HyperNet is an innovation-optimized Internet. There are five layers involved in a global knowledge working fix. HyperNet is the final layer on these fixes.
The first layer is the tranformation of the social grid to a user-centric Internet. See CLOUD, Inc. for a great explanation of what this is and how it works: http://cloudinc.org/
The second layer is establishment of an electronic civic space. Physical and virtual civic spaces have been decimated, especially in the U.S. I think many tech companies are attempting to privatize electronic civic space assets by creating profit centers around them. Personally, I think we need a '.pub' domain that is funded and built through corporate social responsibility programs, volunteers, and national governments. I-Open is a great example of a civic space Internet and the kind of content that belongs there: http://i-open.posterous.com/
The third layer is to fix the mechanics of the copyright system. Copyright is pretty much a global process
today, which is good. It is based on the assignment of five rights. Copyright and "All rights reserved," reserves these rights, creative commons selectively assigns each of those five rights, and public domain is the assignment of those five rights to the public. Our copyright system should formally include all variations of the assignment of these five rights. What is also missing is a metadata standard and global rights registry. The metadata would be centralized and documents would link into it. If, for example, an author changes his or her mind and decides to sell content they had previously made available for free, that should be as simple as changing the metadata in the rights registry. The author shouldn't have to track down every instance of where the document was published to do that.
The fourth layer is to make the patent process more affordable and find a way to prevent reverse re-engineering of patents. It is very difficult for the average person with a prduct idea to secure a patent. The system is designed in a way that makes it easy to keep invention in large corporations and is stifling small business. What is needed is a more robust system around patents that make searches easier, prototyping more affordable, and theft of ideas much more difficult.
The fifth and and most important layer is conceptually challenging, but it is the foundation for a HyperNet. What is needed is to move away from a content proliferation and duplication model and towards a model that rewards creation and cooperation.
Our copyright and publishing system was set up in a world that was just dipping its toes into the information age. They wanted to reward proliferation of knowledge, because, in those days, 'more knowledge was always better.' But today we have matured in knowledge working and are quickly learning that 'more knowledge is not always better' Unrestrained knowledge proliferation, can create massive duplication, information overload, and unnecessary complexity.
Knowledge is one, not many. The current paradigm encourges its proliferation without regard to the logical structure of the whole, which is the social knowledge base. As information technology capabilities increase, we are increasingly able to cut through the chaos and complexity (using semantic tools) to bring knowledge into one. In the next 20 years, it will be possible to remove all duplication from knowledge and download the entire social knowledge base to your laptop. In that kind of world, proliferation of knowledge is counter-intuitive. Why would a person need to proliferate knowledge if he or she can download everything that is known to your laptop? At the same time that which is known across society becomes more evident, that which is not known will take center stage as society starts to realize that this is how it advances itself. The focus will shift entirely to new knowledge formed.
With that emminent future in mind, two things need to happen today. We need to 1) clearly identify and reward knowledge creators, and 2) we should encourage and reward knowledge collaboration and integration and expedite the centralization of knowledge. Over time, this should become the publishing model and the norm, not the exception.
In terms of creation, the concept originator should be declared as knowledge is created and new concepts could be 'awarded' through the same central body that manages copyright, to that individual's profile on the user-centric Internet. This permanently recognizes the 'real' thought leader, not just the politically declared thought leader.
In terms of integration, the copyright laws around compilation need to be broadened to encourage and reward more robust integrative knowledge works, especially those that contribute to the public domain (.pub).
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