Clay Shirky video

Below is an awesome video discussing the effects web 2.0 has on coordination of institutions: http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_on_institutions_versus_collaboration.html

The description of the video reads as follows:
In this prescient 2005 talk, Clay Shirky shows how closed groups and companies will give way to looser networks where small contributors have big roles and fluid cooperation replaces rigid planning.

It is a great summary of a lot of issues we have talked about class, such as how institution costs are shed with these new online networks. Shirky also focuses on the power law distribution, and the value of the smaller end of the spectrum, something we have not discussed much in class. He explains that in normal corporations, employees who only contribute one idea are a waste of resources but on networks online, a user who only contributes one idea does not cost anything extra, and in fact, a bunch of users who do that is actually a very valuable asset. Similarly, while creating our map, although it is easy to focus on big nodes, all those smaller nodes are valuable too, even if each organization contributes minimally. Check out the video if you want to hear more!