This is probably the most surreal thing to ever happen to me.

At the University of Texas there is a class, Information in Cyberspace. It sounds like an interesting course. One of their assignments is to follow a weblog for a few weeks, analyze the site, and at the end of the month write a paper discussing the experience. Here’s the kicker—my site is one of the recommended weblogs in the list.

LIS 312 – Assignment 1

Here I am, a nobody playing hunt n’ peck at the keyboard, and all of a sudden I’m part of a college cirruculum. Now that’s a vivid example of the power of the Internet.

Clay Shirky outlines the “Big Flip” that the Internet has produced, and why it hasn’t quite carried over to the music business yet.

The internet has lowered the threshold of publishing to the point where you no longer need help or permission to distribute your work. What has happened with writing may be possible with music. Like writers, most musicians who work for fame and fortune get neither, but unlike writers, the internet has not offered wide distribution to people making music for the love of the thing. A system that offered musicians a chance at finding an audience outside the professional system would appeal to at least some of them.

The Baen Free Library is a grand experiment in proving that offering free or low cost downloads, of books in this case, has no negative effect on sales, and usually leads to more profits for the creator. Last year they provided their evidence that the experiment had been a success.