Just reading this story by David Pogue about data rot and wondering if there's a business model here for The Extraordinaries. In sum, new data storage formats leave the old ones in the dust. So, we've got cassette tapes and VHS tapes disintegrating in shoeboxes. And now there are companies springing up to deal with it. They'll scan your old photos and transfer your old tapes to the cloud.
I’d imagine that there’s a concomitant problem with making sense of all the scanned and transferred material. It has to be organized/tagged somehow. Who is doing this work? Perhaps the crowd can do it – and maybe people will pay for it? Could we offer this kind of task as a way to support The Extraordinaries – by doing work for us that generates revenue – and thereby supports us doing the other non revenue generating work for social causes.
Interesting. Sure, people will pay for the archiving service and yes, the crowd could do the work and the Exies could do a rev-share with the companies that do the archiving.
The rub might come in the nature of the work. The crowd might not get the inspiring feeling of "service" that is so unique to the Exies because the recipient is not someone in "need," it's a guy who needs photos tagged.
The Exies would need to design a visible economy of sorts to show a clear, direct translation of their "business" efforts into "service." If it's not clear who I'm helping the uniqueness of the Exies is lost-- the idea of money going into the general fund of a non-profit isn't as compelling.
Posted by: Michael R | March 02, 2009 at 12:11 PM