Library Futures Funtime Book Talk w/Chokepoint Capitalism and Data Cartels
On November 17, I was able to attend most of an amazing book talk sponsored by Library Futures. It was with the authors of two timely books, Chokepoint Capitalism (Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow), and Data Cartels (Sarah Lamdan). You can, and should, watch the entire recording!
In Chokepoint Capitalism, “by analyzing book publishing and news, livemusic and music streaming, screenwriting, radio and more, Giblin and Doctorow deftly show how powerful corporations construct “anti-competitive flywheels” designed to lock in users and suppliers, make their markets hostile to new entrants, and then force workers and suppliers to accept unfairly low prices.” (Can everyone say, Taylor Swift?)
From the introductory chapter of Data Cartels, “Data analytics companies are a relatively new type of information firm, the result of mass consolidation across information markets and a proliferation of data analysis technologies. We think of companies like RELX (Reed Elsevier LexisNexis) and Thomson Reuters as publishers, but they’ve made a transition away from being traditional content providers. Instead, they’re crunching their warehouses of digital content through AI software, machine-learning technology, complex algorithms, and other types of data analytics systems to form new information products to sell.”
I grabbed the following links from the chat box during the time I was able to spend watching the first part of the talk. They’re in no particular order, but may help contextualize some of the stuff being talked about.
Monopoly – a situation where there is a single seller in the market.
Monopsony – a market with a single buyer.
WNYC On The Media: Infinite Scroll (audio)
Publishing Giants Are Fighting Libraries on E-Books
Markets and the Future of the Circular Economy
Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves
Inoculating Law Schools Against Bad Metrics
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