We gave Netopia a make-over. It was long overdue. I hope you like the new design, I like to think it makes it easier to find one’s way around the website, and much better on mobile. There are some new features, too.
Rodrigo de Matos has made a cartoon that comments on the ABCs of Google’s new corporate mother: Community Chest (Googlenopoly)
Infographics is another novelty, first out is The Guessing Game – with so many numbers on the expected value of the Digital Single Market from different commissioners, Netopia thinks it’s time for Juncker to bring his merry band to order, and not only about attending the College meetings. Of course, all these predictions conveniently disregard the point that the Digital Single Market will also take away a lot of value that currently exist, built into local offers. The film industry has been particularly vocal about this, but anything digital locally tailored is next in line (looking at you, finance sector!). The real value-add of the digital single market may very well be negative. Of course, economists will argue that this is a much-needed productivity increase in the shape of a Schumpeterean creative destruction and that growth will come. Fair point, but in a global economy, who can tell where that growth and those jobs will arrive? What if other parts of the world have a head start in the digital race (looking at you, Silicon Valley!)? So it may be that Europe’s digital upper hand is in diversity and content, rather than concentration and dominant platforms. If that is the case, the numbers in the DSM guessing game may very well be upside down and the recipe for jobs and growth in Europe something different altogether (looking at you, creative SMEs!). Netopia welcomes the Digital Single Market proposal, not because we like it, but because it brings the digital topics center stage in the EU-bubble. With the make-over, Netopia is right there in the spotlight.
Enjoy!
