by Derek Morrison, 21 August 2009
It’s hard to think of a more ironic example of the new world order that media companies would like to inflict on us than that recently demonstrated by Amazon’s recent auto-deletion of George Orwell’s 1984 “purchased” by owners of Amazon’s Kindle ebook platform. The story was all over the press but as good an account as any can be found in Why did Big Brother remove paid-for content from Amazon’s Kindles? . NB. The headline of the print version of the story was called Big Brother is watching your data (Guardian, 22 and 23 July 2009).
I’ve now authored a few online articles that fit into this blogs ‘epublishing’ category with probably eBooks and the e-learning ‘filling station’ revisited being the most substantive. In the ‘Filling Stations?’ section of that online essay I stated:
In the earlier days of motoring loyalty to a particular filling station brand was not just a matter of individual preference because there were engine critical variations in the blends of fuel offered by different refineries. Consequently, the guidance to fill up only at, say, “S..ll†garages was more of a necessity rather than a recommendation. Today any mass automobile manufacturer producing a vehicle, no matter how desirable, that could only be fueled at a specific chain of garages would soon be out of business. But yet here we have just such a scenario with developers and distributors of ebooks and other vehicles attempting to impose such constraints or ‘tethering’; in some cases, e.g. Apple iPhone and Apple iPod, with considerable success. As indicated in other recent Auricle postings Jonathan Zittrain’s The Future of the Internet: And How to Stop It highlights the risks to our future freedoms we risk by accepting such constraints.
What Amazon so starkly demonstrated was an emerging world of leased or borrowed (not owned) content and control. Combine this leasing with the so called “cloud computing” model (see Storm Clouds – Addendum, Auricle 23 June 2009 and Storm Clouds, Auricle 9 September 2008) and bit by bit the world of physical artefacts like books, CD, DVDs, which ‘belong’ to us slowly disappears to be replaced by “carrier” vehicles or devices that take their instructions from Amazon, Sky, BBC et al central.
But what’s the BBC doing in that list?
Long term readers will know that in previous Auricle postings I’ve waxed lyrical about how the BBC iPlayer offers some neat view/listen again facilities but that the iPlayer functionality and longevity of the content is not under full user control, e.g.. when was the last time your video or DVD recorder decided it wasn’t going to let you watch something because you didn’t get around to it quickly enough? I’ve recently aquired a new satellite dependent PVR and it is very good at what it does but I note that its internet port is not yet functional but that it may eventually be activated by an automatic update of the device’s firmware via the satellite. We should therefore assume that functionality and even ‘my’ content can be similarly disabled. Similarly, the same device encrypts some content (high definition) to prevent me copying it to another device; thus making the pre-emptive assumption that I am a putative pirate, rather than a harmless consumer – and part-time commentator. Incidentally that ethernet port on my new device is rumoured to be so that content can be delivered to my television via the BBC iPlayer, i.e my television will then be able to access the view again service via the internet. In most cases the current version of iPlayer displays only on a computer screen. That of course also opens me up to future ‘pay to view’ services.
But this ‘leasing’ model is gaining ground because it is oh so convenient. Consequently, events like Amazon’s deletion of the ebook edition of George Orwell’s1984 helpfully remind us of the downside when the “fat controller” can send the ‘kill’ signal. Fast forward a few years and the situation which is now current for some could easily become the norm. Not paid your media subscription on time – kill signal. Not paid local or national taxes – kill signal. Public library membership lapsed – kill signal. Lost your job – kill signal. Ended up in court – fine and kill signal. Exceeded broadband quota – kill signal. Suspected of file sharing – kill signal. School or university fees overdue – kill signal. End of university module, course, or programme – kill signal.
Let’s reflect on these last two possible futures for a moment. It is very feasible, and some would argue desirable, that much of the knowledge currently encapsulated in paper books and journals becomes more and more deliverable via an academic iTunes/iPod -like service, i.e. the marriage of a ubiquitous highly usable display/navigation device (like a future generation multimedia/networked ebook) with one or more HE sector approved “filling station” services. But who will be controlling the devices and who will be controlling the filling stations? In other words who will be sending the “fill” and “kill” signals?
Universities may like to think that it will be them; but will it?
There will be every incentive for established vested interests in publishing and learning management systems to try and control this space with the “sell” being that contracting this out will reduce the administrative burden on the institution. In such a scenario such ‘service’ providers will, of course, will have been gifted a major stranglehold over a critical part of the institution’s function. Included in possible prophylaxis against this traumatic scenario could be a sector-managed “filling station” service or at least a brokerage service with, in the UK, say, JISC oversight.
But what of the current libraries and librarians? But what of the current IT technical and people support infrastructures?
Because the repository of institutionally-hosted paper books and journals will steeply decline, the physical nature of the library will change even more rapidly than now because all the student will require is the appropriate authentication to receive the “fill” on a lease basis; on or off campus. Such “fills” could include current module readings, assignments, activities, schedules/timetables and feedback. Again, the providers or brokers of such online services will be in an incredibly powerful position and we shouldn’t assume they will necessarily be part of the institution. It may be wise, therefore, for institutions to start at least rehearsing how they could/should respond now before the account managers from the publishing, media, or LMS/MLE companies start selling this “managed online service” concept to their Vice Chancellors, Principals, or Presidents – a la VLEs in the late 1990s early 2000s. Failure to do so could easily lead to a situation where de facto the institution ends up serving the service provider, e.g. providing them with the booklists, the activities, assignments, and feedback. No … couldn’t happen … could it?
I suspect that the Amazon example is a harbinger of more such things to come mainly because the marriage of network services and increasingly powerful/attractive access devices is becoming ever more established. The embattled newspaper industry now seems willing to risk charging for accessing online content with the Murdoch empire leading this particular charge and when married with reading devices only partially under user control it is easy to envisage time-limited reading becoming the norm . After all, as indicated earlier, the BBC is already doing this with iPlayer although, unlike Amazon, it does not need to enter the device “like a thief in the night” to do so but simply employs DRM functionality when media is downloaded.
The big question needs to be whether Universities would be happy with an Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Pearson, News Corporation (or analogue) taking control of key course content via devices which they control directly or through “filling station” services. But I also suspect that the technical and support costs of individual universities attempting to do so by themselves may just make the idea of such a “managed service” appear attractive. If so, that will bring a whole new dimension to the concept of “lock in”.
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