Revolution in collaborative models is happening today. Start earlier with Easter Island. The civilization on this island collapsed because of their complexity. The civilization failed to changed based on changes in their environment. We have examples of that today. Think about Blockbuster…………..
The tension between the complex and the simple business model. In LA, “In the Motherhood” became popular as a web series because it was For Moms, By Moms, About Moms. When it’s success made it to ABC, the writers guild said, “It can’t be ‘by moms’. We are the creative engine. It tanked. This is a prime example of failing to adopt a pattern of success.
During the SARs virus scare, Genome Sciences was the first to release the sequenced genome of the virus. They did this because they shared a lot of the work with the outside world. It took them two weeks. Contrast that with China who had more resources and more samples. They didn’t get their first. Why??? Not for lack of incentive, talent, or resources. They lost because they weren’t allowed to share. They had to ask permission every time they wanted to share. The tension was networked vs isolated. China’s institute was isolated. This pattern of sharing is working remarkably well.
Why is the pattern of sharing working?
We have the resources and the time. We have a connected environment that allows us to pool this in a VERY large scale. Clay calls this Cognitive Surplus. Take Wikipedia at 2008. They figure it took 100 million hours to create that. Compare that to the 200 Billion hours spent watching TV. This tells you the freely committed resources of the connected world is huge.
Take Howard Forums. It gets a billion page views a year. It’s so good at answering mobile phone questions that engineers inside the companies that make cell phones go to Howard Forums for answers. People say, “I have something good, take a look at it.”
Take Stack Overflow. They decided to build a tool based on what the people were demanding. They added tagging. They added like and other social capabilities. They then decided to create a stack exchange tool. Startup community, IT Security, cooking, etc. THEN, they created stack exchange which is a site to vette the next stack site. It’s all part of a great ideajam. Key components of the site(s)
- Idea Jam
- Variety of communities
- Reputation points allow you to do more and more within the the community
- learning from these communities drive the next generation of functionality
Key Point : It’s improbable that any given person will have an answer to your question. Improbable events times enormous numbers of people becomes likely. That’s why these communities can be successful. You can count on improbably events.
Key Point: Algorithmic authority. Authority extends from institutional authority to authority provided by trust. DARPA for example referred to the Haversine formula on Wikipedia for one of it’s challenges. They referred to an entity that gained authority because they referred to it.
Key Point: People can capture more information and help us understand it better. Look at Patients like me. It’s coordinated voluntary participation where users note the drugs, dosages, and results. Aggregate it all together and you get information that doesn’t exist anywhere. Why are they successful, because their philosophy says, “Openness is a good thing” Contrast that with super secret drug trials……………
Summary
This isn’t a change in a particular field or a change in a particular community. It’s about how collaboration can change the world regardless of fields or communities. Keep in mind that all this started as a humble endeavor. Linus Torvalds, “I’m doing a free operating system (just a hobby). I’d like to know what features most people would want. Wikipedia: Humor me. Go there and add a little article. It will take all of five or ten minutes.
Four big differences with complex collaboration
- Fast
- Messy: People make more mistakes. You catch them after the fact
- Optional: No one is required to participate
- Open
These are the characteristics that the current environment is making possible. They are reasons to collaborate. They are the economic advantage. They aren’t reasons not to.
