This TED-talk by Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs, sets collaboration in a very, very big perspective. This, slightly economic, perspective very much helps to understand (and support) various more focused ideas on various aspects of the social media.
Rheingold argues that new technologies enable collaboration, thereby creating new social institutions, which pave way for a new definition of wealth. This again allows for a society less driven by competitive structures. (I hope I got that right.)
Based on research in the area of tragedy of the commons and the prisoners dilemma, he enlists some key-criteria for collaborative spaces:
- Easy to use
- Enable connections
- Group forming
- Self-instructing
- Leverage self interest
I'll watch this again, whenever I feel a bit too far down in the nitty-gritty details of a convincing someone that user generated content or social media marketing is not just a new distribution channel.
Comments