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Latest read: The Wealth of Networks

I have been looking at The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom as a learning tool for social networks impacting society and found this a very deep read….like a college econ/sociology textbook.  Caught myself thinking I was actually back in school. This goes much deeper than Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies.

Harvard law professor Yochai Benkler has written a very comprehensive book to describe conflicts between analog and digital data creators in society and how internet based technologies are changing society and commerce.

It’s a good read but hard to grasp due to a focus on economics. Don’t be fooled the by title if your looking at computer networks….he has written it into the binding that ties his arguments together.  It is truly worth the read.

Benkler shares how technology has merged the professional and the consumer into a ‘prosumer’ due to low cost and high performing computers and robust networks have made distribution of information cheap enough that community is now empowered to drive change.

Take a look at how the internet has evolved.  The Akami to YouTube migration showed how multimedia has found a free, reliable distribution center.  When you also migrate 1st generation complex, large scale websites to new blogs and content management systems under the open source business model Benkler states that data is now a “non-rival” product that has democratized the digital workflow of data from brick and mortar to community, peer-developed content solutions.

Benkler suggests modern computing drives new, strong and deep collaboration that can have a large impact on the global economy and society.  Benkler also suggests that as more consumers embrace technology collaboration, change to our culture is possible due to engines of free exchange (wikipedia, creative commons, open source and the blogosphere) could be more efficient (when shared) than current models that are restricted by copyright and patents because the ability to duplicate (or reproduce digital content) makes little or no impact on business.

Tags: The Wealth of Networks, Social Technologies, economy, society, Yochai Benkler, education, change, reading, trends

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Education Globalization Reading Technology

Latest read: The Next 100 Years

I was looking forward to George Friedman‘s The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century.  I found this to be a very compelling read due to the simple nature that predictions in general are always horribly incorrect.

the next 100 yearsFriedman’s background provides a true global, military view of the world’s future and his role at Stratfor, a global intelligence service provides direction to his book.

Yet I could not help but think twice about some of the aspects of his work.  I agree with his points that in the future countries including Poland can become a superpower, but at the same time to predict in 40 years America will be at war with Mexico after fighting Japan and Turkey are a bit…on the surface, a stretch.

For the strangest reason Friedman seems to be able to tie some of his predication today.  Following the fall of the USSR and the Orange Revolution not many would predict that Ukraine and Russia would sign a joint agreement in April 2010 to keep Russian Naval forces in their former communist republic in Sevastopol.

At the same time his prediction of Poland’s coming success as a global power could not have taken into account the April 2010 tragedy in Katyn. I do not believe this will stop Poland from gaining power in the future, but it appears to be slowing down (potentially) the process by a decade.
I do feel the first half of the book hold chapters that are solid and well written:

Chapter 1: The Dawn of the American Age
Chapter 2: Earthquake: The US – Jihadist War
Chapter 3: Population, Computers and Culture Wars
Chapter 4: The New Fault Lines
Chapter 5: China 2020: The Paper Tiger

However Chapters 6 – 13 layout the world order from 2020 to 2080.  Again the further out the more difficult to predict IMHO.  Interesting reading for sure since most today would never foresee Mexico winning a war against America.

Tags: The Next 100 years, George Friedman, 21st Century, America, Japan, Turkey, Mexico, future, reading, trends

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Design Education Globalization Innovation Network OpenSource Reading Smartphone Technology

Latest read: Groundswell

Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies.  This book is a great primer for social media.  If your new to social media this book is for you.
GroundswellHowever if you have been working with blogs and wikis for more than five years this book is a bit too elementary but a great quick read nevertheless.

The Groundswell is the powerful movement of our networked society. Basically the book breaks the “groundswell” into gaining insights from what social networks say about your company, your products and the people representing your company.

We have reached a point on the modern internet that personal voices will grow via social media tools never before available. This will help to drive new marketing plans, business reach to both existing and new customers. This can drive new media to tell stories about products and community movements.

Blogs help talk to your communities, and buzz helps energize the groundswell and the new ability to utilize “customers” as collaborative team members. In the end its Groundswell is about person to person relationships.

Groundswell’s blog

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Design Education Globalization Google Network OpenSource Rich media Technology

Social media by the numbers

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Design Education Globalization Network Technology

Wipro is changing education

I have begun reading a really good book called Bangalore Tiger and have become very impressed with the closing of the fifth chapter and second section called People Principals to Lead By.

This book is about Wipro, one of India’s great IT companies.  This chapter concluded with an overview to their companies’ social responsibility initiatives and volunteer efforts in India called Wipro Cares:

The education program provides training for teachers, administrators, and parents –with the goal of fostering more creative and analytical curricula in pubic schools, rather than rote learning.  In an effort that targets underprivileged children, Wipro volunteers spend two hour every Saturday tutoring and encouraging these kids…..The Azin Premji Foundation is an attempt to help transform Indian society through improving public education.  Premiji established the foundation in 2000 and it became operational in 2001.  To date [Azim Premji] has contributed $125 million in Wipro stock –and has pledged to keep replenishing as money is spent.

The main focus is on convincing education that they need to retool their approach to education and on giving them the tools to do it.  So far, one Indian sate has agreed to switch to analytical learning……”What we’re focused on is quality education,” says Dileep Ranjekar, a former head of HR who is now CEO of the Azim Premji Foundation.  Premji’s charity.  Unless India fundamentally addressed the quality issue and the shifts from rote learning to analytical learning, it can’t realize its dream of becoming one of the world economic superpowers.”

There’s obviously a crucial side benefit for Wipro.  Unless the Indian public education system improves dramatically, Wipro won’t be able to fulfill what it sees as its destiny – becoming one of the world’s great companies by offering up India’s brainpower to the world.

America needs this type of innovative company that can lead change in our education system.  As Intel’s CEO has stated many times America will continue to graduate more masseuses than engineers.  At some point this will catch up with us.  And by the looks of it when that time arrives India will be prepared to step in.

Tags: India, Wipro, Bangalore Tiger, globalization, education, technology, reading, trends