The publication · The I/1 Edit
Research and ideas about the structure behind people’s work.
New editions arrive by email. Each one takes one question about work, power, and ownership, and follows it far enough to become useful, examining what makes work portable, durable, controlled, or dependent on an employer, platform, client, partner, or other institution.
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Beehiiv carries the readable newsletter edition on the web: the central argument and strongest case moments in a focused reading experience. The canonical edition lives here on this site, with citations, interactive tools, updates, and related cases.
Every edition has the same intellectual core, while each surface serves a different purpose. Read on Beehiiv for the narrative. Use this site for the complete numbered editions and their cited record. The Public Reader extends each edition through visual stories, interactive tools, and ready-to-use files.
Edition 001 · September 2026
When Does One Person Become an Institution?
What does a person have to build, carry, and control before their work begins to function like an institution?
Read Edition 001 →Edition 002 · September 2026
Your Career Has a Supply Chain
Dependence is unavoidable. The danger is a dependency you cannot see, replace, negotiate with, or survive without.
Read Edition 002 →Edition 003 · September 2026
Your Archive Is Not a Backup
An export can preserve the objects you made while losing the operating memory that made them useful.
Read Edition 003 →Edition 004 · September 2026
The Exit Is Part of the Architecture
The right to download the parts is not the same as a path for the work to continue somewhere else.
Read Edition 004 →Edition 005 · August 2026
The $2,000 Video
A creator deal is usually several decisions wearing one price tag
Read Edition 005 →Edition 006 · August 2026
The Person Inside the Asset
A finished post can contain a copyrighted work, a performance, an identity, and a future edit.
Read Edition 006 →Edition 007 · August 2026
The Asset’s Afterlife
The file did not change. Its commercial life did.
Read Edition 007 →Latest edition · August 2026
The Smallest Institution in the Campaign
One post can contain an entire organization.
Read Edition 008 →Follow the series
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The I/1 Edit
One sharp idea. New editions arrive by email.
One argument about work, power, and ownership, made concrete through a real case. Sources and tools live on the web edition.