Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations

Brilliant synopsis of what's happening - right now. Features that are important to every individual, every organization, every government, and which can no longer be ignored. Clay lays out the case, example after example, and ties it all together. Highly recommended.

Clay Shirky does a very good job documenting and explaining how new technological tools (e-mail, weblogs, wikis etc.) have, after becoming widely accessible, revolutionized how social groups can form, interact and achieve their goals. He cites the usual suspects like e.g. Linux and Wikipedia as exceptional feats in free collaboration. But there are a lot of other interesting stories about small and large groups with vastly different objectives in the book you have probably never heard of. And more importantly, while he explains how these projects and the tools they use work (in a way geared toward non-techies), the book is really about why they work from a sociological point of view. It is delighting to notice all those communities and group projects that have come out of nowhere to, seemingly without organization, build something for themselves and others. But it is really enlightening to read Shirky's well-written explanation of the underlying principles. The book is fun to read and, considering its topic's impact on society, should be of interest to just about everybody.

I was modestly disappointed to see so few references to pioneers I recognize, including Stewart Brand, Kevin Kelly, Joe Trippi, and so on. Howard Rheingold and Yochai Benkler get single references. Seeing Stewart Brand's recommendation persuaded me I don't know the author well enough, and should err on the side of his being a genuine original. Certainly the book reads well, and for someone like me who reads a great deal, I found myself recognizing thoughts explored by others, but also impressed by the synthesis and the clarity. A few of my fly-leaf notes: + New technologies enable new kinds of groups to form. + "Message" is key, what Eric Raymond calls "plausible promise." + Can now harness "free and ready participation in a large distributed group with a variety of skills." + Cost-benefit of large "unsupervised" endeavors is off the charts. + From sharing to cooperation to collective action + Collective action requires shared vision + Literacy led to mass amatuerism, and I have note to myself, the cell phone can lead to mass on demand education "one cell call at a time" + Transactions costs dramatically lowered. + Revolution happens when it cannot be contained by status quo institutions + Good account of Wikipedia + Light discussion of social capital, Yochai Bnekler does it much better + Value of mass diversity + Implications of Linux for capitalism + Excellent account of how Perl beat out C++ Bottom line in this book: "Open Source teaches us that the communal can be at least as durable as the commercial. Other books I recommend: Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, & the Economic World Tools for Thought: The History and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution The Revolution Will Not Be Televised : Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace There is of course also a broad literature on complexity, collapse, resilience, diversity, integral consciousness and so on.

Wikipedia shouldn't exist. I mean, think about it - it's a knowledge resource put together by volunteers, many of whom contribute once and then leave. And yet, Wikipedia is working, with its quality improving every day. How did this happen? Clay Shirky is a leading thinker on social technologies, and this book is his introduction to why social technologies like Wikipedia work. Each chapter has a well-chosen story to illustrate the technologies he's discussing, from the Stolen Sidekick page to Flickr's coverage of Coney Island's Mermaid Parade, and how they are being used, including Egyptian activists using Twitter to keep each other updated of their activities and confrontations with authority, or Belarussian protestors using LiveJournal to organize flash mobs. Shirky's book is a terrific introduction to social technology, with an overview of both the social and the technological and how they are feeding on each other to form new combinations. I highly recommend it to anybody who has any interest in how new tools are giving us more power by multiplying the number of ways in which we can interact with each other.