Several new services offer free storage and bandwidth for creative works submitted by anyone. In this session from Supernova 2005, Mike Homer and Marc Canter describe two such services that are quite different in architecture but share the goal of giving the masses a way to publish creative works.

Mike Homer describes Open Media Network, a new service based on the Kontiki secure peer-to-peer delivery system.
Homer says the mission of Open Media Network is to "bring back public broadcasting," as a "free public service for the mass publishing and viewing of legal content on the internet." Open Media Network uses an RSS media collector to bring in content and display it to viewers like a Tivo season pass. A volunteer curated system, it relies on viewers to rate and organize the media. In the future, it will provide synchronization with mobile devices and Tivo. Paid content and DRM are supported.

Marc Canter describes Ourmedia.org, a front end to storage and bandwidth offered by the Internet Archive. In contrast to Open Media Network's peer-to-peer approach, Ourmedia.org uses more traditional download and streaming to deliver media.

Canter says he created Ourmedia.org to provide "a free service for digital creators to have storage and bandwidth for free." Ourmedia.org had 25,000 members and 12,000 uploads as of June, 2005. In the future, it will provide a way for the creators of works to submit them to payment collection agencies, along the lines of Harry Fox or BMI/ASCAP in the traditional media world.

Canter now wants to create a registry to connect networks like these, so that people can find media from all networks.

Open Media Network is sponsored by the nonprofit Open Media Foundation, while Ourmedia.org is a nonprofit organization.