The creation and distribution of multimedia content are undergoing revolutionary changes. They are moving toward a community-driven model, where content consumers suddenly become content producers as well, where user-generated content is king, and where millions of people freely contribute to the greater good by building community-based encyclopedias and open-source software. Commercial and enterprise content is increasingly being delivered through broadband Internet connections. These paradigm shifts drive existing approaches for distributing and managing content beyond their limits-they require a fresh start and new methods. This special issue of the Bell Labs Technical Journal presents papers that address several important aspects of modern content networks and investigates the implications of the paradigm shift on both the technology and the underlying business models.
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