In the Observer Charles Leadbetter, author of We Think: Mass Innovation, Not Mass Production, describes how the web has empowered us to organize ourselves, create and do in a manner hitherto unseen. It’s not exactly a new theme on PSFK - we’ve been tagging stories with ‘Our Terms Not Yours‘ for a while now, but he covers the recent empowered-movement history well with several examples. An except:
If ingenious games designers can inspire thousands of people to collaborate to solve a puzzle, could we do something similar to tackle global warming, keep communities safe, provide support for the elderly, help disaster victims, lend and borrow money, conduct political and policy debates, teach and learn, design and make physical products?
We are just starting to explore how we can organise ourselves without the trappings of traditional organisations. Watching ‘I Love Bees’ unfold is a bit like being in Detroit in 1905 when Henry Ford was still experimenting with mass production. A new organisational possibility is unfolding before our eyes. Where might We Think culture take us?
We are just at the start of exploring how we can be organised without the hierarchy of top-down organisations. There will be many false turns and failures. But there is also huge potential to create new stores of knowledge to the benefit of all, innovate more effectively, strengthen democracy and give more people the opportunity to make the most of their creativity.
The motto of the generation growing up with the collaborative logic of the web is not the solitary ‘I think, therefore I am’, it is be the social ‘We think, therefore we are’.
People power transforms the web in next online revolution | Technology | The Observer
It’s all hot air until someone says, “I think, therefore I do.”
March 11th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Thanks for linking to the story from the Observer. What a fascinating read.
March 11th, 2008 at 4:46 pm