Collective Action and Decision-making

February 22

Mass collaboration and the aggregation of information enable potentially profound changes in business and politics. In this class, we will compare and contrast the transformations in economic life and collective decision-making processes brought on the information revolution. The discussions will also explore the role of open information systems on business and the scope for greater transparency and participation in government, politics and public life.

Assignments

Assignment 2 due

Readings

• James Surowiecki, Wisdom of Crowds (excerpt)
  • NYT Review

• Ethan Zuckerman's blog review of Infotopia Great summary of the issues in the book.

Optional Readings

• Federalist Papers published under the pseudonym Publius.
• Divided They Blog - a paper showing trackbacks between political blogs, mentioned by Ethan Zuckerman in his review of Cass Sunstein's Infotopia

Class Discussion

Link to article in today's NY Times regarding Egypt's shut down during the revolution of internet within its borders: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/technology/16internet.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp <<sjennings 15:53, 16 February 2011 (UTC)>>

Links

• Clay Shirky TED Talk
• goldcorp story (worth reading)