THE WISDOM OF LONG TAILS 04232008 i 203

THE WISDOM OF LONG TAILS 04/23/2008 i 203 – Social and Organizational Issues of Information

Assignment 3

Repackaging ‘The Invisible Hand’ 3

Surowiecki’s Laws of Wisdom 1. 2. 3. 4. 4 Diversity Independence Decentralization Aggregation / Coordination

Fiction or Reality?

When The Tail Wags the Web

The 3 Magic Forces 1. 2. 3. ‘Democratizing the Tools of Production’ ‘Democratizing Distribution’ ‘Connecting Supply and Demand’

Demand Curves

The Pro-Am

Which Tail?

11 Why free-riding is not necessarily a bad thing (Rafaeli and Raban) • It is better for the group if many members free ride than if they contribute negatively (poor knowledge, unexamined sources, etc. ). • Information sought tends to be unique. A free-rider on a substantial portion of exchanges may become an active contributor in a particular question. • Free-riders are virtually invisible in online systems and tend to be ignored. They are not perceived as free-riders. • Connectivity does not mean that everyone who is connected actually has information to contribute. Yet, these free-riders get a unique learning opportunity and can feel part of the community, generating community level positive effects

But what about VERY LARGE groups? World of Music David Gleich, Matt Rasmussen, Leonid Zhukov, and Kevin Lang http: //www. stanford. edu/~dgleich/demos/worldofmusic/interact. html