Here is the problem with solving this. What is in the best interest of most of the population is not best for big companies. I’m not saying that it’s impossible to be able to see images, and vast cultural information from the remote areas of the world as easily as you see the latest Telstra ad. In fact quite the opposite. I believe the technology and ideas exist to make it happen. The problem is those that control said media are a selective community. Marketers and advertisers have been collecting culture data since the 50’s, to help better sell their product.

You know when you submit a form to sign up for something, and it asks for your country and postcode. Or when you search on any map site and it asks if the site can use your current location. On the most basic level this allows for what advertisers call “location specific advertising” which uses your area and targets ads that will appeal to you. I use the advertising example because the problem Manovich described is about being able to track the information, data, work and ideas that make it possible to easily see where its coming from, and any trends or patterns that arise from this.

It’s a very pessimistic view, so lets assume that in a perfect world, we had unlimited access to every piece of data. Every known image. Would you rather view and discuss the artwork or design that was made in some far away location in the middle of nowhere, or are you going to talk about the local work. The ability to find work from anywhere had made it so overwhelming, that we become obsessed with locally produced information.

I know the topic was to find a solution to how we can track and collect this data, but think about how connected social media is, from your own home you can find a small café in Sao Paulo that serves a delicious chai. Find a shop in Antwerp that stocks your favourite cereal. So clearly the ability to find and collect great works of art, literature and music from these places are as easy. Its just a matter of money. Finding this culturally historic artefacts don’t make those with the ability to track them money. So they choose not to track it.