BusinessWeek has a terrific cover story (06.20), “THE POWER OF US: Mass Collaboration on the INTERNET Is Shaking Up Business.” Here are some sample quotes:
“The nearly 1 billion people online worldwide—along with their shared knowledge, social contacts, online reputations, computing power, and more—are rapidly becoming a collective force of unprecedented power. For the first time in human history, mass cooperation across time and space is suddenly economical.”
—BW/06.20.05
“There’s a fundamental shift in power happening. Everywhere, people are getting together and, using the Internet, disrupting whatever activities they’re involved in.”
—Pierre Omidyar, founder, eBay (from BW)
“What sets these new technologies apart from those of the Internet’s first generation is their canny way of turning self-interest into social benefit—and real economic value.”
—BW/06.05
The “architecture of participation”
—Tim O’Reilly/Tech-book publisher (from BW)
All this led me to create a new Chapter in my Master Presentation, REI.500. Title (swiping from BW): “The Power of We.” (I like “we” better, the hell with the grammarians.) You’ll find it as a new Special Presentation.