This month’s Wired has an interesting article about the artist Beck and the release (and re-release) of Guero. Unlike traditional music release cycle, this body of work was released:

a) online as an unfinished mix that was leaked in late 2004; (b) as the official 2005 Interscope CD release, which contained most of the tracks on the leaked version plus a few new songs; (c) as the deluxe CD/DVD edition, complete with seven bonus tracks, a surround sound mix, and interactive video art to accompany every song; (d) in one of the many unauthorized fan mashups floating around the Net; (e) not as Guero at all, but as Guerolito, a commercially released companion piece featuring remixes by Diplo, Adrock, and Boards of Canada.

While I am a fan, you might be wondering why I am writing about Beck here. The thing that captivated me about the article was the way that the artist described his relationship with “the suits” at his label:

Does your label, Interscope, ever balk at your ideas?

Actually they’ve been great about everything. The labels are trying to figure all this stuff out just like everyone else, and I feel fortunate that I’ve been able to do so much experimenting to see what works. I’ve also been lucky because I signed a unique record deal back when I started that allowed me to try out a lot of weird things and even record different types of albums for different labels. I think that set me up nicely for where things are currently headed.

Isn’t all that repackaging just about making ways to sell more product?

I guess that’s part of it, but for me it’s more about giving the music legs, giving people new ways to experience it. There are so many ways to integrate technology into music; I can’t wait to see how the opportunities end up being put to use.

Why This Is Interesting

Recently, I talked about the culture wars that I see over the horizon as demographics begin to take over the workplace. In this context, think about the relationship between Beck and Interscope that I mentioned above. It is a creative partnership between an artist, his audience, and a business that is mutually beneficial. This is the face of innovation, smiling at us from just a bit down the road.

One of the massive changes every organization is going to have to deal with in the coming years is the arrival of the millenials in the workplace. These are folks who have been raised on the Web, IM, and SMS. They are digital natives, who think nothing about taking two disparate systems and tying them together with AJAX or whatever is at hand. This is going to be a scary time for a lot of IT organizations, especially ones who are led by digital immigrants. It will be the changing of the guard, the face-off between two cultures who are both large, ego-driven, and don’t want to be ignored.

In my time in the industry, I have seen (and heard recounted) the history of a number of cultural conflicts:

• Mainframes vs. Midframes
• Midframes vs. PC’s.
• Copybooks vs. Databases
• Databases vs. Spreadsheets
• Memos vs. Email

In each of these cases, the “old timers” resented the “young turks” who had no respect for how things ought to run. At the same time, the turks resented the fact that they had to work so hard to do somethng that was so obviously needed. In retrospect, it wasn’t an issue of right or wrong, it was a question of new vs. established.

Why This Matters

It is really, really hard to look out on the world and see that you are on the other side of the “us vs. them” line. The same baby boomers who decided not to trust anyone over thirty are now pushing sixty and looking back. They empathize with their parents a little more, and find themselves starting their sentences with phrases like, “The kids today …” Conflict is brewing, and it is brewing hot, our quote for the week not withstanding.
Recently we been witnessing some skirmishes of our own, such as:

• Email vs. IM
• IM vs. SMS
• PC’s vs. Web 1.0
• Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0
• Web 1.0 vs. CMS
• CMS vs Blogs
• SOA vs. Databases
• Compiling vs. Scripting

How is your organization doing in the culture wars? And who’s side are you on, anyway?

The Bottom Line

There is a changing of the guard occurring. This isn’t because of moral failings or ineptitude, it is simply demographics. Still, it is happening. You have to understand it, plan for it, adjust to it, and embrace it. This is simply going to be the reality for the next 30+ years. The people who are setting the standards are not going to be the ones around to deal with it.

Information architecture will be key in making millenials productive in your organization. This is very important to your bottom line and you need to take this seriously. The pace of change is going to be increasing in the IT industry after the lull from the dot-com bust. The most best organizations are going to be able to take advantage of this, the others will struggle to replenish their workforce.

As an example, I have worked for technology related companies that don’t allow IM. While for most of my co-workers this wasn’t a problem, it almost caused me not to take the job and most certainly pushed me to purchase a phone that allowed me to do it. I can’t imagine a 25-year-old PhD with a blog who lives on IM thriving in that kind of environment. The company I am thinking of thrives on talent and innovation, and I think they are shooting themselves in the foot with this kind of policy.

Conclusion
So, it turns out that Elvis wasn’t the end of western civilization, nor were The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. Neither was Bob Marley, Tupac Shakur, Metallica, or Marilyn Manson. However, trying to paint them as such was the end of the line for would-be crusaders like Tipper Gore.

Locking things down isn’t the answer. Hooking people up is.

Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.

– J.K. Rowling

I have talked a lot about the differences between statistical and semantic information (especially around quality) in the recent past. I have also been interested in ways to bridge the gaps between these approaches, as they both have their own strengths and weaknesses. A project that is aiming to do something like this is the Semantic Media Wiki. They take an interesting approach to bridging the gap between human understanding and machine-processable truth by including it an easy to use repository, Media Wiki.

Why This Is Interesting

Astute followers will notice that Media Wiki is the same software used to power the Wikipedia, which makes things particularly interesting. An easy to use semantic engine with a large, public, well-maintained fact repository could make for a very productive combination. This is the exact opposite of something like OpenCyc, which is large and private and “stuttered out of the gates” about 5 years late.
I really agree with the principles behind Semantic Media Wiki, namely:

1. Let people define their truth in a way that works for them.
2. Make it easy for that information to be leveraged.
3. Mine the data for all it is worth.

When it is easy for people to share and build on each other’s work, there is no limit to what they can accomplish. Any system that can take advantage of this has a great chance at success.

Digital Edge published a very thought provoking article from Jarod Lanier titled, “Digital Maoism“. It is a refreshing look at some of the current trends on the internet, such as collective information gathering on sites like Wikipedia and Digg. It is a well considered, balanced look at the need for both individual and collective thinking, and how Lanier believes that the pendulum has swung too far towards groupthink.

As an aside … this reminds me of the current debate around latest incarnation of the GPL. This Business Week article highlights the basic differences between the parties, and this Slashdot discussion goes into things a bit more deeply. I think that the OSS folks are learning that it is a heck of a lot more difficult to builld a solution that is functional instead of being ideologically pure. The reason why Maoism worked in China was that they had a captive audience. The FSF does not have this luxury, and they are risking irrelevance if they aren’t careful to make something that works for everyone.

Anyway, the article is very much worth the time.