--By CrystalMao - 18 Oct 2011

It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.

Potential Topic: Freemium Open Access

[1] Intro: One of the fundamental rationales underlying the need for open access of zero-marginal cost goods is that it's in the interest of justice

[2] Question: But does justice demand that the experience of accessing the information be equal? Does open access = equal access?

[3a] Illustrative Examples:

• Reading Shakespeare for free as a text file online, v. buying a leather bound edition for $30
• Boston.com (Trashy) v. Typographer's-dream (Bostonglobe.com): SAME content, vastly different experiences.
• MIT OCW v. attending MIT
• Downloading the source code and self-installing v. Paying a consultant to install and configure

[3b] NOT freemium:

• NYT paywall, 30-day software trials, etc.
• Difference here is that the "premium" versions of these services offer content and/or access that is not available to non-paying users. In my contemplated system, the access to the fundamental content should be the same.

[4] Proposal: Perhaps a good way to make core information available to everyone, yet preserve free-market esque revenue streams that can

1. fund the costs and incentivize the efforts of further development,
2. incentivize people/users towards upward mobility
3. add more thoughts here,

[5] Problems

• Is this a sustainable model for key industries - music, movies, where 90% of the value is just the file itself? (Former Rep. Bob Ingles said in a talk I went to last week - "Sustainability means profit")
  • Is it possible to maintain systems where the "premium" version doesn't = premium access to content? At which point do services become or = content?
  • How would this work for software, particularly expensive software like Adobe?
• Does this address the justice problem? Just because people have access to information doesn't mean that it's in a form that facilitates them to use it.
• What is the ideal equilibrium-society that I am trying to promote? (think about this)

-- By CrystalMao - 14 Oct 2011

Section I

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Subsection B

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Section II

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