Jonathan Coulton, an outcome of Web 2.0

Last Sunday, The New York Times Magazine ran an article about Jonathan Coulton. Coulton quit his day job as a programmer and now is a full-time singer/artist. Read the article how he has used the internet - myspace and blogs to create a community to launch his new career. The NYT writer poses:

"Will the internet change the type of person who becomes a musician or writer? It’s possible to see these online trends as Darwinian pressures that will inevitably produce a new breed — call it an Artist 2.0 — and mark the end of the artist as a sensitive, bohemian soul who shuns the spotlight. In “The Catcher in the Rye,” J. D. Salinger wrote about how reading a good book makes you want to call up the author and chat with him, which neatly predicted the modern online urge..."

Well, there is no doubt where things are heading. We are just scratching the surface of two-way communication and realization of collaborative creation and development. What does this mean for businesses? What does this mean for individuals with a record or a book plot in mind? Is this a trend and a sustainable template for similar success or just a fleeting fad? Do the old rules still apply - that some people will just be lucky? One thing that open sourcing from community to create music, art, or software keeps telling me is: there are generous people out there and they are willing to gift their time and talent to see others realize their success. Call it Maslow's self-actualization or anything, sourcing that side of human nature certainly reaps benefits beyond conventional belief. And internet is making it more possible each day.

Oh, I find his CodeMonkey pretty cool. Here.