The hallmark of revolution is that the goals of the revolutionaries
cannot be contained by the institutional structure of the society they
live in. As a result, either the revolutionaries are put down, or some
of those institutions are transmogrified, replaced, or simply
destroyed. We are plainly witnessing a restructuring of the music and
newspaper businesses, but their suffering isn’t unique, it’s prophetic.
All businesses are media businesses, because whatever else they do, all
businesses rely on the managing of information for two audiences —
employees and the world. The increase in the power of both individuals
and groups, outside traditional organizational structures, is epochal.
Many institutions we rely on today will not survive this change without
radical alteration.
- Clay Shirky in What are we going to say about "Cult of the Amateur"?
via Euan
