I know I promised a write-up on my Tokyo trip, but, in light of all the wonderful articles written by my friends, and this monumental event which I unfortunately happened to have missed, I decided to make a brief comment in regards to my personal stance on the subject of free culture, the spirit of CC, and open source.
Indeed, this is what business analysts and pundits commonly referred to as a PR nightmare, when company officials publicly divulge their opinions impulsively, with complete disregard for the impact such maverick behavior can have on the company’s image.
However, I’m a firm believer in straight talk when it comes to my own philosophies. It is important for people to know who they are dealing with when they choose to work with our company.
This is what I think:
I wish I had read more on the subject; I wish I had been at the launch event; but above all, I wish I had been able to help spread the word about free culture more aggressively. I think this may very well be the one thing we have going that could pull the world out of it’s current financial tailspin.
What people sometimes fail to understand is that free culture doesn’t limit your potential for commercial success, but rather it promotes growth and collaboration while protecting your content and your brand so that you can monetize when the right opportunity comes-a-knocking.
When we can see past our own selfishness, greed, and insufficiencies; only then can we truly embrace free culture and understand the joy of being a part of an open community.
I don’t think that complete deregulation is a good idea, but I do believe that the sharing of good ideas is the way towards a better future. I hope that by instilling a sense of honor and fair-play to the next generation, they’ll be able to create a better world for themselves and generations to come. This is why my company focuses most of our energy on education. That is the least we can do.
Tags: cchk, creative commons, creative commons hong kong, free culture, hong kong, lessig, nick, open source, Random Musings, ryanne