3 - OPEN CONTENT - Recently I came upon another type of open, cooperative project: an encyclopedia called Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com). According to those running project a "Wiki is a collection of interlinked pages each of which can be visited and edited by anyone." At this site, any one can visit, learn, enter a new article, or edit what he or she sees on a page discussing a subject they are knowledgeable about. The content of entire Wikipedia is open to all and may be modified by all. As time goes on it will reflect knowledge of our society.

4 - OPEN NETWORK - I was completely taken aback when I read Simon Garfinkel's article, The Internet Amenity, in March 2002 issue of Technology Review. He visited Boston University and discovered that he could get a FREE wireless connection to Web from his laptop. Evidently there are several universities that offer an "IP tone" - a connection and a temporary address. According to Garfinkel it is very cheap to do this. He speculates that eventually "IP tone" will be available everywhere, thus providing open networks.

It seems natural to take our marketing philosophy that is based on years of successful experience with old media, and transfer it to new medium of Web. But new media require new approaches. The old, closed, competitive thinking no longer works as well as it did. If they continue to follow their cut-throat approach to competitors, big record companies stand a good chance of disappearing altogether.

The Web is designed for sharing. The Web invites you to cooperate. The Web makes it easy for you to work together with others. The Web is open. If you want to be successful, base both your website and your business on a philosophy of openness.

And these "agents" are even slicker than my carnival buddies, some of 'em even have my phone number and can hawk right in my living room!

What you may not know, however, is that, on midway, there are some legitimate games where you can actually win something worth much more than you invested.

Yep, you might win a forty dollar prize for your dollar game. And, yes, you do have to pay to play.

The Internet is same way, there are legitimate offers out here where you can actually make a buck. But, like carnival, you have to be around a while to check out game.

You don't necessarily want to walk up to carny screaming loudest. Same way on Net. Yep, just like carnival, "YOU GOTTA PLAY TO WIN!" and, yes, you do have to pay to play.

There are at least 20 other parallels between carnival and Internet. But that's what MY ezine is about.