the end of the day though, you have to have some way to monetize that supports your costs. The point I see in the "new" (edge?) economy is that the way you monetize and the scale you have to operate at in order to do so effectively have all changed. Rather dramatically in some cases.Budhttp://budgibson.myopenid.com/noreply@blogger.com