The old thinking about on-line content is that if the information you provide is valuable, then people will pay for its retrieval. The reality is that charging for on-line content is a great way to kill the value of information. If I want to retrieve something I read last week, but have to pay for it, I probably won’t bother. That’s how good stories die. Effective immediately, The Globe and Mail has finally broken out of its on-line torpor (thanks to “Inkless Wells” for the tip), so I can now reread John Barber’s columns for free. And there’s the paradox in a nutshell: they’re not worth a penny more, but as a result of being more readily available, they are much more valuable.
• The locks are off [Globe and Mail] • Information wants to be free [Maclean’s]
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