How many ways can content (news, books, movies, etc.) be funded? There
are really only a few ways throughout history. Unit sales (treating a
movie or
a book like a candy bar or a pair of shoes) are increasingly obsolete
when information can travel the Internet. There are also
subscriptions, advertising, and various kinds of subsidies (a category
that also covers academic positions for people who do research).
The New York times has a short article on
community-funded journalism,
in which the public pays a journalist in advance to cover a topic. I’m
blogging this because, in the first place, it suggests a way technical
information could be developed, and in the second place I anticipated
the idea a year ago in my short story
Validators.