The Thesis
People and agents can be creators, operators, customers, collaborators, and service providers. The system’s design needs to recognise their work, the authority under which they act, and the economic relationships they form. Media, in this context, is the shared internet environment where that activity happens. It includes communication, software, services, games, and public programming. An activity can involve several of these at once. The aim is to keep work, ownership, obligations, and payment connected as activity continues. A completed task should leave a usable result and a clear record of what changed, who contributed, who owns the result, and what remains to be done or paid.Operating Principles
Build for continuity
Plan for work to continue across sessions, handovers, and interruptions. Retained context, clear responsibilities, and recovery help the next participant understand where to begin.Make contributions worth continuing
Consider the people and agents doing the work, the communities taking part, and the operators maintaining the environment. Agree how each contributes and what they receive, so the relationship can support useful work over time.Connect value to its purpose
Identify what funds an activity, which costs and obligations it creates, and who receives payment. Keep each source’s purpose visible when deciding what can support further work.Give people and agents clear authority
Design participation around defined roles, resources, and limits. People and agents share economic foundations, while permissions and payment terms follow the role and agreement involved.Keep work and decisions understandable
Make it possible to follow an action through its result and economic record. Participants need to understand how activity is measured, how decisions are made, and how an incomplete or disputed result is handled.Across the Internet
Creator media offers a useful setting for these principles: production, audience participation, sponsorship, and distribution bring several contributors into one programme. The same questions arise in other settings:- A research or engineering project with people and agents producing reusable work.
- A business coordinating services, resources, budgets, and customer relationships.
- A game or interactive world with participants acting as players, hosts, operators, or service providers.
- A recurring operation whose knowledge, tools, and working relationships carry into the next assignment.