HomePage RecentChanges Discussion

2006-11-06

KeithHopper: I’ve taken a stab at reworking the Wiki Objective (See/edit @ WikiObjective).

I was inspired by (and thusly combined), the following insights:

If/when we have clarified a new WikiObjective, I’ll spread it out to various, important pages and replace ‘the question’ if we deem appropriate.

SamRose: Part of the following excerpted from a proposal I am currently working on for a pilot project to help improve local community KnowledgeCommons and CollectiveProblemSolving networks:

As Lionkimbro pointed out, Community:IfYouBuildItTheyWillCome discusses the fact that a VirtualCommunity, and/or web enabled tools for CollectiveProblemSolving will likely not be used unless there is a core group of people actively contributing and adding real value that will create the critical mass that is needed to attract other people.

In order to increase the amount of valuable contributors people will need to know:

It has taken me a lot of real and/or virtual footwork and elbow grease to get virtual communities going. This is part of what I do for a living with my consulting business.

Another thing that I am doing now is looking at what online spaces people are currently using, and helping them use those to jumpstart and grow a CollectiveProblemSolvign? effort. For instance, maybe one local group is using a mailing list or google group to discuss problems , while another is using myspace pages to coordinate face to face meetings, while another is using wikis. Perhaps all of these tools output an RSS feed, and maybe those RSS feeds can be used to create both a central page that shows all of the activities of different groups connected in a local CollectiveProblemSolving network, along with the output of whatever tools people are using for identifying and analyzing local problems, and proposing solutions?

Plus, I am looking at incentives, like perhaps a local AlternativeCurrency, that can possibly reciprocate something back to local people for adding to knowledge bases, and working on local problems, perhaps in combination with a local PredictionMarket that is part of the CollectiveProblemSolving system.

this is offered as more of some dimensions of part of an answer to the WikiObjective, rather than as part of the WikiObjective.

To the points above I would add one - What the prospective participants would get from the community? I think this is the most fundamental question here - because if there are not enough incentives all community building will fail. And I don’t believe in the AlternativeCurrencies too much - money can work only in very standardised circumstances where you have a real market with all the balancing forces and perfect information, it is not like that in any creative work. --ZbigniewLukasiak

By the way last week I’ve read “When Collections of Creatives Become Creative Collecives: A Field Study of Problem Solving at Work” by Andrew B. Hargadon and Beth A. Bechky - it is so relevant here - but unfortunately I did not save the link and now I cannot find this article anywhere on the free web (it seems to be in some paid archives). I’ve even mailed the authors and asked this question - but no answer by now. Anyway - it was published in Organization Science Vol. 17, No. 4, July-August 2006. pp. 484-500. If anyone happen to find it please email me back. – ZbigniewLukasiak

KeithHopper: The PDF can be found at: http://orgsci.highwire.org/cgi/reprint/17/4/484 . If they take it down, let me know and I’ll email it to you.

I totally agree with adding what’s in it for the participants to the WikiObjective. Adding any insight in this department directly to the WikiObjective page would be great.

From Sam’s points above:

Sam: what from your ideas above can we incorporate into the WikiObjective? I’m chomping at the bit to update the HomePage with some clarity around what we’re trying to accomplish here. The existing question feels a little confusing.

SamRose: Really, keith, I have to tell you that the change that you made today the the WikiObjective is actually awesome IMO, and broad enough to attract people from many different disciplines, yet focused on the objective. I will be sure to help work on CommunityCriticalMass?, and ProblemSolvingTools?, because I think those are great ideas for inclusion

Also, I like what you have at KnowledgeCommons, and I’ll work on that, too.

Zbigniew, I agree with you about “What the prospective participants would get from the community?”. I actually tried to write this into the points I posted above, without actually comingout and saying. I agree it is THE fundamental factor, the make or break factor. I have helped to set up virtual communities for education, and other purposes, and people’s participation always comes down to “What the prospective participants would get from the community”, along with, I believe, what I have posted above. I think Zbigniew’s point is a central part of CommunityCriticalMass?.

Also, I am attracted to creating the perfect new tool. Indeed, I have worked with people here and there to help create what we thought was the “perfect new tool”. And, I want to support the creation and development and improvement of tools. Yet, I am finding that when I am going out there and doing the leg work of creating CollectiveProblemSolving pilot projects, and trying to get people to use these tools,that there are some barriers at times. The “void” of KnowledgeCommons, content management system, and collaborative virtual community tools is in some cases quickly filled (because the low cost makes it relatively easy to do). Maybe each local group is firmly entrenched in their mailing list, Yahoo group, Myspace group, Plone site, message board, or other online workspace. Or, maybe a local University, or local non-profit or community organization is already setting up these online environments, and already are looking at some of the same CollectiveProblemSolving concepts that we are looking at. There is great social inertia, and high mental transaction to get people to jump over to your platform, even when it is better.

In these cases, I am looking at what is in place, and trying to figure out people can easily re-use their existing KnowledgeCommons in larger group-to-group efforts, example: SocialSynergy:SynergizeWorkflows. How to make things more findable and exportable. How help people become more aware of connections and knowledge and access in networks (see: Community:SocialNetworkAnalysis). How to help people measure tangible and intangible value, and thus better see what it is in it for them, example SocialSynergy:OpenValueNetwork

Also, the only role that I am currently considering for AlterntiveCurrency? is in PredictionMarkets?, because AlternativeCurrency lowers the barrier to participating in PredictionMarkets?. PredictionMarkets? can be useful in cases where knowledge about something is dispersed among many people. PredictionMarkets? can help overcome some of the drawbacks to deliberation in CollectiveProblemSolving. Some of the known problems with deliberation can be:

The above six points are aggregated from CassSunstein?’s book, Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge.

It is my theory that PredictionMarkets? can be a key tool for CollectiveProblemSolving, in conjunction with the other tools and techniques and concepts we have been discussing here, at Community, Meatball, and elsewhere. Plus, I think that over time, in local communities, it might be possible, once a PredictionMarket has stabilized, to allow people to “spend” the AlternativeCurrencies they earn in PredictionMarket platforms at local businesses, in the form of discounts or free merchandise, provided that the local businesses are benefitting from the PredictionMarket. I’ll be experimenting with this locally soon.

KeithHopper: Sam, as usual your points are fantastic. Here’s some rapid-fire thoughts:

PredictionMarkets? can help overcome some of the drawbacks to deliberation

As can rating and raking systems. Setting aside the drawbacks for a minute, it is easier to move forward on a solution that has widespread, visible support

EditNearLinks: CreativeCommons AlternativeCurrencies ZbigniewLukasiak AlternativeCurrency OpenSource FreeSoftware VirtualCommunity OpenContent