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Article: Information wants to be free-bullcookies!(Information Trends)(Column)
- Article from:
- Information Outlook
- Article date:
- July 1, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Special Libraries Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Our work and value have been attacked on many levels, but nothing has been more damaging that the misquote of Stewart Brand that "Information wants to be free!" This phrase has served as a clarion call to devalue information, information work, and librarianship--which are anything but free. Here's the real quote:
At the first Hackers' Conference in 1984, Brand put his finger on a central paradox about digital information that is causing us so much trouble today. "On the one hand," Brand said, "information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be ...