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SOCIAL WEB MEDIA
social media and collective effort
lecture notes in support of discussing
Here Comes Everybody (Shirky) ch 1-4
many activities require
coordinated effort by groups
publishing a book
Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel
Social tools enable new ways to
share
cooperate
take collective action

There are costs
in coordinating group effort
transaction cost
management cost
a group's complexity grows faster than its size
the cost of maintaining a friendship
time, attention, emotional involvement
the cost of maintaining 20 friendships?
when the cost of an activity is lowered,
behavior can change in a big way
train service – London to Brighton (1841)
Shirky p 49
group effort

1) sharing
(fewest demands on particpants)


2 cooperation
a) conversation
b) collaboration
(collective decisions, no single person can take credit... ex Wikipedia)


3) collective action
(ex. potluck, barnraising)

Examples from Shirky
Mermaid Parade documentation
2005 London Transport Bombings documentation
groups that arise from shared interests
and dissipate
Hierarchies have been crucial
they are a way of reducing management costs
and transaction costs
(ex. delegation of responsibility
for sections of train tracks)
In some situations, social tools collapse
transaction costs, allowing different activities to
become feasible, changing the way activities are
organized, superceding hierarchies
Everyone is a Media Outlet
professional / amateur
digital media + networked computers
“unlimited, perfect copyability” (Shirky, p59)
a change in the transaction costs
for distributing text, music, etc. w/ many effects

downloading and sharing for free:
affects record company
affects artist
affects listeners/fans
affects record stores
...a change in the transaction costs
for distributing text, music, etc. w/ many effects

music as digital download
pulls apart the album

any song can be sold as a single on iTunes store, etc

potentially cheaper for listener

affects the album as a form

...a change in the transaction costs
for distributing text, music, etc. w/ many effects

music as digital download...
no warehousing costs for record label
potentially more lucrative for label and/or artist
label can keep old or less-popular marterial available for
sale
music that has limited appeal can find an audience (“the
long tail”)
amateur work can also be available

professionals tend to become
invested in a view of the world
that affirms their status
“The amateur can afford to lose. The professional
tends to classify and specialise, to accept
uncritically the groundrules of the environment.”Marshall McLuhan
NY Times: “All the news that's fit to print”
Who decides what is newsworthy...?
“...the news media can end up covering the story
because it has broken into public consciousness
through other means.” (p64-65)
(Shirky's discussion of Trent Lott controversy)
“In the same way you do not have to be a
professional driver to drive you no longer have to
be a professional publisher to publish.”
p66
scarcity creates value
how difficult is it to find a suitable photo
for use in a brochure?
The ability of profesional photographers (or their
representatives) to connect the client
w/ a suitable photo was valuable.
You wouldn't bother w/ amateur photgraphers
because your time is more valuable than the
likelihood of getting a cheaper photo.
iStockPhoto
activities that were formerly expensive and
required professional expertise
(ie scarce)
Reproduction
Distribution
Categorization
credits
Notes from Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky (Penguin, 2008)
firens on beach photo by: untilblack (cc attribution)
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brighton photo by
Bojan Lazarevic (ZivojinMisic slike)
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license