Goldsmith, Kenneth. "If It Doesn't Exist on the Internet, It Doesn't Exist."  EPC- Kenneth Goldsmith.

      According to Goldsmith, "if it doesn't exist on the internet, it doesn't exist" has gone from being a hyperbole to a truism. He points out that if you can't find something on Google, including yourself, it's pretty frustrating. His argument is that academics should publish their work online with "free and unfettered access to all". For the time being, this call is only directed toward scholarly work, but Goldsmith is certain to point out that it doesn't apply to "painters, potters, printmakers, book artists or metal workers. Yet". In short, eventually the call will be for everything to exist on the internet. For the time, he argues that one major reason works should be published online is because most people don't have access to subscription services like LexusNexus. He brings up his own website, UbuWeb as an example of a site dedicated to free distribution of avant-garde work that "never really made money in the first place" and that otherwise would no longer exist. He also mentions PennSound, which is a huge open-access poetry sound archive that was given credibility as a distribution source due to its affiliation with the University of Pennsylvania, pointing out that most academics have "institutional leverage" on their side.

       He continues by pointing out the benefits to scholars for placing their content on the web. Using his own experiences as a guide, he points out that though he has never made a penny from his writings, he's traveled the world with all expenses paid, gained many awards, and connected with his readers (a peer group, as he calls them). Academic blogs, he argues, offer another type of peer group in which "peer-based consensus garners credibility" and that bloggers have benefited from the feedback of their readers before sending something to print on paper. Lastly, he argues that "CDs are dead". He wasn't joking when he believed that everything not on the internet and, almost as importantly, not capable of being shared, didn't exist. He believes that models such as Netflix won't last unless they distribute files online, instead of DVDs. Even if he hasn't called for anything beside academic research online, obviously the day for other things as well isn't far off.

      Though this focuses on academic research and not art, it's the basic idea of one model of commons that exists on the web. UbuWeb, the author's website, hosts tons of avante-garde work without the permission of the copyright owners (if someone complains, they take it down) that Goldsmith's is right in arguing wouldn't exist without the web. While Creative Commons will be shown to prove a powerful model for the commons to operate on, in such cases as these where there is no market value lost, the idea of a free distribution culture might have something. Goldsmith's advocacy for filing sharing and free content on the web is an idea prominent in many younger interest users today and a model that currently dominates so much of the internet (and has sparked the fight against piracy as well). However, it's important to note that Goldsmith is advocating free distribution for things that don't really make money anyway and in such a context provides a great model for the commons.