Wired Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson has a provocative article on “Why $0.00 is the Future of Business” that I recommend for all art and design students and practitioners. It basically says what we know about the Web today, which is that anything you see on the Web you expect to get for free. Although it would appear that this makes the idea of making any money on the Web as impossible, it turns out that people still do quite well in spite of the fact. He outlines the basic modes of earning for free which I paraphrase here:

• “Freemium” Content: The concept of getting the basic model for free, but paying extra for more content. Example: Flickr and paying for premium membership.
• Advertising: The ubiquity of ads on web pages that enables free-ness to occur but at the price of clutter. Example: Go ahead and visit any major website.
• Cross-subsidies: The idea of getting something advantageous to you that makes you get something else. Example: Free nuts at the bar that make you want to order a soft drink.
• Labor exchange: The light labor you might do on the Web that gives you something back in return. Example: Luis von Ahn’s image labeler for Google.
• Gift economy: The goodness in your heart that makes you want to do something to help everyone. Example: Wikipedia is altruism at work; not to mention RISDpedia.

So I am curious about what kind of things that RISD might do in the future “for free” that will change the face of art and design education in the world. Well, our.risd.edu is such a start. Thank you for visiting!