Thoughts about freebies...

Here is some interesting food for thought from the LIS 2000 class lecture. Why hasn't Wikipedia charged? Would we pay for Wikipedia? Somewhere in a class reading assignment, ( I think Lessig's book) I read that Wikipedia would not charge for their information in order to keep their material as unbiased as possible. That makes sense (cents ;-) to me. As far as the second question--would consumers pay for using Wikipedia, I think that the answer is a definite yes! I think consumers would also pay to use Google. But I do think use would significantly plummet. As far as using Wikipedia, I know that school students would not have the means to use it if there were fees attached. One comparison comes to mind--telephone directory assistance. Was it ever free? I think at one time it was. I do know that I ask myself if there is any other way to obtain a number before using directory assistance. I have already gone on-line to find telephone numbers. But when all else fails and I still need to get a telephone number, I will use information or directory assistance. I hope we never have to pay for using Wikipedia or Google. We already pay for an Internet provider; this price does not go down. As a matter of fact, as we get used to high speed Internet, many of us are willing to pay more and more to keep it. One of the best perks of the Internet is the open access to a wealth of information. Really, when you think about it, how could you begin to put a price on this?