Part 1
Clay Shirky, author of "Here Comes Everyone" spoke to assembled delegates this morning about the nature of how we like to share and use our information and how that has led to the next information distribution revolution.
Shirky discussed how communities work and come together through publishing their shared interests, all a platform like flikr needs to do to work is provide the infrastructure. Users then share tips and help each other with their problems - it's a good example of how every URL has the potential to be a latent community he said.
Ultimately people turn themselves into a user community.
The distinction between publishing and communication is more blurred. Flikr's advantage is that it doesn't have to decide what info will be useful Shirky pointed out, by managing less Flikr offers more opportunities for its users. It is one of many such areas out there that do this successfully and makes a good example.
Another intersting example Shirky shared with us was the attention to detail given to the Dr WHO Wikipedia page - edited no less thab 9000 times! That would average about 2-3 edits per each users one would expect - however to demonstrate how we can't rely on a simpistic model of user behaviour Shirky pointed out that the editing process and contribution was far more skewed. For example, 2200 contributors edited the page once while 965 edited it multiple times, one user in particular has edited the entry over a 1000 times! The point is though is that there aren't typical users or typical behaviour.
If you wanted to tap this kind of commitment (especially if its provided for free) for your content consider how you would pitch that to a decision maker - would you even dare?
Colaboration and Collective Action
The story of HSBC reneging on its "free" OD fee for students recently was a PR disaster. When the bank went back on its word it angered many of its student customers. As a bank it knew that to move your money and finances to a competitor is no easy matter and so therefore they could afford to upset them. What tHSBC didn't count on was that students use Facebook and know what it can do.
The protest group acted as staging post for the outraged to come together, others offered advice on how to move their money and who to, it acted as a clarion encouraging even more dissaffected so the story made the national press. HSBC backed down not because the students were upset but because they were upset, organised and co-ordinated.
It is the difference between just reporting what HSBC had done than reporting and offering a way to do something about it.
However Shirky noted that we still tend to underestimate these tools, as they are often used for entertainment and frivolously so. For Shirky they can (and have) been utilised for far more significant uses - the example he gave was of flash mobs entering the main square in Belarus to protest against the law that crowds were not allowed to gather there. The state could do little as each person came there individually not as a group and with a big grin on their face. What is important is that there was the intention among each individual in how they would use this tool, by doing so they became a community with power - albeit shortly.
It is this in part that means there is no longer a difference between the producer of information and the consumer of it. The internet has the many to many element at the core of its nature.
CONTINUED in part 2
No comments:
Post a Comment