Posts Tagged: economic

I have always had a lot of questions about Wikipedia and how it goes against typical business models and information collaboration we have learned to trust through the centuries.  This week’s readings and discussions in regard to the rise of networks helped clear some of this blurriness.  It seems that Wikipeida turned everything upside down in terms of company existence and economic rational.  It is the epitome of collaborative production in our new digital age.  Anyone can now share what they want, when they want, and with whomever they want.  With Wikipedia, groups come together to create something new that cannot be made by one single person to the same degree successfully.  Today we have new tools that allow larger groups to collaborate.  But is this effective?  Yes, because it takes advantage of non-financial motivations and allows for different levels of contributions.

Wikipedia began in 1995 under the idea of becoming a user-edited site.  It was intended for small groups of like-minded individuals that trust each other.  Now it has transformed into a collection of millions of contributors on a global scale.  However, it brings up the question: does this type of information gathering need manager oversight?  In our new world, we have adapted to a spontaneous divisions of labor among groups.  Someone starts a thread and others fill in and edit content as it is added.  The page is never completed because it can always have more information added or taken away by anyone.

But what about the accuracy of this information?  Won’t people post irrelevant or false information (intentionally or unintentionally).  Of course errors will appear.  However, those dedicated to the information will weed out the bad and leave the good.  If there is ever a dispute about content that was added or taken away from a page, anyone can look up the history and even pinpoint the specific user in the backlog.  The reputation of contributors is created from this digital history.

Wikipedia now rivals traditional encyclopedias.  In fact, the amount of information on the site is 25 times larger than that found in encyclopedias.  Plus, users need to wait an entire year to have an updated version of the printed encyclopedia.  Wikipedia is always up to date, is free, and constantly growing.  Although I don’t know who is in charge of information gather for encyclopedias or how this process works, the online community is responsibly for the content of Wikipedia and we are all working together for free to create the largest collection of information.

In terms of economic rational, company existence in the first place is now in doubt.  We can go online and create content whenever and wherever suits us best.  It will be interesting to see how companies evolve as we move toward a new economic approach and move away from an accepted and historic approach to business.

Week 4: The Rise of the Network

Here Comes Everybody! – Clay Shirkey

1. If markets are such a good idea, why do we have organizations at all?  Why can’t all exchanges and value happen in the market?

2. Is company growth always a good idea?  Why are big companies failing?

3. Our world used to be a one-way flow of information: Messages were developed and then we consumed them.  Content was filtered and there was no interaction.  How were we able to switch to a two-way interactive approach?

4. What is non-financial motivation and how has it shaped digital information collection?  Are traditional business theories in danger?

5. How does the internet play into money and company growth today?  Have companies become smaller or have they gotten smarter?

The Wealth of Networks – Yochai Benkler
Ch. 1-4, 10

1.  What are some characteristics of information production as an economic phenomenon?

2. How do we know that the content produced by widely distributed individuals is accurate and trustworthy (Wikipedia)?

3.  Should society be concerned that our new freedom will fray social ties and fragment social relations?