The crowd is wise (when it's focused)

19 July 2009 | 15:44 - By Stefano Boscutti

Few concepts in business have been as popular and appealing in recent years as the emerging discipline of "open innovation".

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It is variously described as crowdsourcing, the wisdom of crowds, collective intelligence and peer production - and these terms apply to a range of practices. The overarching notion is that the internet opens the door to a new world of democratic idea generation and collaborative production. Early triumphs like Linux operating system and Wikipedia web encyclopedia are seen as harbingers. In the new model, innovation is often portrayed as a numbers game. The more heads, the better - all weighing in, commenting, offering ideas. Collective knowledge prevails, as if a force of egalitarian inevitability. Good if you dig mathematics and databases, but not so good if you're after true success.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/technology/internet/19unboxed.html

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About this Blog

New New Media looks at how our mediascape is exploding to bits. How the latest technology and the internet are changing the way we live, work and play. How the latest media is shaping us all.

Stefano Boscutti is an executive creative director and strategist. He's like a better looking version of Todd Sampson. He also has an abiding faith that stories and wordplay (and not powerpoint presentations) will change the world.

 
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