MassCollaboration
Many new online initiatives, including Wikipedia, Couchsurfing, Twitter, and Mechanical Turk, all rely on mass collaboration - often termed Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINS). The success or failure of such COIN projects depends to a large extent on the number of people participating, and as a result the projects often face massive challenges motivating participants and prevent bad actors (see the cross-cutting theme on motivation).
More interestingly, all of these projects are based on the premise that the more people involved the better quality the product. Such a notion goes directly against our traditional ideas of "mob mentality": a term used to refer to unique behavioral characteristics which emerge when people are in large groups.
Social psychologists describing mob mentality often emphasize the potential for peer pressure and group-think, but some authors believe that these negative outcomes can be overcome with guidance (e.g. by having participants rate the novelty of postings in order to increase the salience of minority views).[1] Others believe the unique characteristics of COINs give those projects a competitive advantage[2] while still others suggest COINs are uniquely poised to address major global issues such as sustainability.[3] In their book Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration is Changing Everything, Tapscott & Williams argue that mass collaboration is the future of business and markets and almost a pre-requisite for economic success in the internet age.[4]
References
- ↑ Gerry Stahl, "The Strength of the Lone Wolf," 3 International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning 1-5 (2008).
- ↑ Gloor, Peter A, Swarm Creativity: Competitive Advantage Through Collaborative Innovation Networks (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).
- ↑ Archer, Fei, & Petzel, Collaboration for Sustainability in a Networked World, Thesis, Blekinge Institute of Technology (2009).
- ↑ Tapscott & Williams, Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration is Changing Everything (2008).