When Push Comes to Pull: The New Economy and Culture of Networking Technology

Publication Date: January 2006

Publisher: Aspen Institute

Author(s): David Bollier

Research Area: Media, telecommunications, and information

Keywords: Communications; Business; Economics

Type:

Abstract:

The report considers how communications, economics, business, cultural and social institutions are changing from mass production to an individualized "pull" model. It describes the co-existence of both push (top down or hierarchical) and pull (bottom up or networked) models--how they interact, evolve, and overlay each other in the networked information economy. The report explores the application of "pull" to the worlds of business and economics, the content and intellectual property industries, the emergence of an economy of the commons, and personal and social dynamics including leadership in a pull world. It also touches on the application of the pull model to learning systems, the military in the form of network centric warfare, and the provision of government services.