World Still Flat and the Last Chapter Is Left To You
Hot, Flat, and Crowded
One of my co-workers called my attention to the fact that Thomas Friedman has published his new book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded. The interesting thing, I think, with this publcation is that he has left chapter 18 for a future release and we will write it. He says of chapter 18:
In it I hope to include the best ideas and proposals sent in from readers: ideas about clean energy, energy efficiency, and conservation; about petropolitics and nation-building in America; about how we can help take the lead in the renewal of our country and the Earth alike by going Code Green.
The book was publshed yesterday and already there are six contributions to the new chapter. Not only do people have opportunities to contribute ideas but we can also vote on whether we like or dislike the contributions. Surely there will be self promoters, nut jobs and trolls but I also expect there will be bona fide contributors.
This business model intrigues me. The comment box is followed by a pointer to the statement of privacy and terms of use. It makes very clear that you are no longer the owner of your content once you click submit. It says:
By submitting a comment I agree to the posted Privacy Notice and Terms of Use without limiting the following: I agree that my comment may be incorporated into the text of any and all future electronic and print editions of Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution – And How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman, resigning all ownership and rights to Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
So, if a contributor is passionate about environmental issues, does the prospect of getting an idea published in a volume associated with a Pulitzer Prize winning author make for a fair bargain? I think it may. The contributor can increase exposure to the idea in a way that they may never be able to achieve through blogging. On the flip side, Friedman finds an opportunity to extend sales of his book beyond the end of the typical run. It is an interesting approach to monetizing user generated content.
-Mark
(4 votes, average: 3.25 out of 5)
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3 Comments, Comment or Ping
hrhmedia
Great post Mark, and smart thinking from Friedman. I think the statement of privacy is just standard CYA, as someone might get uppity and sue him for ownership. Now I have to decide whether to buy the book or get the Audible download. I was at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory yesterday, and they were all a-flutter with the fact that Friedman had spent an entire day with them a while back, and made several references to PNNL in the book.
My big question for us all: can we continue to refine our MCDM brand by combining the digital media revolution in communications with the environmental movement? i.e. have a constant “green” tint to our message?
Sep 10th, 2008
Jeremy
Not sure if the direct green tint is that attractive, to be honest. I think that while covering items that are relevant to our topics will inevitably involve green topics, artificially introducing an environment spin or filter seems disingenuous.
I say, let our green tint be digital green ala the Matrix.
Sep 19th, 2008
rubir
I agree with Jeremy in regards that we can still mention some “green” topics that directly connect with digital communication, but not directly with the environmental movement, otherwise we may need to change our brand of MCDM to MCDME (Master of Communication in Digital Media and Enviroment)
Sep 26th, 2008
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