{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","title":"Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age The Spirit of Networks","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781349379743","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","id":"8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","uuid":"8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","title":"Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age The Spirit of Networks","normalized_title":"mediaandnewcapitalisminthedigitalagethespiritofnetworks","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781349379743","isbns":["9781349379743","9780230106062"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":258,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Media%20and%20New%20Capitalism%20in%20the%20Digital%20Age%20The%20Spirit%20of%20Networks","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a/search"},"page":{"printed_page":135,"pdf_page":138,"physical_index":138,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"81f6a73fac68da9a117cdfcfcaec7be7397ff661d2896e5887ba04cfce9d7ca0"},"chapter":"Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age","content":"According to the digital discourse network production allows for a tighter bond between corporations and customers. The process of how Lego transformed its corporate culture is in fact described precisely as a shift from a company that is too insular and detached from customers’ demands to one that reconnects with them through network production in order to make better, more profitable products. The idea of adopting an open source model for the production of Mindstorms came after Lego had its worst year ever in sales. The reason for this downturn is that Lego was coming up with “designs that puzzled rather than entertained [customers].” A Lego executive explains, “We had started to make fire trucks that look like spaceships, building systems that no customer could truly appreciate . . . We had to clean that up” (Koerner 2006). The diagnosis was that something was rotten in the Danish firm; the prognosis called for opening the company up to the outside world, to the network. They decided “to connect customers to the company” (Koerner 2006).\n\nLego realized Mindstorms needed a more user-friendly programming language. Since “Lego didn’t have the expertise to write more intuitive software in house,” it outsourced the work. Further down the line of development, when the “Mindstorms team had several mock-ups of new programmable bricks . . . the executives wanted a fresh perspective. And that’s when they decided to bring in the Mindstorms users—a community of fanatics who as of 2004 have done far more to add value to Lego’s robotics kit than the company itself” (Koerner 2006).\n\nThese Mindstorms fans started tinkering with the product and posting their work online. At first, Lego feared of the consequences this might have for its intellectual property rights. Finally, the company “concluded that limiting creativity was contrary to its mission of encouraging exploration and ingenuity.” There was another reason as well: “The hackers were providing a valuable service” (Koerner 2006). The ethics of “exploration and ingenuity,” then, sat well with the notion of network production as a new source of wealth creation and drove Lego further down the road of openness to the network. The article sums up the shift in corporate culture toward the network thus: “Until recently companies were skittish about customer innovation, fearing that outsiders might leak trade secrets or that they simply lacked the necessary technical skills. But Lego has warmed to the power of the open source ethos. It’s clear to the Lego execs that Mindstorms . . . would be a lesser product without the MUPers’ input” (Koerner 2006).\n\nNetwork Production\n\n135","previous_page":134,"next_page":136}