Institutions versus Collaborations: How the media landscape is changing
I am a big admirer of Clay Shirky and his works on social and economic effects of internet technologies, especially social media. I have read both of his books "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations" and "Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age" and written a few words about them. Today, I stumbled across this TED Talk by him in which he talks about how the rise of information communication technology, especially the social media is transforming the landscape of media itself.
He argues that as more and more people are becoming both producers and consumers of information unlike in the past where majority of people were supposed to be just consumers consuming the information produced and disseminated by a smaller group of professionals; closed groups and companies will slowly disappear giving way for smaller, independent and more dynamic groups and individuals. The rigid and somewhat central planning is becoming inept to compete with the flexible and responsive coordination between individuals.
This talk so reminded me of another video called I,Pencil which describes how millions of people from different parts of the world, belonging to different culture, race and religion coordinate and collaborate with each other in the free market and produce value for each other. The coordination present in the market is impossible to be replicated by central planning.
What do you think? Do share your views and opinions in the comments below!
