the NRKbeta doctrine

At earlier points in time, I have mentioned that I follow NRKbeta, NRK‘s sandbox for technology and new media. Today, I simply want to quote something they wrote a long time ago, which has been coined as the NRKbeta doctrine:

If you want control of your content you need to lock it down in a vault and never show it to anyone. We gave up control of our content the day we started broadcasting. For years our most popular content have been available on BitTorrent and on sites like YouTube anyway. DRM doesn’t work. The only way to control your content is to be the best provider of it. If people want it on YouTube then you should publish it on YouTube or in a system that give the same experience. If people want it on BitTorrent then you should provide that. If you do it right people will come to your official publish point and you’ll end up with more control. (Solheim, 2008)

That sounds slightly important, so I will repeat it for added emphasis:

The only way to control your content is to be the best provider of it.

It really is that simple. It is the reason why I write this blog, and my philosophy on documentation. If you know something; don’t hold it tight; let it out, and let people work with it.