Digital Infrastructure and Public Interest

What is the best way to promote a vibrant and diverse exchange of educational information, cultural expression, and political discourse over the Internet? What type of service—commercial enterprise, government agency, or non-commercial organization—can be counted on to insure that quality and diversity are reflected prominently? Recent experience suggests that a new type of hybrid organization, driven by a strong non-commercial mission but operating with success in the consumer marketplace, may offer the optimal balance of financial sustainability and commitment to the public interest. Firefox, Wikipedia, and now Miro have all shown that non-commercial media and technology enterprises can achieve great success in the consumer marketplace without surrendering their missions to the marketplace. Philanthropy needs to acknowledge that this opportunity is an imperative that requires us to find ways to identify, evaluate, and support the non-commercial work that will help build a public interest infrastructure to promote the free exchange of knowledge over the Internet. If we don't, we will always have lots of "pics of pop's wildest girls" to keep us amused. (Vince Stehle is a program director for Nonprofit Sector Support at Surdna Foundation.)