Benkler introduces to us "the networked information economy", where decentralized individual activity is playing a big role in the industrial information economy. What this means is that there is an increasing amount of individuals or groups who cooperate and coordinate action through new and developing technologies in order to create change to various already established systems. As Benkler mentions, there is an ongoing power struggle between the individual and the institution.
A prime example of this struggle exists in the technological gadgets we use. For instance, the Apple iPhone's dynamic operating system allows flexibility and continuous application development. Even with its vast library of applications to download and develop, Apple still limits users on what they can do with their phone. As a response, developers created software that could hack, or "jailbreak" the iPhone. Once an iPhone is jailbroken, the user has access to another application called Cydia which is much like Apple's App Store.
Cydia is different from the App Store because all its applications are open source. In addition, Cydia includes applications that bring iPhone customizability to a whole new level. With Cydia applications, users can essentially do anything they want with their phone; they can completely change the appearance and add extra widgets to the phone.
Apple has tried time and time again to prevent jailbreaking software from hacking the phone by constantly upgrading operating systems etc. What this seems to do is have the opposite effect; developers are not discouraged. Infact, they are more eager than ever to try and crack the code. As a result, there is this tug-o-war happening between the two sides.
For this week's practicum I jailbroke my iPod touch. The touch works in the same way as the iPhone except that it cannot make phone calls. Being a person with very little software background, I find jailbreaking my iPod a somewhat pointless task. Besides, downloading themes and extra little application, I don't use the jailbroken mode to its fullest capacity. It's an interesting thought, however. When one receives so much power to do whatever they want to something, they don't know where or how to start.
Here are the images of my jailbroken iPod Touch:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42666484@N06/4057974804/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42666484@N06/4057236561/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42666484@N06/4057236035/
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