Category: Uncategorized

Wikinomics – or Et Tu, Rabble.ca

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I’m just finishing with The Long Tail. Do I have to do it all again with Wikinomics ? Am I doomed to be a perpetual curmudgeon? If rabble.ca’s newest venture is anything to go by, the answer is yes.

rabble.ca is a news site that I generally like. It describes itself this way:

rabble.ca was built on the efforts of progressive journalists, writers, artists and activists across the country. We launched rabble on April 18, 2001, just before the protests against the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, and leapt onto the Net with the kind of coverage you could only get from the point of view of the rabble. We have covered events and issues in ways you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else ever since.

And I’d often agree – they reprint pieces by Rick Salutin, Linda MacQuaig, Thomas Walkom, Jim Stanford, Scott Piatkowski and other smart and left-wing journalists and commentators. It was founded by Judy Rebick. (For those of you outside Canada, there’s a lot of Canadian lefty cred in the names in this paragraph.)

So why oh why are they giving a whole lot of space to Wikinomics, the web 2.0, long-tail-like wealth-of-networks, wisdom-of-crowds  book by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. They’re even holding a virtual event in Second Life.

rabble.ca must think there is something about the book that is "progressive". But what it is defeats me entirely. Could it be the front-cover blurb by the CEO of Procter & Gamble? The praise by executives from ATT, the World Economic Forum, OgilvyOne, IBM, and Roche Diagnostics, Socialtext, Royal Bank of Canada, Walt Disney, MetLife, Google, and Cisco? Is it this week’s Business Week Special?

I’ve read chapter 1 (available here) and it’s Long Tail all over again. Breathless prose ("we are entering a new age… liberate people to participate in innovation and wealth creation within every sector of the economy… a world where knowledge, power, and productive capability will be more dispersed than at any time in our history… harness the new collaboration or perish… – and that’s just in the first dozen pages). Promises of democracy, empowerment of regular people (that’s you and me, squire), the breaking down of old hierarchies. It sounds great. But…

I hate to say it, but in these tech-utopian books why does no one follow the money? If we’re all so empowered and trust our peers, how come they get CEOs to blurb their book? If we’re all so productive, how come inequality is increasing – and nowhere more so than in high tech industries?

And just like the Long Tail, the word-pictures the authors sketch are massively selective in their portrayal of the past and the future. The past is all rigid hierarchy, the future (left to technology and markets, apparently) is all explosive growth and innovative open source. IBM is promoted as "embracing open source" but they don’t mention how it just set a record for the number of patents in a year. Isn’t this at least part of the picture?

I feel like I’ve read the book already. For those who have been following my Long Tail grumbles, doesn’t the following paragraph read just like Mr. Anderson?

For individuals and small producers, this may be the birth of a new era, perhaps even a golden one, on par with the Italian renaissance or the rise of Athenian democracy. Mass collaboration across borders, disciplines, and cultures is at once economical and enjoyable… A new economic democracy is emerging in which we all have a lead role.

Come on rabble.ca: just because the new executives  don’t wear ties, business is still about the money. Technology is fine, but politics still exists. You disappoint me.

But wait! It so happens I know a thing or two about chemistry, and Wikinomics
has something just for me, right there in Chapter 1. Maybe this will save the book for me.

"Or perhaps your
thing is chemistry. Indeed, if you’re a retired, unemployed, or
aspiring chemist, Procter & Gamble needs your help… Now you can
work for P&G without being on their payroll".

Is this some kind of joke? Sorry for being materialistic, but I think I’ll give that opportunity a miss.

 

Eggs of Victory

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Wisdom of Crowds? Hah! The problem was just not having someone expert enough.

Total number of Laura Secord chocolate eggs in the jar at their Kitchener store: 948
Total number guessed by yours truly: 947

Victory is mine, along with the eggs and a two-foot-high chocolate rabbit.

Eat your heart out, James Surowiecki.

Big People and Small People in London

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These two just demand to be seen together.

Little People – A Tiny Street Art Project has many pictures of "little handpainted people left in London to fend for themselves". Very idiosyncratic, and very enjoyable.
And via 3QuarksDaily here is an entrancing YouTube video of a very big handpainted (?) person fending for herself in London, with some help. Part of the Sultan’s Elephant by Royal De Luxe, last May in London.

You may want to see it full screen, which you can do here.

Finney passes to Nugent

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For the first time in my lifetime (just) a PNE player has scored for England. I know it was Andorra, but still.

Now for the premiership.

Link: BBC SPORT | Football | Internationals | Finney delighted with Nugent goal.

Sir Tom Finney has spoken of his pride at seeing David Nugent become the first Preston North End player to score for England in 49 years.

"It was only a tap in but nevertheless he scored and that was very important on his debut," Finney told BBC Sport.

"It gives me a bit of a thrill to see a Preston player wearing an England shirt – the club itself will be very proud."

Finney was the last Preston player to score for England when he found the net against Northern Ireland in 1958.

Tims Spey Way Challenge

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This post is for anyone who knew me from PHGS and who is as out of touch with people from school as I am.

I went to Friends Reunited for the first time in ages to look through people’s entries, and was shocked to see that Tim Lester has recently been diagnosed with motor neuron disease. A couple of weeks ago he set off on a fundraising walk through the highlands of Scotland, where he now lives, so go donate at http://www.justgiving.com/timsspeywaychallenge and show your support for Tim. There’s a clickable link in the right hand column of this page as well.

Here’s what he has to say at Justgiving – Tims Spey Way Challenge.

On Wednesday 29th November 2006 I was diagnosed as having Motor Neuron Disease – www.scotmnd.org.uk . Once I had picked myself up off the floor I thought I had to do something positive and decided in a moment of lucid thought that I would walk the Spey Way and try and raise some money for charity along the way. This is one of four designated long distance footpaths in Scotland and follows the course of the great River Spey from it’s source in the Cairngorms to where it enters the Moray Firth (just down the road from where we now live, see photo opposite). More information from www.speysideway.org . I probably won’t be able to do a Jayne Tomlinson but as long as I can put one foot in front of the other I will keep going (and even if I have to end it in a wheelchair I will). As Motor Neuron Disease is very close to my heart I would like to raise some money for them to do more research in to this little understood disease, and also Meningitis Research. This is a charity that we have done our little bit for over the years, our son Alex having survived its’ ravages at an early age, and it would be good if we could raise some funds for them too. Walking will commence on the 3rd March, and don’t worry I won’t be galloping to the end! Your support, both monetary and in person if you can make it this far North, would be appreciated as it would be great to share some time together on this adventure.
Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Scottish Motor Neurone Disease Association will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.
So please sponsor me now!
Many thanks for your support.

He also has a myspace page for the walk and there’s a newspaper story here.

I haven’t seen Tim in many years, but – if you read this Tim – when we were at school you seemed like one of the few people in our year who actually had it all together. At least, after you got rid of the Ziggy Stardust haircut. First, you had the rugby thing going. Then, you had the music thing going with Mike Parker and Jim Hogarth. And then you were dating Barbara Armstrong, who had emerged from some kind of an invisible cocoon she was hiding in for years to suddenly become attractive-and-outspoken-and-Oxford-bound Jo Armstrong.

So you managed to be one of the cool people in school without getting an attitude about it, and always seemed just as happy to spend time with those of us who were less cool as with those who were more so. I hope you’ve carried on being as admirable – I’m sure you have. It’s a hell of a thing to get that diagnosis, but taking on the walk sounds like just the kind of thing you’d do – no messing, getting out and do something useful. Best wishes to you in the walk and everything else, my friend.